GAC X Part 3

Running Box Total: +40

And we're back. As it turns out, this is going to be a giant numbers dump because I waited to the last second. Again. But with time winding down, we're GOING to put it all together. No more slacking for this Ginter Godfather!

Pack 9:

Mike Zunino

Lucas Sims

Kyle Seager

Cal Ripken Jr.

Glyber Torres - +-1 (-1 Yankee)
Chipper Jones
World Talent - Max Kepler - +3 (+2 WT, +1 Favorite Team)
Mini - Jose Berrios - +1 (+1 Mini Favorite Team)

Pack Total: +3
Running Box Total: +43

Two Twins? That's the number Twins ought to come in, you know.

Pack 10:

Manny Machado
Paul DeJong
Greg Maddux
Jesse Winker
Albert Pujols
Chris Taylor
World Talent - Manny Machado - +2 (+2 WT)
Mini - Sonny Frederickson

Pack Total: +2
Running Box Total: +45

More "Twins" if you will... couldn't he have been someone's favorite player? Help a guy out!

Pack 11:

Frank Thomas
Marcell Ozuna
Brandon Crawford
Joe Panik
Max Kepler - +1 (+1 Favorite Team)
Cameron Maybin
World's Greatest Beaches - Bondi Beach - +2 (+2 WGB's)
Mini - Black Bordered Joey Gallo - +7 (+4 BB Mini, +3 Any Favorite Player)

Pack Total: +9
Running Box Total: +54

I mean, black bordered minis are great... I guess.

Pack 12:

Brain McCann
Willie McCovey
Sean Manaea
Justin Verlander
Rougned Odor
Ted Willliams
World Talent - Brycer Harper - +4 (+2 WT, +2 Favorite Player List)
Mini - Khris Davis

Pack Total : +4
Running Box Total: +58

Well, we're halfway through the box. Revised projection is down to +110. If we break a hundred, I'll be amazed.

As required by the rules since I suck at bribes and haven't been excluded from them yet, here's proof, sans the pudding.

GAC X Part 2

We're back with more GAC X. Breaking it up into bite-sized posts should help. Who knows. Maybe we can slow roll it. Only time... will tell...

Running Box Total: +26

Pack 5:

Jake Lamb
Paul Blackburn
Ichiro
Austin Rogers
Aaron Judge - +-1 (-1 Yankee)
World Talent - Freddie Freeman - +2 WT, Eh?
Home Run Hero - Manny Machado - +1 Home Run Challenge
Mini - Andrew Stevenson

Pack Total: +2
Running Box Total: +28

Canada, eh?

Pack 6:

Jay Bruce
Micky Delmonico
J.D. Martinez
Jackson Stephens
Biz Markie
Fernando Rodney - +1 Favorite Team
Magnificent Moons - Enceladus - +2 MM's
Mini - Folio of Fears - Claustrophobia - +3 FoF

Pack Total: +6
Running Box Total: +34

I swear, I didn't think these packs were remotely this decent. But if they're decent for me, they're more decent for other contestants.

Pack 7:

Mike Moustakas
Ryne Sandberg
Phil Coyne
Taijuan Walker
Yadier Molina
Dexter Fowler
Fantasy Gold - Don Mattingly - +1 (-1 Yankee, +2 FG)
Mini - Luiz Gohara A&G Back - +2 A&G Back

Pack Total: +3
Running Box Total: +37

That's more like it... Yankees!

Pack 8:

Trey Mancini
A.J. Pollock
Method Man
Gregory Polanco
Todd Frazier - +-1 (-1 Yankee)
Michael Rappaport
Magnificient Moons - Ganymede - +2 MM's
Mini - Carlos Martinez - +2 SP Mini

So. Funny story about Michael Rappaport. When I was in 5th or 6th grade, I was an extra in a movie starring him called The Naked Man. It's about a wrestler who's schtick is he wears a body suit that has no skin, hence the naked part. He was sick and shared his peanut M&M's with me. And my picture was taken and was in the paper. True story. I did not get the sickness from the M&M's though. Fun times.

Pack Total: +3
Running Box Total: +40

We're what, 1/3rd of the way through an at +40? Projecting out a total of +120!? That'as amaaaazing!

Here's the proof, which is allegedly in the pudding?

Oh the futility... GAC X!

