Box Breaks: 2 Boxes of 2018 FOTL Contenders Football

 

I'm not going to lie...I'm 100% dreading this break. I don't honestly know why I even bothered with this stuff as I HATED opening this stuff 2 years ago. I'm just a sucker for FOTL product. Yes I could sell these boxes on Ebay..but I'm really hesitant to sell sealed wax on eBay, just not comfortable at all. So I'm going to bite the bullet and hope for the best. I've seen a ton of the breaks and they are terribly underwhelming. You're only real shot at something remotely good is pulling a exclusive red foil parallel of one of the top rookies, otherwise you're basically screwed. Also, the Red Foil Parallels are embarrassingly disappointing. They are barely distinguishable from the regular cards. Bracing for a bloodbath but hoping for a miracle. Here goes nothing

Red Foil Base Tyreek Hill
Zay Jones

Round Numbers
Saquon Barkley/Sony Michel
Mikah Fitzpatrick/Derwin James
Keke Coutee/DeSean Hamilton
Kerryon Johnson/Derrius Guice
Christian Kirk/Anthony Miller
Jaleel Scott/J'Mon Moore
Josh Allen/Josh Rosen
Denzel Ward/Jaire Alexander


Rookie Of The Year Contenders
Josh Rosen
J'Mon Moore
Courtland Sutton
Tre'Quan Smith
Michael Gallup
Bradley Chubb
Kyle Lauletta
Nick Chubb
Ronald Jones II
James Washington


MVP Contenders
Derek Carr
Antonio Brown
Alvin Kamara
Matthew Stafford
Matt Ryan
David Johnson
Philip Rivers
Carson Wentz
Kirk Cousins



Legendary Contenders
Lawrence Taylor
John Riggins
Dick Butkus
Charles Woodson
Emmitt Smith

Team Quads
Barkley/Beckham Jr./Manning/Shepard
Brady/Gronk/Michel/Edelman
Ridley/Freeman/Ryan/Jones
Mayfield/Chubb/Callaway/Landry


Rookie Ticket Auto
Cedrick Wilson Jr.
Tre'Quan Smith
Marcus Baugh


Rookie Ticket Auto Variation
Roquan Smith
Armani Watts
Trenton Cannon


Playoff Ticket Auto
Ryan Nall (#50/99)

Rookie Ticket Stub Die Cut Auto
Sam Hubbard (#52/94)


Rookie Ticket Red Foil Auto
Nick Chubb
Kerryon Johnson Redemption

Overall Thoughts: Well...it's always good when you set expectations low because it's easy to meet, however, I must say I was pleasantly surprised by this break. It's still probably not the absolute best, didn't pull a BIG gun, but two on Card FOTL exclusive autos of Nick Chubb and Kerryon Johnson (that one is a redemption), considering both guys have sold more than $100 a piece can definitely be  considered a win. Also it's hard to pull 2 on card autos out of one box of Contenders so it was nice pulling the Tre'Quan Smith. Roquan Smith was the Bears' 1st round pick this past year and I pulled his variation auto rookie too. All in all not too shabby. Wayyyy better than Contenders Basketball that's for sure. Pics of the cards

 

 

 

 

 

 

Top 5 Pulls of 2019

#1 2018 Contenders Nick Chubb FOTL Red Zone Auto Parallel

#2 2018 Contenders Kerryon Johnson FOTL Red Zone Auto Parallel Redemption

#3 2018-19 Contenders Mikal Bridges The Finals Rookie Ticket Auto (#31/49)

#4 2018-19 Contenders Collin Sexton Rookie Ticket Auto

#5 2018-19 Contenders Zhaire Smith The Finals Rookie Ticket Auto (#6/49)

1st Break Of The New Year: 3 Boxes of 18-19 Contenders Basketball

Well, it's a New Year, so time for a fresh start when it comes to Top Pulls! Considering that my top 3 pulls were of cards that I sold for $1400, $1600, and $4800..I SERIOUSLY doubt I'll be able to top last year, but it'll be fun trying! I'll be keeping my traditional Top 5 Pulls running throughout the year and it starts today with a 3 Box Break of Contenders Basketball

 

So obviously the big chase here is Luka Doncic, who's stuff is just INSANELY hot right now. Pull a Luka Base On Card here and you're looking at a $600-$700 card. Pull a numbered auto and oh boy...you got a monster! There's some other solid rookies as well, but Luka is the main draw. I ended the year with two Luka auto pulls, will I start the year with one? Let's find out!

