Breakin Wax:2023-24 Prizm Basketball Value Pack

 Hello! Glad to have you back to read today's post.

Today is the second of the two packs that I bought and overpaid for on eBay using a gift card that I earned from Fetch. Details on the Fetch app is at the end of the post and hopefully you will sign up yourself and earn gift cards!

Anyways, this past basketball card season was all about WEMBY WEMBY WEMBY. It was being shoved down our throats and no product screams you need a Wemby from it more than Prizm. Prizm is still the heavy hitter when it comes to base rookie cards. The Wemby I believe for a base rookie still goes for $30-$35. It was up to $100 upon release.

But still, for a base rookie with nothing special about it, it's a good one.

I snagged this Value pack of Prizm hoping to beat the odds and pull one.

The value packs come with 15-cards which isn't much for the $17 I put into it. However, I was impressed that it wasn't just all base cards with a couple parallels.

I pulled a couple of base rookies, not Wemby so have no idea if they are any good.

Also three rookie inserts, not Wemby, but one is a silver.

 

And three Red, White and Blue parallels, not Wemby, but there was a Curry so there's that. Curry was probably the highlight of the pack.

I felt better about this break than I did the Bowman one. But still, rough for the price.

Before I end today's post, if you download the Fetch app to start earning points by simply SCANNING RECIEPTS you throw away, please use my referral code so I can earn points for doing so. Use code 8TB9M when you download the app and it asks if you were referred. Thank you so much in advance!!

The Grady Bunch

Grady M has been a long time reader of Sport Card Collectors and follower of my Facebook page. I just recently brought back my Facebook page and renamed it Cards Over Coffee in case you are interested in following it. I post mail days on there you won't see on here. Same goes for Instagram and Twitter for Cards Over Coffee.

Grady recently mailed one of his goodie boxes that he sends my way a few times a year and I couldn't have been happier. These boxes are always loaded with fun/shiny items from a variety of sports. Sometimes there are even some surprises.

I opened the box and placed all of the contents inside of a box lid so I can go through it card by card and sort as I go.

It took me quite awhile to go through all of this and I will start to post some, not all, of the fun discoveries within. I could never get them all up on here. But, the ones I have chosen to show will still take a couple of posts.

You can also check out a few of the cards I wrote about over Cards Over Coffee that you can read, here, Trying The Off Brand

I can't wait to start showing some of this off starting next week. So come back if this kinda thing intrigues you, even if it doesn't, please come back anyways.

Have a great day!

The Panini Virus

The Panini Virus was created at the 2020 NBA Draft. It was set in motion and slowly started spreading...and spreading...and spreading until now where it has become a pandemic of concern.

Card collectors are racing to their local retail outlets looking for the supplies before it hits them but the virus has spread so fast that the supplies are either low or completely out. It has those who have caught the virus or could get it questioning if they should be overpaying just to have the supplies on hand just in case.

I have been in the hobby for over 25 years and I have never seen something like this. EVER. Panini NBA products this season have been insane all over the board. From Hoops to Prizm, they are hotter than Cindy Crawford in the 90's.

Collectors who haven't ever collected basketball or did at one point but no longer, are collecting it and can't explain it. Those who have collected basketball are loving it and those who don't even collect basketball are catching the virus as well just to flip it.

The virus spread so quickly even I wasn't prepared for it and caught some of it myself. You just don't know why or how you get it, you just do.

It has spread so much that its even hit my local Walmarts. NOBODY, I mean NOBODY (okay maybe like five people that I don't know) here collects. I can usually go in and find whatever I want in retail locations and that even includes those Topps Series 1 tins that everybody is going bananas for. I found at least 20 of those that nobody is touching including myself. But, I have spent the last month just looking for a pack of Optic and it has never been seen after three different Walmarts.

So on Friday I went to my local Walmart for necessities and it was a sad, sad sight. There wasn't a SINGLE pack, rack pack, blaster, mega box of basketball cards in existence. That's insane. I have never seen cards sell like that.

EVERYTHING was so empty. My guess is either someone is driving the distance knowing they could flip the boxes/packs or the very few scattered collectors here are just buying it to flip themselves.

My local Dollar Tree even had 100's of the NBA Hoops and Absolute packs, SOLD OUT. I went to grab a few more from there a few weeks ago and there wasn't a single thing.

It's exciting to see the hobby doing well, but at the same time frustrating. I see so many collectors especially on Twitter who buy out the whole retail shelf of product to flip for twice as much leaving us collectors who want to open up the product for fun with nothing. I am sorry, I won't pay twice the price for a box. I will just hang my head down in sadness instead.

