Card Christmas 2023

Call me a scientist… After seeing all the different ways people have been enjoying modern cards compared to when I was a kid getting single packs at the LCS with money I stole from my mom’s wallet and various hiding places, I thought to myself: I had a meager childhood collection: heavy on Iverson, light on MJ and Kobe…light on Baseball and football too to be honest and some marvel cards, but how would I go about legitimizing my collection and getting it to the point that I could be proud of it. So I set out on little experiments with “cheap” boxes to compare them, blasters and megas. They were fun but reminded me too much of getting nothing like back in the day. So I jumped in a bunch of breaks and that was fun and it got me my first AI and Ja autos, so that was a success. But then I bought myself a hobby box…and had an idea for a real way to legitimize my collection…each hobby box has 1-2 autos…but what about 100 boxes, one of each of all the types of boxes available now. So that’s exactly what I did. Card Christmas 2023. These are the hits from my 100 box rip. I got very lucky on some boxes and mostly unlucky on most boxes but as a way to legitimize a collection, it goes less than halfway. I came out of it more disappointed than surprised but happy with the hits I did get. It took weeks to open all the boxes and months to organize everything just to realize that my collection was not yet legitimate: 1 superstar auto, only 1 one of one and it was a printing plate, some awesome inserts but not the best possible players except for 1…all it did was show me that that the only way to truly do what I wanted and legitimize my collection is to buy the single cards. So I did that and I am now at the point where I can be proud of my legit collection and only need a few more to round it out nicely. I am gonna bring the cards not in my PC to card shows and try and trade up to get the last ones I need. But Card Christmas 2023 was fun and definitely worth it to live out a childhood dream and conduct experiments on a fun subject. There is no wrong way to enjoy cards but when it comes to the goal of legitimization, it’s better to have a list of players you want and then get the singles instead of the boxes, most likely you’ll be able to find what you want for a good price and usually below or right at what a hobby box goes for…take this example: I got 3 mlb planetary pursuits for the price of 1 Cosmic hobby box which I was lucky enough to get a planetary pursuit in, but I could’ve gotten a great one of them like Pluto and Neptune instead of the waste of money Topps Chrome boxes from a few different years were. It takes time to figure out what you actually want for your PC and I say try all the ways and see what you like the most and have fun with it because life is crazy and shorter than it seems, be happy and proud of the life you are living. Best autos (Franz Wagner RC from NT 22/24 Pink Parallel and Chet/Paolo rookie dual from Spectra 22-23, Embiid patch auto out of Spectra 2016) Best Inserts (Trae Kaboom, LeBron sneaker spotlight from Noir, Julio Mercury, Luka Big Bang).