A box of Excalibur and 2 of Prizm...yes, two!

Yesterday was definitely what would be described as a rollercoaster. It started out spectacularly, but then turned horrible...as is the norm for me, any good thing is offset by something horrible happening.

But the good thing that happened yesterday...what a good thing it was!

I was more than surprised to receive a message in my inbox from someone asking my address, as they wanted to send me some boxes...I am not going to say who it was but I will say that I am forever grateful.

Said boxes arrived yesterday, and I didn't know what to expect. Inside were 2 boxes of Prizm, and one of Excalibur. I couldn't be happier. Prizm is one of my favorite NASCAR sets in years, and has now become the first NASCAR set I've ever opened three boxes of...considering I've been collecting NASCAR since Christmas 1992 that's pretty amazing! Excalibur is a set that I really liked, but the hobby box was out of my price range...there's no way I can justify spending that kind of money on a box anymore.

Prizm is the first time ever that the Refractor/Prizm technology has ever been used in NASCAR. In the hobby box, retail blaster and two retail hanger packs I did, I didn't get a single Prizm of any of the car cards. In these boxes, I got four of them!

Here is a page of the numbered cards I got from both boxes combined. There's some really great stuff here! The Green Flag Prizms are my favorites and I am thrilled to add three of them to my collection

The Kyle Busch auto came out of box #2 and is SN30/50. The Paul Menard is the Gold parallel of the base card and is SN 06/10! It's the second Menard numbered to 10 I've pulled in the past year, as I also got one in a box I got for Christmas last year. I think my favorite has to be the Bobby Labonte patch card. I think that's the letter P from the "Competitive Horsepower" right above the belt line. Here's a closer look-

The autograph in the other box I pulled was Greg Biffle, in possibly the greatest firesuit design ever in NASCAR history, sadly worn only once, at this year's Daytona 500. With the one-race KFC sponsorship, his suit was made to look like Colonel Sanders.

I now have a Gold Prizm autograph, the Green Busch, the Prizm Biffle, a Red Flag Prizm of Darrell Wallace Jr that I got as a single...but no base autographs! Not that I'm complaining, mind you...

Here are some of the Prizms I got. They don't really scan well, but...they look spectacular in person. Not shown (as they are already on the Trading Card Database) : #1 Jamie McMurray, #10 Danica Patrick, #11 Denny Hamlin, #65 Jimmie Johnson, #76 Kyle Busch, Variation #9 Bill Elliott. The Darrell Waltrip on the bottom right is die cut.

Here are the 4 car Prizms I got. I love these!

These are in card number order, my OCD wants to put them in car number order, hah!

I now have 29 of the 100 Prizm parallels. (I've also completed the base set, possibly twice over- I have not sorted my duplicates yet)

I also got two of the Race Used tire cards which seem to be one per box. I could literally not be happier, as these are my two favorite current drivers. Both pieces show some of the cording in the tires as well...cool!

I did these two boxes first, as like I said above, I did a box previously. Excalibur, however, was something I did not do much at all on this year, which is a shame as I really liked the set. It has two things especially going for it- it's the only real set of 2015-16 to show players with their new teams who were traded at the Trade Deadline, and it's the only set where the majority of the cards are sorted by team! As someone highly OCD, I like that a lot. (If I were making the set composition, they would be sorted by jersey number in team alphabetical order, so card #1 would be the lowest number on the Atlanta Hawks, #2 the second lowest jersey number, etc).

The very first pack out of the box...had by far the most impressive card in the box...

This is now the largest jersey piece in my collection! It's also only my second card of Jokic, so it's far and away the best card of him in my collection. He was kind of a surprise this year for the Nuggets, he was not really heralded, and in fact I first learned about him when I watched a preseason game of the Nuggets- not to brag but I usually stay on top of who is in the NBA...I'm addicted to the game. If I remember correctly, he even ended up finishing 3rd in Rookie of the Year voting behind Karl-Anthony Towns and Kristaps Porzingis...so we're talking some serious talent here. I fully expect him to be a regular in the 2016-17 sets and beyond.

Here are the base cards:

Here are the rookies, including my first card of Jarell Eddie of the Washington Wizards. I like how the rookies have a team colored border on the bottom, but I like the team colored scrollwork on the base cards. I would like to see the 2016-17 set combine the two with team colored scrollwork AND border, possibly using both of the team's colors...though that might be hard with the Nets and Spurs, which both use black and white.

Excalibur's Hobby Box provides three hits, and I got some other good ones to go along with the Jokic.

Kobe Bryant needs no introduction, but Wes Unseld might as he's been out of the public eye for a while. He was one of only two players in history to win MVP and Rookie of the Year in the same season! (1968-69). He led the Bullets (now Wizards) franchise to it's only Championship and then coached the team. His son Wes Jr. is still a part of the franchise, I believe. He is a Hall of Famer and is pretty much the best player in Franchise history (Some might say Elvin Hayes, but he also played elsewhere, while Unseld was only ever with this team). I'm very happy to add these two to my collection. It's my second autograph of Unseld and he is the only person with a last name starting with a U to appear in my autograph collection.

You also get three numbered Crusade inserts per box. These are Prizm technology although not marketed as such. My favorite is the Blue, made even more visually impressive by the throwback uniform Cauley-Stein is wearing.

I got two numbered parallels in my box. The Noah is a Gold and the Kaminsky is a silver. I like that they are numbered on the front- something that you don't see much of anymore.

And then the inserts. I'm not normally a big fan of inserts, but these aren't bad. The Team 2020 set is my favorite here, as it profiles players who might be superstars in the year 2020. I didn't have any before, now I have three. Can't beat that! Unlike most recent inserts, the Team 2020 and Team Titans have writing on the back...Jamfest and Class Masters just have the player's name, team and card number.

I want to thank the person who sent these to me once again...it made me truly happy, something that's few and far between...these cards will give me years of enjoyment.