Half a Case of The Guild

I've been busting boxes of Cryptozoic's The Guild trading cards whenever I can, chasing the short-printed autograph of Felicia Day as her character, Codex, from the video game in the web series. Several months ago I tried to buy a case of the set from Dave & Adam's Card World, but they only had half a case in stock, or six boxes. So I bought 6 boxes.

Here are the relics from the box. I did all right, although these boxes really overdid it with Vincent Caso. I was happy to pull a Jeff Lewis, though, and the Amy Okuda and Robin Thorsen are nice gets.

The autographs from the boxes were all right, although I think I've got copies of most of these already. Doubles are expected when you've opened as much of this stuff as I have. It was cool to get another Wil Wheaton signature.

Finally! This Felicia Day as Codex autograph card came out of the last box I opened. I don't think Dave & Adam's have gotten any more of this in stock, so it was pretty nice to actually get the card I was chasing out of this batch of boxes.

I spent the long weekend doing some work around the house. We are trying to refinance our mortgage, and that means an appraisal, so we are trying to get everything done that we can. I got a chainsaw on Saturday, and that allowed me to lay waste to some dead trees and a couple of stumps that were bothering me. Today I put some new gutters up on the front of the house. The old ones were destroyed by ice in the big snowstorm last year, and I finally got around to replacing them. I hope these ones hold up better.

A Box of Cryptozoic's The Guild: Seasons 1-3

I made an order from Dave & Adam's Card Works a little while ago, and I ordered a box of Cryptozoic's The Guild: Seasons 1-3. It's a pretty cheap break, with a chance at pulling Felicia Day relics and autographs, so I usually throw a box or two into each order I make from Dave & Adam's. 

This box yielded one relic card, a t-shirt of Vincent Caso as the character Bladezz. The only real note of interest I have about this one is that I own a Cheesy-Beard's shirt like the one he is wearing in the picture. 

I got two autographs in this box, with one being from a fairly notable name in nerd culture. Wil Wheaton is pretty popular among nerds and geeks, and his autograph is probably the third-most desirable hit in the product, behind Felicia Day's two autograph variations. I'm not much of a Wheaton fan, but I can appreciate his place in the world of geeky celebrities.

The other autograph features Jeff Lewis, who plays one of my favorite Guild characters. I already had a copy of his card thanks to the generosity of San Jose Fuji, but I'll take another one.

This turned out to be a pretty good break if this product. I'll probably keep grabbing boxes as long as Dave & Adam's keep selling them. 

At the Trade Deadline 35: A Packed Package from San Jose Fuji

Like many other bloggers, I recently received a package in the mail from San Jose Fuji. It was full of awesome cardboard, cloth, and ink that touched on many of my player collections. Also included was this highly-coveted San Jose Fuji autographed card, with all of his particulars on the back.

First up are two of my main player collections, R.A. Dickey and Josh Reddick. Dickey's presence comes in the form of a Tier One Relic from 2013 Topps Tier One. It's hard to believe Dickey's been with the Blue Jays for so long. It feels like just a few months ago that he was traded from the Mets, but it's been a bit longer than that. Reddick is represented by an autograph from 2007 Just Minors, an unlicensed set that I don't know a whole lot about. I've seen these cards on eBay quite a bit, but I've never actually grabbed one for my collection. Now I've got one, although Zistle tells me there are several parallels to chase.

Jose Baustista is a guy I kind of collect, but with his mammoth power and charisma I can't keep up with his card prices. One eBay seller I watch has been offloading a crazy Bautista collection recently. I really like the Blue Jays' color scheme. This Bautista is a Clubhouse Collection relic from 2014 Topps Heritage. Homer Bailey has tossed a couple of no-hitters in his career, but has struggled with injury over the last couple of seasons. His 2015 was cut short by Tommy John surgery, so we'll see how well he is able to come back from that. He wears my favorite jersey number (34) and also appeared on the very first printing plate I pulled from a pack, way back in 2013. The Bailey card is a Futures Game relic card from 2007 Bowman Draft, one of those 'other' Bowman sets.

