Topps UEFA Champions League Chrome Box

The World Cup got me in the mood for soccer much earlier than normal this summer, but we're not far away from my favorite European leagues kicking off for the season at this point.  The Premier League, my personal favorite, starts up its 2018-19 season a week from Friday, and I'm excited for kick-off.

With soccer on my mind, I was in the mood recently to pick up a hobby box of something to rip open.  I haven't busted a hobby box all year, in fact I haven't really picked up much unopened product at all in 2018.

After a bit of poking around I settled on this box of 2017-18 Topps UEFA Champions League Chrome.  Why this product?  Well, there aren't a ton of Premier League sets out there, and the UEFA Champions League is something I've been meaning to learn more about.

Comprised of the best teams from all of Europe, the UEFA Champions League in turn features many of the best players on the globe.  I figured this would be a good way to learn about some teams and leagues that I'm not all that familiar with.  The top teams from the Premier League get entry into the Champions League each year as well, so I knew I'd see at least a few faces that were familiar to me.

Since my favorite team, Liverpool, had a pretty epic run in the Champions League last year (reaching the final!), they are of course featured on the checklist.  I went into the box with pretty low expectations, honestly just hoping to land a cool Liverpool card or two, learn a few things, and maybe if I was really lucky pull a Kylian Mbappe card!

Let's see how it went for me...

Here's a look at a pack, just four cards per, which isn't all that uncommon for Topps Chrome product.  There were 18 packs in the box, and each one yielded three base cards and either an insert or parallel.  Quick math, you're getting 72 cards in a box.

That seems light, and I'd normally count that as a con against the product, but the price point was reasonable.  I paid less than $60 for this box, compared to Panini's Prizm World Cup product which is going for about twice that much for a hobby box.  When I think about it as buying sort of half a hobby box at a reduced price, it's actually not too bad.

The base cards use a design that you're probably familiar with from Topps' flagship baseball product this year.  One thing I will give Topps credit for is making the base set 99 cards in size, which means it fits perfectly within 11 binder sheets.  Always bugs me having that one last card on its own page with 100-card sets, so have to give credit where credit's due.

I won't show too many of the base cards, but I really enjoyed this celebration shot of striker Romelu Lukaku.

Pulled my first card of top United States youngster Christian Pulisic.  Though the US sadly failed to qualify for this past World Cup, Pulisic has been lighting it up in the Bundesliga, Germany's top league.  Still just 19 years old, he was ranked #77 on The Guardian's Top 100 Footballers list last year.  Also one of the cover guys for this product.

Plenty of names that I easily recognized within this relatively small checklist.

With the inserts and parallels accounted for, you're going to land just over half of a base set in any one box, so there's no guarantee that you're going to land even the base card of any one player.  I was pleased to pull the base card of 2018 World Cup Golden Ball winner Luka Modric in my box.

As well as World Cup winner Paul Pogba!

Lastly, as far as the base cards go anyway, my man Luis Suarez.  Always happy to land any new card of Mike Tyson's soccer counterpart.  When the dust had settled I ended up with 54/99 base cards in my box.  I'm not sure whether I'll try tracking down the ones I'm missing or not.

Of course, there were inserts to be found as well.  There are two common inserts that you will find in every box, the first of which are these Future Stars cards.  Some of you may recognize the design from Topps Chrome baseball a couple of years back.  You can expect to land three of these in a hobby box.

The other common insert is Lightning Strike.  Honestly, both of these are just an excuse to cram a few more cards of the game's best and brightest into the product.  They're visually appealing anyway.  A typical box will yield three of these as well.

Then we have the parallels, after all what would a Topps Chrome product be without refractors?  This is a generic refractor, not serial-numbered.  Pulled half a dozen of these in total in my box, but chose to show this one because of the interesting facial expression:

Moving on...

Colored refractors include purple, numbered to /250.  Landed just one of those.

Pulled a Gold Refractor as well, numbered to just /50.  I'm not very familiar with either of these guys to be perfectly honest with you.

To close it out, I thought it might be fun to do a countdown of my 10 favorite cards from the box...

#10 - Philippe Coutinho Lightning Strikes Insert

He's no longer with the Reds, but it sure was fun watching Coutinho most weekends over the past few years.  With this one my wish for an interesting Liverpool card was granted.  In fact, this is the only Liverpool card included within the Lightning Strike insert set.

