Buzz Break: 2022 Topps Pristine baseball cards

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The box: 2022 Topps Pristine baseball cards
Where to buy: BlowoutCards.com
First Buzz preview/checklist: Click here

Keep reading for a full breakdown and gallery of what was in this one.

Packs per box: 6 "tri-packs" (each has an encased card and two packs inside)
Cards per box: 60
Base set completion: 
37 of 300 (12 percent)
Duplicates: 0

Notables on base cards – Ichiro Suzuki, Barry Larkin, Willie Stargell, Cal Ripken Jr., Larry Walker, Paul Molitor, Bo Bichette, Giancarlo Stanton, Cedric Mullins, Jose Ramirez, Charlie Blackmon

Rookie Cards (5) – Tylor Megill, Shane Baz, Ronnie Dawson, Lars Nootbaar, Kyle Muller

Insert/short-print cards: 20
Pristine (encased) Refractors (2) – Ryne Sandberg, Jared Walsh
Pristine (encased) Blue Refractors (1) – Bryan Reynolds (/75)
Pristine (encased) Gold Refractors (1) – Robin Yount (/50)
Fresh Faces Gold Refractors (1) – Ke'Bryan Hayes (/50) ("Pristine" notation on back but isn't that texture on front or encased)
Pristine Borders (2) – Juan Soto, Jose Abreu
Pure Power (2) – Ken Griffey Jr., Frank Thomas
Refractors (9) – Wander Franco, Andrew Vaughn, Kirby Puckett, Ryan McMahon, Paul Goldschmidt, Gleyber Torres, Kyle Hendricks, Nick Solak, Brandon Marsh
Purple Refractors (1) – Jonathan India (/99)
Superfractors (1) – Manuel Rodriguez (1/1)

Autographs/Memorabilia: 3
Pristine (encased) Autographs (1) – Tyler Glasnow
Slice Of A Star Orange Autographed Relics (1) – Nelson Cruz (/25) EXCH
Popular Demand Autographs (1) – Xander Bogaerts

What's Buzz-worthy: The pack within a pack attack is back -- and it might be a little whack ... but I like it. These oversized packs include an encased card and then a second pack inside. Inside that one is another pack of just basic base cards and maybe an insert with a pair of parallels strapped around the outside of the pack. This is a throwback of sorts to early 2000s releases that also carried this approach but perhaps at a bit lower price point (like everything else) back then and they did hit retail as clamshell single packs with a premium price back then. (That's how I dabbled.) The base set here is relatively huge for a chrome-stock release at 300 cards and that meant a little weak non-Hall of Famer presence among my base cards. (I got a decent amount of HOFers ... but not a lot else.) The encased cards here carry a Pristine notation on the backs where other parallels note Refractors but the fronts are also a different texture (like the one on the box) to them ... so they're perhaps too similar but still different from the basic Refractors. There are color parallels for both types of Refractors and I landed numbered stuff in both areas there. Odds-wise, the Purple is one in five packs, the Gold Fresh Faces card is one in 180 -- tough find -- and the encased parallels are one per box (six packs) and one in nine packs ... not all that dramatic save for the Gold. The Superfractor, though? That's one in 443 packs and that makes this box a winner ... though it feels like a winner that can be topped. The hits here? Glasnow is not a good pull after his issues and injury, Cruz is a rare card (one in 106 packs) for a mid/low-value veteran though a redemption and Bogaerts is a reliable younger All-Star but perhaps not all that pricey just yet. So the hits here are arguably not the biggest deal ... and could have been better but there's strong potential here on the checklist. The experience of opening this one is funky -- and it's got potential where I'd open these by the pack -- though some packs may have more than one hit, meaning your per-pack odds at one of the three hits can be under 50 percent if not opening a full box ... but I still like the mix. If the prices on these boxes dip, I may do more ... I dig it. There's some big stuff here -- see the checklist -- and this box shows a hint of what's possible.

Product Grade: A (it's funky ... but I like it)
Box Grade: A+ (Superfractor, Franco parallel and some good names among inserts/parallels/hits)
Fun Grade: B+ (larger base set makes base stars a little more elusive)

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