Once upon a time, there was a box of 2018 Ginter. It was awful. The end.

If only it were that easy. After utterly failing to score the entirety of my box LAST year, I did vow to actually score it this year. Despite it being awful. I'm not even kidding how awful it is. I may be going to a new GAC record for lowest score ever. Yankees seemed plentiful, hits seems... not good. On the plus side, I am fairly proficient in the art of diagnostic x-ray generation and stuff. Yay for residency! To quote the major motion picture The Martian with a slight adaptation, "We're going to <math> the <explitive> out of this." Onward to failure!

So, this year we selected Brian Dozier as our favorite player. Literally as he was traded. I had already selected Brian Dozier as my favorite player but didn't post it, then he got traded, and I just opted to stick to my guns. Then the Twins sucked horribly this year. Welcome to professional sports in Minnesota not named the Lynx! That summarizes our choices at the start of GAC X. Lets get to the scoring!

Boxloader:

BL-12 - Mark "I didn't use PEDs, I swear!" McGwuire - +4 pts

"Pack" Total: +4
Running Box Total: +4

Well, I can think of literally one box loader that could be worse. You may be thinking, "NO WAY JOSE!" and you'd be very literally correct. Jose would be worse. At least McGwuire isn't a jerkwad.

Pack 1:

Will Myers
Joey Votto
Christian Yelich
FSRA-RO - Full Sized Relic - Rougned Odor - +5
Fantasy Goldmine - Hideki Matsui - +1 (+2 FG, -1 Yankee)
Honus Wagner
Mini - Wil Meyer

Pack Total: +6
Running Box Total: +10

Eh. One hit down, two to go. First Yankee. This is an omen.

Pack 2:

Josh Bell
Mariano Riveria - +-1 (-1 Yankee)
Justin Blackmon
Magnificient Moons - Miranda - +2 MM's
Michael Brantley
Trevor Story
Nomar Mazara
Mini - BB John Smoltz - +4 BB Mini

Pack Total: +5
Running Box Total: +15

Eh. More Yankees. It's like my box is mooning me. Taunting, isn't that a personal foul? 15 yards? Maybe +15 points? Automatic first place? Nah? Ah well.

Pack 3:

Jose Abreu
Ameo Rosario
Bill James
Dansby Swanson
Lorenzo Cain
Andrew Stevenson
World's Greatest Beaches - Trunk Bay - +2 WGB
Mini - Gregory Polanco - +2 SP Mini

Pack Total: +4
Running Box Total: +19

Pack 4:

Addison Russell
Marcus Stroman
Claire Smith - +1 Commish's Awesomeness
Ender Inciarte
Raisel Iglesias
Eddie Rosario - +1 Favorite Team
BEA-30 - Vintage Uniform - +2 BEA
Mini - Flags of Lost Nations - Ottoman Empire - +3 FLN

Pack Total: +7
Running Box Total: +26

Wow, a pack better than one with a hit. What the heck? And no Yankees...

Time for a picture! To save on taking pictures because my photographer is expensive...

Time to Engineer a W...

So, there are a few simple joys in life. Coffee. Being a parent. Making up African countries. Engineering. And you know who is the biggest, baddest, most awesome engineer of the present day? This guy:

Number 90! Yes, Mr. Suh is a mechanical engineer, and his son, Ndamukong, holds a degree in construction management. I know, it isn't "technically" engineering, but look, construction and engineering go hand in hand. So he's an engineer in my book. He knows how to stomp the competition.

All jokes aside, I legitimately admire Suh and while disappointed he left the Lions, and very much feel he got a bad reputation that is entirely unwarranted.

On to the shenanigans! By my calculations, I have about 9 days to actually score my GAC 9 box and all that jazz. So, I shall do just that. But a quick life update, I PASSED PART 1 OF THE BOARD EXAMS I TOOK UPON MY LAST POST! WOO HOO!

Alright, celebration aside, lets get to work. Due to the Great Hobby Priceout of 2017, we opted to get only a single box of Ginter this year (our only hobby box this year...) and my lovely wife opened 12 packs and I opened 12 packs. It'll score as one box, but we'll have a Spousal Subscore to see who "wins" this year. (Hint: Me.)

On to the packs!

