Review Topps Strata - N F L

[hdjstuff]

Topps Strata - N F L​

5 cards per pack - 18 packs per box
1 Auto, 1 relic card, and 1 Clear Cut Auto Relic per box

I received the following:

90 unique base cards and 1 duplicate - base set 150 - 53.3% of base set

Strata NFL is a premium issue. The cards are thick with the front being glossy. The design is a bit 'busy' but still looks good. The action shots of the players are sharp. The reverse has stats and a Strata-Spheric Stats write up. The numbering of the cards is a bit hard to read - 6's, 8's and 9's are sometimes hard to distinguish (especially for an old guy like me!)

Inserts

Gold Parallel and Orange

1 Gold - Matt Barkley #ed to 150
5 Orange - Locker, Willis, Vick, Sherman, Randle

Die Cut

Justin Hunter

Maybe it's just me, but this particular die cut is not anywhere near as 'sharp' as other die cuts that Topps has included. This particular card - one can see the outline of the card - prior to the cutting - if that makes sense.

Auto

Landry Jones

Relic/Patch

Joseph Randle - #ed to 70

Very well made card - extra thick and nice patch!!

Clear Cut Auto/Relic

Stepfan Taylor #ed to 35

This is one very cool card. It is easily in the top 10 of all cards I have ever received or purchased or traded for. It is more than one quarter of an inch thick. It is 3 dimensional - the patch piece is in the back of the card - there are 2 different images, and the card is auto'd on the clear acrylic front in blue Sharpee! The scan does not do justice to the card.

**********************

Strata NFL in my humble opinion is a great issue for the set builder. Not so much for the master set builder - only one gold parallel and 5 orange - could be one heck of a hill to climb to finish either one of those parallel sets. This should only take maybe 3 boxes to collate a base set with enough inserts/parallels for trading or selling.

The player collector should not have a difficult time tracking down the various parallels of their chosen player.

I do wish the auto was on the card - the one I received is a sticker.... enough said.

Overall grade A- gotta work on the die cut - but the clear cut relic auto - superb!!

Go buy several boxes and send the clear cut auto relics to me!!

Duane

 

[bdink25]

Can use the Steelers if you're parting with them. Plmk thanks Butch

 

[Meliah]

That clear cut auto is cool but the die cut is just plain ugly. Overall nice looking set, thanks for the review Duane

 

[cjay101]

The retail version of this product is completely horrible. I can't understand the concept of packing $20 blasters with substandard cards. Why not a similar priced blaster with hobby product but in smaller pack amounts? I would gladly pay $20 for 3 or 4 hobby packs versus paying $20 for 7 retail packs (PLUS a bonus pack!) when they almost always contain unnumbered inserts and all base cards. The base cards aren't even the same as the hobby cards!

Yes, I can order hobby products online and/or pick up singles. I just don't understand the marketing of offering a substandard product when they are already producing the better hobby product. It's not like they are having to veer people from big box retailers to hobby stores. Hobby stores don't exist anymore, at least around here. I have at least a 2 hour drive to get to one! I buy stuff at Wal-Mart as it is the ONLY way to get new cards in town, and it would be nice to be able to pick up hobby to some extent there.

The real kick to it all is later in the season, or next year, they will offer overages of their baseline Topps and include 2 "hobby packs" of a mid-level product. Right now, they are trying to blowout 2013 Topps flagship football by including two HOBBY packs of Platinum.

Why can't they just offer hobby originally? Ugh

 

[hdjstuff]

Can use the Steelers if you're parting with them. Plmk thanks Butch

I'll send the Steelers your way.

Post as free.

Merry Christmas.

Duane

 

[bdink25]

Posted. Thanks again. Merry Christmas. Butch

I'll send the Steelers your way.

Post as free.

Merry Christmas.

Duane