Hall Of Fame Contenders Vince Carter
Draymond Green

Playing The Numbers Game
Nikola Jokic
Anthony Davis
Andre Drummond


Lottery Ticket
Mikal Bridges
Mo Bamba
Marvin Bagley III


Front Row Seat
Dennis Smith Jr.
Damian Lillard

Winning Tickets
Tim Duncan
Scottie Pippen
Kyrie Irving
Draymond Green


Winning Tickets Cracked Ice
Alonzo Mourning (#12/25)

Most Valuable Contenders
Stephen Curry
Anthony Davis
Joel Embiid

Premium Parallel
Jimmy Butler
Kyle Korver
LaMarcus Aldridge
Ben Simmons
Dennis Smith Jr.
Zach Randolph

Playoff Ticket
Zach Randolph (#176/199)
Hassan Whiteside (#53/199)
Kristaps Porzingis

Conference Finals Tickets
Marc Gasol (#15/135)
Jusuf Nurkic (#9/135)


The Finals Ticket
DeMarcus Cousins (#69/99)


Rookie Season Ticket Autos
Collin Sexton
Jacob Evans III Redemption

Rookie Season Ticket Autos Premium
Khryi Thomas

The Finals Ticket Rookie Autos
Mickal Bridges (#31/49)
Zhaire Smith (#6/49)

Up And Coming
Jarred Vanderbilt (#171/199)

Well..that was straight up awful. Not even $100 worth of cards. The Sexton is ok, the rest suck. What a wonderful way to start the New Year.

 

 

 

 

Top 5 Pulls of 2019

#1 Mikal Bridges The Finals Rookie Ticket Auto (#31/49)

#2 Collin Sexton Rookie Ticket Auto

#3 Zhaire Smith The Finals Rookie Ticket Auto (#6/49)

#4 Jacob Evans III Rookie Ticket Auto Redemption

#5 Khyri Thomas Rookie Ticket Premium Auto

The Prizmpalooza Grand Finale

So I ended both Cardfest and Prizmpalooza Monday with Prizmpalooza going last with my 3 FOTL Prizm Boxes. I knew it was going to be hard to top a 2nd Luka auto pull, but if it anything could it would be something from Prizm. Here's the final results of my last break of 2018

Notable Base Rookie Cards Luka Doncic
Michael Porter Jr. (2)
Trae Young
Kevin Knox
Mo Bamba
Shai Gilgeious Alexander
Collin Sexton
DeAndre Ayton
Marvin Bagley

Fireworks
Donovan Mitchell (2)
Damian Lillard
Paul George
Kyrie Irving
James Harden
Blake Griffin


Fireworks Silver Prizm
Kyle Kuzma


All Day
Stephen Curry (2)
Kyle Kuzma (2)
John Wall
Kristaps Porzingis

All Day Silver Prizm
Blake Griffin

All Day Hyper Prizm
Donovan Mitchell

Go Hard Or Go Home
Dirk Nowitzki (2)
Jayson Tatum
Anthony Davis
Kyrie Irving
Chris Paul

That's Savage
Kevin Durant
Aaron Gordon

Luck Of The Lottery
Luka Doncic
Kevin Knox

Luck Of The Lottery Silver Prizm
Collin Sexton

Silver Prizm
Zhaire Smith RC
Kostas Antetokounmpo RC
Bruce Brown RC
Matthew Dellavedova
Lou Williams
Rondae Hollis-Jefferson
Manu Ginobili
Amar'e Stoudemire
Otto Porter Jr.
Ryan Anderson
Jonas Valanciunas
Rajon Rondo
Nerlens Noel
Kent Bazemore
Paul Pierce
E'Twaun Moore
Dante Exum
Patrick Ewing



