Cardfest Day 2!

Feeling a little bit better, but not all the way. Going to get things started with 2017 and 18 Optic Blasters

2017 Optic
Notable Rookies
Tarik Cohen
Alvin Kamara
Leonard Fournette

Silver Holo
Taco Charlton RC
Kahlil Mack
Frank Gore
Samaje Perine RC
Josh Reynolds RC
Jordan Reed
Bucky Hodges RC
Sammy Watkins
Mack Hollins RC
Matt Ryan


Pink Holo
Christian McCaffrey RC
Chad Hansen RC
Jordan Leggett RC
Joe Williams RC
Jarrad Davis RC
Jake Butt RC
Brad Kaaya RC
Jeremy Sprinkle RC
Budda Baker RC
O.J. Howard RC

Rookie Threads
Evan Engram

2018 Optic

Notable Rookie Cards
Josh Rosen


Elite Series Rookies
Baker Mayfield

Silver Holo
Carson Wentz

Pink Holo
Ian Thomas RC
Deontay Burnett RC


Rookie Phenom Jersey
Baker Mayfield

The McCaffrey Pink is definitely a cool card, but I was more pleasantly surprised with the 2018 Optic Blaster. Relics aren't guaranteed in these blasters so if you're going to get one, might as well be Baker Mayfield. Also got a cool Baker insert. Remember the 17 Optic Blaster were $10 a piece so really wasn't expecting much. Definitely a fun little rip.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ok so here comes the first "big break" so to speak. 12 Blasters and 24 Value Packs of 2017 Prizm Football. This might take a while. Time to go Mahomes hunting!

 

Blasters
Notable Base Rookies
Christian McCaffrey (x2)
DeShaun Watson
Alvin Kamara
Tarik Cohen
Myles Garrett

Rookie Introductions
Christian McCaffrey
Dalvin Cook

Instant Impact
Joe Mixon
Dalvin Cook
Christian McCaffrey

Disco Prizms
Mitchell Trubisky RC
Joe Mixon RC
Mike Williams RC
David Moore RC
Devante Mays RC
Ryan Switzer RC
Robert Davis RC
Stacy Coley RC
Jeremy McNichols RC
Tarik Cohen RC
Dede Westbrook RC
Haason Reddick RC
Le'Veon Bell
Carlos Hyde
Cam Newton
Matt Forte
DeSean Jackson
Eric Decker
Danny Woodhead
Sammy Watkins
Chris Hogan
Adrian Peterson (x2)
A.J. Green
Tyrell Williams
Jimmy Graham
Carson Wentz
Thomas Rawls
Tyreek Hill
Spencer Ware
Vic Beasley Jr.
Travis Kelce
Travis Benjamin
Richard Sherman
Sheldon Richardson
Dion Lewis


Premier Jerseys
Kareem Hunt
Chris Godwin
Jamaal Williams (x2)
Corey Davis
Cooper Kupp
Amara Darboh
Taywan Taylor
Dalvin Cook
C.J. Beathard (x2)
Evan Engram

Value Packs


Notable Base Rookies
Dalvin Cook
Juju Smith-Schuster
Alvin Kamara

Instant Impact
Mitchell Trubisky
Joe Mixon
DeShaun Watson


Rookie Introductions
Christian McCaffrey

Illumination
Ezekiel Elliott (x2)
Dak Prescott
Patrick Mahomes
Mitchell Trubisky

Green Prizms
Alvin Kamara RC
Wayne Gallman RC
Kevin King RC
Khalfani Muhammad RC
David Njoku RC
Chad Williams RC
Isaiah Ford RC
T.J. Watt RC
Chad Hansen RC
Michael Thomas
Matthew Stafford
Jimmy Graham
Cody Kessler
Lamar Miller
A.J. Green (x3)
DeVante Parker (x2)
Aaron Rodgers
Tom Savage
Jeremy Langford
Chandler Jones
Ameer Abdullah
Donte Moncrief
Joey Bosa
Zach Ertz
Jared Goff
Mike Glennon
Andy Dalton
Bruce Ellington
Jared Cook

