To be upfront and honest, the extend of my involvement with
Barclay’s Premier League is opening some packs of 2012/2013 Topps Match Attax
trading cards. With all the sports
I follow and having a pretty good local team here in Los Angeles, the Galaxy,
there hasn’t been much opportunity to follow what is happening overseas. But I have done my due diligence,
trying to absorb what I can about the league and its players, so I feel
somewhat prepared to offer this review of 2013 Topps Premier Gold. I think it is fair to say fans of Association
Football/Soccer will be pleased with what Topps has put together for this
higher end offering.
2013 Topps Premier Gold fits very nicely into our Premium
Cards category. Each hobby box contains 10 Mini-Boxes with 5 cards per mini-box
and 1 Memorabilia or Autograph card in every mini-box. For the entire master box you should
pull a total of 5 Autographs and 5 Memorabilia Cards.
Here are all of the cards we pulled from our master box. (Spoiler - we pulled one of the bigger hits of this product.)
Base Set
Daniel Sturridge, front and back, Mesut Ozil
Roberto Soldado, Rickie Lambert, Paulinho
Jozy Altidore, Ricky van Wolfswinkel, Jay Rodriguez
Peter Whittingham, Tim Howard, Steven Fletcher
Pablo Hernandez, Santi Cazorla, Jonas Gutierrez
Robbie Brady, Youssouf Mulumbu, Leon Osman
John O'Shea, Ahmed Elmohamady, Bryan Ruiz
Tim Krul, Steven N'Zonzi, Russell Martin
Willian, Robert Snodgrass, Pablo Zabaleta
Aaron Lennon, Fraizer Campbell, Chico Flores
Inserts
Erik Pieters, front and back, Tom Huddlestone
Theo Walcott, Yannick Bolasie, Gaston Ramirez
Color Parallels - Green #/99
Sandro, Simon Mignolet, Emanuele Giaccherini
David de Gea, Matija Nastastic, Sergio Aguero
Topps Kick app Code Cards
front and back
The Hits
Memorabilia
Aaron Hughes, Joe Hart
Tim Howard, Jordan Henderson
Mikel Arteta
Autographs
James Collins Auto base, Kyle Walker Auto base
Peter Crouch Auto base, Tim Krul Auto base
Pele Autograph Orange Parallel #/25
Overall Look
Clean base card design with premium flare. The only thing not premium about the
cards is the actual stock, a rather simple thin, glossy cardboard. These cards deserve a stock that’s a
little more plush, thicker with some foil accents would be nice. Insert set is nearly identical to the
base set. Color Numbered Parallels look great. Memorabilia cards look fantastic. Autograph cards work when the photo
extends the length of the card, otherwise it almost looks like the design was
cut off, leaving a large blank white space. Look at the James Collins auto card versus the 3 other base
autos to see what I mean. When the
autos are color parallels, like the Pele auto, the spacing becomes less noticeable.
Quality and Variety of Players
At 200 base cards this is a fair representation of the best Barclay’s
Premier League has to offer. There
is enough variety in the inserts and hit cards too.
Do the Hits satisfy?
What makes this set a true premium product are the half case
hits. In every case you will find
2 of the following player autographs, Pelé, Cristiano Ronaldo, Frank Lampard, Steven
Gerrard, Gareth Bale and Mikel
Arteta. Think about that. There are 6 boxes a case so your will
pull an autograph card of one of this incredible players at a rate of 1 out of
every 3 boxes.
Will it keep you coming back for more?
Fans of Barclay’s Premier League have been waiting for a
product like this so these will most likely move very fast. Deep pockets will want this by the
sealed case to ensure those 2 big hits.
Rating
4 1/2 out of 5
2013 Topps Premier Gold offers a great premium experience
for Barclay’s Premier League enthusiasts.
Sweet Pele,
ReplyDeleteI had the same driving instructor & examiner as Jay Rodriguez lol
Martyn! Great to hear from you. Thought about you while I opened these cards. Hope all is well.
Deletewow! that's really awesome! congrats!
ReplyDeleteI really wanted to break some of this... but the $320 price tag was too much for me.
I bought one mini box. Wasn't overwhelming. And no Manchester United players for me either...
Wow, Pele auto and a cool Krul ! Congrats !
ReplyDeleteWOW the Pele auto is fine! up for trade? let me know Soskinfamily@yahoo.com
ReplyDelete