One of the annual highlights of the trading card calendar is here with the release of the 2020-21 Panini Prizm Basketball Hobby Box. Aside from the hobby giant, this week also delivers the second iteration of the Pokémon First Partner Packs, as well as a Topps Baseball product just in time for Opening Day. Check out these releases along with upcoming products in future weeks below.
2020-21 Prizm Basketball Hobby Box
The Panini Prizm Basketball set first released in 2012 and since that time it has become the set that basketball card collectors turn to for a player’s core rookie card. The 2020-21 Panini Prizm Basketball set features the signature chromium look. This year, Prizm Basketball will include a wide variety of colored Prizm parallels, including Prizm Silvers, the most valuable non-numbered variation in the set, and a Prizm Flashback insert that takes its design from the inaugural 2012 Panini Prizm Basketball set.
Of course, it is rookie cards that have led to the rise of Panini Prizm Basketball as one of the most sought-after sets, and this year is no different. The base set checklist totals 300 cards and includes rookies from the 2020-21 NBA draft class. This means players like LaMelo Ball, Anthony Edwards, Tyrese Haliburton, and James Wiseman first Prizm cards could be found in this year’s Hobby Box. Until a week ago, LaMelo Ball was set to be the player to chase early, but with his unfortunate injury and Anthony Edwards’s recent breakout performance, it will be interesting to see how the market responds.
Each 2020-21 Panini Prizm Basketball Hobby Box comes equipped with 12 cards per pack, and 12 packs per box. Basketball card collectors can look forward to finding two autograph cards, 22 Prizm parallels, and 10 inserts per box on average. Hobby exclusive parallels comprise of Black, Black Gold, Gold, and Mojo, and inserts include Downtown Bound, Fireworks, Widescreen, and Fearless.
The Hobby Box for Prizm Basketball is set to release on March 31st on the official Panini website. As usual, the Hobby format has no MSRP. However, the box has been available through pre-sales for around $2,500. Of course, this raises a lot of questions as the First Off The Line Box did not sell out until it dropped to $2,000 in Panini’s dutch auction format. Retail products for 2020-21 Panini Prizm Basketball such as Blasters, Hangers, and Mega Boxes should be releasing around the same time as Hobby Boxes.
2021 Pokemon TCG First Partner Pack (Alola)
The 2021 Pokémon TCG First Partner Pack (Alola) is the second pack in the First Partner series released this year. The set is part of the 25th Anniversary of the Pokémon brand and celebrates the 24 starter Pokémon up to this point, plus Pikachu. Unlike traditional Pokémon cards, this set is made up entirely of jumbo-sized Pokémon promo cards.
Within each Pokémon TCG First Partner Pack (Alola) you will find three jumbo Pokémon cards that highlight the starter Pokémon from the Hawaii-inspired Alola region: Rowlet, Litten, and Popplio with a special Pikachu shaped foil stamp on each card. The First Partner Pack also comes with two additional booster packs from the Pokémon TCG.
The 2021 Pokémon TCG First Partner Pack (Alola) releases on April 2nd for $9.99 on the Pokémon Center website as well as other Pokémon card stockists.
2021 Topps Definitive Collection Baseball Hobby Box
For the fifth straight year, 2021 Topps Definitive Collection Baseball Hobby Box once again provides a luxurious product for high-class Baseball card collectors. The set is only released in the Hobby format, meaning you will only be able to find this product at trading card hobby shops or online, not on the shelves of your local Target, and is made up of several on-card autograph, relic, and autograph-relic subsets configured of rookies, veterans, and MLB legends.
The 2021 Topps Definitive Checklist has yet to be announced, but the preview of the product teases cards for Ken Griffey Jr., Mike Trout, Derek Jeter, Alec Bohm, and more. There is a base set checklist, but no card is numbered higher than 50. Each Topps Definitive Collection Baseball Hobby Box comes with eight total cards – six on-card autographs, or on-card autograph relics, and two relic cards. With every card in the set being an autograph or relic, and no more than 50 copies of each card being produced, all cards in the set are rare and therefore considered “hits”.
The 2021 Topps Definitive Collection Hobby Box releases the day before MLB Opening Day, March 31st at trading card hobby shops.
