Wednesday Wax: 2010-11 Panini Playoff Contenders Patches

The Set:
2010-11 Panini Playoff Contenders Patches
20 packs per box, 5 cards per pack
Base set contains 100 base cards ‘Season Tickets’, 100 rookie autograph patches ‘Rookie Tickets’

Our Break:

83 of 100 Season Tickets, no duplicates
Die Cuts Silver /299 (2): Kevin Love, Tayshaun Prince

Rookie of the Year Contenders Die-Cuts Silver /299 (1): James Anderson
Place In History (3): Carmelo Anthony, Amare Stoudemire, Pau Gasol

Starting Blocks (6): D. DeRozan/E. Davis, D. Gallinari/T. Douglas, B. Lopez/D. James, E. Gordon/B. Griffin, T. Gibson/J. Johnson, B. Griffin/A. Aminu
Starting Blocks Die Cuts Silver /299 (1): B. Lopez/D. Favors

One-Two Punch (3): J. Flynn/M. Beasley, J. Holiday/E. Brand, S. Nash/C. Frye
One-Two Punch Die Cuts Gold /99 (1): R. Allen/P. Pierce

Rookie Tickets (4): Solomon Alabi, Omer Asik, Luke Babbitt, Hassan Whiteside (Redemption)

Impressions:

For the set collectors, the base set would be an easy one to complete, as we received over 80% of the base set in our box.  The inserts provided a nice mix of younger, up-and-coming players (the Starting Blocks) and veteran leaders and stars (One-Two Punch).  The insert card ratio was great as well, as there were 21 non-base cards in our box from 20 packs.  With 4 autographs and that many inserts per box, this product is a solid value for the price (selling for around $85/box at this posting).

One thing that stuck out on the base set design was the amount of white space, particularly at the bottom of the cards.  This is more noticable on certain cards than others, particularly on cards of the smaller guards like Jonny Flynn and Sasha Vujacic.  The stats on the ticket section of the card are well done, providing information on when the team was established, how many years the player has been in the league, etc…

The rookie patch cards are beautiful, and while the autographs aren’t on-card, the autographs are inserts which are typically favorable to the sticker autographs.  My only real complaint with the patches is how the bottom of each patch is covered up by the product name and year, and this is nitpicky as it does not bring down the attractiveness of the card too much.  The ticket theme is completely overshadowed by the huge patch though.

The theme of this set seems to branch in a bunch of different ways.  We’ve got the Contenders, Rookie Patches, and then the ticket theme.  I think the cards would fit together better if there was more of a focus on one of these themes.  It seems like too much is going on in one set.

Recap:

Base Set: 3/5 Stars
Inserts: 5/5 Stars
Memorabilia and Autographs: 4/5 Stars
Value: 5/5 Stars
Overall: 4.25/5 Stars

For the price of the box, Playoff Contenders Patches is a good value with 4 attractive autographed cards per box and a variety of insert cards.