This is the first of the three boxes I picked up on my second day at the Gibraltar Trade Center card show a few weeks back. Even though this was a retail box, the price was good so I went for it.
The Numbers:
Packs: 24
Cards per Pack: 5
Base:
I've bought a few packs of this stuff in the past and always liked the base design, especially the column designs on the sides of the card. The foil around the player name adds a nice touch as well.
Silver Parallel:
Nothing spectacular here, just a base card with the foil swapped for silver and a serial number added. I guess it's not all that bad to get one from a retail box, so I'll take it.
Legends:
These aren't all that bad, but I think they could have been much better. They could have at least came up with a new foil pattern for the bottom or something.
Rookies:
What do you know, another no name rookie for me. That seems to happen a lot, but what can I expect when I buy a retail box like this? Again, same with the Legends, why couldn't they have changed up the bottom of the card a little bit?
Rookie Redemption:
It's pretty bad when I like the design of a redemption card more than actual cards from a set (i.e. the Legends and Rookies). I already redeemed this one and it turned out to be Jason Demers of the Sharks, so another no name rookie for me.
Treasured Swatches:
I didn't know what to expect memorabilia wise from a retail box, but I wasn't at all disappointed to find this Treasured Swatches of Alex Kovalev. I just wish they would have left the Montreal logo on the card. The Senators stuff just makes the card look bad.
Frozen Artifacts:
This Hawerchuk Frozen Artifacts was also a nice surprise coming from a retail box. Although it's not as big an issue on this one, I wish they would have used the old school Jets logo instead of the newer one.
All in all, this was a decent break. I got a lot of nice base cards and a few nice inserts. I wouldn't mind picking up a hobby box of this stuff in the future if the price was right.