I'm trying to get the bitter taste out of my mouth from last night's Duck debacle. It's been the top story all over the sports world, so I won't rehash it here. Instead, I present you with another Allen & Ginter blaster that I purchased recently. Erin and I decided to play a little game of pack wars as she bought a matching blaster. I don't have her cards in front of me, so you won't see scans of her stuff, but I do have the list of what she got to compare to.We went with a fairly arbitrary and convoluted set of rules, which weighs rarity of inserts heavily and gives some bonus to Cardinals cards, of course. It's no Gint-a-Cuffs, that's for sure.
Pack 1:
159 - Denard Span
126 - Trevor Crowe (RC)
120 - Edwin Moreno (RC) (I saw this guy make a start for the Portland Beavers this year. He pitched really well, but was removed after 5 innings or so, probably due to being on a pitch count or something.)
340 - Richard Gatling (SP)86 - Michael Cuddyer Mini
NP60 - Stephen Drew National Pride(Erin counters with: 300 David Ortiz, 31 Nick Markakis, 270 Josh Outman, 337 Billy Butler (SP), HHB15 - Bathtub Hoax, NP62 Ryan Braun National Pride.)
Verdict: We both get SPs and Erin gets an insert card while I don't. Erin takes the pack.
Pack 2:
179 - Trevor Hoffman
107 - Bryan Berg (Card stacker. He must have been a very bored child.)
56 - Daniel Murphy
270 - Josh Outman (RC)
269 - Brian McCann MiniNP61 - Mark Teahen National Pride
- Crack the Ginter code ad
(Erin's pack: 217 Jorge Cantu, 190 B.J. Upton, 234 Wyatt Earp, 120 Edwin Moreno, NH31 William Tell National Heroes, NP60 Stephen Drew National Pride)
Verdict: Once again I get no non-National Pride inserts while Erin gets the William Tell card. Erin leads 2-0.
Pack 3:
150 - Prince Fielder
83 - Ludwig Van Beethoven188 - Chris Davis
303 - Rocco Baldelli (SP)
275 - Vladimir Guerrero Mini A&G Back
NP62 - Ryan Braun National Pride
(Erin's pack: 67 Ian Kinsler, 199 James McDonald, 42 Mark Buehrle, 317 John Baker (SP), EA1 Velociraptor (!!!) Extinct Creatures, NP60 Stephen Drew National Pride)
Verdict: The velociraptor is awesome and may even be the coolest card you can get from this stuff. Erin wins again by a large margin.
Pack 4 (Mutant Pack Alert!):
16 - Josh Johnson Mini A&G Back (Bad scan by me. There was a border on the right side that got eaten up by computers.)84 - Justin Upton
195 - Kevin Kouzmanoff (With a badly bent corner. Every mutant pack seems to have its casualty.)
98 - Josh Whitesell (RC)
215 - Jed Lowrie Code Parallel
333 - Nick Swisher Mini A&G Back (SP)
NP63 - Carlos Beltran National Pride
(Erin's pack: 8 Matt Cain, 197 Jhonny Peralta, 21 Robinson Cano(e), AGHS8 Derek Jeter sketch card, 75 David Wright Mini A&G Back, NP59 Miguel Cabrera National Pride)
Verdict: It's close, but I finally get on the board. It took a mutant pack to do it, though. Erin leads 3-1.
Pack 5:
288 - Joe Saunders
32 - Jeremy Bonderman
278 - Herb Simpson339 - Jordan Schafer (RC) (SP)
NP64 - Francisco Liriano National Pride
(Erin counters with: 256 Jose Lopez, 10 Chone "Figgy" Figgins, 20 Adam Jones, 329 Carlos Gomez, 159 Denard Span Black Mini, NP58 Derek Jeter National Pride)
Verdict: Well, this one was stacked against me to begin with. The downside of getting a mutant pack is that the next pack tends to balance it out. No mini for me and a nice black bordered mini for Erin. Erin leads it 4-1 and the best I can do now is tie.
Pack 6:
144 - Joakim Soria
287 - James Shields
151 - Cole Hamels
AGHS10 - Jim Thome Baseball Highlights sketch card (Argh, I already have one of these!)
82 - Justin Verlander Black MiniNP65 - Carlos Delgado National Pride
(Erin's: 91 Alex Gordon, 79 Electron, 292 Oliver Perez, 7 John Smoltz code parallel, 41 Victor Martinez Mini A&G Back, NP57 Victor Martinez)
Verdict: At first look this one is a toss-up. Erin got the V-Mart special and I ended up with a sketch card I already have and one of my favorite parallels, the black bordered mini. We'll leave this as a tie for now. Erin leads 4-1-1.
Pack 7:
100 - Ichiro Suzuki
108 - Alamo
247 - Jeff Clement (Erin is still waiting for his autograph to come in the mail. Still.)
309 - Kosuke Fukudome (SP)
LMT10 - Dragon (!!) Creatures of LM&TNP66 - Joba Chamberlain National Pride (Joba is a bit of a creature in his own right.)
(Erin's pack: 242 Mark Teahen, 55 Alex Rios, 259 Napoleon Bonaparte, 321 Kelly Shoppach (SP), 144 Joakim Soria Mini, NP56 Edinson Volquez National Pride)
Veridct: My dragon conquers all. Erin's lead is cut to 4-2-1.
Pack 8:
271 - Jair Jurrjens
237 - Walton Glenn Eller
AGR-TL - Tim Lincecum Framed Relic (Jackpot! Uh oh, Erin loves this guy...)
NH12 - Alexander Nevsky National HeroesNP67 - Adrian Gonzalez National Pride
- Ginter code ad thing
(Erin's Asian-themed pack: 268 Andy Pettitte, 169 Kazuo Matsui, 244 Carlos Beltran, 139 Daisuke Matsuzaka, 35 Geovany Soto Mini, NP55 Kosuke Fukudome National Pride)
Verdict: Unfortunately for Erin, she does not get a relic in her pack. This puts the final tally at 4-3-1, still a win for Erin. We decided to go back and review the pack that was a tie and go card by card, which also resulted in a tie.
Erin wins this edition of pack wars! It's debatable as to whether or not my box was better, but this is pack wars and not blaster wars. The sad thing is that neither of us got a single Cardinals card in our boxes. Thanks for playing... or, rather, thanks for putting up with us.
I thought we decided my electron trumped all because Verlander wouldn't exist without them.
ReplyDeleteI think we just decided that the electron was better than Shields.
ReplyDeleteBoth of these blasters beat every A&G blaster I've purchased this year. In fact, every A&G blaster featured on every blog has beaten every A&G blaster I've purchased this year.
ReplyDeleteI cannot believe what crap I've gotten from these things this year.