Yes it is a lot of money, 350 per case. I do like the patch cards and me and my wife do enjoy opening them. I do a lot of trading with the extras for other series. I have to admit I am not doing this for the money. I do understand the value of money, it is more about the trading that I enjoy. My wife thinks I am nuts but I then show her all of her Pandora jewelry she buys and just shrug my shoulders. I interact with many people (this group, Philly, Facebook) I have traded wackys for other facets of my collection. I also take all of the base cards and package them in groups of ten to fifteen cards and sell them to the kids for .25 cents a pack At Flea markets. I do this for 2 reasons first and foremost, I am trying to get a younger crowd interested in cards so the hobby does not die. (you should see how excited they get digging in the box finding the right pack for a quarter). (If anyone doesn't want their base extras I will always pay the shipping if you want to send them to me). Second I get a lot of people that come up to me and say I have these cards are you interested in buying them. So my initial investment might be high however the returns do pay off.
