Buzz Break: 2019 Donruss Optic baseball cards (FOTL box)

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The box: 2019 Donruss Optic baseball cards (FOTL box)
Where to buy: BlowoutCards.com (when available)

Packs per box: 2
Cards per pack: 12
Cards in this box: 24
Base set completion: N/A (all parallels and ink in these)
Duplicates: 0

Inserts/short-prints: 21 (all cards from box in gallery below)
Diamond Kings Purple Pandora (2) – Ronald Acuña Jr., Matt Carpenter (/99)
Diamond Kings Blue Pandora (1) – Javier Baez (/99)
Diamond Kings Red Pandora (2) – Aaron Nola, Nicholas Castellanos (/99)
Rated Rookies Silver Pandora (1) – Myles Straw (/99)
Rated Rookies Purple Pandora (2) – Jacob Nix, Justus Sheffield (/99)
Rated Rookies Blue Pandora (1) – Dakota Hudson (/99)
Rated Rookies Red Pandora (2) – Kyle Wright, Jon Duplantier (/99)
Purple Pandora (2) – Jose Urena, Eugenio Suarez (/99)
Blue Pandora (2) – Mike Trout, Brandon Crawford (/99)
Red Pandora (5) – Miguel Andujar, Joey Gallo, James Paxton, Salvador Perez (2) (/99)
Red Cracked Ice (1) – Sean Reid-Foley (/7)

Autographs/Memorabilia: 3
Rated Rookie Retro 1985 Signatures (1) – Touki Toussaint (/99)
Rated Rookie Signatures Teal Velocity (2) – Christin Stewart, Chance Adams (/35)

What's Buzz-worthy: This is the rare FOTL box that didn't sell out the same day and I wasn't sure why that was the case compared to other releases but perhaps this one being largely filled with parallel cards might have led to that. Meanwhile, they are exclusives only found here and every card was limited to only 99 copies, which was a plus. The drawback here? The multiple colors per card mean you have more shots at commons in a pack as well as more stars -- and this one was a little dry beyond the first card I saw on the back of my first pack, Mike Trout. My one rare parallel was a Rated Rookie of modest success but at least it was a rookie. Two of my autos were of the on-card and FOTL-exclusive variety, though Christin Stewart can't seem to leave me alone this year -- I've pulled at least four of his autos now -- and then another rookie who has plenty of ink perhaps out-serving the demand in Touki Toussaint. You have plenty of potential here with boxes that give you good volume, good numbering everywhere (I actually missed that in the announcement) and good shots at something more with the rarer parallel and the autos. I could see some very good boxes possibly happening here -- mine was just closer to average this time. Had I pulled one top-tier card beyond maybe Trout, I might have been left with a better impression as a collector. In the short-term, these all-numbered boxes could be singles money-makers, though that's also potentially possible in the long-term with top names, too. 

Product Grade: A
Box Grade: B (feels closer to average this time but still delivered OK on some basic names)
Fun Grade: B

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