Grade the Break - 2018 Topps Finest Master Box
In between the Topps Series 2 release and the Stadium Club release date, I wanted to do something fun, quick, and cheap for everyone to break. I chose a master box of Topps Finest because the price dropped already since Ohtani went down. I have never opened Finest before, but it's a set that I always like to pick up singles from. I was really excited to open this product and see how sharp the cards looked. I saw pictures of them, but pics don't do these cards justice, they are beautiful. No variations to look for in Finest, but lots of color parallels and nice inserts. Cards 101-125 are base card Short Prints.
PROS
* Beautiful card design
* Top Rookies - Ohtani, Devers, Andujar, Mejia, Hays, Verdugo, and more. Frazier and Albies are SP
* Nice Inserts: Sitting Red, Cornerstones, Finest Careers, and Finest Firsts
* 2 Autos Promised - autos on these cards almost always look sharp
* Affordable - when broken up into a break
CONS
* Not enough packs/cards for the price
* The "glass" look of Finest, is easy to scratch and smudge (had a few cards with marks from the factory - see Clint Frazier below)
* Team distribution was skewed, some teams had nothing in these boxes
* Frazier and Albies are SP
* Value - hard to imagine these boxes ever fully paying off, as a personal break
Topps Finest treated us to fun and quick break, albeit maybe a little TOO quick. would have been nice to have some more to open. We rec'd two nice autos, but both were base and non-numbered, so that's a little disappointing, but the players we got were good. One major disappointment was the uneven distribution of the teams. Some teams were loaded, some had nothing. I will be doing my best to work with anyone who broke this with me and didn't get much. Since we only opened one master box, it's hard to judge on the value of the product, but this product feels even more and "hit or miss" than some of the previous products we broke. Here are some highlights!
Our Best Card
Ian Happ Auto - Non Numbered
Our Other Auto
Always a fan of getting a rookie auto!
Harrison Bader RC Auto - NN
Some Rookie Highlights
The only two cards the Phillies had in the break were both awesome
A Couple of Cool Inserts
GRADE THE BREAK!
C-
Though the quality of card was much higher than that of Topps Series 2, this break did not deliver the value that the flagship Topps gave us. Obviously that's a risk with a higher end cards with less cards to get, but I thought we get some more numbered cards. It would have been nice if one of the autos was numbered. This break had a perfect blend of being a fun break and also feeling let down at the same. Which to me sounds like the definition of a "C-".
Thanks to everyone that joined the break! Hope everyone enjoyed it, despite how fast it was. Everything is sorted and ready to go. Some orders will go out today, and others that are in the Stadium Club break will have them added to that order.
If you are interested in joining a future break, Stadium Club up for pre-sale. I will be scheduling the next break after SC, any recommendations on what to rip? There will be a second SC scheduled soon as well.
Thanks for reading, and join us next week for the Stadium Club Grade the Break!