This week, The Pokémon Company supplies us with the first main expansion of 2022 that includes a brand new Charizard card, and 2021 Panini Mosaic Football brings us four sets across the sports of football, basketball, soccer, and NASCAR. Read up on all of these releases, plus more, in the latest issue of The Rip.
Pokémon Star Birth
Just two full weeks into 2022 and Pokémon is already delivering the first brand new Charizard card of the year. Pokémon Star Birth is the ninth main expansion in the Japanese Sword & Shield Era. The set totals 100 cards in its main setlist and is sure to have several Secret Rares announced later this week. The set will introduce brand new VSTAR cards, which are Pokémon cards that evolve from Pokémon V and provide the Pokémon with increased Hit Points in addition to providing them with more powerful attacks. Charizard VSTAR and Arceus VSTAR are the two Pokémon VSTAR that we know we will see in this set.
Pokémon Star Birth cards can be found in two main products. The first of which is the Pokémon Star Birth Booster Box, which comes with 30 Star birth booster packs that contain five cards each. The second Star Birth box is called the VSTAR Premium Trainer Box, which comes with 20 Star Birth booster packs, along with several gameplay accessories including a collectible card storage box.
Pokémon Star Birth Cards are set to release on January 14th in Japan with the booster box retailing for about $40, and the VSTAR Premium Trainer Box retailing for about $50.
2021 Panini Mosaic Football
The Prizm spin-off, Panini Mosaic Football is back for its second year in 2021 after becoming one of the most popular sets to collect in 2020. Aside from the 300 card base set and its many color variation parallels, you can look to find inserts such as Busted Die-Cuts, that show the Hall of Fame bust for players who have made it to Canton, as well as Glass Mosaic, in addition to others. Sticker autographs for current stars and rookies are found in other subsets titled, “Autographs Mosaic” and “Rookie Autographs Mosaic”. The 2021 NFL Rookie Class will be the players most collectors are after with talented quarterbacks like Mac Jones, Trevor Lawrence, and Justin Fields.
The 2021 Panini Mosaic Football Hobby Box contains 15 cards per pack, and 10 packs per box. You can expect to add two autographs, five Silver parallels, 15 Mosaic parallels, and 20 inserts to your collection with each box. The 2021 Panini Mosaic Football hobby Box is due out on January 12th at local and online trading card hobby shops. Lower price point retail boxes such as Blasters, Hangers, and Mega Boxes are expected to hit shelves at Targets and Walmarts in the coming weeks.
2021-22 Panini Donruss Basketball
Last week, NBA Hoops gave us the first cards displaying current NBA Rookies in their pro uniforms, and this week 2021-22 Panini Donruss Basketball delivers their first Rated Rookie cards. The base set will hold the Rated Rookies for this season’s highly touted rookies like Evan Mobley, Cade Cunningham, Jalen Green, and more. Several autograph subsets are also available with most coming in the form of sticker autographs, however, the Next Day Autographs set are made up of higher-end on-card autographs from this season’s rookies. Finally, Donruss once again provides some of the best inserts in the hobby including the cereal-inspired Crunch Time and comic book influenced Net Marvels.
The 2020-21 Panini Donruss Basketball Hobby Box holds 30 cards per pack, and 10 packs per box. Each box averages one autograph and one relic card, along with a combination of 60 limited print run parallels and inserts. The 2020-21 Panini Donruss Basketball Hobby Box will release on January 14th at online and local trading card hobby shops, with retail boxes like Blasters and Hangers beginning to be stocked in the coming weeks wherever trading cards are sold.
2021-22 Panini Prizm Premier League Soccer
2021-22 Panini Prizm Premier League Soccer captures the top players from all 20 teams in the top league in England for the third consecutive year. Aside from the 300 card base set and its rainbow of color variation parallels, this edition of Prizm Premier League will hold the coveted Color Blast insert, as well as four different sticker autograph sets – Signatures, Club Legends Signatures, Flashback Autographs, and extremely rare Dual Autographs.
When ripping open the 2021-22 Panini Prizm Premier League Soccer Hobby Box you will hit 12 cards per pack, and 12 packs per box. You can expect each box to contain one autograph, four Silver Prizm parallels, five serial-numbered Prizm parallels, eight additional Prizm parallels, and six inserts. The 2020-21 Panini Prizm Premier League will release on January 14th on the Panini America website and at online and local trading card hobby shops. Other box formats like Blasters and Hangers will also start being stocked wherever trading cards are sold in the coming weeks.
2021 Panini National Treasures NASCAR Racing
For fans of NASCAR, 2021 Panini National Treasures Racing NASCAR is the most high-end set on the annual release calendar. Patches and Autographs make up a majority of the set, but there is also a Base Set. One of the most sought-after subsets will be the Jumbo Firesuit Signature Booklets that feature a two-panel card with one side including an image of the driver in addition to their signature, and a piece of their gear on the other.
Each 2021 Panini National Treasures Racing NASCAR Hobby Box will come with one Base card, four autographs, and three relics. 2021 Panini National Treasures Racing NASCAR Hobby Boxes will hit online and local trading card hobby shops on January 14th.
2020-21 Upper Deck Marvel Annual Trading Cards
Using Marvel Comics as its inspiration, 2020-21 Upper Deck Marvel Annual Trading Cards provides collectors with cards highlighting many of the top characters and moments from the past year of Marvel comic books. Just like last year, the base set is made up of 100 cards including limited edition color variation parallels for each card, such as the brand new Sparkling Foilboard parallel. The biggest hits in the set come in the form of Sketch cards, Battle Booklet Sketches, and one of one printing plates for each card. Autograph cards can also be found for the writers and artists who brought Marvel Comics to life in the last year.
The 2020-21 Upper Deck Marvel Annual Trading Cards Hobby Box comes with five cards per pack and 16 packs per box and guarantees on Splash-Ticular Insert card. Starting on January 12th, you will be able to find the 2020-21 Upper Deck Annual Trading Cards Hobby Box at online and local trading card hobby shops.
