General Forum

I recently have joined a couple breaks of Leaf Metal Draft but only because I have a high chance to get something worth the price. The cards Stanford players I'm collecting aren't big money (Except Davis Mills) so typically player breaks are worth it when I win the auction for $0.99 + Shipping. But team breaks for a case of a hobby box is too much risk for little to no results.

I've been part of a group of team collectors that has done group breaks for years.  But we do everything at cost, so it usually comes out to between $10-20 with shipping depending on the number of boxes we break.  I've hit some real gems over the years, and other breaks I end up with a few copies of the base set and maybe a parallel or two.

But as far as buying into the for profit breakers?  I've considered it a few times but the value just doesn't seem to be there for me as a collector.  Decent Pirates hits are usually few and far between, and I'd rather just spend the money on a nice card than roll the dice and come up empty more often than not.

I have thought many times about this and as more of a set collector than a team collector I might be more interested in a pack break on here. Something where a box is more than I want to pay for but I might be willing to buy a couple of packs from the box. It seems in team breaks my teams are usually claimed before I get a chance at them.

I think this idea has potential and a break could be handled many ways, teams, divisions, cards 0-99, 100-199, etc. for a few examples.

your first problem is you selected Panini Legacy.  high end product, low card volume.  I watch ebay and limit my expectations.  my last ebay break was Panini Select and got lucky with a 5 blaster break.  was $10-15 after shipping and i ended up with 4 base, 1 silver parallel and 2 inserts for my Lions.  

With card costs going up exponentially these mid-high level card breaks can be risky.  Typically I am a team set builder and will chase my detroit teams in breaks on ebay or others like Flywheels affordable breaks.  If you are into baseball Nachos Grande has a good break club where every couple of months you buy into 10+ boxes and teams range from $30-100 and he gets a wide variety of boxes in the break so it is really affordable in the long run.  

like others have said, it is a gamble.  if you buy into a break expecting that rare 1/1 you are going to be dissappointed.  If you are joining breaks like i am because of the lack of retail products, and set a reasonable budget you can really have a good time.  Plus the discussions on some of these breaks can be really good!

Some breakers also have contests and giveaways.  Nachos Grande for example takes his profits and put it towards a high-end box like topps threads or the like. He collects user activity for buying team slots then randomly assigns players from the checklist.  something as a reward or incentive to keep buying in.  I have been in others where they do random dice rolls for cards or packs.  it depends on the breaker, but you shouldn't expect giveaways.  

Another thing i have seen on ebay is "skunkage" insurance.  if you get NO cards of your team you get something from their "pc"...just like others have said read the description carefully and ask questions.  I bought into a CASE of 2020 OPC hockey and was dissappointed when i only got 1 of each.  the description clearly said any dupes pulled will not ship...i didn't read that :(

correction, i see legacy is packed 8 cards per pack and 16 packs per box which is not as limited as i thought, but does have a small checklist (200) cards.  

The thing I realised after being in a couple of breaks was that I was basically paying someone to do the really enjoyable bit, i.e. opening packs. It's hard not to shake the idea I was just subsidising someone else's fun.

On the plus side, I know a lot of people who participate in breaks who end up with cards they don't want, which they then want to liquidate, which means cheap cards for me.

I have always skipped on doing breaks because of the time constraint that seems to be on the ones on Ebay at least. Such as language like "need to pay immediately at auction end to secure break" and then the auctions end at 2am or whatever. Same reason why I don't do live drafts in fantasy, can't be bothered with showing up. :P

My LCS has a pretty big online breaking presence, and they don't send out base cards on the lower end breaks.  They sell them in 400 count boxes by sport for $5 each so I swoop in a grab those.

But if I only am a set builder why buy into their breaks? Its good for you but then I cannot build my set.

Breaks for set builders is a waste. It's best for team or player collectors (whatever style of break they are running). If you simplay want base cards, keep an eye out in various areas for the breakers dumping the "trash" for pennies.