RWB Prizms
Phillip Dorsett
David Johnson
Adrian Peterson
Marshawn Lynch
Jesse James
Jalen Ramsey
Travis Kelce
Khalil Mack
Spencer Ware
Sheldon Richardson
Allen Robinson
Lamar Miller
Robbie Anderson
Marvin Jones Jr.
Kenny Britt
Eric Decker
A.J. Green
Drew Brees
Aaron Donald
Kenny Stills
T.J. Yeldon
Ameer Abdullah
Jimmy Graham
Doug Baldwin
Davante Adams
Charles Sims
Thomas Rawls
Isaiah Crowell
Jamaal Charles
Greg Olsen
Terrell Suggs
Laquon Treadwell
Latavius Murray (x2)
Lagarrrette Blount
Todd Gurley II
Taco Charlton RC
Jonathan Allen RC
Malik McDowell RC
R. Joshua Dobbs RC
Haason Reddick RC
Tarik Cohen RC
Curtis Samuel RC
Dede Westbrook RC
DeShone Kizer RC
Marcus Maye RC
James Connor RC
Solomon Thomas RC
Amara Darboh RC
Damon Harrison RC (x2)
Shelton Gibson RC
Teez Tabor RC
David Moore RC
Chad Hansen RC
Jamal Adams RC
Jamaal Williams RC
Devante Mays RC (x2)
Evan Engram RC
Kenny Golladay RC
Ardarius Stewart RC
Mark Ingram
Jamison Crowder
Cody Kessler
DeAndre Hopkins
Stefon Diggs
Thomas Rawls
Laquon Treadwell
Devonta Freeman
Jeremy Hill
Bruce Ellington

About what was expected from retail. Value wise not the greatest, but still a fun rip. Pulled a nice looking Mahomes rookie insert, and pulled base rookies of Watson, McCaffrey and Kamara along with a Green Parallel of Kamara.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Alright since we're on the subject of Prizm, might as well rip the 2018 Mega Box Prizms from Wal Mart. I have four of them. Obviously I'm expecting points here, wouldn't be surprised if it's a 50/50 split. So here we go

Notable Base Rookies Nick Chubb
Calvin Ridley
Josh Allen
Lamar Jackson

Green Pulsar Parallels
Matthew Stafford
DeMarcus Lawrence
Vic Beasley Jr.
Stefon Diggs
Marcell Ateman RC
DaeSean Hamilton RC
Derrick Nnadi RC
DJ Moore RC


Green Pulsar Autographs
J'Mon Moore
Leighton Vander Esch
Joshua Jackson
Minkah Fitzpatrick

Very pleasantly surprised that I didn't get any Panini Points. The Vander Esch is a SUPER solid card. Dude is a beast and I'm a HUGE Cowboys fan so very thrilled to pull it. It's the best pull so far in the early going of Cardfest. The other 3 autos aren't the greatest, but still, rather have them than points!

 

 

 

So we did the 2018 Optic Blaster earlier in the day, now we go to the Collector's Boxes. Again, hoping for nooooo Points.

 

Notable Rookies Lamar Jackson

Silver Holo's
Ito Smith RC
Josh Adams RC
Calvin Ridley RC
David Williams RC
Sammy Watkins
Dion Lewis

Bronze Holo's
Simmie Cobbs Jr. RC
Nick Chubb RC
Marcus Davenport RC
Kalen Ballage RC

Rookie Threads
Kerryon Johnson
Derrius Guice


Bronze Auto
Daron Payne
Kurt Benkert

Not the greatest of breaks, but at least no Panini Points again! 

 

 

 

 

Alright..let's keep goin! Next up

Notable Rookie Cards Lamar Jackson
Sony Michel

Longevity
Andy Dalton (#10/75)
Antonio Brown (#70/75)

Airborne Pink
Todd Gurley II (#28/85)


Great American Heroes Pink
Luke Kuechly (#63/85)

Crusade
Kareem Hunt
Baker Mayfield


Precision Passers
Matt Ryan
Tom Brady
Baker Mayfield
Drew Brees



Touchdown Club
Kyle Rudolph
Antonio Brown
Evan Engram
Marvin Jones Jr.


Action Packed
Kenyan Drake
Drew Brees
Matt Ryan
Robby Anderson

Star Studded
Khalil Mack
Drew Brees


Standing Ovation
Adam Thielen
Kareem Hunt
Von Miller
Andrew Luck

Rookie Rush
Josh Allen
Sam Darnold

NFL Authentic Jersey
Christian McCaffrey

Year 1 Jersey
Josh Rosen
Derrius Guice

Cross Training Dual Jersey
Saquon Barkley (#25/99)


Freshman Orientation Auto/Jersey
Keke Coutee (#27/75)
Mason Rudolph (#9/75)

Pretty Solid Break, couple more Bakers, a Saquon Dual Jersey and the Jersey Auto's weren't that bad. Mason Rudolph is intriguing as he may be next in line when Big Ben retires. All in all fun break and I'm happy with the cards.