Pack 1 (wife's):
Ben Zorbist
Jorge Soler
Xander Boegarts
Chad Pinder
WAD - Derek Jeter (+2 WAD, -1 Yankee?)
Mini - Randy Johnson
Stephen Vogt (+1 SP)
Ken Griffey Jr.

Now, I'm no GAC Lawyer, but it would almost read as though the Yankee's Bane Modifier applies to base cards, minis, and hit cards only!? Hmmm... that can't be right. I must dock points anyways. Sorry wife.

Pack Total: +2
Wife Running Sub Total: +2
My Running Sub Total: +0
Box Running Total: +2

Pack 2 (Mine):

Rediscover Topps 1988 Pete O'Brien (+1 UCG)
Alex Reyes
Hunter Pence
Jacoby Jones
Willie Stargell (+1 SP)
Andy Katz
Troy Tulowitz
WAD - Buster Posey (+2 WAD, +2 Other Favorite Player)
Mini - World's Dudes - Newsboy Dude (+2 WD)

Now we're talkin'...

Pack Total: +8
WRST: +2
MRST: +8
Box Running Total: +10

Pack 3 (Wife's):

Garrett McNamara
Juan Segura
Hank Aaron
Matt Olson
Jesse Winker
Ardolis Chapman (-1 Yankee Scum)
Revolutionary Battles - Battle of Lexington (+2 RB)
Mini - Didi 'Freaking' Gregorious (-1 Yankee Dirtbag)

Well, she's batting 100% on opening a Yankee in each pack... so there's that?

Pack Total: +0
WRST: +2
MRST: +8
Box Running Total: +10

Pack 4 (Mine):

Johnny Damon
Salvador Perez
Noah Snydergaard
Daniel Murphy
Luke Weaver
Garrett Richards
World's Fair - Monorail (+2 WF)
Mini - Magicians & Illusionists Harry Kellar (+2 M&I's)

Pack Total: +4
WRST: +2
MRST: +12
Box Running Total: +14

So, 4 packs in and we're at 14. That's an alright start, I suppose. No Marlins yet. I think our favorite team this year is the Marlins. I random'd it after removing the Yankees. Like you do. Going to go build with some Legos I think now. Until tomorrow, I hope!

-GG

Gint-A-Cuffs 9...

Well well well, it would appear that everything has changed... because nothing has changed. The same empty promises of blogging more often, the same false hope and the eventual lack of follow through. Isn't that just my lot in life.

A quick life-update, I'm entering the final year of grad school (hopefully?) and JUST finished my first board certification exam (Part 1 of 3... yay, lets hope I pass!) on Monday. So that's where I've been. I still have a ton of work to do, but you know what they say about work. Yep. Work. And all that jazz.

BUT! I have ordered my Gint-A-Cuffs 9 box today, despite prices rising in conjunction with the tensions with North Korea. I think in both scenarios, it's going to be a blow out. Get it? I'm going to get blown up and they're going to... yeah. I think you get it.

But for realsies, the wife and I are going to tag-team it this year, where we'll compete against one another each with 1/2 of the box and the combined total will obviously be my total score. Nothing in the rules prohibits this, except the "running pack total" or something, but I'm sure we can come up with a work around. Indeed.

So you can take these promises to the bank. It's on like Ndamukong!

-GG

Monday Night Magic (MNM) - October 24th

Hello all!

Since this is a blog about pieces of cardboard, I figured it would be apt to post about my Magic: The Gathering (MTG) hobby.

One thing I like about MTG is that you get to play with the cardboard. So you get the thrill and joy of opening wax associated with baseball cards and a fun and complex game that is challenging that you can play with friends. It's a lot harder to 1) find other people in my area that collect baseball cards and 2) do anything other than look at and sort and admire. And trade, I suppose, but MTG has that too!

Anyways, I also feel like you get more bang for your buck with MTG. So with my limited funds I can play in sealed events, have fun for the cost of a movie and potentially have it cost me nothing. That is, if I end up with a somewhat valuable card that I can then trade in or sell for the cost of the event, I essentially played for free.

Which brings me to my next point, I only play sealed events. So the two formats are Sealed and Booster Drafts. In Sealed, everyone gets 6 booster packs, and they build a deck of 40 cards (basic lands included) and duke it out to be the best. In a Booster Draft, everyone has 3 packs that you open one at a time, take a card, and pass it to the next person (and receive the pack from the person on the other side of you, sans the one card they took) for all 15 cards in the pack. Then the pod opens the next pack and passes the opposite direction, with the third pack going the original direction. This adds a great deal of strategy as to HOW to draft a competitive deck while being fun and unique with each iteration.