#9 - Cristiano Ronaldo 

Yes, it's a base card in my top 10.  Ronaldo and Messi are typically two of the pricier singles to track down for any soccer set, so I was psyched that I landed both in this box.  This is not the best Ronaldo card of the box, however!

#8 - Kevin De Bruyne Refractor

One of the better refractors I landed was of midfielder Kevin De Bruyne of Manchester City.  Kevin was a major part of City's historic Premier League championship season last year, and was named the club's Player of the Year for the second time in his career.

#7 - Keylor Navas Blue Refractor

I showed off my purple and gold refractors above, but my Blue Refractor was the best colored refractor I landed in my box.  In addition to playing club ball for Real Madrid, Keylor represents Costa Rica internationally and was a big part of their run to elimination play in the 2014 World Cup.  My wife and I had just traveled to Costa Rica only a month or two before that World Cup, so I've always had a bit of an affinity towards that particular team.

#6 - Antoine Griezmann Lightning Strike

I was really hoping to pull a few cards of guys from the French 2018 World Cup champion team, and the box did not disappoint with this Antoine Griezmann Lightning Strike insert.  I actually landed another cool card of Antoine earlier this morning during COMC's first ever summer sale.

#5 - Mario Gotze Blue Refractor Autograph

My hit was this Mario Gotze auto.  While the signature itself is pretty damn weak, it's still a cool card for my soccer collection given that Gotze scored the winning goal in the 2014 World Cup Final for Germany!

#4 - Kylian Mbappe

Your eyes do not deceive you, I ranked an everyday base card all the way up at #4.  I'd be lying if I said Kylian Mbappe wasn't one of the reasons I picked up this box cheap.  Was hoping I'd be able to land my second card of the 19-year-old phenom, and that's exactly what happened.  There's no hotter name in the sport right now, as evidenced by the fact that the cheapest version of this card on COMC right now, during a promotion no less, is still listed at more than $12.

#3 - Mohamed Salah Refractor

My favorite refractor of the box was this Mo Salah, hands down.  What a great card for a Liverpool fan like myself to have pulled.  Salah led the Premier League in goals last year, and I'm looking forward to seeing how his 2018-19 season unfolds by comparison.  He doesn't have a ton of cardboard out there, so I'm pleased to have this one in hand.

#2 - Kylian Mbappe Future Stars

That's right, I landed not one but two Mbappe cards courtesy of this box.  This Future Stars insert is a $12+ card as well at the moment, meaning the two Mbappe cards I pulled alone covered about half of my overall cost for the box.  I like this one even more than the base card.  My Kylian Mbappe collection now stands firm at three total cards!

So what card did I like even more than this one then?

#1 - Cristiano Ronaldo Award Winners

I pulled this card in the very first pack I opened, and instantly thought to myself "I really like the way these inserts look".  I had no idea how rare they were at the time, but it turns out these Award Winners cards fall at just two per case!  Not only that but I pulled arguably the game's best player, and certainly one of the most collected.  With ten players on the checklist, this Ronaldo card can only be found once in every 5 cases!  There's one listed on eBay right now for $59.99, more than I paid for this entire box, and it's got three watchers.

So there you have it, that was a very fun break if you ask me, especially in the sub-$60 price range.  I'm not sure whether I'll bust another one, but I certainly wouldn't rule it out.  Thanks for stopping by as always, I promise my next post will be something other than soccer...

COMC Blaster - Rainy Sunday Edition

After a week away from the blog, this dreary and rainy Sunday morning seemed like the perfect time to get back at it with a COMC "blaster".  Let's see what $20 or so in credit brought home to my collection this time around!

1955 Topps Jim Pendleton - $.45

Do I really need to explain this one?  A card I need from 1955 Topps for less than 50 cents in halfway decent condition is going into my cart every time.

2013 Topps Update Gold Jake Peavy (#'d /2013) - $.57

I'm not particularly excited by this one to be brutally honest with you.  I bought it way back in 2014 though, and the Sox were coming off a World Series championship at the time.  Nice fuzzy Green Monster backdrop in any event.

2015 Bowman Purple Henry Owens (#'d /250) - $.75

I picked this one up before Topps produced about 10,000 different Henry Owens cards over a short span a year or two back.  Henry pretty much flamed out, although it looks like he signed a minor league contract with the Diamondbacks last month.  At this stage however a return to MLB looks unlikely at best.  I can't believe I paid 75 cents for this card, ouch.