 

 

 

 

 

I'm going to busy tonight, so that's actually going to wrap up Day 2. I felt like I knocked out a ton and although nothing mind blowing was pulled, still think I did decently overall considering we are still in the retail phase of the Cardfest. I'll be back with some more ripping tomorrow!

Cardfest Kickoff Day!

Well..I really hope this isn't a bad omen, I woke up feeling terrible this morning. Tried to give it a go at work, but came home early. After a few hours of rest, still not feeling great, but maybe opening up some cards will be just what the doctor ordered. So here go, the official first day of Cardfest! I started with

Just kind of an appetizer here, nothing big at all, here's the best  cards I pulled


Really cool to pull a Ridley # to 99 for the kickoff packs. The Hardaway Jr. is a Purple Prizm Disco Parallel numbered to 75. Just something to get the card ripping juices flowing. Next up


Again not expecting much here. The cards are great looking, but honestly 1 blaster is enough for me. It's a super dry break with a  super short base set (48 cards) and outside of 1 mini per pack and the bonus pack with a hit, there's really nothing else to chase. No way I would be able to go for more of this without getting bored. Here's a pic of the cards and the hit, an A-Rod Jersey Card. Not too shabby



Well, now on to the only WWE Box I have this year


Cheap rip for a decent shot at some decent WWE Autos. Only going to list the parallels and hits

Bronze Ronda Rousey
Roman Reigns
Nikki Bella
Sasha Banks
Killian Dain
Finn Balor
Dash Wilder
Velveteen Dream
Shinsuke Nakamura
Tye Dillinger
Shane Thorne
Mark Andrews

Silver
EC3 (#23/25)


Royal Rumble Mat Relics
Elias (#67/299)


Autographs
Shinsuke Nakamura (#72/99)

That's what I'm talking about! Great box, especially at $45! The Bronze Rousey RC is cool as is the EC3 Silver Parallel to 25. If you don't follow wrestling, EC3 is a prospect from NXT who the WWE is very high on and should be making his main roster debut soon. I love dated relics, so the Elias Mat card from the Royal Rumble is nice and got my first Shinsuke autograph! Bascially the format for this is just like any other flagship WWE release, not a lot of variety. I do like the 25 Years of Raw insert set, going back to key moments of Raw for the past 25 years, but those are two per pack so not rare at all. There's also a Roddy Piper Tribute set you get 1:6 packs, but other than that it's bronze parallels and probably 1 numbered parallel. You also basically get a complete base set, which is why I tend to at 1 box of this stuff when I open it, as it can get very repetitive and boring. Very happy with the results!











So now it's time to delve into a little old school

Just going to list the notable Gold Medallion and inserts here
Prospects Josh Booty
Luis Ordaz
Ryan Minor
Preston Wilson
Matt Clement
George Lombard

Season Crowns SP
Ken Griffey Jr.
Mark McGwire
Kerry Wood


Prospects Gold Medallion
Corey Koskie

The Book On
Frank Thomas
Greg Maddux
Tony Gwynn

World Premiere
Gabe Alvarez

Thunderclap
Mark McGwire

Meh..pretty underwhelming break. Not one decent Gold Medallion and even doubled up on quite a few.  The Thunderclap McGwire is sweet and SP's were the rage of the day back then, so pulling Kerry Wood, Griffey and McGwire Season Crown Awards would be awesome in 1999. Outside of the Thunderclap insert though, the rest of the inserts were pretty bla. Definitely a snoozefest.








So this will be the last product I open today.


Future Fame Ron Calloway (#1567/1750)
Aaron Cook (#429/1750)

Flair Collection
Kazuhiro Sasaki (#122/175)

Power Tools
Magglio Ordonez Game Used Bat
Roberto Alomar Game Used Bat

Jersey Heights
Shawn Green
Larry Walker

and how awesome would this has been to pull in 2002?

