The Week In Pictures: Another Victory

 

This week in pictures is brought to you by the letter W. As in, Winning.

I know there probably isn't a lot of gamers who read this blog or ones that focus primarily on one sports game like I do but I will do this post regardless.

Madden once again is the only game I buy every year and is the only game I play. I actually make sure I get it right on release day. So a few times a week instead of card collecting, I strategize, sign and trade players, and come up with a game plan to play against the computer. I don't do online gaming. I usually take the Giants in Franchise Mode, tear apart the roster, build up from the ground up and make a run in a season or two.

I recently rebuilt a team and just finished Season 3 with my second Super Bowl Victory in three seasons. The second season I went to the Super Bowl, I just didn't win it. I don't usually have great starts to my Franchises like this but figured out a thing or two and it has led to success.

(yes I made a trade for Khalil Mack who was Super Bowl MVP)

Trophies are sweet

The celebration goes on. The QB that led my team was a rookie QB I drafted and who played only 11 games with 2,768 yards passing, 26 TD's and 8 int.

However building the team the way I did, I put myself into cap tragedy for Season 4. I was -73 mil so had to tear down the roster completely and rebuild over again.

So far I am 2-0 to start the new season with a completely new roster but its not the greatest one so I don't expect to take this team too far.

Any of you play Madden? Any other games? Let me know in comments!

CARDBOARD REVIEW:2020 Panini Rookies and Stars

2020 Rookies and Stars comes out full force that contains both rookies and stars. I haven't seen this product in a few years as it has been a Target exclusive and as much as I hoped and prayed we would get a Target in our dying mall, it hasn't happened. Not even a Walmart within an hour either.

But, fortunately I have been able to pick up and trade for singles of cards I have needed the last few years. This year however, I was able to break a box.

Wanna see how it went, well, read below!

 

Each hobby box comes with 6 packs of 10 cards each. There will be 2 autographs and 2 memorabilia cards per box as well and boxes are currently priced in 2020 levels at $240.

BASE:

 

A 200 card base set builds up this years Rookies and Stars. There are 100 veterans and

100 rookies. These were my best rookie finds in this break.

Rookies and Stars base design stays to its true self with a white/color background and no action photography.

PARALLELS

You can find the following parallels, Green, Purple, Red, Orange /99, Longevity /80, True Blue /49, Red & Blue /35, Gold /10, Black & Blue /5, Platinum 1/1, and Printing Plates 1/1.

I found a Red/White/Blue /35 in this break.

INSERTS:

Base Inserts have the following parallels, Orange /99, True Blue /49, Purple /39, Gold /10, Green /5, and Platinum 1/1

Chrome Inserts have the following parallels White, Red /75, Pink /50, Purple /35, Orange /25, Gold /10, Green /5, Black 1/1, and Printing Plates 1/1.

Rookie Rush has 20 cards to collect. Not bad to find a Herbert.

Action Packed...kept the name...just not the embossing (paging Panini) has 30 cards to collect.

Pulled an orange /99 parallel.

There are 20 cards to find in Ticket Masters. I found a few decent names in my break.

Touchdown Club has 10 cards to collect

Standing Ovations takes a dive back in design to the late 90's. The only difference is that these aren't numbered like those days. There are 20 cards to find in this set.

Great American Heroes takes on a fun design and are chromed. This is one of the red parallels /75. Pat Tillman is a great man both on the field and off the field for this country. I wished I could land his Fleer rookie card someday.

Stellar Rookies and Chase Young was one for sure. This is an Orange /25 parallel as you can tell by the background color.

HITS:

Two Cross Training Rookies of Kmet and Shednault. Both showed some flashes this season.

AJ Dillion auto. He came up big in a couple of games. Could be the future back there.

And Jordan Love True Blue parallel /35. The way Aaron Rodgers played this season, Love could be sitting back for a few years.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Not a bad break at all with the /25 Chase Young, AJ Dillion and Jordan Love autographs.

I really liked the chrome based inserts in this product and are probably my favorite designed cards overall for it.

RATINGS BASED ON THIS BOX BREAK

Design ⭐⭐

Inserts ⭐⭐⭐

Parallels ⭐

Hits ⭐⭐⭐

Value  ⭐⭐⭐

Fun Factor ⭐⭐

Houston's Cardboard:1996-1997 Fleer Metal Metallized

 

The joy of Fleer Metal. That etched foil goodness and wacky designs makes it appealing to everyone's eye including those who may not have grown up in the era when these were created.

This is one of my first Allan Houston Fleer Metal adds and hopefully won't be the last. It has been way too long to remember who I traded with to land this but thanks to them now.

Kerry's Cardboard:2000 Collector's Edge Odyssey

 

 

It has been a long time since I have added any cards to my Kerry Collins pc and I figured it was time I did so. Sad thing is, I traded for this card and can't remember who I acquired it from. Starting to think it's time I write down on stick-it notes who I acquire cards from since it has taken me awhile to post a lot of them right now.

Regardless, I haven't given up on collecting Kerry he just isn't a top focus right now. I will take what I can get however and my checklist of needs is back up on the blog and can be found HERE.

