Review: Panini Past And Present Basketball 2012-2013

First off, I would like to say thanks to the WONDERFUL people at Panini America for providing us with this box to review. Here are many places you can find Panini America: official site, blog, Twitter, and Facebook. If you don't follow them at all..you should! They talk to you on Twitter, have contests on their blog and Facebook and the site is also fun to visit!

Box Break Down:

• 20 Packs Per Box, 6 Cards Per Pack
• Each box contains 3 Autographs!
• Vintage base card designs! Cutting edge inserts!
• Collect the 250-card base set!
• Find RC's of Irving, A. Davis, and Lillard!
• around $75 a box 

  

BASE CARDS: Just like last years design, the classic appeal, feel and even smell to the cards was brought back. Yup, its true, you actually can smell a classic scent. Once again, my eyes are drawn to the cards. I like the four subsets that make up this set.  I think they are fun, eye catchy and groovy as they bring you back to the 60's and 70's era. Once in awhile its nice to take a trip back to the past with the present ...yes pun intended. 

This is the breakdown of the base card set:

250-CARD BASE SET

50-CARD BASE VARIATIONS SET

The only disappointment here was in our box the lack of big name rookies with about one falling per pack you expect at least a couple in a box. Most rookies were ones we hadn't heard of with a few mixed in smaller names.

This kind of base card set is fun for people of all ages.And it would be a very fun one to put together.

 

INSERTS: For me, this product is all about the inserts baby! There are variations of the base cards  Its like the base card in terms but has a diagonal line and different color scheme. These are tough pulls that seem to fall one per box. Here is the one we got:

What I love about the inserts other than the newly added Cracked Ice with the insert Shattered (I really enjoy these) cards is the feel. Thats right...you can truly feel them. The Headbands and NBA Championship ones have a felt feel to them. Raining 3's is part gloss and part not gloss. They not only reminds me of 90's inserts with the creativity, they also remind me of a children's book. You know the ones where you can feel the pigs or the hay bails and so on. I really dig that and it brings more to the cards than just a piece of cardboard. The Rise and Shine insert is bold and retro.

Kudos to Panini for taking time on the inserts in this set. When you bust a box, I know you wanna, you will have the same enjoyment with them as I did.I actually looked forward to pulling the inserts.

AUTOGRAPHS: Three autographs in every box. Ours had an Elusive player in Terry Porter (redemption), a rookie in Reggie Jackson and a current star in Stephen Curry who had an incredible playoff run. His auto was very welcoming to see. I like the fact that Panini added the autographs to the classic base card design. And I like the fact at least in this box they gave you a try of each autograph available in the product. You know, its Past and Present.

The autograph checklist is also made up of legends, rookies, elusive players and current stars. The Elusive Inks are of Elusive athletes that you may not find in everyday basketball card products. Some you may not have even heard of in years or maybe if you are a young one, not at all.

JERSEY/PATCH CARDS: N/A These are only found in retail packs.

OVERALL THOUGHTS:Try it plain and simple.Its a fun product. Great design on the base cards. If you are a fan of retro appeal, inserts that you want to collect and autographs, then this is a product for you. The inserts are definitely worth the chase in here alone as you might be scrambling to put a set together. And its not too often you find a memorabilia-less hobby product that only has autographs in it. So you know the hits are worth it. I personally enjoy the Elusive Ink cards of players you might not see signing in every NBA product. Some of these players I grew up watching and haven't seen on cardboard in awhile so those are fun finds. And it brings back memories of the PAST when I watched a ton of basketball.

Another key thing to look at here is the price per box isn't bad with 3 autographs and there are some big hits in this product waiting to happen. You gotta go find em!
 

