Field Level Review: 2011 Topps Supreme Football

Release Date: January 11, 2012
Price Point: Was approximately $85 at Blowout Cards.
Product Loadout: Four cards per pack, one pack per box, 16 boxes per case.
Hit Ratios: Each box will contain one autograph, autographed relic or relic and two parallel cards.

Product Information:

• 100 card base set (#’d to 429)

Autographs, Relics and Parallels:

• Red base parallel (#’d to 99)
• Violet base parallel (#’d to 75)
• Sepia base parallel (#’d to 50)
• Gold base parallel (#’d to 30)
• Green base parallel (#’d to 15)
• Framed printing plates (1/1)
• Platinum base parallel (1/1)
• Rookie Autographs (37 cards, #’d to 90)
• Rookie Sepia Autographs (#’d to 55)
• Rookie Red Autographs (#’d to 50)
• Rookie Violet Autographs (#’d to 25)
• Rookie Green Autographs (#’d to 15)
• Rookie Platinum Autographs (1/1)
• Rookie Autograph Printing Plates (1/1)
• Veteran Autographs (25 cards, #’d to 27)
• Red Veteran Autographs (#’d to 20)
• Green Veteran Autographs (#’d to 10)
• Platinum Veteran Autographs (1/1)
• Veteran Autograph Printing Plates (1/1)
• Autograph Relic Cards (38 cards, #’d to 50)
• Red Autograph Relic Cards (#’d to 20)
• Platinum Autograph Relic Cards (1/1)
• Jumbo Supreme Materials (24 cards, #’d to 55)
• Jumbo Supreme Patches (#’d to 5)
• Autograph Jumbo Relic Cards (35 cards, #’d to 10)
• Platinum Autograph Jumbo Relic Cards (1/1)
• Autograph Dual Relics (35 cards, #’d to 15)
• Platinum Autograph Dual Patches (1/1)
• Red Autograph Dual Patches (#’d to 10)
• Platinum Autograph Dual Relics (1/1)
• Autograph Quad Relics (36 cards, #’d to 10)
• Platinum Autograph Quad Relics (#’d to 5)
• Rookie Quad Relics (20 players, 40 cards)
• Veteran Quad Relics (10 players, 20 cards, #’d to 20)
• Platinum Veteran Quad Relics (1/1)
• Rookie Quad Relic Combos (41 cards)
• Six Piece Double-Sided Relics (13 cards, #’d to 20)
• Platinum Six Piece Double-Sided Relics (1/1)
• Autograph Six-Piece Relic Book Cards (10 cards, #’d to 10)
• Platinum Autograph Six-Piece Relic Book Cards (1/1)
• Triple Autographs (16 cards, #’d to 10)
• Dual Autographs (35 cards, #’d to 25)
• Dual Patch Autographs (1/1)
• Quad Autographs (10 cards, #’d to 5)
• Letter Patch (15 players, 1/1, one per letter of last name)
• Six Autographs (3 cards, #’d to 5)
• Eight Piece Relic Book Cards (13 cards, #’d to 20)
• Platinum Eight Piece Patch Book Cards (1/1)
• Eight Book Autographs (3 cards, #’d to 5)
• Hall of Fame Cuts (25 cards, 1/1)

Box Contents:

• 4 total cards
• 2 base cards (Darren McFadden 242/429 and Jerrel Jernigan RC 203/429)
• 1 Red base parallel (Larry Fitzgerald 79/99)
• 1 Jumbo Relic (Mikel Leshoure 25/55)

Topps Supreme is bad for a second year after what I considered a very lackluster original launch.  Not much has changed from 2010 to 2011 other than a much larger print run, with base cards jumping from being numbered to 209 to 429 and a complete shift in how the parallels have been labeled.  The pack build-out really hasn’t changed though with the product giving you four cards (one being a relic, relic auto or auto) for about $85.  This, to me, puts Supreme solidly into mid-range products.  This is only really a problem when you realize that the vast majority of the hits in the product are single-color swatches.

I ripped into Topps Supreme last year for using single-color swatches on a card numbered to 15, and they haven’t learned from this.  Of course, as long as we continue to buy the products, they’re going to keep cranking them out.  Again, the base cards are very solid this year and the move to bring the parallel colors a bit more in line with other Topps products is welcomed (after all, who considers a green parallel to be 1/1?).  That said, there could be more done on this front, as a platinum parallel is a 1/1 in all but two cases…where they’re #’d to 5.  It doesn’t make any sense, and to be really honest, I’d like Topps to shift to a common parallel usage across the board so that all of their products are uniform.

The hit in my box was a jumbo jersey of Mikel Leshoure #’d to 55.  Here, Topps deserves a bit of praise.  Often, when you see a jumbo jersey, it’s this huge swatch of cloth with a tiny player portrait.  With Topps Supreme, they actually had the player image extend out into the die-cut window for the fabric so that you get a full photo of the player.  It looks really decent, even if it’s just an event-worn ‘relic’ from the rookie photo shoot.  I don’t truly hate Supreme this time around, I just think that this entire product concept is somewhat flawed:  One hit for $60-80 is never a good thing for consumers, especially when the odds are your hit might get you $5-10 on eBay.  It’s a huge gamble, and one that I really can’t recommend unless you have the money to drop on a case, and even then, you’re likely going to take a wash.

Pizazz:  2/5
Design:  3/5
Total Score:  3/5 (rounding up)

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