Breaking it Down 10: 2014 Gypsy Queen

I still watch quite a few online card breaks, but I haven't participated in very many lately. The value isn't really there, unless you have the scratch to participate every time. Even then I would imagine that most people don't make back what they put into it. I see people dropping a couple to a few hundred dollars on break slots every week, and it seems like they would generally be better off buying singles online. But there is always that little chance of a big-dollar hit that could fund your hobbying for a couple of months.

On the day that Gypsy Queen was released I was looking at the checklist and searching around to see what kind of stuff people were pulling. Gem Mint Breakers had a 5-box and a 10-box break available, and the Blue Jays slots in each of them were open and also heavily discounted because they were one of the only couple of teams that hadn't sold at full price. I didn't want to pay $26 for the 10-box slot, but $10 for the 5-box break seemed about right for my budget.

I got multiple copies of all of the base cards except for Jose Bautista, who is included in the Short Prints at the end of the set. So I am missing that card. I also didn't get any minis, which seems a little odd, given that 5 boxes ought to have a fairly large number of minis throughout, with 1 per pack and a 10-card box-topper full of minis. Maybe they forgot to ship the minis out? I don't know. I may have to go back and check the envelope my cards came in to make sure they weren't off by themselves in the bottom of the bag.

The cards look about how you would expect Gypsy Queen to look. There aren't any surprises in the card design. I do like that the pictures Topps is using for R.A. Dickey this year make heavy use of the alternate red Canada Day jersey. It's a nice splash of color.

I also got two hits in the break, which definitely beat the odds, although I didn't get any of the big bad cards that were pulled. I think the best card pulled in the break was a massive Chris Sale patch that featured a swatch from the All-Star game. It was pretty, that's for sure. But enough about that guy. I got a Steve Delabar autograph and an Edwin Encarnacion relic. Delabar is a decent enough pitcher, but he's not necessarily a household name. Encarnacion is a pretty good player, although he doesn't have a home run yet this year. Overall I didn't do too bad for my ten bucks, although it would have been nice to get that Bautista SP.