This is (Probably) It

In what's become a yearly tradition, Panini Chronicles has captivated my attention completely sucked me in. After purchasing a hobby box and a blaster in September, I made my 3rd Chronicles purchase on Friday.

While browsing through my local Target, I ventured into the sports card section and saw that they had restocked 5 of the 2019 Panini Chronicles blasters. Though I probably stated that my 1st Chronicles retail purchase would be the last, I can never seem to get enough of this set. The plethora of designs and outstanding variety makes me come back for more every time.

After deliberating for a few minutes, I grabbed the blaster all the way in the back (superstitions) and headed for self-checkout. Hopefully, some other collectors scoop up the other 4 so that I don't fork over another $20 for 23 cards.

Though the price per card is high, I maintain that, especially if you stick to retail, you can get your money back from this set. Look no further than my 1st 2019 Chronicles blaster when I walked away with 3 numbered cards plus a jersey relic.

Moreover, I'm just a huge fan of the product, particularly the 2018 and '19 releases. It's one of my favorite releases, along with Bowman's Best, and if there's a set out there that you love to rip and collect, you should pick up a blaster box or 2 if you can.

This year's blaster-exclusive set, Unparalleled, may not be as exciting as Revolution, but I've grown to appreciate these cards a little bit more. I didn't walk away with anything spectacular out of this 3-card pack, but I do love the look of Kikuchi's teal Mariners uniform with the silver/holo background.

Certified is another of the surplus of products within this year's Chronicles set that I've grown to appreciate as I've opened more packs from the set. I assume there are numbered parallels out there (as there are for most products in Chronicles), but all I've seen so far are the base and non-numbered green cards.

That said, I like that Panini chose to include non-numbered colored parallels in sets like Certified and Status this year. It seems like they made more Chronicles than in 2018, so in exchange for fewer numbered cards per blaster/hobby box, we have non-numbered versions.

I would also consider Phoenix one of the more underrated products from this year's set as well as the 2018 version. Other chrome designs like Select, Prizm, Titan, and Contenders Optic have taken away from Phoenix over the last few years, but when I take a closer look at the set, I'm actually quite fond of the cards.

Panini improved on the design from last year to 2019, and there are gorgeous serial numbered parallels that I've seen pulled in hobby box breaks. As for my blaster, I ended up with a Judge base and a Kris Bryant holo.

I struck out when it came to Vlady Jr rookie cards, but the other big names from the 2019 rookie class made appearances in this box. I find that, despite the bland design, Eloy Jimenez's Chronicles base card is quite interesting. More so than any other color, black works phenomenally well with the rest of the card.

In the time since my first Chronicles blaster, Pete Alonso became the rookie home run king with 53 dingers in 597 at-bats. I may not have pulled a serial numbered or flashy parallel of Pistol Pete, but I'll take anything I can get given how sought after his cards are right now.

Panini Chronicles hasn't been too kind to me in terms of Fernando Tatis Jr cards, for this is only my 2nd out of 1 hobby box and 2 blasters. The first one I pulled came out of the hobby box and was from the Playoff set; this time, the card is from Score.

I wish I had the same affinity for Tatis Jr as I have for Cole Tucker's Status card that seems to appear in every box, but I'll take anything I can get to add to my newest PC to go alongside Craig Kimbrel.

And to say sorry for not delivering many Tatis Jr cards, Panini gifted me another relic card in my 2nd blaster, making me 2-2. The first was a tiny Chris Archer jersey swatch from the Chronicles set, so pulling a huge red jersey relic is definitely a step up.

I don't follow the Reds, so I didn't know all that much about Peraza until I pulled this card. He didn't have all that great of a 2019 season, but it's a numbered relic (#/99), so thing's definitely could've been worse.