Topps Finest Premier League and Donruss Road to the World Cup Breaks

 A couple of weeks ago, a new Topps soccer product came out so of course I joined into some breaks that happened on release day. Here's a secret for anyone trying to get into breaks for the first time as well. If you buy break spots on release day, the spots will be cheaper than they will be at any other point in time for a couple of reasons. One, competition. All the breakers have the same product and want to open it on the same day, so you will have multiple options to shop around on and find the best price on a team. No one breaker will charge exorbitant prices because no one will buy their spots. The supply drives the pricing down. Second, there is a lot of supply when the product comes out so the scarcity and the FOMO doesn't kick in. Breakers will 100% take advantage of FOMO a couple weeks later and they are the only one opening a specific product. People will want to jump in on those last breaks before the product is hard to find. Lastly, breakers have no idea what is really going to come out of a said product other than checking the checklist beforehand, like the rest of us do. Therefore, they will price teams by estimation rather than any real knowledge. There are market inefficiencies in these instances due to a breaker not knowing just how much they can get for a particular team quite yet. 

Back to the cards. I ended up getting 27 numbered cards as well as 17 autographs in this product run, plus one very short-printed case hit. The quality of the product was extremely high end, similar to Topps Chrome EPL. Even though I hit a lot of good cards, however, I just wasn't as into Topps Finest as I was into regular Topps Chrome EPL. 

First off, we have the Newcastle hits. I took Newcastle in three full cases and ended up with these five autographs. I got two Les Ferdinand Finest Season autos, one green /75 and one base. I got a Papiss Cisse Finest Moments auto /25. I got a Bruno Guimaraes base auto as well as a Jacob Ramsey auto /75. 

Next up, I took Burnley in multiple cases because they were $10 for the entire case and I was chasing the only autograph they had on their checklist, England right back and former City great Kyle Walker. I ended up getting three of his autographs, /75, /99, and a base auto. 

I also took cheap teams like Brentford, Fulham, and Wolves because I usually like to hit as many autographs as possible. I ended up with three Nathan Collins, one Kevin Schade, one Emile Smith Rowe, and Jorgen Strand Larsen. 

Lastly, I took a few mid end (cost wise) teams like Crystal Palace, Nottingham Forest, and Brighton. I hit nothing for Crystal Palace in three breaks, but did end up with a Tom Watson, Yasin Ayari, and Chris Wood. 

My Liverpool spot unfortunately netted me not a single autograph which is really what I am after, however, the Steven Gerrard case hit (one case in 9 has one of these) more than made up for that spot as I've already sold the card for enough to cover quite a few of my breaks. 

Lastly, I have never been a fan of Donruss soccer but there was a recent release for the Road to the World Cup. I wanted to take at least one spot in a break so found the cheapest spot available, the Republic of Ireland. This spot cost me $15. Needless to say, it ended up being a major profit maker. I hit five numbered rookie cards, one of which was a green /5. I also hit two base autographs. The autographs are Will Smallbone and Jimmy Dunne. 

I've sold three of these cards for over $150 profit already. Quite a come up from a $15 spot, plus I get to keep the autographs.