Buzz Break: 2018 Topps Holiday Box baseball cards

From time to time, Buzz will break a box of something and post the results here. Like this and want to see more? Or maybe there's a box you'd want to see busted? Send Buzz an email at BlowoutBuzz@blowoutcards.com.

The box: 2018 Topps Holiday Box baseball cards
Where to buy: Click here

Packs per box: 10
Cards per pack: 10
Cards in this box: 98
Base set completion: 
92 of 200 (46 percent)
Duplicates: 0

Notables on base cards – Aaron Judge, Jose Altuve, Corey Seager, Francisco Lindor, Ichiro Suzuki, Alex Bregman, Buster Posey, Nolan Arenado, Paul Goldschmidt, Bryce Harper, Noah Syndergaard

Rookie Cards (24) – Ozzie Albies, Shohei Ohtani, Rafael Devers, Gleyber Torres, Alex Verdugo, Clint Frazier, Tyler O'Neill, Lourdes Gurriel Jr., Amed Rosario, Francisco Mejia, Jack Flaherty, J.D. Davis, Dominic Smith, Garrett Cooper , Christian Villanueva, Scott Kingery, Chris Stratton, Mikes Mikolas, Fernando Romero, Joey Lucchesi, Tyler Mahle, J.P. Crawford, Nick Kingham, Austin Hays

Insert cards: 5 (all in gallery below with some base)
Metallic Snowflake (5) – Evan Longoria, Lance McCullers Jr., Nelson Cruz, J.D. Davis, Jon Gray

Autographs/Memorabilia: 1
Holiday Relic (1) – David Price

What's Buzz-worthy: This is my next-to-last break of this one as I loaded up back when Ronald Acuña Jr. got hot -- I'm a sucker for that card -- but I didn't land him this time. What did I land? A total of 24 other rookies from this loaded and affordable (for now) release. Nearly a fourth of the cards in this one were RCs and there is always a guaranteed hit in these boxes with ink of guys like Acuña rare but possible. ... As said before, these are a simpler alternative to Topps Update blasters in that they guarantee you about a 50 percent shot at any particular rookie in the set and they guarantee a hit every time -- with a likely lower print run, too, despite the boxes delivering plenty. The overall format of this one is in line with past versions -- a 200-card, rookie- and star-packed base set with glittery parallels to mix things up and then a hit. The parallels could end up being a longer-term sleeper here as it will take 40 boxes with perfect collation to build a set -- see the checklist here -- and you can do the math when it comes to finding any particular card. The key rookies here will be the bigs for the parallels while the basic cards should be relatively available as you get almost half of a set in a box. There are some much-rarer gold parallels and the hits also have parallels and autograph versions at long odds. Your easiest autograph is one in 297 packs (30 boxes) so those might make for interesting auctions. You can find rare ink from Bryce Harper, Jose Altuve, Juan Soto, Kris Bryant, Mike Trout, Ronald Acuña Jr., Rhys Hoskins, Shohei Ohtani and Walker Buehler among others here, while auto Relics include Santa Claus, Aaron Judge, Carlos Correa, Jose Altuve, Trout, Albies, Bryant, Acuña and others. This isn't the flashiest break but it's a safe one with potential without breaking the bank.

Product Grade: A
Box Grade: B (rookies lead the way this time ... my parallels were rough)
Fun Grade: B

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