RATINGS:  Bloggers Note: Our ratings are based specifically on the blaster, box or packs we opened and do not express what the overall product could bring. Ratings based on a 1-5. 1 Being the lowest and 5 being the highest.
                Packaging: 5
                Base Design: 5
                Insert Design: 5
                Memorablila/Autographs: 4
                Blaster, Hobby Box, or Pack Value: 4

Yasiel Puig making more cardboard appearances

I don't blame card companies for rushing into getting this guy immediately onto cardboard and Panini did just that by getting him into their 2013 Pinnacle and Prizm products. Topps has also announced they are getting him into products as well. Yasiel Puig, the 22-year-old Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder, has been on a tear so far this season. He has hit .421, 4 HR's and 10 RBI's in 4 games (last updated yesterday and doesn't have his play from last night). Collectors are racing to eBay and into their collections to try and find any piece of cardboard with his name on it. I already did...but came up empty handed. So far only Bowman Chrome minis, Bowman Chrome Bowman 100, Bowman Lucky Redemption #4 and Leaf products contain the player.

What I am going to make sure of however is that I grab some 2013 Pinnacle when it releases to try and get a rookie of this hot hitter into my collection. I may have to wait til July, but it will be worth it. The Prizm release comes out in late August and I can guarantee is this guy continues to slug like this those Prizm parallels are going to burn holes into collectors pockets.

Here is a peek at the Pinnacle Rookie Card:

   

What are your thoughts on Yasiel Puig? And did you dig through your collection to find some?

Panini gets Innovative with Basketball Cards

Panini is came up with a catchy title in their next basketball card release...Panini Innovation Basketball 12-13.

This product is set to arrive in mid August with a 200-card base set that includes 25 View and 75 Rookie View, and each eight-card box will deliver three autograph or memorabilia cards. Meaning this most likely will be a high end product with that limited amount of cards per box.

 

One of the coolest things I found about the product was the Stat Line memorabilia cards featuring statistics and photos from the actual game the jersey on the card was worn. I think this is something that's been needed for awhile. I miss the old Donruss days where they would take a picture of the actual jersey that the piece was cut from and place the photo on the back of the card. What Panini did here was kick it up another notch from the Donruss days.

Let me know what you think of this new product...though there are very little images out so far...and your thoughts on the jersey card featuring the picture from the game it was worn in.

Pylon in for Panini's Father's Day Promo 2013

Panini keeps revealing more of its Father's Day lineup as the Dad's day creeps closer and for the Panini wrapper redemption program .

To start off Panini released more Prizm images into their baseball part of the promo. I think these Prizms are beautiful and stunning. And fans of the Prizm cards, as myself, will dig finding these randomly inserted into Father's Day Packs.

     

But below are the things that I look forward to most out of this promo...the incredible memorabilia and unique pieces they include.

     

 

These are not pieces you normally find in their daily products. Thats what makes the chase for these cards even more exciting.  These cards are Super Bowl XLV game-used football and end zone pylon cards (limited to 55 copies or less) and 2012 NFL Pro Bowl game-used football cards (limited to 25 or less) making the chase for these cards even rarer.

I also really like the design on the Pro Bowl and Super Bowl cards. It appears they are very high glossed and the color scheme used really fits each individual event.

Let us know your thoughts on Panini's Fathers Day unveiling of these cards.

Kiddercards Prize Mail Day

On Twitter, @Kiddercards is always holding these great contests. At least 2 or 3 a week. They challenge you to different sport questions and you must answer the question right. This past week I chose a 4-1 score in a hockey game and was the winner. In return, I won a 6 pack hockey card lot. 3 Score 12-13, and 3 O-Pee Chee. Here are my results:

 

Above are some PC hockey rookies, and then a nice hit from the 6 pack lot numbered to 100:

Also wanted to give another shout out to Kiddercards for this great mail day and for all of the contests they do. Thanks again!!

Let me know how you think I did with the pack break.

Review: Panini Brilliance Basketball 2012-2013

First off, I would like to say thanks to the WONDERFUL people at Panini America for providing us with this box to review. Here are many places you can find Panini America: official site, blog, Twitter, and Facebook. If you don't follow them at all..you should! They talk to you on Twitter, have contests on their blog and Facebook and the site is also fun to visit!

