Cloudy With a Chance of Snow

I believe everyone has expressed their like or dislike for the 2016 Topps cloud design many times since Series 1 was released back in February.  Some like the escape from borders, while others think it is a white hot mess.  I was happy to see Topps try to change things up, but was not overly thrilled with the clouds.  The base cards do look somewhat better in the Chrome version.  

Maybe Topps was listening to all the complaints when they decided to produce the Wal-Mart Holliday set, or maybe they just wanted to make another version of the same card that team/set/player collectors will buy.  I am guessing the later, but could not resist the temptation last night when I saw the boxes.  I have not bought a blaster all year, so it was not that hard of a decision.  $20 for 10 packs with a guaranteed auto or relic is not a bad deal.

Snow flakes have replaced the clouds.  I guess it is better than the clouds.  I think blue flakes would stand out more.  At the very least it might put you in the holiday mood.  I do believe this is the real Matt Wieters.  Topps goofed up and put someone else on his Update All Star card.  No wonder he did not have a deal with Topps for years.

Metallic cards are seeded 1 in 2 packs.  Of course I got 5 in my box. 

A closer look of the Metallic parallel shows the flakes better.  They have a texture feel to them, similar to glitter. 

I pulled 5 Cardinals from my 10 packs, including my first Aledmys Diaz card.  There are 13 Cardinals in the 200 base card set.

My relic left something to be desired.  Nothing against Moran, but I would guess this in one of the 5 to 10 worst players I could have pulled.  Maybe an Astro fan will read this and have a good home for it.