2012-13 Panini Crusade Pack Break

About a week or so ago, I decided to roll the dice an pick up a pack of 2012-13 Panini Crusade Basketball. As far as hit-per-pack products go, an Andrew Jackson is a good price, especially when each pack contains two hit-worthy cards. Of course, you get the auto/jersey card, but you also get one Crusade refractor, which can be some MAJOR pulls if you get a serial-numbered parallel of a star player.

My base cards were just ok. I got Ben Gordon, Kyle Lowry, and a Deron Williams Knight Court card. These cards look really nice. They have a white background, which makes the player photo really stand out, and have just the right amount of foil to make them look like a premium product, without going over the top.

My hit was a Quest jersey card of Austin Rivers of the New Orleans Hornets Pelicans. Like the base cards, Panini utilizes a mostly white background that even further spotlights the jersey swatch, which is a pretty significant size.

Lastly, I got pretty lucky with my refractor, pulling a LeBron James. While some of the serial-numbered parallels are pulling in hundreds on the secondary market, this one is just the base version. Still, it can be flipped for a decent return. But besides that, the bells and whistles that weren't used for the base cards were more than made up for with these. They are full of color, have an elaborate background, and have all the shiny goodness that collectors just can't seem to get enough of. Personally, I don't see what all the fuss is about, but if someone else wants the card that bad, then who am I to question it?

Crusade is actually a fun pack to open. With two hit-worthy cards in a five card pack, it's hard to go wrong, especially considering how reasonably priced it is. I may not be the biggest basketball fan out there, but after tearing into this small sample, I was tempted enough to pick up a six-pack hobby box of this stuff earlier today. I'll be sure to get it all posted as soon as I am able.