I knew I shouldn't have left the house....

I got home from work, and found an empty house. After remembering that the family went out for the day, I called my wife. Would she be home for dinner? Sure..... what time is it? 5:00. So..... no. I think hey, time to go get some KFC/Taco Bell. I also think hey, let's go past Toys R Us and see if I can pick up a blaster box. Only to find....

NHL Blasters. $14.97. ALL OF THEM.

It's like they want me to be poor.

So I pick up 2 Black Diamonds (of course) and 1 Legends Masterpieces, another set I wanted to complete. I'll do the Masterpieces first.

Pack 1 - Gretzky, Neely, Lord Stanley, Roy
I forgot how nice these cards are.

Pack 2 - Messier, Shutt, Bourque, Makita
The only odd part is that even with only an 87 card base set, some players get up to 4 cards, as Messier does.

Pack 3 - Lady Byng, Foster Hewitt, Broda, Lemieux
I had the 2 piece chicken combo and probably the least stuffed beef and cheese burrito I've ever seen before starting this. I'm already hungry.

Pack 4 - Kurri (complete with levitating stick), MacTavish, Al Macinnis Canvas Clippings Jersey (brown border), Ciccarelli, Savard
I've pulled 3 jerseys from this. 2 are Al MacInnis. Jerseys fall 1:3 blasters, so.... well, I've beaten the odds. Can't complain with that.

Pack 5 - Phil Esposito, Sutter family, Lemieux, Messier
Ok, so the first Lemieux and Messier were Stanley Cup holding pictures. Lemieux here is in his Team Canada jersey, and Messier in his Oilers jersey. See, should I really have to explain this?

Pack 6 - Bower, Bathgate, Gillies, Willie O'Ree brown border parallel
There's the one brown border that's supposed to be in the box.

Pack 7 - Roy, Mr. Hockey, Hextall, Phil Esposito.
Sigh.... so the first Roy was an Avs jersey, this one is a Habs. In the first Esposito, he was celebrating, in this one, he's.... I don't know, pondering his very existence, while the end of his stick is off the card. Hooking? Spearing? Chasing the puck while having a "oh darn, I forgot to take out the garbage" face. Mr Hockey is sitting in front of a lot of pucks. No, I won't count them. There's a lot. Trust me. Hextall is shooting the puck. Either at the net, or aiming at someone's face. It really doesn't matter, does it.

Pack 8 - Perrault, Vaive, O'Ree, Kurri
Oh good, only one to explain. In the first one, Kurri is in an Avs jersey, with a levitating stick in front of him. His hands are clearly behind his back, and we can see the whole stick. No one is touching the stick. In this one he's an Oiler. And it looks like he skated right by the puck. He looks concerned.

Still really love the look of these cards, but with 87 cards, we don't need multiples of several players. And why have I not pulled a Hawerchuk Jets card yet? I pulled the BLUES one.... like, 4 times! Oh well. Black Diamond! (which needs no explaination... I hope)

BOX 1
Pack 1 - Kostitsyn, Vrbata, Pominville, Zherdev, Nikolai Kulemin Triple Diamond Rookie Gems
Again, Triples don't fall every box. I now full believe that the odds are low.

Pack 2 - Malone, Leclaire, Kovalev, Martin St Louis Quad jersey (all white.... again), Huet, Brind'Amour
Ok, time for a small UD rant. Guys, what's up with all the all white quad jerseys? It's absolutely preposterous. I realize you can get more white jerseys than other colours, but can you at least make more of an effort to get some non-white in there? Maybe they're racist. Same with 1 colour patches..... why so many?????? Anyway, I'm now miles ahead, and I need to stop complaining. Including just getting a 6 card pack, which I just noticed.

Pack 3 - Prospal, Zubov, Naslund Double Diamond, Little, Sturm
There's the double diamond. Again, probably no Doan in here. Then again.....

Pack 4 - Brule, Rolston, Williams, Bergeron, Theodore
Here's hoping I need 1 or 2 of these for my set...... doesn't that sound positive?

Pack 5 - Ryan, Ohlund, Streit, Nylander, Giguere Triple Diamond
I already have the Giguere. I'm trying not to whine, really.

Pack 6 - Staal, Markov, Drew McIntyre Gemography Autograph, Carcillo, Perry
Something new to talk about! Autos are 1:96 packs, so that should be every 16 blasters.

So box 1 had a Double Diamond, a Triple Diamond, a Triple Diamond Rookie, a Quad Jersey, and a Gemography. That's going to be tough to beat. Box 2?

BOX 2
Pack 1 - Tucker, Knuble, Andrei Kostitsyn Double Diamond, Langkow, Carcillo
Huh. Two Kostitsyns. One I've never pulled out of a pack, the other I've pulled out of a pack about 30 times.

Pack 2 - Guerin, McDonald, Kaberle, Cleary, Markov
Can't have something in EVERY pack.

Pack 3 - Antropov, Harding, Svatos, Vermette, Darren Helm Triple Diamond Rookie Gems
Not bad at all.

Pack 4 - Chara, Alex Pietrangelo Quad Diamond Rookie Gems, Plekanec, Franzen, Carter
Niiiiiice. I just pulled a Pietrangelo in the last round of blasters, but traded it away. Now I have a replacement..... to probably trade away again. And I've crushed the odds, yet again.

Pack 5 - Bouwmeester, Whitney, Cheechoo Double Diamond, Comrie, Drury
A Double Double Diamond box. I don't like Tim Hortons Double Doubles. But I like this type of Double Double.

Pack 6 - Marleau, Fleury Premier Cuts Double Diamond, Brown, Gerber, Jovanovski
Wow......

Recently, In The Game has come out and talked about their Between The Pipes product. The orders from dealers were far fewer than anticipated, but instead of cutting the product entirely, they just jacked up all the boxes with inserts. Did UD do the same with Black Diamond? I mean seriously, I haven't got a bad box yet - I've beaten the odds on every single one. I'm not complaining, but it just seems odd. I don't get this kind of luck on blasters, read my other posts previous to the Black Diamond ones. Am I lucky, or is there something else at work? Who knows. In any case, go buy Black Diamond blasters, especially at $14.97 if you can find them.......