02 September 2018

Pack of the Day 188: Two Collector Boxes of 2018 Topps Fire

I was in Target the other day, and I saw that they had Collector Boxes of the new Target-exclusive 2018 Topps Fire Baseball on the shelf. I had to give it a try.


Each box has 20 packs with 6 cards per pack. There are 2 hits promised per box, with one of those hits guaranteed to be an autograph. The store had 3 boxes on the shelf. I bought one, then went back a couple of days later and saw that one was still left, so I bought it, too.


Here are the pack odds and NPN information from the box. There are several tiers of parallel, 6 different insert sets, and a number of autograph and relic sets.


The pack design mimics the box design, with Kris Bryant being chosen as the cover boy for this product.


The base cards are certainly colorful. There are 200 cards in the base set, with a mix of stars, rookies, and retired players. In the first box I pulled 99 / 200 base cards, and in the second box I pulled 96 / 200 base cards. Even with perfect collation, you're not going to get a full base set out of two boxes.


While I did not get doubles within either of the boxes, nearly every base card in the second box was a duplicate from the first box, so now I've got 102 / 200 in the base set and a whole lot of doubles. That was kind of disappointing.


There are a number of parallels in the set. My first box yielded 8 parallels. The most common are the Flame parallels, falling at 1:4 packs. They are not numbered. The Billy Hamilton and Miguel Andujar cards are Orange parallels, which are numbered # / 299 and fall 1:13 packs. The Victor Arano card comes from the Green parallel set, numbered # / 199 and falling 1:19 packs.


The second box game me 9 parallels, with five Flame parallels, Orange # / 299 parallels of Bob Feller and Cody Bellinger, a Green # / 199 parallel of Noah Syndergaard, and a Purple parallel of Ralph Kiner. The Purple parallels are numbered # / 99 and fall 1:39 packs.


The Cannons insert highlights players with strong arms. Most of the inserts in the product are seeded 1:14 packs, so you'll get either one or two from each insert in each box.


Fired Up features players who are stars. It's a pretty colorful set. If you like Yankees, this product is good for you. Most teams have 20-30 names on the total checklist, but the Yankees have 39 cards in the checklist. The only other team with more than 30 is the Cardinals at 32. The Blue Jays and Rangers bring up the rear, with 3 and 5 mentions in the checklist respectively. Other teams with less than 10 cards in the checklist are the Brewers and Padres, with 9 each. 



Flamethrowers features (mostly) pitchers who are known for throwing the ball hard. The back of the card lists the pitcher's average fastball velocity. Chapman and Syndergaard have appropriately gaudy numbers, but I don't know if Greinke's 91 mph heat really moves the needle here.


Hot Starts inserts feature players who had a good start to the 2018 season.


These cards are called Golden Sledgehammer on the packaging, but the card numbers have a 'PP' prefix and the checklist on Cardboard Connection lists this insert as being called Power Producers. Either way, this set shows off players who hit the ball hard.


The last insert is Speed Demons, a checklist full of players who are known for being fast. Billy Hamilton shows up here, along with guys like Elvis Andrus, Jose Altuve, and Dee Gordon.


The first hit from my first box was a basic relic card of Dominic Smith. He hasn't exactly been setting the league on fire.


The second hit of the box was more impressive, a dual autograph of Oakland's Matt duo, Olson and Chapman. Between the two of them, they've got 10.6 WAR so far in 2018. The card is numbered # 07 / 20, and dual autographs fall 1:4,559 packs, or once every 228 boxes.


The first hit out of the second box was a base autograph of Paul Blackburn, another Oakland player. He's on the 60-day DL with elbow trouble, so he's not quite having the season he'd like to have. Base autographs are a 1:29 pack pull.


The second hit of the box was another tough pull, and a bonus autograph to boot. It's a Fire Autograph Patch card of Royals catcher Salvador Perez. He's been injured recently, but is still having a decent year, and has been on the All-Star squad for 6 straight seasons. This card is numbered # 09 / 25, and these are a 1:518 pack pull, or once in every 26 boxes.

Outside of all the base doubles, these were a pretty fun break. I feel like you get a decent value in a box for your money, compared to products at a similar price point. The card design is fun, and there are plenty of shiny parallels and inserts.

10 comments:

  1. $70 a box feels a little steep for this product. The olsen chapman auto though is super

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    1. Maybe the price is a little steep. I feel like you get a bit more, though, than you might in other products. There is arguably more star value, more parallels, and more hits than you might find in the average Hobby box of Chrome, for example, although I think Chrome still has the on-card autos. Fire is more appealing to me visually. I had fun opening these boxes, and I can't say that about a lot of products these days.

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    2. I guess to follow that up, though, I don't know how I would feel about it if I'd only bought the first box and the two hits were the Blackburn auto and the Smith relic. I may not have gone back and picked up the second box.

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  2. Very cool boxes and congrats on the hits....too bad you had so many doubles between the two. The design looks like the 1990s Topps interns were at it again with the vivid and dynamic colors!

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    1. The doubles were disappointing, but I guess I should have bought the second box in the stack instead of the first and third boxes.

      I do really like the colorful design, especially with the shiny foil on the parallels and inserts.

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  3. I'm enjoying the background designs on the base and inserts much more this year. There was a base design last year where all the players seemed grayed out... almost like zombies. I didn't think that fit in a product named "Fire."
    I think the Speed Demons insert is my favorite of all the designs.
    Congrats on the Chapman/Olson pull... lots of young talent/power on that card!

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    1. I don't remember much about last year's set design, so I'll have to take your word.

      My favorite insert design is probably Fired Up.

      That dual autograph is pretty nice. There are some good things going on in Oakland this year.

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  4. Congratulations on hitting that dual autograph! That Salvador Perez is sweet too.

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    1. Thanks! They are some pretty nice hits! If I had to pull a Royal, Perez would probably be the guy to get.

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  5. Woo, congrats on the dual auto and the auto/patch!

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