My 2018 Splurge: Topps Opening Day

Yes, I know, Heritage has just dropped. But today, I'm talking about Opening Day.

The short story:

I pre-ordered a case of 2018 Topps Opening Day in an attempt to build a master set. Dupes will be available.

The long story:

Before deciding to come back to blogging, I needed to figure out what I wanted from my collection and the hobby. I've mentioned here and in some various comments on other blogs that I'll be moving in about a year and half, sometime in the summer of 2019. In the meantime, I'll be sorting and organizing and purging and packing everything in the house, not just my collection.

In my 2018 Goals post, I said I had developed an organization process that seems to be working really well for me. I've tested it with my Ivy collection, as well as my 2016-2018 Cubs additions. But those were slow additions, a few at a time, with a "large" Sportslots purchase of about 50 cards once or twice.

I've streamlined collection additions from the past two years to Cubs items and cards with Ivy in the background. Before my hiatus I was also collecting horizontally oriented cards but that is on the back burner for now. As fulfilling as all that is, I feel like I'm missing something.

This is me about 30 years ago. Sorting cards by number. Or team. Or whatever the whim of the day was. Based on the photo development time stamp on the back, that's probably a table full of 1986 Topps.

At that age, I probably would have considered myself a set collector. I took my packs, sorted out the ones I didn't need and tried to trade for ones I did. After coming across this photo, I realized completing a set is something I loved and haven't really pursued in a while. These days, that isn't even really that hard. Just click Buy it Now and a few days later, a whole set shows up right to your door.

But I also really miss opening packs. Repacks can be fun, but they don't really help accomplish any goal. Very, very rarely do I find any Cubs needs or Ivy cards in them. My weekly Sunday repack posts just help me scratch that pack-ripping itch.

So I wanted to try to build a master set of something. That's tougher than just a complete set, and will keep me ripping packs since most of the time you can get a near complete set with just a box.

Opening Day is the cheapest option out there and it helps that I more or less liked the flagship design. I imagine building a master set is doable with a case. If not, I should have enough dupes to trade for the rest. Aside from price, another perk is that the base set usually hits the best of Series 1 with a nice preview of some Series 2 cards. The inserts are also a little more fun in Opening Day, with cards that extend beyond the players, including mascots and behind the scenes at the stadium.

I really enjoyed working on my 2014 Topps Blog when that was active. Looking into the cards made me appreciate them more and notice things I normally wouldn't have, especially with base cards. Unfortunately, those cards are with the part of my collection that's packed away so while I would like to get back to that, I'll have to wait a bit. It might be interesting to take another look at the set four years later.

In the meantime, I'm thinking of doing a similar, but much, much more streamlined blog for the Opening Day set. Bullet pointed template rather than paragraphs. With a mid-March release date, look for that at the end of the month or early April, because I will be doing a base set (or two) giveaway to followers.

Because with a 20-box case, depending on collation, I anticipate having 15+ complete base sets. There are 200 cards in the set and 252 cards in a box. Subtract the inserts and it'll be close to pull a set per box. If you think you might want one, let me know. I will also probably end up with a bunch of dupe inserts and unless the "hits" are Cubs, I probably won't be interested in them either.