Halloween cards, Neon, and an eerie quiet...

Well it's been an interesting week in Star Wars Card Trader land, in that there hasn't been much interesting going on. At least, not if you like new inserts. We have had one new set, in the spirit of Halloween (is this a global holiday? Does this even make sense in most places outside of the US?).

If you like base variants, though, there's been at least a little going on. Two new colors have been added to the rainbow. The 10 creatures that got their orange base variants, different of course from the orange cards we have a shot at after pulling green. And then there's the divisive Neon...ultra-rare at 5-count, and yet there's plenty to go around, and a guaranteed pull...if you pony up the cash. Here's the article mentioned during the discussion: Card Trader Digital's Much Ado About Neons.

We wonder why checklists aren't there for every set with an award card, as soon as all cards in the set have dropped. In the meantime, we go over how to view a checklist for a particular set an parallel yourself, by filtering the Checklist view in your cards using precise search terms: Shorthand search terms.

Did we miss anything? Get anything wrong? Let us know @CT_Illuminerdy!

Marathon Awards Awaken, Classic Art 2 out of control, and the Factions set

As we record this on Wednesday night, we know what the awards are for all the marathon sets. Except of course GM. Poor GM. We round up the hits an misses in a thoroughly subjective analysis. Except for the gold premium Fan's Choice, that's objectively bad form.

So what's up with Classic Art 2? Why did it go off the rails, from a defined count set, with a once daily release, to a set of indeterminate length, dropping no less than 3 times every day? By the time they switched, we were long settled on what fit our budgets as far as what parallels to chase, and it's been a stretch budget stretch to have that amount compressed from 3 days into 1. Why is not something we'll likely ever know, but it doesn't stop us from imagining Mr. Topps in is top hat and monocle demanding that action be taken to squeeze more spending from the digital fan base. While, of course, stroking a cat.

And lastly we unravel the Factions parallels...nice looking set, and a new combination of ways to collect 'em all.

Purple Bounty Variants, Pink Returns with Ahsoka

As some marathons have finished, and others haven't, the marathons that are left seem to be stretching things out as long as they can. We discuss the current delays, primarily the purple bounties that were release, and the ensuing Smuggler's Den deals. We talk about the return of the rare pink that arrives in the form of Ahsoka, as well as other sets that have been introduced in the last week. Speaking of sets both new and old, we introduce a new segment, "AT-AT Pack Watch", to review what's likely to show up there when the pack returns. We also have an update from our correction department...it turns out we have corrections. Not, of course, with any of our pronunciations. If you catch an error, let us know on Twitter: @CT_Illuminerdy. Each correction is worth 9 white base cards of your choice! (Send trades for them to RHETTB)

Marathon-less Thursday, New vs Old Monuments, New chases

Let's have a moment of silence...for the first time since the launch of the app, it's a Thursday without a Vintage. Some of us were hoping that we'd see the start of something new in the marathon vein, others were glad for the break. Of course, after a marathon it does make sense to take a little time off to recuperate. That's not to say we don't have anything new to chase of course, we're enjoying the many shades of the new Art of the Rebellion set. And coming in at the end of the evening (for North and South America, anyway), was just the thing we needed, the return of the green/orange chase, the grilled cheese and tomato soup comfort food of the app.

We also talk a little about things from other Topps trading apps, most noteworthy, the latest version of their NFL trading card app Huddle allows up to 18 cards in a single trade. Will that make it to SWCT?

Card Trader Illustrated, Gold Schematics, and the Last Vintage

Plenty to discuss this week as we talk about the "community effort" for more card locks that Topps "sponsored", new sets including the illogical (to certain hosts) Collegiate set, the spearmint vs. wintergreen Yavin flavors parallels, the Die Cut set, and of course the rarefied air of the Card Trader Illustrated set. Speaking of places to spend a lot of credits, we also discuss the introduction of the gold schematics, and what this could mean for future resources (Yoda's cauldron, anyone?). And finally, the beginning of the end for the first marathons, as the last Vintage drops this week.