Buzz Break: 2023 Donruss Elite NFL cards (blaster box)

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The box: 2023 Donruss Elite NFL cards
First Buzz preview: Click here
Where to buy: BlowoutCards.com (for a few formats)

Keep reading for a full breakdown and gallery for what was in this one.

Packs per box: 6
Cards per pack: 4
Cards in this box: 24
Base set completion: 
15 of 100 (15 percent)
Duplicates: 0

Base cards – Ja'Marr Chase, Dsmond Ridder, Drake London, Terry McLaurin, Christian Watson, Sauce Gardner, Dalvin Cook, Justin Tucker, Adam Thielen, Miles Sanders, Cooper Kupp, Micah Parsons, Michael Pittman Jr., JuJu Smith-Schuster, D.J. Moore

Insert cards: 9 (all cards from box in gallery below)
Green Disco parallel (1) – Jaylen Waddle
Green Disco Rookie Card parallel (1) – Will McDonald IV
Aspirations Shimmer parallel (1) – Geno Smith (/625)
Status Sparkle parallel (1) – Sauce Gardner (/299)
Green Full Throttle (1) – DeSean Jackson
Green Field Vision (1) – Russell Wilson
Green Spellbound (2) – Tua Tagovailoa, Travis Kelce
Green MVPBound (1) – Patrick Mahomes II

Autographs/Memorabilia: None

Sleeve any cards you like here immediately. Surface scratches can happen flipping though a stack. (Click for closer look.)

What's Buzz-worthy: I think I skipped this one completely last year out in the retail wild -- foilboard has just never been high on my list -- but I grabbed one of these on a whim since there was plenty and was, at first glance, cool with the inclusions and the print quality as I sleeved my inserts and then stacked the base. But, as I flipped through the clean, matte-feel base I started to notice scratches and spots on all that foilboard. So, as a tip, if you pull a card you like sleeve it right there ... flipping though the stack like you would any other brand will cause surface damage here. The parallels do jump out at you here with a feel that's likely going for Precious Metal Gems vibe often while this box offered up both kinds of numbered retail parallels that are teased as one per box on the side panel. From there, this one included the typical Green parallels of inserts and a pair of Spellbound inserts where their intent is to spell players' names if you collect 'em all. MVPBound appears to be rarer -- in theory the card pays for a box or two here -- and it's one that spells a lot more ... Mahomes' full name. In theory, that means there might be fewer copies of each with more letters. We'll see how they look when more start popping up on the secondary market. ... That scratching issue, while likely not new, seemed rougher to me this time vs. other sets. So sleeve away immediately ... I even have a rule to never touch fronts of foilboard or Chrome and there were still issues. Without the numbered cards -- and they aren't big -- and some names I like and then the biggie -- the MVPBound card -- this would have been a rough box. But it gets an A in my book this time as a decent first impression ... but remember to sleeve it if you like it at first glance. Will I do more? I'm probably 50-50 on that ... we'll see. There are some Elite RCs I wouldn't mind landing in parallel colors here. I like the look of those more than basic numbered versions.

Product Grade: B+
Box Grade: A (The MVPBound insert is a bit tougher pull when it's not color ... so this Green retail is, in theory, also rarer. Right?)
Fun Grade: B

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