The Grady Chronicles:Mosaic Soccer

We dive right in today to another part in my reader Grady M box showoff.

And when I say box, it's a heavy back breaking box filled with inserts, team cards, let's say about a medium flat rate size full of treasures. 

The treasures within cover a multitude of sports including the main four, WWE and even today's sport, soccer.

I don't know many soccer players at all as it's not a sport I watch, but once again, it is a sport I will take cards of regardless.

Especially shiny ones.

Today's shiny ones are brought to you by Mosaic.

Silver Mosaic

Green?

Every time I see a pink card, I think maybe, just maybe I should do a daily post like Collecting Cutch in October.

Some other form of silver. I am terrible at these parallels.

 

Silver again

I tried my best to capture these shiny goods without using my lightbox, guess maybe next time I should.

I Don't Know Who You Are, But I Like You

Long time friend of the blog, Grady M hit me up again with some awesomeness in a box. You have no idea how much I look forward to receiving a mail day from him.

It's always a big-packed-to-the-rim box of inserts, parallels, above the notch shiny goodness that makes you feel you are on a treasure hunt.

Today, I kick off what I expect to be many posts on this box of goodies. It cannot all be captured in one post, impossible.

Today's part of the mail day is soccer. A sport I know absolutely nothing about player wise, but a sport that has some stunning cards which is the main reason I hold onto them.

Especially if they are as shiny as today's cards I am about to show off,

I assume all of these came out of Chronicles, those are some great looking cards. The stars in the background really make them standout.

Merlin the wizard definitely put a spell and made these look amazing.

Life is better with Prizm in it.

Mosaic was so underrated in my opinion in the world of chromed cards.

But cards that look this good, I think they make a name for themselves in the same group as Prizm and Chrome.

Spectra and Select bring the wacky purple shiny to your eyes to dazzle them.

Thanks to Grady for the shiny soccer.

There is plenty more from this box of inserts to show off. Stay tuned!

REVIEW:2017 Stadium Club Soccer

Soccer fans get excited! Stadium Club is making it's appearance in 2017 for your sport.

For those that are big SC fans, we all know what to expect from the line, amazing photography which was provided in this product that's for sure.

But, let's take a closer look at what Stadium Club soccer has to offer.

Every box of 2017 Stadium Club soccer comes with 16 Packs with 8 Cards Per Pack. You will also find two autographs per box with boxes running currently $45 and under. So a pretty solid deal on these right now.

The base set has the usual full bleed photography and some shots are really cool. The only disappointment for me was the names and Stadium Club logo do not have the touch of foil like with baseball. I think it adds to the appeal.

The base set is only 100 cards of stars of today and tomorrow. So not too tough of a chase.

Here are a few of my favorite images. Love the snow one.

 

The rookie cards aren't labeled on the front of the card which is a bother to me, but the backs state whether they have played in the MLS yet.

The 20 SSP cards come with the same design as the base cards but with a different photo. According to Beckett, the code ends in 541, it’s a base card. If it ends with 557, it’s a variation. However, this Jordan Morris has been a mystery cards that ends 7010. He is on the checklist for a variation, but this particular card was supposed to be a base card not the variation. I can only assume it's a Topps printing error.

There are parallels to be found as well in Stadium Club. Golds fall 1:8 packs.

Black and White can be had in 1:4 packs.

There is also Member's Only, Sepia and First Day Issue parallels as well.

Scoreless Streak insert falls 1:8 packs is for the best goalies in the game! These come with parallels as well in Members Only which I did pull one, the bottom card, at 1:293 odds. I didn't spot it at first til I re-sorted them. There is also a Sepia parallel as well.

A throwback to me from Donruss Studio type approach, Profiles well, shows the profiles of the top players in the game! These fall 1:4 and have Members Only and Sepia parallels as well.

Now time for the hits!

My box provided with me with two base card autograph pulls.

 

These are sticker autos in case you were wondering. Sticker Autographs still don't bother me.

The base card autographs have parallels of, Black and White, Members Only,and First Day Issue.

Other hits not found in my box include, Lone Star Signatures and Co-Signers. Both are long time collector favorites in the brand.

OVERALL, If you are a soccer fan, for $45 why not take the gamble here? Decent signers, great photography and a pretty simple clean product. Even if you are not a soccer fan but love SC, take the gamble. I can't give you a reason not to.

Please make sure to take a minute out to thank Topps for providing this box for me to review as they help provide prizes for me to giveaway in the MLB Pick Em Promotion! Follow Topps on all social media sites and visit their SITE, as well

2017 MLB Pick Em Prize For June

Two months are over in this promo and two prizes have been giving away while the other is building up big time with inserts and hits galore! That prize will be for the one who can MLB Pick Em Champ. But, it's never too late to join to be that as some twists and turns later in the game may take place. So spread the word.

Anyways, I posted the picks for the first week of June earlier today. Everyone has a clean slate for the June prize but have their points from April, May saved for the overall promo in those standings. June and beyond earned points will be added to those.

But, with a clean slate, that means anyone can enter to win this prize pack for the month of June,

 

 

 

A Kellyn Acosta autograph along with BCW Toploaders and sleeves for Thick Cards along with some team set bags. Quite the prize if I say so.

There is only one way to win it however, join in on the June MLB Pick Em!

REVIEW:2017 Topps MLS (1:441 pull)

GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAALLLLL!

2017 Topps Soccer is on the shelves folks and waiting for you to pick up a box or two if you are a fan of the sport or a fan of collecting the sport. This years version tries to stay to it's roots of past releases except for the base design that got a total remake.

Is it a good move? Did I hit it big? Well, you gotta read on!

