2018 Gypsy Queen Recap and some banter
On Monday night, we opened 3 hobby boxes of Gypsy Queen. It was really fun to open, even though our autos were pretty weak. Including getting two Garrett Cooper autos. The Gypsy Queen set this year has a slightly different look than the past GQ sets. Is it me, or is does it feel like all the GQ designs blend together? This set feels different and will stand out from some of the other stale GQ designs. They have gotten the memo. In addition to a new base card look and feel, Topps went all out in sticking with the variation craze that seems to be going on. Variations are one of my favorite things to collect, but lately these sets are going overboard with them. Some of the variations that GQ put out this year include:Missing Black Plate, Capless Photo, Jackie Robinson Day Photo, Missing Team Name, GQ Logo Swap, Bazooka Back Parallels, Legend Variation, and Team Swap (which is just confusing). Heritage and Donruss each had a lot of variations supporting their sets as well. Which was consistent last year, but 2018 GQ added a few more versions to their list of variations/parallels. As opening, it's hard not to be distracted by knowing what to look for. Most of the variations come in the pack facing a different way but they are still sneaky and hard to always find the first time through.
One other thing that was different last year is the quality of the Glassworks box toppers. They were cool in the past, but this year they are so much nicer. The quality of the card in general, but also the design and colors they used this year really made these cards more than a $2-3 dollar throwaway item like most of the players last year. Our 3 Glassworks cards for this break were Francisco Lindor, Freddie Freeman, and Mike Trout. A picture will not do these cards any justice.
Gypsy Queen also featured some nice inserts this year. The Fortune Teller insert and the Tarot inserts are different and fun theme. These cards don't hold much value but are definitely fun to open and get for your PC players. The Francisco Lindor and Aaron Judge Tarot cards really stood out to me.
Variations and Parallels we opened:
Corey Seager - Jackie Robinson Day/GQ Logo Swap
Buster Posey - GQ Logo Swap
Trevor Story - Bazooka Back
James McCann - Bazooka Back
Adam Jones - Bazooka Back
Ted Williams - Legends Variation
Hank Aaron - Legends Variation
Cal Ripken - Legends Variation
Bryce Harper - Missing Team Name
Elvis Andrus - Missing Team Name
Javy Baez - Missing Team Name
Byron Buxton - Missing Team Name
Tommy Pham - Missing Team Name
Andrew Cashner - Blue Border /250
Alex Coleme - Blue Border /250
Shin Soo Choo - Blue Border /250
Byron Buxton - Black and White /50
Tim Anderson - Black and White /50
Here are the 6 Autos we received:
Jose Berrios
Garrett Cooper RC - Qty 2
Zack Granite RC
Franklin Barreto
Brandon Woodruff RC
We also opened one Shohei Ohtani Rookie Card.
That was about it from the break. It was a lot of fun and I am looking to break two boxes of this next week. Still coming up with logistics but will be posting that soon.
Is everyone ready for opening day!?! It really snuck up on me this year, especially with the season starting on a Thursday. Do you have a favorite opening day memory? For me, it was just blowing off work when living in Baltimore then just watching baseball all day. It's been a tradition I have tried to keep up. Along with my yearly opening day picture of my daughter and I, that photo gets used for our yearly baseball card.
Some updates on The Card Swap just in case you missed them. Redesigned HOME PAGE! Hopefully eliminated any cluttering and confusion. I think this layout has a better flow to it. Redesigned SHOP and COLLECTIONS! Now with a search function, You can now easier find players, cards, and blogs even faster. This new design should also improve mobile shopping experience. The slider galleries should make it easier to scroll and see more cards, faster! Thanks everyone for checking the site and blog!