When I got back into cards a few years ago, I was able to focus my prewar collecting goals fairly quickly (set collecting). I was also intrigued by modern cards, but found it much more difficult to figure out what to collect. I don't have a particular team or player, and set collecting is a lot more daunting and boring all at the same time due to the sheer number of modern releases and the relative ease of putting a set together. I accumulated a hodgepodge of "hits" from groupbreaking, trading, and opening a little wax, but I had no direction and the volume of cards was getting overwhelming, especially the piles of worthless base accumulating all around.
About six months ago, I decided to sell virtually every modern card I had, and start a new, narrowly-focused modern collection. I thought about what types of modern cards I really liked, and kept coming back to blue refractors. So, I decided I would only collect Topps Chrome & Bowman Chrome blue refractors of star players' prospect and rookie cards. Since I made that decision, I've had a lot more fun with my modern collecting, and have reduced my stress level since I'm dealing with less than 1% of the volume of cards that I had before.
So, here's the first six months of my blue refractor project!
