2011 Topps Attax: Rack Pack Break and Review

Night Owl said no one gives Topps Attax any love.  Night Owl said Gypsy Queen got too much love.  Night Owl even called me out by name/web link, saying I was a Gypsy whore or something (might be paraphrasing there).  This'll show the owl.

2011 Topps Attax:

Rack pack:

$3.98 for 30 cards, plus a play mat and rules - that's a pretty good deal if you ask me.  Of course, if the cards stink it doesn't really matter how many you get...so the big question:  How are the cards?

In a word:  Decent.  

I happen to like the cards - they remind me a lot of Magic cards, which I collected and played a bit of when I was younger...in fact, my cards are still at my parents' house - I wonder if they have any value any more?  Back on task though, the Attax cards have rounded edges and definitely feel like they are meant for play (which is a compliment to the set I might add).  

Like Magic cards, the Topps Attax cards are assigned a "rarity".  According to the rules that come with the rack pack, there are commons, uncommons, rares, and ultra rare cards (denoted by the colored diamond at the bottom of the card).  While that sounds good in theory, my rack pack didn't seem to differentiate between commons and uncommons nor between the rares and ultra rares.  

I got eleven commons plus a common foil card (Chapman!).

I got eleven uncommons plus an uncommons foil card (Ibanez).

I got three rares.

I got three ultra rares.

I also got a stupid Topps Town card (complete with rounded corners).

I didn't really read all the rules on how to play the game, but I think it might be a fun diversion for a bit...maybe something to do during commercials of a baseball game?  

As for the cards, the two foil cards were nice - especially the Chapman, love that one!  You'll also notice there are little tiny stars under the diamond.  Apparently, your "team" you make has a cap of a certain number of stars (100 is the limit according to the rules).  Chapman is only worth two stars (that was the lowest star total I saw) while the foil Ibanez was worth four stars.  However, the stars go up to at least five since all three of my ultra rare cards were five star players (Jimenez, Tulowitzki, and Hanley Ramirez).

I think I'll probably pick up another rack pack or two of these cards (who am I kidding, I have another rack pack here - but I'll probably make my way to Target tomorrow to see if I can find more).  I think I'm actually going to try and complete the set - it's only 258 cards large, so maybe it won't be too difficult?  Start setting aside your Attax cards for me please!!

As for the rest of the rack pack, there was a single stadium card (mine was Tropicana Field) and a single mascot card (mine was Wally the Green Monster).  Both are pretty cool, though I have a feeling the mascot cards are going to be the most popular cards in the set!  

Finally, besides the foil Chapman card, I got two other Reds:  Drew Stubbs (2 stars) and Jay Bruce (3 stars). I think that Bruce and Stubbs' abilities on their cards should have been switched - it's little things like that though that could have made this "ok" set into something really nice...

Overall, I give the set a solid C.  There's nothing outstanding, there's nothing awful.  It's average - and honestly, it nails the genre perfectly (well, at least the looks - as I said, I haven't tried actually playing with the cards yet)!