Wednesday, October 28, 2020

2020 Topps Archives Blaster Box Giant Card

Greetings...

Hope everyone is doing well.  A couple of posts ago I documented my first encounter with the "card bros."  I'm going to recap and expand on that, so if you just want to see cards, feel free to scroll down.

Back on October 7 (a Wednesday), the card vendor was restocking the card aisle at the Target I occasionally work at.  4 "card bros" were socially distant, waiting for the vendor to finish up.  I assume they had to wait until the vendor finished and took pictures of his handiwork before they stormed the aisle, like some other blog posts have indicated.  Because I had errands to run, I couldn't stick around so I planned to go back to the store the next day to see what was left.

On October 8, I ran into my Target and took a look.  It was later in the morning, so I wasn't too optimistic.  Although I couldn't for certain blame it on the bros, all that was left when I went in was a few packs of Ginter and a couple blaster boxes of 2020 Leaf Pete Rose Charlie Hustle Edition.  I didn't get any Ginter because I don't actively buy Ginter (but I did find and buy a blaster box and fat pack from another store earlier because pandemic means desperate times), and I didn't get any Leaf because even in a pandemic, it's Leaf.

On October 9, I made a trip to the Meijer in my area.  Disinfectant spray is hard to come by so I go there from time to time after work to see if they got any (I got lucky a few times).  Meijer is also good for cards, even through they are slightly more expensive than Target or Walmart.  As expected they have nothing, except a whole bunch of 2019 Score football fat packs on clearance.

When I went to the card aisle, there they were...I counted 8 bros hanging around in the area.  They were socially distant, but were in groups, so I assumed those bros were related somehow.  No vendor had shown up yet.  Disappointed, I promptly vacated the premises.

On October 20 (a Tuesday) I was finishing another Target shift when I saw a crowd of people at the card aisle.  I was curious why they were there because the vendor was last there on a Wednesday, so I assumed he showed up on Wednesdays.  But there he was, unloading product.  And there they were...11 of them.  Now it's possible some of them were actually there to buy cards, because I'm pretty sure there was a woman among the bros (a card "brah"?), but I didn't see any young kids around her.  One bro snuck in and got 4 packs of one of the hanging packs (my store imposed a 4 pack limit) and looked like he was gonna distribute them to some of the other bros.  Once again, I left without even trying, but I had another shift the next day so I would be able to see if anything was left.

Other than hockey cards, this was it:


One blaster box of Archives.

It was still there when my shift ended so I picked it up.  I have yet to see any other Archives in any store, so this may be my only foray into the set.  

The blaster boxes have 1 exclusive 1964 giant card inside it, so that counts as a pack, right?  Here's what I got:

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#64O-DS - Deion Sanders (front and back)

Not bad, I certainly won't complain about getting Neon.  Storing him, however...

There's Prime Time next to Archives-mate Joey Votto for a size comparison.  

Anyway, that's the pack.  It was certainly depressing to see the card bros in action.  I hope this fad ends as soon as possible and becomes just part of the 2020 weirdness.  I had another shift yesterday and when I left I noticed a few packs and hanger boxes of 2020 Panini Absolute still there.  Maybe that's a sign that we've turned the corner.

Thanks for reading!

Sunday, October 25, 2020

2020-21 O-Pee-Chee Hockey (fat pack)

Not long after the NHL season ended Upper Deck releases 2020-21 set under OPC brand. Leon Draisaitl on the cover of 2020-21 OPC brand. Total of 600 cards in this set with card 501-600 as short prints. I got a fat pack from Target. 
132 - Marcus Johansson - already switched teams during the offseason. Traded to Wild for Eric Staal.
21 - Vladislav Gavrikov
491 - Ryan Ellis - got his playoff beard growing
82 - Garnet Hathaway

1 - Leon Draisaitl - OPC cover guy. Finished the season with 110 total points but with -7 in +/-

200 - Checklist
113 - Jamie Oleksiak
28 - Filip Chytil
367 - Hampus Lindholm
257 - Lars Eller
213 - Phil Kessel
393 - Jack Roslovic - likely on the move
498 - Michael Frolik - currently a free agent
313 - Filip Zadina
134 - Mats Zuccarello

488 - Will Butcher

287 - Adam Boqvist - one of two retro variation cards I got in the pack. About two retro variations come in fat pack.

180 - Kevin Labanc - will remain with team as he signed 4 year deal two weeks ago.


