As expected, the 2014 class is getting some serious buzz from this event, and so far, the companies have both brought their A game to the table to show us what is in store for the coming year. To see some of the cards in action has been nothing short of awesome, and here is my thoughts on what we got to see during day 3.

Topps

It was clear that day 3 was all about Manziel Mania, especially now that his arrival sparked some pics to start being posted on Twitter. Although Saturday is the big day for both companies, we really got a great idea of what his potential is all about. Topps started tweeting out pictures of the hand stamp autos for the class, as well as some of the 1985 autos that I was so excited about from solicitation back a month or two ago.

If you arent familiar with the hand stamp cards, they are oversized cards where the rookies will put on gloves to add a bit extra to the autograph they are signing. To see the new design being completed makes it clear that 2014’s version will far exceed that of any other example. They look great with the larger white area for the rookies to sign, and the gold pen really makes the signatures that much more good looking.

I am a huge fan of the 1985 design, even more so now that they are getting done with the retouched photos that Topps used for inception. Its clear that the late draft date has affected the number of photos that they were able to get done, as Topps used the same for the RPS autos, Inception and a few other programs to be released in upcoming products. Most of the retouch work is so well done that I cant complain.

Panini

I am loving that Manziel is signing all his cards with the full sig, instead of the shortened sig we were seeing on some of the other stuff. Although I am not a huge fan of his, his cards will come into the season as the top guy in the class. The clear acetate cards from Elite are really looking nice this year, as are a lot of what we are seeing in Prestige and other stuff.

Panini is also bringing back Pen Pals for another year from what it looks like, and that isnt necessarily a bad thing considering that most of the pairings and quads seem to be done in a way that keeps the top guys paired with top guys.