Card of the Day: Rakeem Christmas 2015-16 Prizm Ruby Wave #313

Card of the Day: Sidney Crosby 2015-16 Upper Deck Full Force Thermal Threats

Card of the Day: Rakeem Christmas 2015-16 NBA Hoops Hot Signatures

Malmö FF 2015-16 Topps UEFA Champions League Showcase Auto Contest Winner Announced

Congrats to bumfleetblog1 on being the lucky winner of the Markus Rosenberg 2015-16 Topps UEFA Champions League Showcase Auto.  Once bumfleetblog1 sends me their mailing address, I will ship this card ASAP.  Thanks!

Malmö FF 2015-16 Topps UEFA Champions League Showcase Auto Contest! – NOW CLOSED

This contest is for a Markus Rosenberg 2015-16 Topps UEFA Champions League Showcase Auto.  Good luck!!!

Contest Details:

• This contest will end Friday, April 22, 2016 @ 8:00 p.m. EST.
• To enter, please leave a comment in this post.
• You can enter once per day.
• The winner will be selected at random.
• Please provide a valid e-mail address when entering.
• The winner will receive an e-mail when the contest is over.
• The winner has one week to send me their contact information or the contest will be held again.
• Once the contest is over, I will need the winner’s mailing address so I can ship them this card for FREE!!!

2015-16 Topps UEFA Champions League Showcase Box Break & Review

Major League Baseball started up again this week.  You wanna know a great way to commemorate that?  By opening a box of European soccer cards.  That makes about as much sense as the Phillies pulling out Hellickson only to have the bullpen blow it.

2015-16 Topps UEFA Champions League Showcase is setup a lot like Finest Baseball.  Inside each master box you’ll find (2) mini boxes that contain (6) packs and (1) autograph each.  In case anyone was wondering, UEFA stands for Union of European Football Associations.  Its usually just referred to as the Champions League though.  When it comes to European soccer, the Champions League is about as prestigious as you can get.

The look and feel of these cards is similar to what you would find in some of the UFC products Topps makes.  Cards have that matte background and then the player photo is glossy.  From what it looks like, all of the autographs are on stickers.  The only spots that I could see where they stick out the most would be on cards that have a dark background.

As far as the base set goes, you’ve got (200) cards.  No short prints, photo variations, etc…  There are six different parallels – Green, Gold, Red, Black, Champions, and Printing Plates.  I think the best looking cards are the base autographs along with their respective parallels.  They have a simple design, matte background, glossy player photo, and the sticker autograph doesn’t jump out at you.  The diagonal lines add some character to the cards without drawing too much attention away from the player.  I did notice however that some of the player’s names can be difficult to read.  Light silver text with a bright background can do that sometimes.

Soccer is one of those sports that isn’t isolated to one country.  Its played all over the world vastly expanding it’s collecting base.  Opening products like this make you a well-rounded collector.  Niche products can offer some unique cards for those very specific player collectors.

Here is what I pulled:

Autos

• Luke Shaw Gold Auto #’ed/50
• Markus Rosenberg Auto

Parallels

• Sergio Ramos Decorated & Dignified Red #’ed/25
• Gaston Pereiro Gold #’ed/50
• Yacine Brahimi Green #’ed/150

Inserts

• Danny Decorated & Dignified
• Jose Antonio Reyes Decorated & Dignified
• Vincent Kompany Decorated & Dignified
• Maicon Decorated & Dignified
• Diego Benaglio Decorated & Dignified
• Gabi Decorated & Dignified
• Sven Kums Champions Pedigree
• Xabi Alonso Champions Pedigree
• Markus Rosenberg Champions Pedigree
• Zlatan Ibrahimovic Champions Pedigree
• Ivan Rakitic Road To Victory
• Luis Suarez Road To Victory

2015-16 Topps Premier Gold Soccer 2-Pack Break & Review

Time for some tea and biscuits with the Queen!  We’re heading across the pond for this quick 2-pack break.  Have you ever wondered what the Queen carries inside that little purse of her’s?  I bet she’s got a few packs of 2015-16 Topps Premier Gold in there.  To make this write-up a little more enjoyable, try reading it in a British accent.  When it comes to soccer (football over there) I’m far from an expert.  But sometimes its fun to try something outside of your normal element.  I attended one soccer game in my life and that’s when the Hershey Wildcats were still around.

The first thing I notice when I look at any of the photos is the size of the corporate sponsor’s logo on the player’s jersey.  They’re huge.  Way bigger than the team’s logo.  Its probably been this way for years, but to a nontraditional soccer fan its just something that jumped out to me.  Die hard soccer fans probably think I’m stupid for even mentioning it.

2015-16 Topps Premier Gold is a high-end soccer product.  Given that the set covers the Barclays Premier League, popularity in the United States might not be the highest.  A full box contains (10) mini boxes.  Inside each mini box you’ll find a “hit”.  The card stock is thick, and the photography reminds me of something you’ed see in Stadium Club.  A complete base set has (150) cards, and comes with a slew of parallels.

No on-card autographs here.  All stickers.  I like the look of the Golden Boot Die-Cut Autographs.  A collector recently spent $1,000 on a Wayne Rooney from that set.  Soccer cards can provide some interesting patches, but for the most part you’ll likely get one colored jerseys.  The New Signings insert looks cool with their lightning spewing soccer ball.

I think this is about as high-end of a product that soccer really needs.  For a couple of packs it was a fun rip.

Here is what I pulled:

Auto

• Danny Rose Auto

Relic

• Geoff Cameron Jersey

Parallel

• Diafra Sakho Purple #’ed/50

Inserts

• Gareth Barry All-Time Accolades
• Andre Ayew New Signings

Card of the Day: Max Domi 2015-16 Upper Deck Series 1 Young Guns #204