What are your favorite sets / products?

[AbraCalabro]

Could be base, parallel, insert, etc. What are your favorite sets? I'm talking about the sets that have cards you like no matter who the player is, your favorite design, effects, photography, whatever it is. Share some examples of your favorite sets, or products and tell us why.

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Here's a couple of mine. I find this one iconic, first serial numbered (parallel) set, the cards are luxurious, glossy, close up (but not too close) portraits of the players in full clarity backed by a full bleed action photo immersed in glittering starlight. Usually cards with borders have a superior aesthetic, but in some cases, as in this set, full bleed is a winner.

I thought this lineup was the best way to represent the set. If you're a 90s guy, you know the importance of this lineup. Pulled the Penny myself as a kid and I had never seen such a card the like of that Penny Row 0 when I pulled it. I knew at that time that I was holding something special.



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I know I post a bunch of these in the mailday thread and that will continue, but I had to include this one here as well. Again, full bleed, with action photos that are second to none. I do like 95/96 TSC 1st Day Issue, but they don't have holofoil and this set does, so because of that, its in an upper echelon of quality. The photos are actually better too, plus they capture some great moments that can actually be tracked down. <--- these elements, coupled with the golden holofoil are why I gravitated toward collecting select singles from the set. Finally, unique photography on the back, with all the details, stats and in some cases, factoids. If you are into the 90s culture...or if you miss the 90s culture defined by the league, or in pop culture outside the league, this one is right up your alley.

I thought this was a great way to represent the set, you've got the Bulls trinity that every one remembers, Magic Johnson came back for a season and that caused a lot of noise, for better, or worse and of course, this would be the last year we'd see this highly popular dynamic duo together, Shaq ships off for the Lakers and the Magic are never the same.

The MJ photo: Orlando, Florida - January 01, 1995 - Michael Jordan dunks against the Orlando Magic at the Amway Arena.

The Shaq photo: 1995, Game 6, 2nd quarter, around 7:20 remaining.

Chicago, Illinois - May 18, 1995.. Game six of the Eastern Conference Semifinals at the United Center. The Magic bested the Bulls, 108 to 102 and eliminated them four games to two.

[Deep Freeze Cards]

Had a tough time to narrow this down, but here are the 3 I’m going with.

2000-01 Upper Deck Ultimate Victory (Victory Collection /350 & Ultimate Collection /100)

This is a set thing brings me right back to some of my earliest hobby memories. I had a few Ultimate Victory base cards in my binder as a child and I just remember how much this set popped in comparison to my other base cards. Although I no longer have those cards to reminisce, here are my Kobe Victory Collection and Dirk Ultimate Collection in PSA 10s. Although the Ultimate Collections are only numbered to 100 and the Victory Collection are numbered to 350, I find the eye appeal on the Victory Collection to be more stunning in hand. Something about red parallels and late 90’s/early 2000’s just works.



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2003-04 & 2004-05 Fleer Showcase Legacy Collection /125

Going to double dip and pick 2 years of Fleer Showcase Legacy Collections (very similar designs IMO). Going to fast forward a handful of years and I’m going to echo my binder statement about the Ultimate Victory base card about this set. I remember being memorized by the shine and design of this set as a kid. Here are my only two copies I currently own (definitely plan on adding more in the future)




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2008-09 Topps Treasury Refractors (Bronze /999, Silver /199, Gold /50)

My personal favorite one hit wonder for basketball products (only produced for 1 year). I don’t think I’ve heard/seen everyone ever give this set love. Although I’m showing off the refractors from the set, the rip cards were so neat from this set. You could pull anything from autograph mini cards to $10-$1000 cold hard cash. I recently started a binder project to try to collect the entire set in bronze refractors. Here are my 2 favorite bronze refractors (Dirk & Kobe) and my only silver refractor (Dirk). The Dirk gold refractor is towards the top of my “hobby wish list” right now.

[AbraCalabro]

Feel free to post more than three sets, anything that you're particular about, I'd love to see / read up on! I think every one would!

Those Victory cards are another testament to Upper Deck's mastery of aesthetically pleasing designs with simple elements, lines, shapes, fonts...they do so well to focus attention toward the featured player. The stuff from the early days of our hobby memories is always close to home for most hobbyists. I have some Collector's Choice I'm going to share later, those were some of my first cards and Collector's Choice delivers on that aesthetic mastery I mentioned.

Flair...or in this case, Fleer Showcase is looking good. Interesting to see how the design changed through the years, but it still carries that same design language. I'm seeing 96/97 Row 2 / 97/98 Row 1 in the Reggie Miller 04/05 card and 96/97 Row 1 / 97/98 Row 2 in the Dirk. I actually hope to add a few in the future.

Never ripped or owned any Topps Treasury stuff, but those refractors do have a cool design. I especially like the Kobe.

[darz90scardz]

[AbraCalabro]

dude it's been 4 days, have you thought about it yet?

