2017 Leaf Originals Wrestling Box Break

2017 Leaf Originals Wrestling

Base Autograph Set: 1 out of 17

Base Set Autograph Parallel Yellow #/99: 1 out of 17
Base Set Autograph Parallel Blue #/25: 0

Base Set Autograph Parallel Red #/10: 0
Base Set Autograph Parallel Black #/1: 0




















Base Set Autographs (2014/2016): 0 out of 26
Alternate Art Autographs: 0 out of 26
Alternate Art Autographs (2014/2016): 2 out of 26

Alternate Art Autographs (2014/2016)
Yellow #/25: 0
Blue #/10: 1
Red #/5: 0
Black #/1: 0

2014 Autographed Printing Plates: 0 out of 38

What We Think:

We are a little bit underwhelmed about the signers of this set. It is disappointing that the company put signers from 2014 and 2016 into this product as well. I would have hoped that Leaf would have went out and gotten agreements with some of the biggest independent stars out there. Why not get people from Impact, PWG, AAW, and ROH if you could. And then get 10 of the retired stars that are in this product to round out the set. Just imagine if you have a Candice LaRae or a Ricochet autograph and they have just been signed to the WWE and an autograph of Manny Fernandez, Jim Ross, or Barry Windham on the next card. That would give people both the new generation and the past generations that have built wrestling.

I would have liked for a non-autographed set to be produced. I understand that they wouldn't be as collectible, but it would have been cool for a set divided into 4 generations of performers. The pre-1980's, The Monday Night Wars, The Attitude Era, and present day. 25 people from each era.

Overall Rating: 2 out of 5 Stars

2016 Panini Prestige Football Hobby Box

What We Pulled:

Base Set: 128 out of 300 (43%) 87 Veterans, 41 Rookies
     Short Print (1 out of 10): Devontae Booker
     Xtra Points Red Parallel: (2) Kevin Dodd, AJ McCarron
     Xtra Points Purple Parallel #/100: (1) Randall Cobb
     Xtra Points Black Parallel #/10: (1) Matthew Stafford

Rookie Signatures: (1 out of 99) Reggie Ragland
     Xtra Points Red Parallel: (1) Nelson Spruce
     Xtra Points Purple Parallel #/100: (1) Nate Sudfeld
   
Veteran Signatures: (0 out of 99)

All-Americans: (1 out of 15) Hunter Henry

Alma Maters: (0 out of 25), Retail Only

Banner Season: (4 out of 40): Doug Martin, Jamal Lewis, Thomas Rawls, Michael Strahan
     Ink #/50: (1) Michael Strahan

Blue Chip Recruits: (4 out of 20) Jared Goff, Leonard Floyd, Reggie Ragland, Myles Jack

Connections: (0 out of 25), Retail Only

Draft Big Board: (4 out of 20) Jarran Reed, DeForest Buckner, Vernon Hargreaves III, Myles Jack

Draft Day Signatures Blue Ink: (0 out of 39)

Draft Picks: (2 out of 35) Jack Conklin, Thomas Duarte

Hardwear: (0 out of 25), Retail Only

Inside The Numbers: (1 out of 30) Ben Roethlisberger

NFL Passport: (4 out of 20) Braxton Miller, Kenny Lawler, Jerell Adams, Sterling Shepard

NFL Shield: (1 out of 23) Demaryius Thomas

Rising Stars: (0 out of 50), Retail Only

Shirt Off My Back: (0 out of 50), Retail Only

Stars Of The NFL: (0 out of 25), Retail Only

Super Bowl Heroes: (2 out of 30) Jacoby Jones, Eli Manning

Team Logos: (1 out of 32) Drew Brees

What We Think:

The design of the card on the front is a basic design. The card brand in the upper Left hand corner with the player's name and team logo on the bottom. I like the fact that most of the pictures included in the set are action shots. The back of the card has the veteran cards the front side picture of the player in black and white with the logo of the team imposed onto the picture. I usually don't like just the last year stats and career totals on the card, but it fits with this set. The rookies have the same set up, but without the team logo.

