Predators: August Card Show Pickups

This year has been a bit of a resurgence for me when it comes to card collecting. Now that I've found the monthly card show in Troy, MI, it's been relatively easy to find new singles for my Golden Knights and Predators collections among other things. I also feel like I'm enjoying collecting more now than any other time in the last few years.

Last month I was able to make it out to the Troy show again and came away with another nice stack of cards for my growing Predators collection. 

This was also the first time I've ever left a card show having made money. On a whim I decided to take my collection of excess McFarlane figures to see if any of the dealers would buy them off me. I had a box of about 20 of them from a variety of sets. They've just been taking up valuable space in my basement and it was time for them to go. 

Luckily there was one dealer with a table full of other McFarlane figures and he was open to acquiring a few more. We made a quick deal that meant cash in my pocket and extra space in my basement. Definitely a win win. I even ended up spending less on cards than I made on the sale, hence the making money part. Now onto my Predators haul.

Up first we have this gorgeous rainbow parallel from 2018-19 OPC Platinum featuring Pekka Rinne. Now that I've seen some more of the parallels from these sets, I am really starting to become a fan of this particular offering from Upper Deck. And this is the most basic of the parallels so they only get nicer from here.

I have to say that is probably one of the best looking scans I've posted here in a long time. By that I just mean the way it perfectly captured the gradient of the rainbow foil from top to bottom. Things like this usually do not show up this well.

Here's another one that was easy to spot in the quarter bin. This one featuring Ryan Ellis is a retro rainbow parallel from 2018-19 OPC Platinum. Its an interesting design to say the least. Not sure how I feel about it just yet. Also, just like the Rinne, the rainbow effect is difficult to see in the scan, it looks so much better in person when the light hits it.

Continuing with OPC Platinum, I was also able to snag this neat In Action card of Filip Forsberg. I like how the cropped the photo so the words run in front of Forsberg's legs, but behind his gloves and stick. It really gives the card some depth. This also has more of a chrome/mirror finish on the front and shows just how dirty my scanner really is.

Switching gears, next we have a red parallel of Ryan Johansen from 2017-18 SP Authentic. I really like the look of the last few SPA base sets. They use some crazy geometric designs that somehow all work together. The best part, which you can't really tell from the scan, is how the player image is glossy while the rest of the card has more of a matte finish.

Sticking with SPA, but jumping forward to 2018-19, I was able to find several base cards in a dime box. Up first is Ryan Ellis. The overall design is very similar to the previous year shown above, although there may be slightly less of the geometric background craziness.

Then there was this Filip Forsberg. 

The third one was Pekka Rinne. I wish there was some more variety in the photos on all these Rinne cards I've gotten lately. I can think of at least three that have him in almost the exact same pose. None are bad, I just wish there was something different occasionally.

Along with the three base SPA cards, I was able to find another red parallel, this time of Rinne. It is essentially the same design as the base card other than the grey background and foil being changed to red. It looks more like a really dark shade of pink if you ask me. 

Switching gears once again, I was able to make a nice dent in the Preds checklist for 2019-20 MVP. This was the first time I had seen these cards in person and I have to say I kind of like the overall design. I just wish they would get away from the newer cursive looking MVP logo and go back to the original. Up first is Filip Forsberg.

Up next is Roman Josi with a cameo from Rinne, again in a standing position.

My favorite Predator to watch is still probably Viktor Arvidsson. He's a smaller guy but has some incredible speed and hands. I've seen him score some amazing goals the last couple of seasons and hop there is more to come here soon.

Up next is card #70 in the set featuring Ryan Johansen.

Here we have defenseman Ryan Ellis. This time we can see the Preds other goalie, Jusse Saros, in the background. I love the gold pads he went with last season, although they looked a little better with the road white jerseys. This setup was almost too much gold.

Last but not least we have Wayne Simmonds, who actually isn't even on the Preds at this point. He signed with New Jersey over the summer joining fellow former Pred P.K. Subban.

So that's it for another Predators card show haul. Even though these are pretty much all base cards it was still very enjoyable searching for them at the show. The benefit of most collectors not caring about base cards like these is how cheap I can get them. Usually at these shows they run me just $0.10 each, maybe $0.25 if they are from a higher end set.

Predators Collection Total: 75