Sweet Swatch Jumbo Autographs
Mark Prior (#196/285)

Now THAT was fun! And it's was kinda awesome to pull something of a guy that was SUPER hot back in the early 00's. Prior was touted as the next best thing and this was the Sweet Swatch Box Topper, so it's a jumbo autograph! As far as the mem  cards, nothing earth shattering, the Alomar is the best of the bunch and it's funny that I pulled that Larry Walker Jersey card because I had that exact  jersey card back in the day. All in all a fun start to cardfest. I'm pretty bushed, so that'll do it for today!

We're All Set! The Final Entrants of Cardfest Are Here!

Alright, so now that everything is officially in,  Cardfest is set and ready to go. Initially I said I was going to wait till the day after Christmas to start, but there's no way that's happening. I have wayyyyy to much to open so my target day is  Thursday Night with a "kickoff night"! So here are the finals entries for Cardfest 2018!


Assorted Loose Packs


So these are various single packs that came with the various orders of products I ordered. Except for the 2018 Donruss Retail Pack. I bought that to put me over the $100 limit at Target so that I could get $25 off of a $100 purchase. This will be the first thing I open to kickoff Cardfest.


2018 Optic Football

Three different forms of this product. The standard retail blaster box, 2 Collector's Boxes (hoping it won't be as bad as last year's 2016 Optic Collector's Box fiasco if you recall) and 4 FOTL Premium Hobby Boxes.

2018 Elite Extra Edition

Now I'm not a huge prospect guy, but I did pretty well with Bowman, and there was an eBay Coupon I used so it was cheap enough to take a stab at a couple of boxes. I think it'll be cool to just kind a rip and stash the cards of this product and just see what happens in the future.

2018 Bowman Draft Jumbo Hobby

Same concept as Elite, but with a much more popular product and with a lot more potential since it's a licensed MLB product. Grabbed two boxes.

2018 Playbook Football

I really like the looks of the cards in this product so I decided to get a couple boxes of this to try. It's an all hits product and each box comes with a Booklet card and there are some pretty sweet booklets here!

2018 Revolution Basketball Master Case

Told you I had a ton to open! This is a 16 Box Master Case. It'll be the 2nd Master Case of Revolution I open (Remember I did 16-17 Revolution and it was pretty underwhelming) but for the price point I got this at, plus the fact that you now get 8 Autos per Master Case, all on card, I just had to get it. Really looking forward to this break!

And Finally what will be the last break of Cardfest, the "Main Event" So to Speak

2018 Immaculate Football FOTL

So I didn't initially buy this when it came out on Panini's website..howeverrrr I actually got this off Ebay with a coupon and it ended costing me less than what I would've paid had I bought it directly Panini (because I'm in Texas, I get with Sales Tax on every FOTL product). You get a guaranteed Rookie Auto Patch numbered to 14 I believe here, so definitely hoping to end Cardfest with a huge BANG!

And that's it! The long wait is almost over! I'll be providing a day by day breakdown and all the stuff I break each day! Can't wait to get started!

Annnnd Some More Cardfest Additions plus PRIZMPALOOZA NEWS!

Alright so before I show off new additions to Cardfest, I got some news on another event that will happen directly after Cardfest. The 2nd PRIZMPALOOZA! I did Prizmpalooza last year concurrently with Cardfest and if you remember, Prizmpalooza is just a massive break of Basketball Prizm. I decided to do it again this year but I have a TON more to open this go around (including Hobby and FOTL Prizm, which I didn't have last year) so between Cardfest and Prizmpalooza, it's going to be INSANE ripping so much product. I'll show off the contents of that later, but for now, more Cardfest additions!

 2017 Donruss Optic Football Blaster Boxes

  

I need supplies big time, since I've got so much stuff to open so I bought some off Steel City and to complete my purchase I decided to get 5 Optic Blasters at 10 bucks a piece. It's a cheap low risk way to chase some lower end Mahomes rookies.

2018  Sportkings Blaster Box

 

This was a Blowout Cyber Monday Pickup. Again, needed to get to $200 for free shipping and this hit the spot for $15. I figured for less than the price at a Wal Mart or Target (19.99 plus tax) this product was intriguing enough to try one blaster of.

2018 Topps WWE Then Now and Forever Hobby Box

 

Very surprised how cheap these were out of the gate. Only $45 for a hobby box. I have to get my wrestling fix so here's the lone Wrestling box out of the group.