I'm always a fan of a good Max Scherzer card, although again I am not able to full-on PC all of the guys I would like to. I do set his cards aside, though, as cards I would like to keep in my collection. This is a nice horizontal Clubhouse Collection relic from 2015 Topps Heritage Baseball. I didn't open hardly any Heritage this year (if I am recalling things correctly), so I didn't really get a look at all of the relics and inserts that were on offer. My blog posts tell me that I opened a blaster of it at some point, but it wasn't anything near the several hobby boxes I opened of 2014 Heritage. I held steady or probably purchased more single cards this year, but I opened a lot less wax than I did in 2013 and 2014. That is a trend that I see continuing in the foreseeable future, unfortunately.

This Mark Reynolds Young Star Signatures autograph hails from the 2008 Upper Deck SPx set. Reynolds is/was one of those low-average high-power guys who seems to hang around for a while just because they might just hit a bunch of home runs. In fantasy baseball they are kind of like Dwight Howard is in fantasy basketball. You hope that their good stats do enough to counteract their bad ones. I got bitten by the Mark Reynolds bug and probably drafted him in every league from 2009-2012. His average almost always dragged my team down more than his home runs helped me. The way it would work is that I would leave him in my lineup all the way through his cold streaks, then I would get frustrated and bench him the day before he had a 2-homer game. Then I would put him on my roster again and he would go cold just long enough for me to bench him for his next hot run. Every. Single. Time. Chris Davis has been the same way lately. He kind of picked up the mantle for my fantasy teams once I finally broke the Mark Reynolds habit. I PC the guy just because he has sunk so many of my fantasy seasons. I hope he signs somewhere this offseason so I can carry him on my roster for a couple of weeks next year.

This last card could be my favorite one of the package. It's an autograph by Jeff Lewis from Cryptozoic's The Guild Seasons 1-3 card set. In The Guild he plays Herman Holden, the Guild Leader who has a difficult time keeping The Knights of Good on task and running smoothly. His in-game character is named Vork. I've purchased a few boxes of these cards, but I haven't come very close to completing a master set. There are two autographs that present a major obstacle if I were to pursue the master set, Wil Wheaton and the other Felicia Day autograph of her as her in-game character Codex. I have Felicia Day's autograph of her as Cyd Sherman, but the Codex variation is more scarce and commands a higher price. What I'd really like to do is just buy a case of these cards and roll the dice that those tough autographs are in there. Felicia Day is super cool, but I think Herman / Vork is my favorite character in the series. Maybe I identify a little with him?

This was a great package to open up and sort through. I've still got a handful of cards that I promised to send out to complete a prior mailing, but I haven't got them in the mail yet. They are packed up and set aside, though, so it's not a matter of if, but when. Thank you for the cards, Fuji!

Cryptozoic The Guild Seasons 1-3 Felicia Day Autograph

Often when I order something from Dave & Adam's Card World I will throw in a box of Cryptozoic's The Guild Seasons 1-3 trading cards. They are perpetually on clearance and priced at about $15 each. In doing so I am mainly chasing cards featuring autographs or relics of Felicia Day and Wil Wheaton, the other big name in the set. I guess I could try to chase a master set of relics and autos, but I haven't been motivated to do so yet. Unfortunately I have never actually pulled a hit card featuring those two folks, so I have had to turn to eBay to get my Felicia Day cards. I posted about my Felicia Day relic card a couple of months ago and here is the autograph I picked up to go with it.

I got a pretty good deal on it, although I wouldn't say it was cheap. You don't see these things pop up too often, so when I saw a reasonable price on it a couple of months back I jumped on it. There is a short-printed variation that shows her in her Codex costume, and that goes for quite a bit more than this one when a copy surfaces. I would like to add it to the collection some day, but that will probably have to wait a while unless I can get a super deal on it.

Felicia Day The Guild Seasons 1-3 Relic

One web series I enjoyed watching was The Guild, about a group of online gamers who also interact with each other in real life. Felicia Day plays the part of the main protagonist, as well as acting as the writer and producer of the show. I would recommend it for anyone who plays (or has played) online role-playing games or is in touch with geek culture generally.

Cryptozoic made a trading card set for Seasons 1-3 of the series and I've opened up a couple boxes of it over the last two or three years, but so far haven't pulled any of the bigger names (Felicia Day and Wil Wheaton) as far as autographs and relics go. I had to go the eBay route for this card, a Felicia Day wardrobe relic, which adds to my small PC which includes her relic and autograph cards from 2014 Allen & Ginter. She might also have cards out there from her appearances in Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Supernatural, but I have never seen those shows and haven't paid attention to their card releases.