[swatkins1978]

I am 34 years old and haven't ripped a pack for 20 years. I have an extensive collection pre-1992 but nothing since then, save a few jersey cards bought on eBay abot 10 years ago.

I want to get back in the game... Where do I start? I love the excitement of opening boxes... Any recommendations? What boxes are the best bang for my buck?

Thanks for any advice!!!!

-Sam

[JMarchand1981]

It depends on what you want man. If you are looking to rip packs than go with a product like threads, prestige or whatever that has a lot of packs. If you want hits than go with something like absolute, preferred, certified, timeless. It also depends on what you want to spend. If you want a good rip for $100 go with the new brilliance. Two autos and a relic. If you want to spend 200 than go with select or preferred. The most important thing is to have fun.

FYI I will more than likely be ripping some past and present or brilliance later so you can see what the stuff looks like. Matter of fact, check the box breaks section. I posted last week.

[kstjst]

all i can do is warn you that pack prices have jumped A LOT since you were last busting. as for a recommendation, i'd suggest panini elite. reasonable price with at least 3 or 4 autographs and a memorabilia card in each hobby box. plus you get rookies and possibly a die cut, status card.

it also depends on what kind of players you collect, if it's MJ, then you'd have to stick to upper deck, if it's LeBron, then autos are only found in UD, but you can find memorabilia of LeBron in Panini products. I also think that Lillard autos are only in Leaf.

good luck and don't get too crazy!

[Stackfan]

Yeah... things have changed a lot! Me personally my favorite products this year were Prizm and Select, with good solid rookie, and auto sets. Prizm/refractor parallels.

But depends what you like most: Autographs, Rookie Cards, Jersey Cards. High End/Low end?

On the low end, I thought Past and Present / Panini were Good. Hoops was OK.

Middle of the road, Prizm/Select were great imo, BUT hard to find, and more expensive now.

High End. I'm not a big end buster.... I do like the idea of the Leaf Best of Basketball, I think Gold Standard/National Treasures are the main high end stuff.

Also, if you want to get your feet wet a little with some products try Retail blaster boxes. Cheap 20$ investment, and you get a idea of the product for low end products. That's how i kinda got back into it. For me, it gets expensive going to the card shop : /

[quavis]

A cheap way to have some fun and get some cards is buying into group box breaks. Its a gamble but less expensive than boxes. I find mine on Twitter.