When it is early in the year, prior to the football season, it is tough to get a good product on the market. There are limitations to getting cards signed, the regular season isnt ramping up casual collectors, and the people in the know usually associate this part of the year with the proving ground for newer products without a history. In fact, over the last few years, the only set that has really been consistently successful is the flagship Topps set.
With the creation of Inception, Topps set out to break the trend of getting amazing looking cards on the market as early as possible. Because it is impossible to get hard signed cards from Rookies in NFL uniforms before the rookie premiere, they had to get creative with the way to do it. With some flawless airbrushing and a special filter on player photos, they were able to accomplish a feat that has been previously absent from any set released before October.
The result has been tremendous to say the least, with Inception producing high end cards in a product that costs less than 100 bucks a box. I have said before that when these hits are put down on the table next the hits from a set like Prestige, Elite or Rookies and Stars, you would be hard pressed to find someone who says Inception is NOT exponentially more successful. A card like this is icing on the cake
for any such argument.
My favorite part of the set has been the Silver Ink Rookie Auto part of the product, a rare subset that may be an early favorite (not early contender) for best looking rookie card of the year. Where cards from 2009 UD Black failed, these succeeded and then some. Big bold silver signatures with a stunning dark design make the cards have luster I have never seen before. They are so successful in their design and concept, that prices for the cards have skyrocketed past values of some higher end hits.
Check them out:
2011 Inception Cam Newton Silver Auto /25
2011 Inception Jake Locker Silver Auto /25
2011 Inception Marcell Dareus Silver Auto /25 – The coolest card of a defensive lineman ever produced
2011 Inception Ryan Mallett Silver Auto /25
Its easy to see why Topps is running laps around its competitors in terms of design and theme, as they have not taken a market opportunity lightly. Where Panini trots out the same stuff, over and over and over and over again, Topps has taken risks and those risks have paid out in spades. Now that we are seeing that fan favorite sets like Chrome, Finest and Platinum will have similar on card content in addition to a great set design, Panini’s efforts of only pumping up one part of their product line should fall short. I hope, for the sake of each collector that there are lots of cards to choose from, but from the looks of it, Im not going to need to venture out from the design bubble that Topps has used to encase their sets for 2011.
No Inception on the shelves of out LCS’s yet. I’m gonna try a few packs, even though I’m a mostly baseball collector.
easy tiger….product of the year this early?…and without any big name legendary stars or current player signatures?? I will say it is a very very nice looking product but not much out just yet
Design wise, its a front runner.
I’m digging the look of these cards (except the chipping that’s prevalent on the edges) and the on-card autos, but there’s something about the lack of veteran inserts and autos that bothers me, in large part because the autographs seem so plentiful. When a rookie has auto cards numbered to 900 and 99 and 25 and on and on, it gets to the point where I question whether the prices will cool considerably after a few weeks. I mean, damn, these guys must’ve been signing all day.
My customers & I agree, design is one of the best ever.
I just reordered 5 more cases. If my math is correct, Topps made somewhere between 10,000 to 13,000 boxes. One of master distributors I buy from is already out. 13,000 boxes should be busted and gone within a couple of weeks.
Can’t deny the design is beautiful, and the big hits are the best of 2011 so far, but no veteran/HOF hits and super-high numbering (/900???) knocks it out of contention in my book. A shiny, pretty version of typical Topps…high risk, high reward.
Love this set. The cards are a fakers dream though. There are logo patches placed throughout all serial number parallels. I pulled a dolphin logo patch in a /158 and I basically have to sell it now or else it will go down in price due to authenticity questions.
This is not to say Topps shouldn’t do this, that was my 3rd favorite card from the case i ordered.
So far customers are loving it at my store. Great base card look, loads of multi colored relics, 1/1 autographed lettermen and more. It is encouraging to see such a strong response to a 2011 NFL release.
Busted 2 boxes/packs at a local show yesterday. The cards themselves are REALLY sharp. They look so much better in person than any scan/picture can provide.
That being said, I do have a complaint or 3…
The first is how high numbered everything is! I pulled a Mark Ingram jumbo jersey /288. Thats fine & dandy for a single colored jersey. But then in the next pack is a 4 color rookie patch auto /599? And its a sticker auto to boot? Umm, huh?
Of the 6 “hits” in the two boxes, I have only heard of Ingram. Not to say there’s anything necessarily wrong with that (it’s the neature of the beast), but to drop $160 I’d at least like to know who some of the guys are. Is that asking too much?
And don’t get me started on the box of 2008 SPX I busted too. Can you say Limas Sweed hot box? (triple jersey/auto, 3 single color jersey cards, dual jersey w/ calvin Johnson). 5 Sweed “hits” in a 10 hit box. Could Upper Deck at least have given my the courtest reach around after sticking it to me like that?? But I digress…