Hyper Prizm
Luka Doncic RC
Trae Young RC
John Wall
Lonzo Ball
Tim Hardaway Jr.
Malcolm Brogdon
Kevin Durant
TJ Warren
Carmelo Anthony
Shaquille O'Neal
Clint Capela
John Henson
Dewayne Dedmon
Allen Iverson
Andrew Wiggins
Kyle Kuzma
Michael Kidd-Gilchrist
Serge Ibaka


Ruby Red Prizm
Elie Okobo RC
Khryi Thomas RC
Melvin Frazier RC
Terry Rozier
Jordan Clarkson
Dillon Brooks
Myles Turner
Dejounte Murray
Alec Burks
Ben Simmons
Klay Thompson
De'Aaron Fox
Elfrid Payton
Oscar Robertson
Julius Randle


Red Prizm
Charles Barkley (#75/299)
Jonas Valanciunas (#290/299)
Jordan Clarkson (#207/299)
Brandon Ingram (#21/299)
Oscar Robertson (#283/299)

Blue Prizm
Dennis Smith Jr. (#125/199)
Kevin Love (#40/199)
Kent Bazemore (#62/199)


Purple Cracked Ice
Elfrid Payton (#91/149)
Isaiah Thomas (#119/149)
De'Aaron Fox (#147/149)


Blue Cracked Ice
Dante Exum (#71/99)

Orange Prizm
Collin Sexton RC (#35/49)
Kevin Love (#15/49)
Dwyane Wade (#32/49)

Red Shimmer
Trey Lyles (#6/7)

Blue Shimmer
Stephen Curry (#6/7)
Ish Smith (#4/7)

Sensational Signatures
Tony Parker
Josh Okogie

Rookie Signatures
Troy Brown Jr.
Keita Bates Diop (2)
Brook Lopez


So despite no super monster Luka (did pull a decent Luka, the Hyper is around a $75-$100 card) and crappy autos (including doubles of a crappy auto) I still managed to KILL this break! How you ask? Well, the Collin Sexton Orange Prizm Rookie and Steph Curry FOTL Exclusive Shimmer Parallel. The exclusive shimmers are numbered to 7 and with a 300 card base set, it's hard to pull a star or rookie. I got two scrub and then the Curry which was super nice. the Sexton to 49 is also a sweet pull and I ended up selling it for $210 and the Curry for $215. So those two cards alone covered the costs of my FOTL boxes and that's not including the Luka Hyper. All in all, when you consider everything I pulled from Prizm (3 Luka Rookie Parallels, Barkley Auto, Mo Bamba Auto, T-Mac Auto, Jaren Jackson Jr. Auto, Greens and Silvers of Jaren Jackson, Kevin Knox, a couple of Trae Young Silvers, and so much more) I felt like I did really good with Prizm this year. And that's it for everything! 2018 was a CRAZY year, and the fact the NONE of my Prizm or Cardfest pulls can even sniff the Top 5 just shows you how many great pulls I had this year. I'll be doing a Memorable 2018 pulls post over the weekend to recap all the amazing pulls I had over the year. Here's the pics from the final break of 2018!

The Cardfest Finale: Master Case of 18-19 Revolution

I  think it was pretty fitting to end Cardfest and Prizmpalooza on 2018. I'll do a blog post on the finale of Prizmpalooza later this week, but as with many things, all good things must come to an end. Yesterday I opened the final product I had for 2018 Cardfest and unlike last year's "main event" which took all of 2 minutes to finish, this was a 16 box master  case of Revolution. It was going to take a little bit longer to finish.