Each box of 2017 Topps Soccer comes with 24 packs with 8 cards per pack. Boxes will provide 2 autographs and one jumbo relic per and prices per box run on average $75. A typical price you would find for this amount of hits.

The base card design that went from bold and colorful, took a step back to white and player focused. It's not a bad look in my opinion, even though for me, I would have preferred the baseball design here with the added action photography.

The base set is built of 190 cards and contains rookies, under 24, team cards and first cards of league newcomers Atlanta United FC and Minnesota United FC.

 

As with most Topps releases, there are base card variations to find. I only knew I had one because this card was backwards in the pack which usually means it's a hit. These aren't a one-per-box type of pull anymore either, I think I got 4 in my break last year, these fall at 1:46 packs or basically one-in two boxes.

These have parallels as well.

 

Parallels are in every product including this one. I pulled three blues /99 that fall 1:7 packs and an orange /25 that falls 1:28 packs. There is also red /10 and black 1/1's to be found.

 

The inserts this year in Topps MLS are done well. There aren't too many and the designs are solid. This is the way to do inserts instead of over flooding a product. These are Back of the Net that fall 1:4 packs and have parallels to find as well.

 

Give and Go is a two sided insert that features each team's respective best player combinations. These fall 1:8 packs.

 

And a new addition is the 1987 inserts. These fall 1:8 packs as well.

 

All of the above inserts have parallels of orange, red and black.

Now onto the hits.

Up first, the jumbo relic. I would have liked to seen this a bit more jumbo and maybe with some dirt on it. Overall, design isn't bad.

 

Autographs in this product can be found done in the base card design and have parallels to find as well of Orange, Red and Black like all of the hits.

 

The big boom of the box came in autograph form of the 1987 design. This card looks awesome signed. I wished it was on-card but still pretty cool. These are found at a tough rate of 1:441 odds and are numbered to 25.

 

Other hits I didn't find are, Museum Collection MLS Autograph Relics and Faces of the Franchise Autographs.

 

OVERALL, not a bad break for the price. The Museum Collection autograph relics look nice from what I saw. There are some solid autographs on the checklist to find as well. If you are a fan of soccer or collecting the cards, I would say this is a great place to start. Price isn't shabby either and I felt my hits and insert pulls in this box warrant another break.

Please make sure to take a minute out to thank Topps for providing this box for me to review and to be able to add cards to the MLB Pick Em promotion. Yes, I do know these are soccer, but I really want to pad that lot! Follow Topps on all social media sites and visit their site, as well.

Review:2016 Spectra Soccer

Soccer fans will finally get their first taste of Spectra this year with the 2016 release. The product known for it's shiny-goodness finally turns over to the other "football".

However, it comes with a very hefty price tag.

Read on to see my thoughts on the product.

In every box of 2016 Spectra Soccer, there are no packs. All of the cards are put into a small box for you to open. You will find 10 cards with half of those being hits and a couple others being parallels. The boxes,well I didn't know this til I did my research on it run for $320. Yes, you read that right. I would have worn rubber gloves had I known. By far the most expensive box I have ever opened.

The base cards are simply beautiful. Chrome refractor appeal. At least a 72 pt thickness on these and all cards. The base set is also 100 cards deep so it would be a huge challenge to finish.

The parallels are pretty stunning as well. Coming in with colors of Neon Blue #/75, Pink #/25, Orange #/10, and Gold 1/1.

There are also stunning die cut parallels. They have parallels as well of Red #/65, Purple #/35, Green #/5, and Black 1/1.

 

Now time for the hits!

 

Here is the Swatches. Nice looking cards and they have parallels of Neon Blue #/75 or #/35, Pink #/25 or #/15, Orange #/10 and Gold 1/1.

 

Next is International Fabrics. Mine is a pretty sweet looking parallel. The parallels range of Neon Blue #/75 or less, Pink #/25, Orange #/10, and Gold 1/1.

Autographs look just as good as the memorabilia does on this type of design. These as well have parallels of Red #/65 or less, Pink #/25 or #/15, Orange #/10, Gold 1/1.

Both of my autos were base ones. But you can find soccer stars from the past, present and future and you can look for new signers that include Anthony Martial, Lukasz Fabianski, Patrice Evra, Neymar Jr. and more

 

This is simply the Signatures Set. These as well have parallels of Red #/65 , Pink #/25, Orange #/10, Gold 1/1.

Other hits not found in my box include SUPERSTAR JERSEY AUTOGRAPHS, YOUNG STARS JERSEY AUTOGRAPHS GOLD and ILLUSTRIOUS LEGENDS.  You can look for autographs from legends of the game like Pele and Diego Maradona, current superstars Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi, and future stars Anthony Martial and Alvaro Morata.

Overall, Panini has a solid following for their soccer products and if you are lucky enough to pull one of the big name autographs, you will be as the saying goes "sitting pretty". But, if your box fails as from my research mine did, you might be saying a few words your kids might now want to hear.

Any high end product is a risk. But, one for $300+ plus is a bigger one. Personally, I would never spend that much on a box no matter the sport or brand. I prefer picking up 6 $50 boxes if I was going to spend that kinda money. Less risk and more hits. But, that's just the type of collector I am. 

But, I will say, for a very high end product Panini did a great job with the product appeal and they do have a solid list of signers. For the cost however, my expectation was higher. I would expect at least a 1/1 per box in order to guarantee some kind of value.

I hate being brutally honest as I don't wanna scare you away if you are a big time soccer collector as the product looks great and as big potential hits, but I want to say proceed with caution.

By the way, make sure you thank Panini America for this review box and for the future giveaway. Check out their site for products like this one and others. Also give an extra thanks to Tracy Hackler and give him a Twitter follow too! Tell him Sport Card Collectors sent ya!

Stay tuned for some card giveaways from this product!