575 - St. Louis Blues Checklist - short print card

505 - Tyler Benson - another short print card featuring a rookie. Played 7 games in the season. Currently on loan to GCK Lions of Swish League
106 - Matt Roy
46 - Loui Eriksson - another Eriksson card as part of my accidental collection. Canucks trying to move him in the offseason
280 - Kris Letang - currently second longest tenure Penguin along with Evegeni Malkin outside of Sidney Crosby
270 - Nicolas Hague
495 - Keith Yandle
480 - Mikko Koivu - captain of the Wild
469 - James Neal - Neal wearing Oilers alternate jersey
434 - Jacob Markstrom - now a member of rival Flames signing 6 year deal in the offseason. Really Flames?
254 - Craig Smith - now with Bruins signing 3 year deal
389 - Anthony Beauvillier
30 - Marc-Edouard Vlasic - longest tenure Shark now that Joe Thornton is no longer with the team

294 - Kyle Palmieri

Good design and set as all the photos came from pre-covid games. Wait for another month on training camps and preseason before the season starts in 2021.


Sunday, October 18, 2020

2020 Topps Attax Week 7 Booster Pack

 As an add-on to a recent purchase I picked up a Week 7 Topps Attax booster "pack".  I only picked it up because it had one of favorite current Brewers in it.  The pack came packaged in a small crystal slip case and is not an actual pack.  But I know we use that term loosely here sometimes.  If you want to listen to me ramble about it you can watch me open that pack and my latest 2020 Topps Living purchase  HERE

2020 Topps Attax is an online exclusive.  You can pick up the base starter set that comes with 30 cards for $20 on Topps.com.  The set has 3 subsets: Big Leaguers, Impact Players, and Superstars.  The weekly booster packs contain 5 cards with 2 Big Leaguers, 2 Impact Players, and 1 Superstar.


Here's what you get in the Week 7 booster:

First up we have the whole reason I bought the set, Brandon Woodruff.

There are two types of backs corresponding to the league, blue for the National League and red for the American League, at least I think that's how it works.

Next up Chris Taylor for the World Series bound Dodgers.
DJ Stewart
Shane "What the hell is a" Bieber
And lastly former Tampa Bay Ray Wil Myers, ahem spelled incorrectly on the card.

The cards are super glossy, which I know doesn't come across in the scans, but that also makes them super slippery.  A nice oddball and for a $5 bill not a bad pick up depending on the week.  There are suppose to be 20 total booster packs in the works and currently Topps is up to Week 11 on the website.  





Tuesday, October 13, 2020

2020 Pokemon TCG Sword & Shield: Rebel Clash

Greetings!

Yesterday marked my 9th anniversary as an occasional poster on A Pack To Be Named Later.  Back in 2009, after following the site for several months, I decided to take the plunge and post my first pack.  Part of the reason why I started posting was to provide motivation for organizing my collection.  I'm disappointed to say that the posting hasn't done squat for my organizational efforts.  Part of it is we've moved twice since 2009, part of it is laziness, part of it is being a parent, etc.  Don't fret, though, I'll get it done one day.

Anyway, here's a non-sports pack to celebrate Year 9:


I had another pack planned but just like everything else, it was misplaced so I had to go with one of the standbys.  It's the same deal as before...my youngest likes Pokemon.  He doesn't play the game, he just likes the pictures.  The Wifey bought him a pack of the (then) current release, and I was able to take pictures of the contents before they disappeared.


Here's what one of the packs look like (the first picture was the cardboard holder).  10 cards per pack, 192 cards in the set.  Here's what he got:



#109/192 - Falinks
#143/192 - Pidove

Seems odd to me, but the first card out of the pack is an Uncommon (the diamond icon at the bottom left).  Those Pidoves seem to be a friendly lot.


#63/192 - Helioptile
#56/192 - Voltorb

Back to back Commons.  Voltorb is a...Ball Pokemon?  I thought these guys were "pocket monsters," not possessed objects.


#81/192 - Sandygast
#24/192:  Vulpix

2 more Commons.  I know there's a Funko Pop of Vulpix.  We started getting my kid the Funkos of the various Pokemon.  The collector inside me hoped he'd leave them in the box...the collector inside me weeps whenever I go into his room.


#5/192 - Shuckle (Foil)
#118/192 - Garbodor

Shuckle is an Uncommon, and part of the Parallel Set (you can see the foil on the card in some spots).  Garbodor is the Rare card from the pack.


No # - Energy
#157/192 - Cursed Shovel

Don't you hate it when your shovel is cursed?


#45/192 - Palpitoad
No # - Pokemon Online Ad

An we end on an Uncommon card of the Star Wars Emperor if he was a Pokemon.  

Anyway, that's the pack.  Yeah, I know packs of Pokemon really aren't crowd-pleasers, but hey, they count.

More later eventually.  Thanks for reading these 9 years!