 

I got a good price on this and it's generally a product where there's not a lot of risk, although I did try this back in 16-17 and felt like I got slaughtered. The good thing is they upped the autos to 8 (it was 4 in 2016-17) and the checklist is pretty strong. So here we go..the finale to Cardfest!

Notable Base Rookie CardsLuka Doncic (3)
Trae Young (3)
Kevin Knox
Michael Porter Jr. (2)
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (2)
Collin Sexton (2)
Mo Bamba
Jaren Jackson Jr.
DeAndre Ayton

Rookie Revolution
Shai Gilgeious-Alexander (2)
Donte DiVicenzo (2)
Mikal Bridges
Trae Young
Mo Bamba
Jaren Jackson Jr.
Kevin Knox
Lonnie Walker IV
Grayson Allen

Rookie Revolution Impact
Grayson Allen


Rookie Revolution Cubic
Kevin Knox (#27/50)


Vortex
Jayson Tatum
Dwight Howard
Ben Simmons (2)
Victor Oladipo
Karl Anthony Towns (2)
Dennis Smith Jr. (3)
Giannis Antetokounmpo
Jimmy Butler
Bradley Beal
CJ McCollum
Damian Lillard
Dirk Nowitzki
Kawhi Leonard
Paul George
Donovan Mitchell

Vortex Impact
DeMarcus Cousins
Lonzo Ball


Vortex Cubic
Kevin Durant (#11/50)

Shockwave
Chris Paul (2)
John Wall
Blake Griffin
Anthony Davis (3)
Kyrie Irving
DeMar DeRozan
Kristaps Porzingis
Russell Westbrook
Paul George (2)
Jayson Tatum
Dwight Howard
Giannis Antetokounmpo
Stephen Curry
Joel Embiid
Kevin Durant
Donovan Mitchell
Lauri Markkanen

Shockwave Impact
Kevin Durant
Paul George
Giannis Antetokounmpo
Ben Simmons

Shockwave Cubic
Blake Griffin (#44/50)

Supernova
Kyrie Irving (2)
Stephen Curry
Russell Westbrook

Supernova Impact
Anthony Davis (2)

Supernova Cubic
Donovan Mitchell (#27/50)


Liftoff
Zach LaVine
Kevin Durant (2)
Anthony Davis
Giannis Antetokounmpo
Donovan Mitchell
Blake Griffin
Russell Westbrook
LeBron James

Liftoff Impact
DeMar DeRozan

Astro
Lebron James
Jaren Jackson Jr. RC
Jacob Evans III RC
Donte DiVincenzo RC (2)
Mikal Bridges RC (2)
Elie Okobo RC
Kevin Huerter RC
Vincent Edwards RC (2)
Aaron Holiday RC (2)
Khryi Thomas RC
Troy Brown Jr. RC
Zhaire Smith RC
Robert Williams III
Draymond Green
Andrew Wiggins
Lauri Markkanen (3)
Ben Simmons
Demarre Carroll
Kyle Lowry (2)
Clint Capela (2)
Marcin Gortat (3)
Dennis Smith Jr.
Jabari Parker
Dwight Howard
Jaylen Brown
Jeremy Lin
Goran Dragic
Kristaps Porzingis
Lou Williams
Dejounte Murray
Reggie Jackson (2)
Kevin Love
Eric Bledsoe
Enes Kanter
Blake Griffin
Trevor Ariza

Groove
Luka Doncic RC
Jaren Jackson Jr. RC
Miles Bridges RC
Dzanan Musa RC
Justin Jackson RC
Landry Shamet RC
Hamidou Diallo RC
Chandler Hutchinson RC
Troy Brown Jr. RC
Collin Sexton RC
Nicolas Batum
Andre Drummond (2)
Chris Paul (2)
Otto Porter Jr.
Lonzo Ball
Klay Thompson
Derrick Rose
Michael Kidd-Gilchrist
Kristaps Porzingis
Tim Hardaway Jr.
Hassan Whiteside
Willie Cauley-Stein
DeMarre Carroll
James Harden
DeAndre Jordan
Goran Dragic
Clint Capela
Devin Booker
Kevin Durant

