Congratulations to the Seattle Supersonics, I mean Oklahoma City Thunder and the Miami Heat

The Oklahoma City Thunder have defeated the San Antonio Spurs in 6 six games to reach the NBA Finals for the first time in their history.  Derrick Fisher will attempt to win his sixth ring against the Miami Heat who have the talents of Bosh, Wade and LeBron.  Kevin Durrant has been on fire this whole series and is showing that he is capable of winning.  LeBron will be looking to add his first ring to his collection.  I'm hoping for the Heat to win this year as I saw them play when I was on holidays.  Here is a few of the Oklahoma City Thunder and Miami Heat Adrenalyn XL cards that are available.

Now who do you think will win?

Euro 2012 Adrenalyn XL One Pack Review

The Euro 2012 is currently on and my Oranje (Dutch) are not doing well thanks to Germany and Denmark.  I went to the newsagent to see if they had any good packs of Adrenalyn XL and happened to stumble upon the new Euro 2012 cards!  I suddenly grabbed one pack (because I only had $3) which happened to be the one with the Dutch on it for good luck.  Might I say, these new cards are looking amazing!  Panini has finally decided to add the codes to the backs of the new cards just like the NBA, NFL and NHL versions!  This made my day as I had no clue of this at all.  The packs don't say anything about it either.  So instead of talking, here are the cards I pulled.

Yevhen Konoplyanka - At least I can now say I own a player from the Ukraine.

Gregory Van Der Wiel - This was awesome, I pulled a Dutch player and I've included a picture of the back. Sorry but I used the code for my account!

Michael Silberbauer - When I saw this cards I wondered if I could ever grow an awesome looking Moustache like that...

Darren Bent - Once again, Panini does not have the licence to make the players on the English side so they all just say England with a small logo of the English flag.

Joao Pereira - Nice Portuguese player.

Frank Ribery Star Player - The highlight of the pack is the Star Player.  The new versions of the Star Player cards have become boring but I think I can live with it.  

I have started an account for myself on the Euro 2012 Adrenalyn XL website called PureAdrenalyn.  My team is currently a low based team and I played a game and lost.  Lost is an understatement.  So please don't challenge me at the moment because I need to improve my squad!  Besides that, it's a great game and I highly recommend you get your hands on these while they last!  

I will now be rating thing differently on this blog.  For example, instead of out of five, it will now be based on insert cards.  So that means from lowest to highest it goes Base, Special, Extra, Extra Signature, Ultimate, Limited Edition.  

Card Design

I like the new design currently, but for some odd reason it reminds me of India and Asia.  Also good to see the codes on the back of the cards.

Are the Hits Good?

Well I think that the Star Players could be better but other then that they are okay.  I liked when they had Champions but now they are just called Masters or Top Masters.

Value for Money?

Not that good still in Australia, they should bring the price down to $2.00.

Would I collect them?

I would collect the Dutch in this set.

Rating?

Extra Signature

Peyton to the Broncos, Tebow to the Jets and Peyton has a Unknown Extra Signature?

The NFL world was shaken when the Denver Broncos signed Peyton Manning for five years.  This caused a trade with the New York Jets sending Tim Tebow to go to the Jets.  This was a big surprise for me as I expected him to go to a different team.

Whilst I looked into the trade I decided to look at their Adrenalyn cards from booth series'.  I managed to find a Extra Signature of Peyton Manning on Panini's website.  I've tried looking everywhere to find out how to get it but I have not managed to find anything.  If you look at it it says "ESPM" where the card number usually is.  Below is a pile of both their Adrenalyn Cards besides Peyton Manning's series 2 base and ultimate cards.  If you notice, both Tebow and Manning are the only two NFL Adrenalyn XL players to have a special extra signature.

Base, Ultimate and Pre-Production 

The unknown Extra Signature (I want one)

Base RC, Panini 50th anniversary RC and Base 

The Tebow Extra Signature

Hot Adrenalyn Cards Featuring Logan Couture & Robin van Persie

Here is a small post about the highlights of Logan Couture and Robin van Persie.

Logan Couture


Logan Couture has been on fire recently for his Sharks in the NHL.  He has been scoring goals left, right and centre and playing well.  His Adrenalyn Cards show this especially his All Star card which is only available online.  Logan has a great offence of 78 which can beat most Goalkeepers online.