We listed 18 insert sets. That are a few too many. 6 are Retail Only. And while I recognize that sometimes the Retail Sales of cards help a company get rid of their product, it still means that if there is a collector out there that wants all the insert sets, they will either have to buy retail and hobby packs and/or boxes. Otherwise they will have to find people who buy the one that they don't. And out of those 18 insert sets, you have all the parallels to those sets. That is just too many to try and complete all the sets. Finally, only Hobby packs have Autographs and Retail packs have the Material cards. I am torn about whether or not I like that concept.

Base Design: 3.5 out of 5
Autographs: 3 out of 5
Insert Pulls: 2.5 out of 5
Memorabilia: N/A

Overall: 3 out of 5

Agents of Shield Season Two Box

2015 Agents of Shield Season Two Trading Cards

Base Set: 72 Cards
Set Completion: 100% (72 out of 72)
Base Set Duplicate Cards: 58% (40 out of 72)

Base Set Card

Parallel Cards: Gold #/100
Parallel Set Completion: 1% (1 out of 72)

Insert Sets:
Autographs: 43 Cards
Autographs Set Completion: 5% (Ming-Na Wen, Ric Sarabia) Both Bordered

Archives Box Exclusive Autographs: 9 Cards
Archives Box Exclusive Autographs Set Completion: 0%

Agents of Shield (1:24 Packs): 9 Cards
Agents of Shield Set Completion:  11% (Bobbi Morse)

Art of Evolution (1:24 Packs) 12 Cards
Art of Evolution Set Completion: 8% (The Dirty Half Dozen)

Costume Set (1:24 Packs): 17 Cards
Costume Set Completion: 6% (Agent Skye Tactical Uniform Cowl #/425)

Gifted Index (1:24 Packs): 18 Cards
Gifted Index Set Completion: 6% (Jiaying)

Bobbi Morse Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Insert Card

Sketch (1:864 Packs)
Sketch Card Pulled: 0

Review:

I liked the base set. The card set is broken down into three card subsets. The first three cards of the set break down the episode titles and what date they aired. Almost the rest of the base set are synopsis for each episode. Each episode gets 3 cards with pictures on the front and the breakdown of the episode on the back. The last three cards form a cast shot with the checklist on the back. The formula isn't anything special, but for me, it does the job of telling the story of the season real well.

For the inserts, I am happy with what I received. 2 autos and a piece card is what I expect. The Autographs have different levels. Scarce, Extremely Limited, and Very Limited. Although actual print runs are not known, the Scarce autos are under 100 cards, Extremely Limited are 100 to 200, and Very Limited are 200 to 300 cards. They are on card autographs as well., There are bordered and full-bleed autographs for almost all the actors that signed. The piece of costume is a small circular piece of cloth which is normal. The Agents of Shield insert set cards look like publicity photos, so that is a little disappointing.

Overall, I would get another box of these cards if the price was right. A good card set that captures what the TV show does.

Rating: 7 out of 10.

Ming-Na Wen Autograph Card

2014 UFC Champions Box Break

What We Pulled:

Cards Per Pack: 10
Packs Per Box: 24
Cards Expected: 200
Cards Received: 190

Base Set Completion: 76% (152 out of 200)
Duplicates: 8

Inserts:
Fight Night Highlights: (7) Lesnar vs. Carwin, Garcia vs. Jung, Liddell vs. Silva, Mir vs. Lesnar, Guillard vs. Miller, Silva vs. Franklin, Whittaker vs. Thompson
Octagon Greats: (6) Chuck Liddell, Demetrious Johnson, Jose Aldo, Johny Hendricks, Renan Barao, Rich Franklin
Topps Parallel Black #/188: (6) Jake Ellenberger, Jason High, Liz Carmouche, Issac Vallie-Flagg, Rodrigo Damm, Ross Pearson
Topps Parallel Blue #/88: (4) Francis Carmont, Bobby Green, Alex White, Raquel Pennington

Topps Gold Champions Predictor #/25: (1) Brandon Thatch
Topps Parallel Platinum #1/1: (1) Ricardo Lamas
Topps Autograph Red Ink #/15: (1) Stipe Miocic
Topps Autograph Relics: (1) Zach Maxovsky
Topps Relics: (2) Cain Velazquez, Rafael Dos Anjos
Topps Mat Relics: (1) Chris Weidman

Opening Thought:

I like the design of the front of the cards. The name of the fighter is close to the edge of the card, the Champions logo is in the corner and the pictures are of the fighters in the octagon. Some during the fight, some before or after a fight. The fighters that have been newly signed to the UFC are also annotated on the front of the cards. The back of the cards have basic personal stats for the fighter, their twitter handle, and a blurb about the fighter.