2018-19 NBA Hoops Hobby Boxes

 

I love Hoops..I just don't love paying original MSRP on Hoops boxes ($65-$70). Hoops is a low end brand and although in today's era of collecting $65-$70 IS considered low end.. I still am stuck in the olden days where Hoops was a $2 a pack product. So when Blowout's Cyber Monday sale had this at $50 a box, I jumped at it and got 3 boxes. Totally on board ripping it at that price.

2018-19 Absolute Memorabilia Basketball Hobby Box

 

And finally for this post, Absolute Memorabilia is a fairly recent product that I wanted to try. This is actually the first product that has Lebron James in his Lakers uniform so that's an added chase.

Let's see, so I still have one product that I have in hand that I'm waiting to show off, and at least three more products that I bought stuff of that was a presale that I'm hoping to get in before Christmas. I didn't think I would top last year product wise, but it definitely looks like I did. I can't WAIT to start ripping everything!!

 

Some More Cardfest Additions!

So Black Friday has come and gone and I did pick some stuff up on BF and Cyber Monday, a lot of it has already come in, so here's a look at the numerous additions I have added to cardfest!

2017 Prizm Retail Blasters and Value Packs


This wasn't a Black Friday Purchase really, but D&A Cardworld had these for sale at basically retail price (and cheaper than Blowout) and I wanted to go Mahomes hunting so I decided to grab 12 blasters and 24 Value Packs. It's a very risky purchase and could be a bloodbath, but it's probably the cheapest way to hunt Mahomes Prizm Rookies.

2017-18 Prestige Basketball

This was a BF Friday from Steel City Collectibles. Prestige is a lower end product and was waiting for a price drop to finally try a box or two. At $47.95 I decided to grab 2. Should be a fun lower end rip with a chance to pull autos from last year's loaded rookie class.

2018 Topps Update Jumbo Case (With 12 Silver Packs)


Probably the best deal of any deals offered on any sites on Black Friday. D&A Cardworld had these for $440 and included 12 Silver Packs with the purchase. The Silver Packs Alone are probably $8-$10 packs so to get this case for that cheap is pretty amazing to me. The closest deals were Blowout offering Hobby Cases for $499 and Jumbo Cases for $449 but neither came with the bonus silver packs. The D&A deal sold out in minutes and I was lucky to get one.

2018 Topps Gallery Baseball

I broke this Wal Mart Exclusive last Cardfest and was initially going to stay away from this year's version because of it's $79.99 price tag. Wal Mart had these marked down on BF to $65.99 which is more around what I was willing to pay to try a couple boxes.

2018 Topps Gold Label Baseball


This was technically a BF purchase, but Blowout spread out there sale to last the entire week instead of just BF. I didn't actually buy anything on BO on Black Friday, but what I did buy was on Monday. These were $39.99 and the limit was 2. I like Gold Label though I've never broken a box, so I thought at the price it was well worth it.

2017-18 Status Basketball

The 2nd part of my BO Monday BF Friday purchase. Status was something I always wanted to try as it has a early 90's Skybox vibe to it. For $29.99, you can't beat that price for a hobby box so I got 4 which was the limit for this product. Another fun low end basketball product to rip.

2018 Topps Archives Baseball

This was a BF Purchase from D&A Cardworld. Eventually Steel City and Blowout matched their price but at the time it was cheapest on D&A. I like Archives but the price point initially was ridiculous. Luckily because of delays with Hobby, the price quickly went down and at $69.99 on BF it was definitely at a price I wanted. I got two boxes.

2018 Bowman High Tek Baseball

Another D&A BF Purchase (another product that Blowout eventually ended up matching, but it was cheaper here first). I don't really know much about this product, other than the fact it's basically Topps Tek but catered towards rookies and prospects. Figured for $59.99 it was worth the rip two boxes.

2018 Topps Tek Baseball

This is why I favored D&A over Blowout for BF purchases. D&A at least offered discounts on more recent products. Again, Blowout would eventually match the price, but too little too late as I already got them from D&A. I've seen some pretty good breaks of this stuff, and even though the patterns can be a tad confusing, it still looks like a fun product to rip. I got two boxes to try.

2018 Topps Five Star Baseball

And the last product I'll show off today is a familiar face. I've already busted two boxes of this a couple months ago, but D&A had them at $109 on BF and I liked the product enough to give it another whirl. I sound like a broken record, but eventually Blowout lowered their prices to match D&A.