Logan Couture's Base and All Star Cards

Robin van Persie

Arsenal has had a slow start to the season this year after the loss of Fabergas but since van Persie has been scoring important goals to help his side win.  The Dutchman is know for his long distance kicks and his amazing crosses to others in the square.  Down below are his three cards from this year which show his performance especially for a Star Player card with a offence of 86.  His Limited Edition could beat any keeper except some Limited Edition Keepers 

The three Adrenalyn Cards that Robin has from this year including a Limited Edition, Star Player and Master.

Stay tuned for NBA and NFL Adrenalyn XL codes on the website as I will be hiding some soon for Christmas.

UEFA Champions League 2010/11 Adrenalyn XL Box Break and Review

I just busted open two boxes of UEFA 2010/11 Adrenalyn XL and also one extra pack.  In total it cost me around $30 AUD which was a good deal.  From this set you can pull Star Players, Goal Stoppers, Fans' Favourites, Champions and Trophy Cards (one in every 100 packs).  The base cards from the set feature a nice looking explosion theme in the background with the teams colours.  I managed to pull a full base set with many doubles and most of the inserts except the Champions.  Enough of me talking, here are the cards.

 Here is what the base cards look like.  As you can see there is Iker Casillas a goalkeeper, Nemanja Vidic a defender, Andres Iniesta a midfield and Robin van Persie a striker.

 The backs of all the cards which show which position the player plays.

Arshavin, Pique, Alves, Robben x2, Coentrao, iPek, Dani, Malouda x2 and Anelka Star Players.

Maicon, Milito, Nani, Berbatov, Ronaldinho, Ninis, Valbuena, Davis and Di Maria x2 Star Players.

Higuain, Adriano, Noboa x2, Rakitic, Fernandinho, Alex, Ruiz and Mata x2 Star Players.

Almunia, Valdes x2, Butt, Roberto, Claro, Cesar, Lloris, Mandanda and Abbiati Goal Stoppers.

Tzorvas x2, McGregor, Casillas, Sergio, Neuer, Pyatov x2, Pesyakov, Boschker and Sanchez Goal Stoppers

Muller x2, Culio, Toulalan x2, Ambrosini, Cisse x2, Weir, Ramos, Totti and Jasdon Fans' Favourites.

Banega and Brama Fans' Favouries.

 The three Champions Villa, Gourcuff and Ozil.

Card Design

I love the look of the Goal Stopper cards but the base cards can hurt you eyes after a while from looking at a bunch of them.  The Champions are nice with the gold and silver (scanner does not do it justice).

Are the hits good?

The inserts were great as I received more than 60 of them from 101 packs.  The three Champions were a let down as they are one in every 23 packs and I only got three.

Value for Money

These are good value with the Champions selling well.  The price per pack in Australia is crazy at $2.95 AUD and should be dropped down lower.  I got two boxes and one box of stickers of eBay for $30 which was good.

Would I collect them?

Yes I would but two boxes is just enough to get a full base set.  I only require 41 more cards from the set.

Rating 

Four out of Five

Zydrunas Ilgauskas Calls it Quits

Zydrunas Ilgauskas has decided to retire from Basketball after 17 years of playing professionally.  Ilgauskas played for the Cleveland Cavaliers for 14 years and played his last season for the Miami Heat where they failed to win the championship this year.  Ilgauskas was known as the 'Big Z' which was his nickname.  His position was Centre where he dominated with his height and size.  Ilgauskas now joins a list of retired NBA stars with Adrenalyn XL cards which includes Yao Ming, Shaquille O'Neal and a few others.  He had three Adrenalyn cards which two were from series one and the other from series two.  We wish him a happy retirement and the best of luck for the future.

Zydrunas' two Series One Adrenalyn cards of which one is a special.

His final Adrenalyn card which shows him on his final team, the Heat.

NFL Adrenalyn XL Competition time!!

So with the new Adrenalyn XL NFL set coming out on October the 12th, I've decide to run a giveaway.  The competition will end on the ninth of October which is three days away from the release.  Please post your answer to the competition in the comments box down below! So here is the Question:

In the Week Five match up between the Chicago Bears and the Detroit Lions, who will win and what will the score be?

Prizes  

1st

Matt Hasselback Extra Signature & Paul Posluszny Extra

2nd

Mike Sims-Walker & Marques Colston Extra

3rd

Roddy White Special & Donnie Avery Extra

Runner-Up  

LaDainian Tomlinson Special & Drew Brees Base

Winners will all receive the cards online for the NFL Adrenalyn XL game.