Yesterday, I went through what I got from a retail hanger box of 2018 Donruss (cost of $9.99 for 60 cards). Today, we take a look at a retail blaster of 2018 Panini Donruss (cost of $19.99 for only 56 cards).
Is it worth paying twice as much money for four fewer cards? Read on to find out.
Unlike the hanger box, the blaster contains actual packs of cards inside (7 packs with 8 cards per pack). That certainly makes the opening process a bit more fun than it was when ripping the single clear cellophane wrapping used for the "brick" of cards in the hanger box.
As stated already, the blaster comes with 7 packs but only 6 of those packs are "regular" packs. The seventh pack contains blaster exclusive holo blue and crystal parallels so let's start with that pack first!
While none of those cards jumped out at me, I will say the two designs look quite nice. I'd definitely like to trade for the Barry Larkin cards from the two parallel sets (and the hanger green foil parallels as well).
By now I imagine that everyone has seen more Panini Donruss base cards than they ever needed to and so I won't scan the contents of each pack. I will, however, show off the highlights. Before I do so, I should at least mention that I ended up with 39 different regular base cards plus 7 variation base cards. Of the 39 base cards, I only needed two of them which was definitely disappointing!!
If you are doing the math at home, that only leaves two cards unaccounted for. The first is a blank back parallel of Elvis Andrus.
The black backs are pretty tough pulls from what I've seen, but unfortunately they don't excite me much (though I wouldn't turn down either of the Larkin blank backs if they were offered to me). As it is, this is a nice enough pull but it didn't move the excitement meter much.
The final card was exciting, but more so because it was totally unexpected...
That's (yet another) Twins autograph...but from a retail blaster it somehow feels a bit more special. I don't know a thing about Mitch Garver but based on eBay sales I'm note expecting much out of him. Still, it's always fun to pull an unexpected autograph!
That's it for the blaster...and so now we have to make a decision as to which is the better buy. Personally, I think it's clear...the $9.99 hanger box offers more cards for half the price. I do like the blaster's blue foil and crystal parallels better than the green parallels from the hanger but not $10 worth better. Heck, I even beat the odds and pulled an autograph...but selling that auto won't recoup the extra $10 I had to spend (and then I'd be down another card). No, it seems quite clear to me that if you are a set collector that the hanger box is the way to go. If you are only interested in possibly pulling an autograph, you are probably better off just buying it directly from eBay (or some other site).
At this point in time, I should point out that I'm still looking for some 2018 Donruss cards for my own set.
Is it worth paying twice as much money for four fewer cards? Read on to find out.
Unlike the hanger box, the blaster contains actual packs of cards inside (7 packs with 8 cards per pack). That certainly makes the opening process a bit more fun than it was when ripping the single clear cellophane wrapping used for the "brick" of cards in the hanger box.
As stated already, the blaster comes with 7 packs but only 6 of those packs are "regular" packs. The seventh pack contains blaster exclusive holo blue and crystal parallels so let's start with that pack first!
While none of those cards jumped out at me, I will say the two designs look quite nice. I'd definitely like to trade for the Barry Larkin cards from the two parallel sets (and the hanger green foil parallels as well).
By now I imagine that everyone has seen more Panini Donruss base cards than they ever needed to and so I won't scan the contents of each pack. I will, however, show off the highlights. Before I do so, I should at least mention that I ended up with 39 different regular base cards plus 7 variation base cards. Of the 39 base cards, I only needed two of them which was definitely disappointing!!
If you are doing the math at home, that only leaves two cards unaccounted for. The first is a blank back parallel of Elvis Andrus.
The black backs are pretty tough pulls from what I've seen, but unfortunately they don't excite me much (though I wouldn't turn down either of the Larkin blank backs if they were offered to me). As it is, this is a nice enough pull but it didn't move the excitement meter much.
The final card was exciting, but more so because it was totally unexpected...
That's (yet another) Twins autograph...but from a retail blaster it somehow feels a bit more special. I don't know a thing about Mitch Garver but based on eBay sales I'm note expecting much out of him. Still, it's always fun to pull an unexpected autograph!
That's it for the blaster...and so now we have to make a decision as to which is the better buy. Personally, I think it's clear...the $9.99 hanger box offers more cards for half the price. I do like the blaster's blue foil and crystal parallels better than the green parallels from the hanger but not $10 worth better. Heck, I even beat the odds and pulled an autograph...but selling that auto won't recoup the extra $10 I had to spend (and then I'd be down another card). No, it seems quite clear to me that if you are a set collector that the hanger box is the way to go. If you are only interested in possibly pulling an autograph, you are probably better off just buying it directly from eBay (or some other site).
At this point in time, I should point out that I'm still looking for some 2018 Donruss cards for my own set.
Looks to me like the other benefit is the inserts you can get from blasters. The hangers are variations and those green borders only. Still not sure if that makes the blasters worth it.
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