And if you win, typically you get prizes in the form of more booster packs. Yay.

Anyways, I'll probably start blogging about some of my MTG events so this blog isn't so darn empty (except with Gint-A-Cuffs...). In other words, I'm going to try and be a legitimate, bonafide blogger. Yikes.

So I found out a local place has Monday Night Magic drafts, which is perfect since the typical days (Friday/Saturday/Sunday) work very, very poorly for me. Mondays, however, usually nothing going on. Tuesdays in the morning... also equally not so much. And my generous, loving, benevolent wife recognizes my need to go away and do things occasionally and is willing to handle bed time, alone, once in awhile. Bless her. A lot.

In theory there are a few of us that occasionally play board games that would meet up there and play together, thus making it even more fun. But I sort of made some new... uh, acquaintances tonight that were perfectly amiable and pleasant to converse with. And it was great.

My deck wasn't particularly great. It was alright. Both of my matches had one game where I just got hosed on land (once being flooded and the other being short) and it was costly, but it was surprisingly competitive when it had mana. My mana curve was a little higher than I wanted, being mostly 4 cost with a handful of 3 cost and a whopping two 2 cost creatures. But I had a decent amount of removal (3x Welding Sparks, anyone?) with the following rares seen/acquired:

First Pack (but not a first pick... yuck): Midnight Oil. It's... an interesting card. But I wouldn't touch it with a 10 foot pole unless I was committed to black and really wanted that draw advantage late in a game. I took a Welding Sparks instead, I believe.

Also in that round was Lost Legacy (taken roughly round 8) because hey, why not. It's an OK sideboard card but I was getting pretty heavy into Red/White as that was the signals I was reading.

Second Pack (first pick!) Fumigate. Who doesn't like mass removal with life gain? Taken with the seventh pick was Concealed Courtyard. I was still possibly going to splash black at this point, so it both made sense from a deck perspective and financially the fast lands are more valuable than your average run-of-the-mill rares. So I was happy with it.

Third Pack (first pick!) Skyship Stalker. Um, yes please. This card is an absolute monster in sealed events. 3/3 flyer for 4 mana with fire breathing, possibly first strike and possibly haste? Yes, yes, yes, and I'll take as many as I open and get passed. Since I was already committed to red, this was the kind of bomb-ish card that my deck was needing. Mid-pack I picked up an Inventor's Fair because... why not. It would have been more useful if I had gotten any artifacts. But I didn't. So I took it. Because the rest of the cards were garbage. And as the final card I got passed and had no choice but to take was Madcap Experiment. I would have passed on it a second time, but it was the last card. So I couldn't. Still, I'll be moderately happy with six drafted rares , two of which were definitely playable!

As for my matches, I go stomped pretty good. I did get a game with at least one of the losses in each match being a very close game. So they were good games to say the least! But sometimes winning just isn't in the cards. Tonight was no exception.

Thanks for the read, let me know if there's anything you'd like me to extol upon in future blog posts or if you like the rundown of events! Disagree with my draft with what little information I offered? Flame away! Until next time, keep it in the family!

-GG

(PS: Still waiting on my wife to finish opening the consolation box of Ginter... but I suspect it'll be about on par if not possibly worse than my Gint-A-Cuffs box. There was definitely a -3 point pack I opened. Are there more Yankees in this set than usual, or are they just being more plentiful for me than normal? Seriously.)

Goodness gracious me!

So that atrocious excuse for a box of Ginter landed me in dead last by 5 points. That's a whole lot of points, especially in this year's Gint-A-Cuffs. As I alluded, I knew the box was a doozie and hence why I put off the pain for so long. Then like a band-aid, I ripped it off and it stung. Ouch.

If any of the GAC VIII folks are interested in anything from the box, let me know and we can probably work out a trade or something.

As for the loser's box, I'll post the contents on here once it arrives and probably do some sort of giveaway depending. You may need to wait until after November 9th though for it, as I have a very large deadline due then. Speaking of deadlines, need to get back to it!

Keep it in the family,

-GG