[kingofsnake]

My favorite set design was the inaugural Upper Deck:



With its hardwood design, impressive photography and large checklist, it was a great first entry into basketball for UD.

[darz90scardz]

Eventually I’d like to make a more fleshed out post in terms of products, but if I could only pick one it would have to be Skybox Premium. I don’t think they had a single dud release until 00-01, which by that time was “Fleer Premium.”
My runner up would be Fleer Ultra.

There are other products where single releases (94-95 E-Motion / 96-97 E-X2000 / Bowman’s / Showcase, 97-98 Z-Force / Finest, etc.) would be up there with any of my other favorites, but imo nothing else aside from Ultra comes close in terms of consistency and longevity.

Skybox Premium is the GOAT of products.

[darz90scardz]

Closer look at some of the Skybox Premium inserts over the years. I'll do Ultra next, the comparison should be interesting.

93-94:
Thunder & Lightning
Dynamic Dunks
Center Stage

94-95:
Revolution
Slammin Universe
Center Stage

95-96 (greatest etched foil year/product ever):
Meltdown
Larger than Life
Standouts
Hot Sparks
Atomic
Kinetic
Dynamic

96-97:
Golden Touch
Net Sets
New Edition

97-98:
Competitive Advantage
Golden Touch
Premium Player
Silky Smooth
Thunder & Lightning

98-99:
3D
Slam Funk

99-00:
Club Vertical
More Good Stuff
Prime Time Rookies

[mindcycle]

Great picks so far.

I'm very partial to the Flair sets (95-98), especially the legacy parallels.





96 Skybox rubies are subtle but a fun chase from a great set. Probably topped by 96 Ultra and the gold and platinum medallions. Photography from that set is just sooo good.





Subsequent years of both of those are fun as well, but waaay over hyped and expensive nowadays IMHO. Glad I got most of mine back in the day before the hype machine started rolling.

[SacKingsCards]

Interesting observations: all these mentions have no autos or memorabilia and feature incredible photography.

[mindcycle]

Interesting observations: all these mentions have no autos or memorabilia and feature incredible photography.

Yeah that is an interesting observation. It’s like we actually collect cards over here..

I do like a lot of patch/auto stuff, but with stuff like Flawless for example, the card designs don’t change much so once you’ve seen one you’ve kind of seen them all in a way.

[SacKingsCards]

Interesting observations: all these mentions have no autos or memorabilia and feature incredible photography.

Yeah that is an interesting observation. It’s like we actually collect cards over here..

I do like a lot of patch/auto stuff, but with stuff like Flawless for example, the card designs don’t change much so once you’ve seen one you’ve kind of seen them all in a way.

I don't think patch/auto stuff has to be so similar across the board that it feels like if you've seen one, you've seen them all. I think that's just a Panini thing. I don't feel like Exquisite, Ultimate, UD Black, Chronology felt that way with their patches and autos. And honestly Panini has had their shining moments from a patch and auto design perspective too. But you're definitely right about Flawless, NT, Immaculate, Spectra, etc. just being the same four (sometimes ridiculously similar) designs recycled over and over.

[darz90scardz]

^ I so regret not being active in the hobby for UD Black

[mindcycle]

Interesting observations: all these mentions have no autos or memorabilia and feature incredible photography.

Yeah that is an interesting observation. It’s like we actually collect cards over here..

I do like a lot of patch/auto stuff, but with stuff like Flawless for example, the card designs don’t change much so once you’ve seen one you’ve kind of seen them all in a way.

I don't think patch/auto stuff has to be so similar across the board that it feels like if you've seen one, you've seen them all. I think that's just a Panini thing. I don't feel like Exquisite, Ultimate, UD Black, Chronology felt that way with their patches and autos. And honestly Panini has had their shining moments from a patch and auto design perspective too. But you're definitely right about Flawless, NT, Immaculate, Spectra, etc. just being the same four (sometimes ridiculously similar) designs recycled over and over.

I definitely agree regarding 2000's era UD stuff. They had some amazing designs that mostly weren’t copy/paste jobs. I missed out on pretty much all of it so the nostalgia really isn’t there for me tbh, but I have picked up a few things over the years. The stuff I really want, like exquisite patch autos, are mostly out of reach nowadays sadly. But I was able to pick up a couple nice UD black patches the last year or two.

[AbraCalabro]

+1 from me on UD designs.

I'm on repeat here, but they accomplish such outstanding and sensational card designs using simple lines, shapes / geometry.

I.E. 97/98 SPA Profiles, 97/98 UD Diamond Dimensions, 97/98 and 98/99 UD Game Jersey, even the low end stuff, Collector's Choice, UD Flagship, had top notch photography, design and aesthetics which are to this day unmatched. Of course, in the context that you guys are discussing it, the high end stuff, they had a lot of winning designs there as well, whether it was UD Black, Exquisite, or Ultimate. Win win.