1992-93 Upper Deck World Juniors SP - $.52

Always wanted one of these short-printed special insert cards as a kid, but never managed to pull one.  Since I completed the 1992-93 Upper Deck set a while back I decided it was high time to knock off the couple of SP inserts as well, especially since you can pick them up for pocket change these days.

2014 Bowman Chrome Bubbles Refractor Yoenis Cespedes - $.85

I've shown these absolutely stunning Bubbles Refractors from 2014 Bowman Chrome a few times now.  They're some of my favorite shiny cards in existence, and Cespedes here is actually the 20th one to enter my collection.

2017 Topps Opening Day Mascots Wally the Green Monster - $.82

I feel sort of compelled to pick up the Wally the Green Monster insert from Topps Opening Day each season.  I think I've got most if not all of them at this point.  What can I say?  It's something a little different from the smattering of Red Sox player cards at least.

2016 Donruss Dominators Gold Luis Suarez - $.81

I've been a fan of Luis Suarez (not the ear-biting, of course) since his time with Liverpool in the Premier League a few years ago.  He had a pair of goals for Uruguay in the 2018 World Cup.  I thought this was an interesting, and extremely shiny, addition to my small but ever-growing soccer collection.

2008 Upper Deck Football Heroes Tom Morello - $.45

I was definitely into Rage Against the Machine as a teenager, though I don't listen all that much these days (unless maybe I'm running).  I was lucky enough to see them play live in 1999 as a 17-year-old, and it was one of the most insane concert experiences I've ever witnessed.  Couldn't pass up an opportunity to add Tom Morello to my collection for less than two quarters.

1994-95 Pinnacle Rink Collection Dino Ciccarelli - $.52

1994 Pinnacle Rink Collection cards are among my favorite hockey parallels ever produced.  If I had unlimited time and unlimited funds I'd probably consider trying to complete the entire set, but as it stands now I just cherry-pick stars here and there.  Wasn't going to leave HOFer Dino Ciccarelli behind for someone else to scoop up at 52 cents.

2016-17 Upper Deck AHL Mascots Samboni - $.40

I had no idea that Upper Deck included mascots in their 2016-17 AHL set.  In fact, despite working only a couple blocks over from where the Providence Bruins play their home games, I wasn't even aware the team had a mascot.  A fun addition to my hockey collection for just 40 cents.

2015 Upper Deck Dinosaurs Lenticular 3D Barosaurus - $1.00

These 3D dinosaur cards have appeared frequently in my "COMC Blaster" posts over the past year or two.  Barosaurus here, which is known to have been upwards of 85 feet in length, is my 12th card from this fantastic insert set.  That leaves 30 more to go, but some of them were severely short-printed so I'm not sure whether I'll ever finish the set.

2016-17 O-Pee-Chee Platinum Ice Blue Traxx Connor McDavid - $5.00

This one takes the prize, by a long shot, for most expensive card in today's post.  It's rare for me to shell out $5 or more for a modern hockey card, but my love for shiny cards won out here and McDavid is arguably the most exciting player in today's game.  Not quite the same allure as his Young Guns RC, which to date might be the most valuable card I've ever pulled myself from a pack, but a solid card nonetheless.

1957 Topps Andre Rodgers - $1.95

I wouldn't say I'm making an attempt at completing the 1957 Topps baseball set; there are at least two other '50s sets I'm already working on.  With that being said, this one is high up there in terms of my favorites from the decade, so I do grab a card or two on the cheap from time to time.  I think I've got about 50 or so in hand at this point, including a few HOFers.

2013 Panini Golden Age Playing Cards Carl Yastrzemski - $.64

Count me among the collectors that absolutely love what Panini did with their Golden Age sets, particularly the inserts.  I'm a long way from completing a full deck of the playing card inserts from 2013, but that didn't stop me from grabbing this Yaz.  Love it.

2014 Topps Bobby Abreu (Image Variation) - $1.70

I'm a total sucker for the image variation cards, at least when they're not short-printed to the point where they go for more than a couple bucks.  I was drawn to this one because 2014 was the final season for Abreu, and I thought this was a fine tribute to the first ballot member of the Hall of Very Good.