So thank you to whomever I traded this card from.

CARDBOARD REVIEW:2019-2020 Topps Chrome UEFA Champions League

I don't know a lot about soccer besides a few names, but I do know how popular it has become and how popular the cards have been.

So I usually turn to my good friend @CardPocalypseNC to find out "what's good" in boxes of soccer so I don't sound like a moron when I do a review.

How did today's break go, keep on reading to see!

 

Every box of 2019-2020 Topps Chrome UEFA soccer is 18 packs of 4 cards per pack. There is one autograph and 6 base refactors guaranteed per box and each box is....hope you are sitting...$600 each.

BASE:

The base set is built up of 100 cards including some popular names and rookies such as Ansu Fati, which I pulled two of in this box.

PARALLELS:

There are a ton of refractor options in UEFA including some I hadn't seen before.

Offerings are, Base Refractor, Purple /250, Blue Bubbles, Purple Carbon Fiber, Blue /150, Green Bubbles, Green /99, Blue Wave /75, Gold /50, Gold Bubbles, Orange /25, Red /10, Red Wave /10, Red Carbon Fiber, and SuperFractor 1/1.

My six base refractors that fall 1:3

Green Bubbles 1:33

Mmmmbop....sorry...Mbappe Blue Bubbles 1:17 odds

 

Purple /250 is 1:14 odds

Purple Carbon Fiber 1:19 odds

Green /99 falls 1:34

Blue /150 falls 1:22

Orange Refractor /25 and falls 1:131

INSERTS:

 

Future Stars fall 1:6 packs and have 15 cards in the set to collect

Teammate Sensations has 15 cards in the set and falls 1:5 packs.

HITS:

Juan Foyth Orange /25 falls 1:517 odds. Same odds of him filling in the blank spot where the autograph is supposed to be.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Topps Chrome is always a fun rip no matter the sport especially if you are a chromie like me and also enjoy the search for refractors in every pack.

I didn't do my research on this box break before I ripped it and waited until after but the two Fati rookies are definitely the hits of the box.

RATINGS BASED ON THIS BOX BREAK

Design ⭐⭐⭐

Inserts ⭐⭐⭐

Parallels ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Hits ⭐⭐

Value  ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Eli Reaches 650

 

I finally did it. I finally reached my latest milestone in my Eli Manning collection by reaching card #650.

Before, I get to that, I want to show off some other fun adds for my Eli collection.

Last week, @clrshonuff messaged me on Twitter and asked if I would be interested in some wrappers from Eli Manning's rookie year for my collection. I figured, why not?

So we pulled off a quick trade and I added the three wrappers to my collection.

The three wrappers were 2004 Skybox LE, Fleer Sweet Sigs and Fleer Tradition. Thanks for the trade Chris!

Now onto Eli Manning card #650

The card is a 2006 Donruss Elite Zoning Commission that is numbered 104/1000. The card, which I had misplaced, came via blogger friend The Diamond King.

After doing some research on the card, there appears to be some parallels and a relic card as well. Guess that will be a future chase.

Not much longer after landing Eli card #650, in came 651 to kick me off on my road to 700.

 

This 2009 Topps Chrome Eli Manning came in a trade from @ntw16cards.

Thanks Nathan!

I have been very SLLLLLLLLOOOOOWWWWLLLYY adding my Eli Manning cards to the TCDB and have went from 600 in the rankings to 88 to 20 now with my latest adds. I am not sure if I will ever get it all done with the way that website is set up. I really wished I just had a spreadsheet to add these in on and may do some Googling to see if anyone has a player checklist out there I can copy and paste into a spreadsheet.

Regardless if they are listed out there for anyone to see, I am working hard to reach the next milestone and will do a post when I get there.

MMMB: Always Trading For Non Sports

 

Another mail day post recap? Yup! I am on a roll....well with trying to catch up on these.

My basic PC outline if you are a new reader or follower is, NY Giants, 90's inserts from 1995-1999 any team, sport or player and Non Sports that I mainly seek hits of but will take others as well. Of course there is always a branch outline full of sub-PC's of players and cards I collect but the basic outline is where it hits home the most.

Today is my second, maybe even third trade with new trade partner of 2020 in @CardboardSushi

I must admit once again, I have not seen any of the new Star Wars movies. I have only seen the first 6 which really I only liked the original trilogy of. But, I have been told that the newer movies are pretty good so maybe at some point I will start from 1 and go all the way through in order.

When it comes to cardboard though, whether I have seen the movie, TV show or listen to the music of the person, I still want it. 

Which is why I pulled this latest trade off with @CardboardSushi who had more Star Wars cards for me.

Shiny.....this falls under multiple PC's

I thought these manu relics really stand out

The medallion relics are pretty sharp as well.

But it was the autograph that took the cake in this lot. I don't know what role this character plays in Star Wars but I am digging the signature.

Thanks goes out to @CardboardSushi again for the trade and if any of you have any non sport hits just collecting dust, I am sure I would be interested regardless of who/what they are.