Impact
Moritz Wagner RC
Anfernee Simons RC
Khryi Thomas RC
Hassan Whiteside
Michael Kidd-Gilchrist
Russell Westbrook
Paul George
Giannis Antetokounmpo
Dennis Schroder
James Harden
T.J. Warren


Fractal
Gary Trent Jr. RC
Jerome Robinson RC
Chimezie Metu RC
Damian Lillard
Ricky Rubio
Donovan Mitchell (2)
Dion Waiters
Jayson Tatum
Lauri Markkanen
Bradley Beal

Cosmic
Kevin Huerter RC (#95/100)
Jerome Robinson RC (#19/100)
Devonte Graham RC (#46/100)
Omari Spellman RC (#38/100)
LaMarcus Aldridge (#25/100)
Dennis Schroder (#61/100)
Pau Gasol (#75/100)
Derrick Rose (#81/100)


Sunburst
Landry Shamet (#39/75)
Jeremy Lin (#54/75)
Lonzo Ball (#36/75)


Cubic
Joel Embiid (#22/50)

Lava
Robert Williams III RC (#4/10)

Galactic
Mitchell Robinson RC


Autographs
LUKA DONCIC
Kevin Knox
Mo Bamba
Wendell Carter Jr (2)
Zhaire Smith
Donte DiVincenzo
Jerome Robinson

First of all, LOVE the cards, especially those Cubic Parallels numbered to 50 (which you'll see in my pics). Even THOSE pics don't do the cards justice. So the big pulls are the Galactic parallels (1 per master case, VERY POPULAR, especially if you hit the right rookie, you're looking at big $$) and Lava Parallels (not guaranteed in a case and numbered to 10). I pulled both in my case, and I pulled two rookies....BUT just not the right ones. They are popular enough, that'll I'll probably still end up selling them in the $50-$100 range, but man what a missed opportunity. It could've been worse though and been a basic common Vet. As for the autos..yup….hit my main man LUKA AGAIN!!! This time ON CARD!!!  So thrilled to hit another Luka auto, which is 2 in 2 days and this one is the 2nd best pull obviously of the entire Cardfest. My only minor complaint..I didn't pull any Vet autos. The Vet checklist is pretty strong, so it would've been awesome to pull at least a couple of Vets. I also doubled up on Wendell Carter Jr. He's not a terrible rookie to get doubles of, but damn would've been nice to get a different auto there. The Knox and Mamba are nice on cards autos of popular rookies, while mediocre rookies round out the last 3 autos. All in all a GREAT fun break and an AWESOME way to end Cardfest 2018!! Here are pics of the Revolution cards followed by pics of what I believe are my top 10 pulls and final thoughts

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Overall Thoughts on Cardfest 2018: I always do this, not with "money back" in mind but just to have a final big blowout before the end of the year. I LOVE busting Wax, it's way more fun pulling great yourself than just going to Ebay and buying what you want. That's just me though, and I go into knowing I'm probably throwing a lot of money away. So even though I doubt I came close to recouping all I spent, I feel like this was a success and was better than last year's Cardfest. I think the top 2 hits both beat out last year's top hit (Kobe) and there was some solid depth behind those two pulls as well. I literally didn't go a day, from a couple Thursdays back until yesterday without busting SOMETHING and that was the fun of it. Knowing that each day, you had something to open and wondering what gems could be inside. I feel like that higher end stuff delivered (the last 4 products I opened delivered 4 of my top 5 pulls) and it was perfect ending to what has been a crazy 2018. I pulled a TON of awesome stuff this past year. So much so that I highly doubt I'll ever come close to that again, but with 2019 here, we'll see what that brings! So here's what I considered my top 10 pulls of Cardfest. 

 

 

 

(The Wentz Redemption)

 

 

 

 

 

(The Judge Gold Parallel)