Contest Winnings from Cards on Cards (2023 Topps!)

Every year, Kerry (from Cards on Cards) holds a College Football Bowl Game Pick 'Em Challenge where the goal is to pick the winners of the (approximately) 200 different bowl games.  I try to join Kerry's contest every year but up until this year, I never did particularly well.  That all changed though, perhaps in no small part by Kerry switching the contest to no longer require "confidence" rankings on each game.  Historically, I never enjoyed the confidence ranking part of the picks and would often move a couple of games up or down and then simply leave the remaining majority where they were in the original lineup.  Not a good way to win the contest, admittedly, and probably it's no surprise to anyone reading that I never did win using my lazy man strategy.  

Well, now lazy people can celebrate because that rule wasn't in play and so all I had to do is click on the winning team for each bowl game.  Somehow, someway, I ended up with a final entry that finished 30-13 which put me in the 99.7 percentile out of all ESPN entries.  I think I would have been salty if an entry that good lost Kerry's contest but luckily, I did win!

Last week, my prize package arrived which included a brand new, hot off the presses blaster of 2023 Topps Series 1.  

I'm excited for the blaster since I made the decision to collect this year's flagship Topps set.  In addition to the blaster, Kerry also included a team bag of assorted Reds which I also appreciated. 

Now, let's dig into that blaster!

By now, almost everyone that cares has probably seen all of Topps Series 1 that they want to but I'm still going to show off my favorite cards out the blaster.

Pack 1:

177.  Kendall Graveman

315.  Corey Seager

65.  Triston McKenzie

196.  Jordan Romano

109.  Eric Lauer

237.  Brandon Marsh

21.  Max Scherzer

313.  Cal Mitchel

12P-18.  One-Two Punch:  Verlander & Cole

SMLB-17.  Stars of MLB:  Bobby Witt, Jr.

310.  Checklist

329.  Mark Canha

137.  Kyle Hendricks

81.  Ozzie Albies

I have a soft spot for Bobby Witt, Jr. right now because he is (probably) going to be my keeper selection for hitters in my fantasy baseball league this year.  

Pack 2:

228.  Ryan Pressly

59.  Eduardo Rodiguez

321.  Garrett Cooper

242.  Jarren Duran

143.  Nestor Cortes

74.  Tarik Skubal

171.  Mychal Givens

132.  Gavin Sheets

HRC-24.  Home Run Challenge:  Riley Greene

SMLB-11.  Stars of MLB:  Christian Yelich

306.  Jesse Winker

69.  Caleb Kilian

219.  Dodgers team card

316.  Nationals team card

Jesse Winker wasn't nearly as good for the Mariners as he was for the Reds but at least he got a cool Mariners card out of the trade.  I expect we'll see Winker again in Topps Update this year as he is now signed with the Brewers (Winker had spinal surgery and knee surgery this offseason).

Pack 3:

53.  Dylan Cease

236.  Shane McClanahan

232.  Ian Happ

13.  Giovanny Gallegos

163.  Miguel Vargas

5.  Albert Pujols

320.  Cade Cavalli

151.  Tyler Wells

Royal Blue:  241.  AL RBI Leaders

SMLB-16.  Stars of MLB:  Julio Rodriguez

10.  Trevor Story

254.  Jimmy Herget

291.  Mets team card

134.  Royals team card

The Royal Blue parallels are seeded 1:10 packs or a bit rarer than one-per-blaster.  They are not serially numbered for those who might be wondering.

Pack 4:

265.  Anthony Santander

207.  Paul Sewald

129.  Nolan Jones

239.  Ketel Marte

235.  Robbie Ray

167.  Michael Massey

123.  Zach Davies

57.  Ha-Seong Kim

AA-11.  All Aces:  Shohei Ohtani

SMLB-22.  Stars of MLB:  Adley Rutschman

241.  AL RBI Leaders

326.  Checklist

190.  Checklist

226.  Michael Harris II

I love the All Aces insert set so very much as it combines my interest in baseball cards and board/card games!  This is the one insert set from 2023 Topps Series 1 that I plan to try to complete as well.  Unfortunately for me, I actually made a trade for this particular card already - but perhaps I can swap this one for some of my other All Aces set needs down the line!

Pack 5:

314.  Ke'Bryan Hayes

188.  Davis Martin

192.  Christian Yelich

214.  Graham Ashcroft

50.  Mookie Betts

293.  J.T. Realmuto

34.  Zack Thompson

Gold:  105.  Seth Beer (#/2023)

SMLBC-11.  Stars of MLB Chrome:  Christian Yelich

SMLB-28.  Stars of MLB:  Francisco Lindor

194.  Josh Staumont

220.  Cubs team card

292.  Rangers team card

113.  Checklist

I had no idea that there were Topps Chrome parallels of the Stars of MLB insert set.  We didn't pull any of those in my case break (maybe the Chrome cards are unique to blasters)?  According to the blaster box, the Chrome Stars of MLB are seeded 1:10 packs so they aren't exactly rare in retail.

Pack 6:

221.  Rhys Hoskins

165.  Jeter Downs

101.  Tyler Mahle

73.  Jon Gray

322.  Luis Urias

158.  Kris Bryant

80.  Tanner Rainey

7.  Bobby Witt, Jr.

T88-89.  Topps 1988:  Luis Robert

SMLB-2.  Stars of MLB:  Mike Trout

174.  Checklist

70.  Darin Ruf

168.  Braves team card

246.  AL HR Leaders

I'm glad Topps went with the 1988 design for their throwback insert set instead of rehashing the usual sets again and again.  I'd be even more glad if Topps saved the design rehashes for the Heritage brand (and I suppose the Archives brand) but that's just me.

Pack 7:

176.  Kody Clemens

161.  Carlos Carrasco

52.  Mathew Liberatore

225.  Corbin Burnes

149.  Josiah Gray

204.  Manuel Margot

210.  Checklist

54.  Marcus Stroman

TLP-BR.  Commemorative Team Logo Patch Card:  Brendan Rodgers

T88-93.  Topps 1988:  Riley Greene

SMLB-6.  Stars of MLB:  Luis Robert

82.  AL Wins Leaders

245.  Checklist

217.  Luis Arraez

64.  Josh Donaldson

The one-per-blaster Team Logo Patch card was a Rockies player.  Not my first choice but whaddya do?  The Reds actually have a pair of cards in that particular relic set (Votto and India), so perhaps I can end up swapping this card for one of the Reds in the set.  

That does it for the blaster!  I have to say, it was fun opening a blaster for myself, many thanks to Kerry for the generous prize package.