Part of the virus I have caught is not like others. I have caught the RJ Barrett strain. For some reason or another, I am having a blast collecting him. I have yet to see him ever play or even know much about him other than he played for two of the basketball teams I used to support when I watched basketball.

Stay tuned for my Barrett collection I will post soon.

Fortunately for me, my basketball wasn't completely empty handed in the past month. I was able to bust a pack of basketball recently thanks to a contest win on Facebook.

Ages 9+...hmmm....do I qualify....

Here's the rip. Nothing to jump in excitement over.

It helped calm the virus down just for that day. That's it.

But when the fever returns, you have to cool it down. Not sure how I will yet with nothing in existence for basketball packs or boxes to open.

I am not sure how long this virus will continue for with basketball season winding down. Will it continue on all summer until next season starts? End when the season does? It's too hard to predict at this moment. All I hope is that I can keep my spread of the virus contained with Barrett, because I don't want to share what I am finding.

REVIEW:2019-2020 Contenders Basketball

Well, well, well. I had no idea when I busted this box to review of Contenders how hot the product was. No idea. It's so hot that the original pricing for hobby boxes I believe was under $200 but now appears they are selling up towards anywhere twice plus t right now.

This will be the first year in a long time I haven't opened any Contenders football with no such chance in sight, but at least I got a taste of my favorite Panini product and their popular autographed tickets with basketball.

Guess it's time for you to sit back and see why this product is so hot.

In every box of Contenders basketball 2019-2020,  you will find 12 packs per box with 10 cards per pack. Boxes will have 2 autographs, much lower than the six there used to be, and boxes can run you up to $400+.

BASE:

Typical layout design for the base this year with Contenders sticking with the ticket theme like it has for many years.

(Card Back) There are 100 base cards in the set and the set consists of veterans.

PARALLELS

Find the following parallels,

TICKET PARALLELS: Playoff /199, Semifinal /149, The Finals /65, Conference Finals /125, Cracked Ice /25, Championship 1/1, Printing Plates 1/1.

GAME TICKET PARALLELS: Green, Red, Blue /99, Purple /49.

 Playoff Ticket /199

Conference Finals /125. I like the rainbow shine on these

INSERTS:

 Lottery Ticket has 14 cards to collect. They have a Hyper parallel look to them.

Team Quads looks like the other inserts in the product. 30 to collect of your teams four best players. NOt sure how they found four on my Knicks.

 Rookie Of The Year Contenders. Couldn't find info on how many in this set.

Superstar Die Cuts has 10 cards to collect and yes, really cool die cut.

HITS:

Dylan Windler....who? I didn't know til I Googled him. Was the 26th overall pick in the draft and is out for the season with a leg injury.

Nickeil Alexander-Walker The Finals autograph ticket /49. He was the 17th pick in the NBA draft and averages 6 points a game.

Other hits not in my box but could be in yours include...

• Rookie Ticket Swatches Autographs
• Veteran Season Ticket Autographs
• Veteran Season Ticket Stub Autographs
• Contenders Autographs
• Legendary Contenders Autographs
• MVP Contenders Autographs
• Sophomore Contenders Autographs
• Kobe Bryant Autographs
• 2018 Contenders Extras
• Rookie Ticket Swatches
• Rookie Ticket Dual Swatches 

OVERALL THOUGHTS: Well, I am and always have been a fan of this strong product but cutting back to two autographs and paying close to $400 for a box is scary. My box didn't even reach $100 in value. it's all apart of the hobby gamble though as there is plenty of content that could lead to a big payoff now or one later on.

It's not particularly one this blogger will take but it's always fun to rip a box of Contenders.

Please thank the WONDERFUL people at Panini America for providing me with this box to review for some upcoming giveaways. Here are many places you can find Panini America: official site, blog, Twitter, and Facebook.   

REVIEW:2019-2020 Panini Origins Basketball

I have always liked Origins when it came to football cards a few years back, my only complaint about the release was the use of 00 jersey numbers on the rookies. I have never busted a basketball break of it before. But, one is to assume, that 00 jerseys don't exist in basketball other than being a number so I was pretty excited about being able to give a box a go.

Especially with this years strong rookie class led by Zion and Morant.

Let's see how my first break of Origins goes.

Every box of 2019-2020 Origins comes with one pack with 7 cards per pack. There will be two hits per box with a mixture of autographs and relics. Boxes remain high because of the strong rookie class and can be found $120-$150 so a tad of a high end product.

BASE CARDS.

The base have the "artsy" look to them with team colors specific. I think it blends well together.

 

The card backs however are a tad bland and have no statistics of the player featured. I personally am a man of numbers so I like to see stats on my cards.

