Well, here is the breakdown of what came out of my box of 2013 Topps Series 2. I haven't got much commentary at the moment. Maybe things will pick up once we get to the cards.
Base Cards - 293 / 330 - 88.79%
Doubles - 0
The collation in this product is pretty good, with no doubles coming out of the box. I guess it would be nice if you could get a few more packs in a box and complete the whole set in one box. But that would be crazy, wouldn't it? At least it's not an old-timey set from the 90's with a 1200-card checklist and 3 doubles in every pack.
Jason Castro made the All-Star team as the token Astro, but more importantly, he recently made the Last Place Teams Collective Super Squad. R.A. Dickey didn't have much of a year, which was quite unfortunate. He did not make the LPTCSS. I just liked the pictures on the David Murphy and Billy Butler cards.
'72 Minis - 9 - David Freese, Tim Lincecum, Willie Stargell, Fred Lynn, Gary Sheffield, Robinson Cano, B.J. Upton, Josh Johnson, Ernie Banks
These '72 minis are pretty cool, but why release this particular year's design in the same year that the '72 design makes up a quarter of the Archives set? I guess there weren't enough other designs in Topps' history to choose from.
Chasing History - 9 - Jason Kipnis, Ken Griffey Jr., Gary Carter, Cal Ripken Jr., Adrian Gonzalez, Sandy Koufax, Robinson Cano, Willie Mays, Mike Schmidt
This design is pretty good, but the mixture of vertical and horizontal orientation bugs the crap out of me. I prefer the horizontal cards. There is a decent mix of old and new players in the checklist.
Making Their Mark - 6 - Mike Olt, Lance Lynn, Will Middlebrooks, Anthony Rizzo, Dylan Bundy, Todd Frazier
This set apparently features key moments early in the careers of various young stars. Anthony Rizzo is pretty cool. I hear good things about that Dylan Bundy guy, too.
Chase It Down - 5 - Jon Jay, Alex Gordon, Mike Moustakas, Cameron Maybin, Adam Jones
This is a set that I like. Action shots of fielding. There is a lot of grass in the pictures. You'll notice that in most of the pictures above and below, the grass on the field is mostly absent. There is hardly any green to be found, aside from the Emerald parallels, of course. I might try to collect the rest of this set someday. It's nice to get some Royals and an Oriole.
World Baseball Classic - 4 - Carlos Beltran, Adrian Gonzalez, Anthony Rizzo, Carlos Gonzalez
I guess I should have saved this for last, because it's all downhill from here. This is my favorite insert set in this product. Look at all the color in the uniforms! Look at how the colorful corners all come together to make a beautiful diamond in the middle of the cards! I want to complete this set. It's awesome to see familiar players in unfamiliar uniforms.
Cut to the Chase - 3 - Buster Posey, Cal Ripken Jr., Sandy Koufax
I feel like these cards should be more exciting to me than they are. They're cool, with all the thick cardstock, glossy sparkle, wild geometric shapes, and die-cut craziness, but I think I'd rather have three more World Baseball Classic cards.
The Elite - 2 - Willie Mays, Ted Williams
These cards are all right, but I am not excited by them very much. They are also super-thick, so they take up a bunch of space that could be filled with more base cards. I'd rather have these be normal-sized cards and get my six additional base cards in the box.
Making Their Mark Relic - 1 - Zack Cozart
Here is the obligatory autograph or relic card promised in every box. It's all right, I guess, but Cozart isn't really on any lists of players I have an interest in.
Emerald Parallel - 6 - Casey Janssen, Ervin Santana, Blake Beavan, Brett Wallace, Lorenzo Cain, Robinson Cano
The Emerald parallels are inferior to the Blue parallels in Opening Day. I did get some Royals, a Blue Jay, and an Astro, so the favorite team mojo was working for me. I'll even ignore that I got a Yankee.
Gold Parallel - 5 - Tom Wilhelmsen, Drew Pomeranz, Justin Smoak, Craig Gentry, Jason Castro
Camo Parallel - 1 - Koji Uehara #95/99
And finally, some Gold parallels and one serially-numbered Camo parallel. I guess the Gold ones are serially-numbered, too, but anything over 999 is a bit silly really. That hasn't stopped me from chasing those Blue Opening Day cards I mentioned earlier, though. I think I would like the Camo card better if it featured a Padre in one of their camouflage jerseys. The favorite team mojo was not with me as much here, as I only got one Astro, and the Mariners I got don't really fit into my list of favorite Mariners.
Total Cards - 344
Still Missing - 339, 368, 377, 398, 404, 428, 481, 490, 498, 528, 547, 559, 566, 598, 607, 614, 643, 651
I've still got 18 cards to go before I finish Series 2. I am still on the fence about whether to chase the Update set too. Does it count as part of the set or is it more like the odd step-cousin of the main set? I don't really know.
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