Box Break Down:

• 20 Packs Per Box, 6 Cards Per Pack
• Two Autographs and One Memorabilia Card Per Box
• Two Starbursts and Thirteen Inserts Per Box
• Collect a 240-card autograph checklist
• Find Starburst and Artists Proofs Parallels
• Under $90 a box 
•  

BASE CARDS:The base design, is done on all silver foil board. The Panini Brilliance writing and side lines is uplifted off from the card like braille. The background color of the card matches the main team color in the front making for a fun card design that also helps the player jump off at you.

The base set is made up of veterans, legends and rookies. However the rookies are not marked rookies with the logo as you can see with the Irving above. I had to research the backs to find the ones I didn't know. The legends are great bringing back people for me a Knicks fan of John Starks and Allan Houston (tho he is in a Detroit uni) and other top legends like Larry Bird.

Overall, the design is very nicely done.

 

 

INSERTS: The inserts match the base cards in terms of silver foil board. I personally would have liked to have seen more here. The designs aren't bad at all as I enjoyed the base card design, but I was thinking more added color. Maybe even adding refractor like technology and/or some die cuts would have made these BOOM more.The Spellbounds stand out as the braille appears behind the player as a letter from their name as shown in the Irving card.

The inserts break down as so:  Team Tomorrow (20 cards), Spellbound (100 cards), Scorers, Inc. (20 cards), Magic Numbers (15 cards) and the 25-card Springfield Hall of Fame tribute.

All of the inserts do have the braille or what Panini calls the raised feel to them.

 

AUTOGRAPHS: 2 autographs per box. The design between the two autographs we pulled was very similar in terms of a white box taking up half the card and the color design. Something could have been changed a little bit on them to make them differ more between each other. I would have liked to have seen a rainbow board done on the rookie autos for them to stand out more. But overall not a bad design.

There is a HUGE autograph checklist of 300+ players due to the 240-card autograph checklist in Marks of Brilliance and the 60 rookies in Brilliant Beginnings. Great variety and you never know who you will pull in a box.

  

JERSEY/PATCH CARDS: The jersey cards really standout here with the silver foil board and a decent size swatch jumps out. The player name is a little small and could have used bold lettering to standout more but the landscape design and look of these are great.

OVERALL THOUGHTS:In the rookie debut of Brilliance basketball there are a lot of bright spots. The base card design, memorabilia designs are great. There are a ton of autographs in this product from a variety of players both young and legends of the game which is definitely a positive note.With a little tweaking in a few spots...Brilliance will be a great addition yearly to Panini's NBA lineup.

RATINGS:  Bloggers Note: Our ratings are based specifically on the blaster, box or packs we opened and do not express what the overall product could bring. Ratings based on a 1-5. 1 Being the lowest and 5 being the highest.
                Packaging: 4
                Base Design: 4
                Insert Design: 3
                Memorablila/Autographs: 3.5
                Blaster, Hobby Box, or Pack Value: 4

Mail Day from Cardsmiths

I got myself into a jumbo box break of Score Football 2013. It was a B1G1 deal. I got two teams an landed the 49ers and Bucs. Don't think I did too bad. My main goal was to land my first NFL licensed rookie cards of the year and I got a couple of the good ones.

Not a bad overall mail day. Though I should have waited a box more as the next box contained a 1/1 of Doug Martin. But thats how my luck rolls ;) If you haven't joined in on a Cardsmiths break yet...you should. Good prices, fun and very fast shipping. I got this in 3 days.

Let me know your thoughts on Score and this break.

Upper Deck's Double Rookie Class Excitement Continues!

As we posted a couple of weeks ago, Upper Deck has been talking up their 2013-2014 hockey card lineups and the impressive double rookie class that comes along with it. And I can see from the early images why they are so excited. Some impressive sneak peaks so far.

The first out on July 2nd will be the high end release Trilogy. There will be Thirty-three rookies (the top 33 rookies who skated during the 2013 NHL season) in the set and will have three different autograph rookie cards available. Now thats a great kickoff!

 

  

 

Next up for the Upper Deck is the fun product O-Pee Chee set to release on August 6. This set is loaded with players and has a very deep checklist. Along with top skaters it will have the popular “Marquee Rookies” and rare “Retro Rookies.” Some of the "fun" in this product other than opening it, are stickers, team rings and team logo patches. Of course, with a deep checklist, this will be a rookie card collectors dream!

