It's new. It's shiny. It's flat. 2011 Chrome is here!

I went to Wally World yesterday for milk, ground beef and a stroll past the card aisle.

Imagine my surprise when I looked down and saw blasters and value packs of 2011 Topps Chrome. I really liked the orange refractors that came 3 to a value pack last year and since they are back for 2011, I decided to pick up a couple of the value packs. Three is a couple, right?

Let's just jump right in to this mini review. The value packs contain three packs and a cellophane wrapped 3-pack of the orange refractors. Each regular pack contains four cards.

Your insert rates are as follows:

Refractors 1:3
X-Fractors 1:3
Purple Refractors 1:8
Blue Refractors 1:153
Gold Refractors 1:320
Topps Heritage Chrome Insert 1:17
Topps Heritage Chrome Insert Refractor Parallel 1:60
Vintage Chrome Insert 1:6
Autographed Rookie Base Card 1:249
Autographed Rookie Refractor 1:1225
Autographed Rookie Blue Refractor 1:2928
Autographed Rookie Sepia Refractor 1:5800
Autographed Rookie Gold Refractor 1:11500

I know it's not normal to start off with the back of a card, but humor me.




This is the base refractor parallel for Ben Revere. You'll notice that it doesn't say refractor anywhere on the back. None of the refractors I pulled had the word "refractor" anywhere on the card. You can tell they are different, but unlike past years, you won't find "refractor" printed on the back.




This is one of the Vintage Chrome inserts. I also got a Tim Lincecum.




Here is a Carlos Gonzalez X-Fractor. Like the refractor cards, you won't find "x-fractor" anywhere on the back.




I pulled two purple refractors and wouldn't you know it, one of them was a Yankee. This one is #19/499.




I only pulled one of the Heritage Chrome Inserts and of course it was a Yankee. I'm seeing a terrible pattern here. This Derek Jeter is #425/1962.




I got 9 orange refractors and managed to pull this Lone Ranger. The others will be used in various trades and/or contests...




My second purple refractor was a Ranger. I was pretty happy to see this Elvis Andrus slide out of the pack. It is #267/499.

I didn't manage to pull any rookie autos, but I did beat the odds with this next one.



That's a Brian McCann gold refractor #14/50. This little gem is going to find a spot in my catcher binder.

If you're a fan of Topps Chrome you're going to love these cards. The curling seems to be a thing of the past. At least that's my hope as I've only seen this limited sample.

Has anyone else opened any Chrome yet?