2000 Fleer Mystique - Group Break Wrap-Up!

 This past Tuesday, we completed my latest group break - a box of 2000 Fleer Mystique.  If you'd like to watch the break in full, I'd invite you to watch this video.  Otherwise, feel free to read ahead and check out the main highlights of the break!

The 2000 Fleer Mystique set contains 175 cards in the base set with the final 50 cards all short printed (each of which is serially numbered out of 2000). 

I didn't count all exactly how many base cards we ended up with but I can say for sure that every single team received at least one card (which is great for group break purposes)!  The base cards didn't scan super well for me but I assure you that they look much nicer in person!

I mentioned earlier that the final 50 cards in the base set are short-printed.  We ended up pulling two such cards in our box:

The Soriano is #0937/2000 and the Pena is #1530/2000.  The rookie prospect checklist isn't great in the 2000 Mystique set but at least we pulled one of the better names in Soriano.

The 2000 Mystique set has a pair of parallels that are possible.  Gold parallels are seeded one per box while the Masterpiece parallels are true 1/1s.  Not surprisingly, we didn't pull a Masterpiece but we did find a gold parallel (Raul Mondesi of the Blue Jays).

Moving on to the inserts, according to the pack wrapper there are 9 limited edition insert sets to chase after.

The most common is the Diamond Dominator set (seeded 1:5 packs).  As expected, we pulled four such cards from the ten card set.

I must say, these cards look great in person, especially the Jeter (the blue and white color scheme works beautifully for the Yankees...and that's coming from a guy who doesn't like Jeter or the Yankees)!  The one bummer here is that we pulled two of the same Diamond Dominator (Manny Ramirez).  

Next up, the 1:10 pack inserts which include the Supernaturals and the Rookie I.P.O.  I prefer the Supernaturals so let's begin with them:

Those are pretty sweet looking cards if you ask me, much like most of the Mystique set!

The other insert seeded 1:10 is the Rookie I.P.O set.  As expected, we pulled two of those as well:  

The sparkly silver is actually Nick Johnson but I guessed wrong during the group break and peeled off the back of the card rather than the front!  I decided to scan the sparkly wrapper here though so that you can see the "gimmick" of Mystique.  Namely, the inserts and short prints are all covered (front and back) by the sparkly sticker thing that you have to peel off in order to find out what you have.  The sticker bit didn't always peel off nicely but luckily the residue rubbed off fairly easily using a thumb or finger.

Next, more box hits.  In addition to the one-per-box Gold Parallel, we also should expect a one-per-box insert called High Praise.

The High Praise design kind of makes it look like Gwynn is playing baseball in the heavens which I guess is kind of fitting.  

The other one-per-box insert set is the Club 3000 set that Fleer seeded throughout many of its year 2000 brands.  We ended up beating the odds here by pulling not one, but two of the Club 3000 cards.

I love this set a lot, so much so that I've actively been collecting it for myself (I ended up buying the last couple of cards I needed a few months back).

That's all a box promises but we further beat the odds by pulling one of the 1:40 inserts - an autograph (part of the Fresh Ink set).

The Fresh Ink autograph checklist has a few big names and a whole bunch of duds so getting this nice Carlos Delgado autograph is actually a pretty good pull.  Carlos signed the autograph on the card and I have to say that his autograph is exquisite!

Overall, I had a blast opening this box and if I'm ever able to track down another box of this stuff I'd probably jump on it!  

With this group break over, another one is up and running.  For our next break, we are sticking with the retro stuff...this time going back to 1998 for a box of Topps Stars 'N Steel...a set where every single card was printed on a slab of metal.  Gimmicky?  Of course, but also kind of fun and unique!  Go here for all of the group break details if you are interested.