   

 

Another fun and first time release from Upper Deck and only exclusive to Canada residents is

 2013 Upper Deck Team Canada Hockey releasing on August 20th. While this product doesn't really have many rookies, there will be some members of the 2013-14 Upper Deck NHL Double Rookie Class who have trading cards in this set like Jonathan Huberdeau and Dougie Hamilton. Which once again collectors will want in their collection.

  

Then on September 24th, Upper Deck NHL Upper Deck Artifacts releases. Other than being a product full of amazing memorabilia it will also have great looking rookie cards as well. This is the first product to be really rookie packed because it will have exchange cards good for recently drafted rookies who skate during the 2013-14 NHL season.

 

Then comes the biggie around the first week of November...Upper Deck Series 1. And those of us who know this product, know this is every rookie card collectors dream with Young Guns the most popular rookie cards out on the market. A product in which I know I have got to chase down rookies of. And when this product releases all of the rookies will be live in it.Upper Deck however is keeping the overall details of this one quite.

What are your thoughts on this years Double Rookie class? Will you be chasing down the rookie cards? Will it bring you into collecting hockey? Let us know!

Fan PC Rainbow of DeMarcus Ware: Jonathon Meads Six month Journey to perfection

We were contacted a little while back by Jonathon about his great Rainbow of DeMarcus Ware from Topps Chrome 2012 and how he wanted to share it with us and you guys. At that time he was waiting for one piece to come in and the other day it did so. So he contacted us with an article and a picture. To be honest, we hadn't seen a complete rainbow before and this was quite exciting for someone to share this with us and to also want to share it on our blog. Well, after a couple of days we are finally excited to share this with you guys with a write up that he put together about his collection that is a great read as well.

My Six month Journey to perfection

By Jonathon Mead

"Let me start this by saying I have only been in the hobby since February of 2012. This year was a learning curve for me. Not knowing many products or who I wanted to collect. That all changed in November, on November 16^th 2012 I pulled the 2012 Topps Chrome DeMarcus ware Superfractor 1/1. Now as a cowboys fan I instantly was torn, try and sell the card or make the rainbow. I chose to try and sell or trade it originally. Had an offer from a person I won’t include any dollar amounts or cards to be traded. I will just say it was a substantially good offer. Torn on what to do I decided I was going to complete the rainbow. That was two weeks before Christmas of 2012 on Christmas. My uncle helped me get the few cards we could from eBay. I traded a 2012 chrome variation Auto of Brock oswieler for the red/25. On December 26^th2012 I had a conversation with my uncle about the printing plates as two had sold and two were yet to be pulled, as far as I knew. Well he told me it would be impossible to complete the 4 plates to my rainbow. In response I just had one thing to say “challenge accepted” from that day on I searched eBay and messaged the two owners of the plates. One of them sold me the black printing plate for the cheapest I would pay for any of the plates. Then came on eBay that I picked up for substantially higher the third came a few weeks later from a guy on Blowout cards forums, And finally the 4^th plate. On 5/29/13 I finally convinced the owner of the plate I won’t say his name or the trade I will just say that thanks to him I completed a trade and the plate was incoming as of that date. Six months and 3 days after I started my challenge my goal of perfection came to an end. As I am writing this I am thinking of my next challenge in the hobby and I am not sure what it will be but I know without a challenge what is the point of a hobby?  Thanks for taking the time to read this and I’m looking forward to showcasing my future cards and challenges with you.."

We would love to hear your feedback on Jonathon's big accomplishment and if you have something like this to share with us...feel free to contact us sportcardcollectors@hotmail.com with a picture and a writeup like the one above about your collection.

We would like to thank Jonathon also for sharing this amazing collection with us.

PC Mail Day from RatliffsCards

Got this in the mail from a buddy of mine on Twitter who thought the JPP would be a nice addition to my Giants collection, I agree :) So if you are not following him on Twitter, @RatliffsCards, please do, he is a great hobbyist to discuss cards and sports with.

Thanks again goes out to RatliffsCards and let me know what you guys think of my new additions.