The value from this box is there. Getting over 70% of the base set is a pleasant surprise. There are at least 10 parallels in each box. I don't like runaway parallels, but they weren't a distraction in this set. The mat cards are good, and I hope there are some out there that show actual use. The material cards aren't worth much, and Topps might want to put some multi-colored swatches in for more variety. If I were in charge of the product, there would be more autographs. If you have 200 fighters, you can get more fighters than 49 to sign cards. The rest of the inserts are more of the garden variety type.






Even though I know that I will not get all my money back from selling these cards, I feel like it was a good product. I didn't pull the big hits and that is part of card collecting.

Overall Judgment:

If Topps and the UFC continue to produce products like this, it will help with the popularity of UFC. The monetary value isn't there, but the 5 pulls that you receive in each box, combined with the parallels will make you want to see what else is in the box. You want to build a set of base cards, then two boxes is probably what you will need. The small amount of duplicates helps me with feeling good with this product. The inserts are OK. you might need to do more hunting than hoping you can pull the ones you need in a box to complete those insert sets. I would make the parallels stand out a little more than they do but that is a minor thing. I would say get yourself a box and see if you can get that big hit and also enjoy these cards.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Retro Box Break: 2013 Rookies and Stars Longevity

What We Pulled:

Cards Per Pack: 5
Packs Per Box: 10
Cards Expected: 50
Cards Received: 54

Base Set Completion: 35% (35 out of 100)
Rookies: 10 (1 per pack) Dion Jordan, Mike Glennon, Christine Michael, Tyrann Mathieu, Bjoern Werner, Jawan Jamison, Onterio McCalebb, Denard Robinson, Matt Elam, Kenny Stills

Inserts:

Freshman Orientation Materials: (3) Geno Smith, Denard Robinson,Robert Woods
Cross Training Materials: (1) Markus Wheaton
Longevity Ruby: (4) Josh Freeman, Jordan Poyer, Santonio Holmes, Steadman Bailey
Longevity Emerald: (1) A.J. Green #/5

Opening Thought:

I do like the design of the front of the cards. The team logo and Last Name of the player on the team color down the left side of the card sets it apart from other cards. The veteran cards have action photos while the Rookies do have some shots of the players during training camp. The back of the cards are nothing too special. The last year stats, the career stats, and a blurb about the player.

The value from this box wasn't there. The material cards aren't worth much, although all 4 were colored, not white. The Emerald card helps because it is semi-star. The rookies didn't pan out.

Best card pulled: A.J. Green #/5
Worst Pull of the Box: Longevity Ruby of Josh Freeman

There are 21 parallels and insert sets in this release. You have Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald and Signature parallels for lots of the cards. That is too many for a release like this. But all the parallels are a staple of Panini products.

Overall Judgment:

I understand that each and every box that you buy is a crapshoot. There are boxes that will wow you and there are boxes that leave you feeling ripped off. Amazingly, this box was somewhere in the middle. If you go by value only, you would be the latter. But I like the design of the cards, there is a rookie in every pack, and there are 4 hits in each and every box. It would have been better if there was 1 guaranteed Auto in each box, but it was not meant to be. This isn't for a set builder, but for those that feel lucky. If you spend more than $50 on a box, you have overspent. But enjoy the cards and hopefully the pack gods smile upon you.

Rating: 2.5 out of 5.

