Box Break: 2024 Panini Crusade Mega Box
I was at my local Walmart and I saw a new product on the shelves. That product was a mega box of 2024 Panini Crusade. This surprised me as I had not heard anything about this product. Somehow it slipped under the radar here at Box Score Collectibles. So I decided to give it a try.
Each mega box contains six packs of eight cards. There are also three exclusive Crusade Cracked Ice parallels and one guaranteed autograph. For a price point of $50 dollars this seemed like a good deal.
As mentioned in the overview 2024 Panini Crusade is a fairly basic offering from Panini. The base cards have a clean, yet vibrant look with a crest in the background and coordinating team colors. The colors on these cards are very crisp. There are only eight parallel sets with Silver being the most common. There is one Silver in each pack.
In this Mega Box I was able to pull cards from three of the five different insert sets. The Squires and Juggernauts inserts use the same stylistic tones as the base cards. Team colors are used as accents around the player’s photo.
The Crusade insert is more reminiscent of what we have seen the past few years in the Panini Chronicles releases. These are the only cards that use chromium card stock we have found in this offering. There are 14 different parallels to this insert set. In this Mega Box we pulled three Cracked Ice Prizms: Harry Ford (Mariners #4 Prospect), Joendry Vargas (Dodgers #7 Prospect) and Francisco Vilorio (Yankees #14 Prospect). I also found one Green Prizm: Adael Amador (Rockies #5 Prospect) numbered 204/250.
The lone hit was the guaranteed auto in the box. My auto was an Apprentice Signatures of Wilmer Flores (Tigers). Interestingly, Flores is the brother of Wilmer Flores, First Baseman of the San Francisco Giants. Yes, they share the same first and last name.
Overall the 2024 Panini Crusade Mega Box was a fun rip. I really like the design and the colors of the base cards. This is a set that really stands out with a simplistic approach. For me the fact that this is a prospect related set is a bonus.