There are 90 cards overall in the base set including rookies and veterans.

 

My second base card. I was a little disappointed he wasn't featured in a Pelicans uniform.

 

Rookie card find.

PARALLELS

The parallels were at first hard to find, but it has to do with the coloring behind the player. Instead of white, you will find a color and possibly some numbering.

 Here is a red parallel. The name is also in a rainbow foil

 Blue /99

Here are the other parallels you can find within the product, Red, Blue /99, Orange /75, Pink /35, Turquoise /25, Purple FOTL /21, Gold /10, Green /5, and Black 1/1.

HITS:

My first hit is this....WHAT IN THE SAM HILL.... on card autograph? smudge? a few dots and a line? is this in code? Anyways, you should get one on card autograph per box

My second hit was this blue Rookie Jersey autograph of Jordan Poole. This is a Turquoise /25

Other hits not found my box but could be in yours includes,

• Rookie Autographs Set Checklist
• Autographs Set
• Rookie Auto Booklet Patch
• Six Star Signatures
• Origins Memorabilia
• Rookie Jumbo Jerseys

OVERALL THOUGHTS: Well, at least I saved some good hits for you guys by breaking this one. The box was rough, but I like what I see from the product overall. Solid design throughout and some big names to hit for both rookies and veterans. I always like it when a product has some solid veteran content so you are not mainly focused on rookies.

You can Google a checklist to see the overall look at the product. I can't seem to locate one on their website to link you to.

Please thank the WONDERFUL people at Panini America for providing me with this box to review for some upcoming giveaways. Here are many places you can find Panini America: official site, blog, Twitter, and Facebook.  

CARDBOARD REVIEW:2019-2020 Certified Basketball (Big Hit!!)

Basketball cards are really hot this season with this explosive rookie class. I can't remember a time since the 90's that basketball cards have been talked about as much as they have. It's good to see especially since there are no NBA autographs on the market of MJ or LeBron since Upper Deck owns their rights.

One of my favorite football products has been long term staple in the basketball world as well in Certified. I have always liked the appeal.

I didn't get to bust any Certified football this year unfortunately, but I did do a basketball break and it was well worth it. Let's check out the hits I pulled...

In every box of 2019-2020 Certified Basketball, there are 10 packs of 5 cards each. Each box comes with two autographs, used to be four hits I believe, and boxes currently run a little steep at $130. That's what a strong rookie class will do for you.

BASE:

There are 200 cards in the main base set with 150 of them being veteran players. It was odd not to see the legends in it anymore.

There are also 50 rookies as well that makes up the tail end of the base set. I haven't had much luck this year in finding Zion like many others have.

PARALLELS:
Here is an overall look at the parallel cards you can find in this years Certified,
Blue, Red, Orange /99, Camo /25, Gold /10, Green /5, and Black 1/1

 Mirror Blue, RJ Barrett!!!!!

Mirror Red

Mirror Orange /99

INSERTS:
Most inserts have the following parallels,
Camo /25, Gold /10, Green /5, and Black 1/1.

Raise The Banner has 30 celebration cards

 Certified Gold Team, these are golden shine, with 30 cards to collect

And these beauties with 30 to collect. I really like these a lot. Takes me back to the 90's.

HITS

 Freshman Fabric autograph jersey

Rookie Roll Call camo parallel /25!! NIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIICCCEE.

Other hits not found in my box but could be in yours are,

• Ballot Busters Autographs
• Certified Signatures
• Established Autographs
• Fabric of the Game Signatures Red
• Fresh Faces Signatures
• Legendary Signatures

OVERALL THOUGHTS:
Well obviously this was a solid box, not all boxes may be this good but it's all apart of the hobby gamble.  I do like the designs throughout the product and may be one of the better looking Certified products I have seen in awhile.

Box price is steep for two hits, but if you sit and wait a bit it may drop. Another great thing about this product is the strong veteran content it has as well as it doesn't just rely on rookie content like a lot of products. That's the kind of products I like.

Wanna use a breaker, I strongly recommend using Midwest Box Breaks for your breaking needs. They are always hitting the big pulls so if they are breaking this, you could put yourself in a good spot. They also SHIP ALL CARDS! Get what you pay for!

SAVE 10% on your next break with Midwest!! Just use code SCCBLOG to do so. Don't miss out on those big hits any longer! Code ends at the end of the year!

Please thank Panini America and Tracy Hackler for providing this box for me to review to giveaway Autographs, some of the hits in a BIG CHRISTMAS GIVEAWAY coming up soon!!! Please follow them on all social media sites and visit their website for all your card needs, HERE.