2018 Topps High Tek Baseball Box Break & Review

Posted on November 18, 2018 by sportscardinfo

Acetate stock, on-card autographs, and a quick-thrill (1) pack per box configuration. Yes please. Sign me up!

Don’t let the (1) pack fool you. 2018 Topps High Tek is for both fast ripping thrill seekers, and collectors looking to complete that ultimate rainbow. At first glance the patterns and parallels can be mind bending, but after awhile you’ll understand how things flow.

(112) cards make up the base set. The National League and American League each have (4) distinct levels of pattern rarities. Patterns 1-4 will look a certain way for NL players, while AL players will have their own set of patterns. #1 is the easiest, while #4 traditionally is the most difficult.

Packaged inside every (1) pack box are (40) cards. Yes, I said (40). That’s quite a brick. When breaking down the pack, you should find Rainbow Foils, Magma Diffractors, Orbit Diffractors, and Galactic Diffractors. Each of these have their own parallels:

Rainbow Foil – Blue #’ed/150, Green #’ed/99, Black #’ed/50, Orange #’ed/25, Red #’ed/10, Gold #’ed 1/1
Magma Diffractor – Green #’ed/99, Black #’ed/50, Orange #’ed/25, Red #’ed/10, Gold #’ed 1/1
Orbit Diffractor – Black #’ed/50, Orange #’ed/25, Red #’ed/10, Gold #’ed 1/1
Galactic Diffractor – Orange #’ed/25, Red #’ed/10, Gold #’ed 1/1

(5) players – Aaron Judge, Kris Bryant, Mariano Rivera, Mike Trout, and Shohei Ohtani have Black & White Image Variations #’ed/50. You can also find Gold SpecTEKular Diffractors of these #’ed 1/1. From the looks of it, the parallels only apply to the first pattern. In other words, you won’t find an Orange Orbit Diffractor #’ed/25 featuring the NL or AL third pattern.

In the middle of the 40-card brick is all the good stuff. Every box should come with (2) on-card autographs. You’re most likely going to get (2) autographs from the High Tek Autograph checklist. Parallels include Green #’ed/99, Blue #’ed/75, Black Orbit Diffractors #’ed/50, Orange Orbit Diffractors #’ed/25, Red Orbit Diffractors #’ed/10, and Gold SpecTEKular Diffractors #’ed 1/1. All of them feature either the NL or AL first pattern. No autograph will come on patterns 2-4. Having parallels and autographs for each pattern would be way too much.

Other autographs besides the High Tek ones that you can pull include Black & White Image Variations, PortraiTEK, PyroTEKnics, Rookie TEK, and Tek Buybacks. All of these except the Tek Buybacks have non-autographed inserts.

Its a lot to take in. This product is heavily concentrated with patterns and parallels. If you feel like busting a box and focusing on just the autographs and parallels, that’s perfectly fine. Despite patterns 2-4 being more rare, they don’t command too much more on the secondary market.

Here is what I pulled:

Autos