Pretty cards, deadly cards

I entered another one of those no-brainer group breaks at Cardboard Collections a little while ago. Colbey finds card sets that totally escaped me, charges next to nothing to enter, and then throws in extra cards with your winnings. It's practically irresistible.

But I'm repeating myself.

This latest break featured 1995 Topps Embossed, 1993 Bowman, something called Ultimate Victory and 1999 Stars N' Steel. I signed up and got meself some pretty funky cards.

First the Stars N' Steel cards.

I'm not sure how these were made. But they definitely consist of steel. The corners are definitely sharp. And they're definitely more dangerous than a butter knife, if you're so inclined.

I've never considered cards a deadly weapon, but in the wrong hands you could draw blood with these things. I'm trying to picture me and my friends opening these as kids on the way back home from the drug store. We'd have to run back for band-aids.

Here are a couple of the Topps Embossed cards. Slightly less cool than the Stars N' Steel cards and a lot less dangerous. The player's photo is raised off the card both on the front and the back. Very, very '90s.

The Rookie of the Year cards in this set are as shiny as anything Pinnacle put out at around this time.

In comparison, the '93 Bowman cards I received were rather run-of-the-mill. But I certainly like the Pedro card at the top of the post.

These are the Ultimate Victory cards. I had no idea what they were when Colbey first said he was going to put them in the break. It turns out they are prettier parallels of that insanely dull Victory set.

These look a lot better.

Here are some of the extra cards:

First Edition! I'm convinced no one was swayed by my "First Edition Fridays" and there are pallets of these cards packing the giant store rooms at Upper Deck headquarters. That's why I'm thrilled to get First Edition cards. I still like these '09 versions better than the '09 Upper Deck base set.

Colbey sent a couple of other cards that I'm saving for another post.

But one last pretty item to end this one:

Ooooooh, purrrrrrppuuuulllleeeeeeee.

Very nice.

Great break, Colbey. Now, I'm off, to find a safe place to store my Stars N' Steel cards. I don't need anyone transforming them into a throwing star.