2011 Topps Diamond Anniversary Legends Bert Blyleven - $.75

I know of at least a few other collectors that are always on the lookout for the Diamond Anniversary Legends parallels from 2011 Topps.  It's getting more and more difficult in my experience to find these for less than a buck, so I was pleased to land Bert here for 75 cents. 

2011 Topps Cognac Diamond Anniversary Legends Jackie Robinson - $1.05

I'm equally fascinated by the Cognac versions, and was stunned to find this Jackie Robinson sitting out there for just a shade over a dollar.  Hindsight seems to confirm that it was a wise pick-up as well, as the cheapest copy on the site today is listed at north of $6.  On a related note, to this day I've yet to show my absolute greatest card of #42 here on the blog.  I have to fix that soon.

2013-14 Score Update Tim Thomas - $.70

I've been working away slowly at the large 2013-14 Score set for a good five years now.  A recent couple of packages from my buddy Douglas (thank you posts coming soon!), has me within striking distance.  Why would I pay 70 cents for this Tim Thomas?  Well, it's from the more difficult to find update portion of the set that I believe was released later, in boxes of Rookie Anthology.  Besides, that 2011 Stanley Cup season was one of the most dominant performances I've ever witnessed from a goaltender!

1977-78 Topps White Back Dave Cowens - $.59

Look, I'm not a basketball guy at all, but I think you'd be hard-pressed to find anyone who's a fan of sports cards in general and doesn't think this is a beauty.  Aside from the fact that Cowens was a Rookie of the Year, MVP, All-Star, won multiple championships, has his number retired and is a member of the Basketball HOF, the imagery here is just awesome.  I really enjoy the candid shot, most notably those striped socks.

The backs are incredibly well done also, if you ask me.  I really love the layout, and it seems appropriate to have a reference to Christmas trees on a card with this much green!

That brings the running total for today's cards to $19.52.  I could probably scrounge around for another 50-cents-or-less card to top things off, but we'll call it here for now.  As I say every single time I do this, without fail, I doubt a blaster from Target would have brought me anywhere near this many keeper cards for my personal collection.

Thanks as always for stopping by, and happy Sunday!

Congratulations France!

What a fantastic World Cup that was.  I watched almost the entire thing, from the outset of the group stage right through today's thrilling final.  I'm very happy for France and their deserving win, especially since it's my favorite country outside the United States, and one I've visited more than once already.

I've mentioned lately that I've been picking up more soccer cards for my collection than anything else, I guess it's the World Cup impacting my collecting.  One recent pick-up in particular though really had me smiling...

This Kylian Mbappe Green & Orange Wave parallel from the 2018 Prizm World Cup set was potentially the most I've ever spent on a single soccer card at $14.99, but I have a feeling it may prove to be a bargain in the long run.

Mbappe is already tagged as the heir apparent to Ronaldo or Messi, and if you watched much of the tournament that just wrapped up it's easy to see why.  At just 19 years of age he's already been named Young Player of the Year in France's top professional football league for consecutive years, and only minutes ago won a World Cup with the national team!  Not only did Kylian not look out of place among his more experienced peers, he looked like an absolute star.

Mbappe ended the tournament with four goals, including France's last goal in today's final.  In doing so he became the first teenager with multiple goals in a World Cup game, and the first teenager to score in a World Cup final since...

Yup.  Pretty damn cool.

There's obviously a long road ahead of him, and anything can happen over time, but it will certainly be a lot of fun watching this kid's career unfold.  For me, it will be even more fun to witness with this shiny representation of his first historic World Cup firmly entrenched in my soccer collection.

I've actually picked up this card and a couple of other Mbappe cards over the past couple of weeks, hoping to build up a small collection before his prices skyrocket beyond what I'm able to pay.  Just think, he's young enough that we may see him play in another three or even four World Cups for his country!

How about you, did you watch any of this year's World Cup?  Did you pick up any cardboard, or even other collectibles to commemorate it?  If so I'd love to hear about it in the comments.

Congratulations again to France!

One Card Post - Bullpen Cart!

What:  2018 Topps NOW #174 - Arizona Diamondbacks Bullpen Cart
Where: eBay
How Much?:  $5.00 (free shipping)

Why?:  I'm not all that into Topps NOW cards these days, certainly not like I was during the first season where I felt compelled to grab all of the Red Sox.  This is only my second one this year, but I simply could not pass up the chance to add a card of a bullpen cart to my baseball collection.  Just fantastic!