Buzz Break: 2020 Topps x Steve Aoki Wave 1 baseball cards

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The box: 2020 Topps x Steve Aoki Wave 1 baseball cards
Where to buy: Initially only via Topps.com ... BlowoutCards.com when/if available

Keep reading for a full breakdown and gallery of highlights from this box.

Packs per box: 1
Cards per pack: 26
Base set completion: 
25 of 25 (100 percent)
Duplicates: 0

Base cards – Mike Trout, Cody Bellinger, Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Shane Bieber, Alex Bregman, Yadier Molina, Freddie Freeman, Gerrit Cole, Bryce Harper, Rafael Devers, Trea Turner, Nolan Ryan, Dave Winfield, Greg Maddux, Reggie Jackson, Roger Clemens, Hideki Matsui, Ken Griffey Jr., Cal Ripken Jr.

Rookie Cards (5) – Gavin Lux, Jesus Luzardo, Bo Bichette, Mike Brosseau, Brendan McKay, James Karinchak

Insert cards: 1 (all cards from this box in gallery below)
Rainbow foilboard (1) – Greg Maddux

Autographs/Memorabilia: None

What's Buzz-worthy: This is my first time ripping into a Topps x box (aka Topps by a certain subject with an interest in the game) and this time the look and design -- one that feels like a combination of a laser show, stage lights and a perhaps cake-inspired color scheme -- is from musician Steve Aoki who is also a card collector. This Topps x release is slightly different than others in the past in that it's a multi-wave set with some autos and parallels atop the basic 100 cards. This wave sold the most boxes -- 15,566 -- out of the four (8,956 for Wave 2, 8,076 for Wave 3 and 8,158 for the finale) and this one includes some key Rookie Cards as well as some of today's kings and some Hall of Famers, too. Each set includes one parallel or hit card -- check out the checklist below for Wave 1's ink -- and this box was pretty much the average result on that front, though my Rainbow parallel card was of a Hall of Famer and all-time great. Numbered parallels include Blue Frosting (/77), Pink Frosting (/10), Silver Funfetti (/5) and a 1/1 Gold Funfetti ... but not this time. I think the base card design would have been perfect for all cards to have a Rainbow approach though the background texture on my Maddux seems like it could still be more colorful as it's not as bright as the base card. The foil parallels are nice touches and nods to the cake-throwing part of his shows (see that link above) while the autos follow the same parallel structure as the regular cards but with the Rainbow autos (/150) being numbered. I grabbed this one mainly for the Bichette and hit potential, but I think Trout, Ryan and Winfield have solid cards here and the RC crop is mostly pretty solid. All four waves are now sold out via Topps -- this one just arrived in my hands today so perhaps the timing could have been better ... get an early have in collector hands so they could perhaps add more later -- and I'd expect the ink, rare stuff and some of the RCs in Wave 4 to be of note with those lower volumes in comparison to this first release.

Product Grade: A-
Box Grade: B (closer average result this time with basic parallel ... but of a Hall of Famer and all-time great)
Fun Grade: B (set approach doesn't allow for many surprises)

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