Retro Box Break - 2012-13 Panini Certified Hockey

What We Pulled:

Packs: 10
Cards Per Pack: 5
Cards Expected: 50
Cards Received: 51

Base Set Completion: 41% (41 out of 100 Base Cards)
Duplicates: 0

Inserts:
Masked Marvels: 1 - Cam Ward #/999
Base Set Blue Parallel: 1- Nicklas Lidstrom #/99
Immortals: 1 - Mario Lemieux #/999
Immortals Mirror Hot Box: 1 - Gordie Howe #/75
Path To The Cup Conference Semifinals: 1 - Shea Weber/Mike Smith #/299
Fabrics of the Game: 1 - Simon Gagne #/299
Fabrics of the Game Mirror Hot Box: 2 - Scott Clemmensen, Frans Nielsen #/75
Freshman Signature Rookies: 1 - Chay Genoway #/999
Certified Redemption Rookie: 1 - R3 #/499

Our Thoughts:

Design

Nothing spectacular. A simple design with the name across the bottom woth the Certified logo in the lower right hand corner with an arc of color in the background. The player is featured on the rest of the card with the background foiled out for the base set. The back has a blurb about the player, the last 4 years of stats and career totals. The inserts are about the same excitement. Not much to differentiate them from other releases that Panini puts out.

Player Selection

The base 100 card selection is for the larger hyped players. The insert sets do a good job of highlighting different players and some past greats. This is satisfactory.

Inserts

I like that there isn't tons of insert sets that you might want to chase. In each insert set though, they have usually put in at least 20 cards which means hunting around to find that elusive single card to complete the subset. The parallels are held to 5 of each card.

Price

I found this box for around $40 without hunting too hard. For the price, I might think about purchasing another box. In this box, I did receive a redemption for a Certified Rookie Redemption of R3. Jonathan Huberdeau from the Florida Panthers. The redemption date has expired. For what I received, a $35-$40 price range is about right.

Final Thoughts:

I did receive the Rookie Redemption of  R3. Jonathan Huberdeau from the Florida Panthers but it expired a year ago. I hate redemption cards. If you want to include rookies, then hold off releasing the sets until they have signed and you can produce the cards. Otherwise, it is a solid but unspectacular release. If the big hit out of the packs is a Simon Gagne piece of jersey and you can still halfways like the product, then you know that it is a good thing. I am thinking about completing the base set just because.

Box Value: 3 out of 5.

2013-14 Panini Titanium Hockey

What We Pulled:

Packs: 5
Cards Per Pack: 4
Cards Expected: 20
Cards Received: 20

Base Set Completion: 14% (14 out of 100 cards)
Duplicates: 0

Inserts:
Commons Hobby Jersey Number Parallel: 1 - Sergei Bobrovsky #/72
Titanium Reserve Autograph: 1- Ryan Hamilton
Game Worn Gear: 1 - Kaspars Daugavins
Game Worn Gear Dual: 1 - MacInnis/Shattenkirk #/300
Game Worn Gear Prime: 1 - Steven Stamkos #/50
Game Worm Gear Patch: 1 - Pat Falloon #/25

Our Thoughts:

Design

Simple design of the base set cards. The name and team are on one side with the Titanium logo overlapping into the picture of the player. The backs have the last year and career totals along with a little blurb about the player. Standard stuff here.

Player Checklist

With only 100 cards, the more hyped players are in the base set. The Rookie Cards being serial numbered to their Jersey number and basically being inserted 1 per case makes them a find if you do get one, which I did not. A satisfactory product from this perspective.

Inserts

Way too many for a product like this. 44 insert sets or parallels, with another 4 if you include the printing plates. The designs for the inserts that I have seen are lack luster and don't do anything much for me.

Price

This product came out with much fanfare and way over priced. I purchased this box at around $50. I still believe that it was not worth that amount. If I am going to get hockey cards, I want legends and today's players, not borderline players from a decade ago. Pat f'n Falloon in a Penguins jersey?! Makes me shake my head.

Final Thoughts:

Ugh. This was tough to stomach. The One Memorabilia/Autograph per pack is a lure but that is all there is here. There wasn't much thought put into the design. The 1 rookie per case on average is going to scare off collectors. Way too many inserts that you will never collect the entire subset. Panini did not do a good job with this release. If you can find boxes cheap, it might give you a little bit of satisfaction, but otherwise find something else.

Box Value: 1.5 out of 5.