Overall impressions -
Panini has done a very nice job with the design of Black. And it starts with the awesome packaging. The packaging of the product is top notch - whoever designs Panini's boxes should definitely get paid more. Part of the fun of opening up a high end product is handling the box it comes in. With packaging as nice as this, collectors feel that they are opening something special and of great value.
As for the actual cards, they are very nice as well. Each box of Black will contain twelve cards. Of the twelve, seven are regular base, rookie, or insert cards that do not contain an autograph or memorabilia piece. Though these cards look sweet and feature a modern, tough design... I think getting seven (essentially base) cards is a bit much. It may be nice to get more cards per box, but having this many non-hit cards actually gives collectors a feeling that the hits within aren't concentrated enough. If boxes of Black had four or five base/inserts/rookies, it would make for a more premium opening experience. That being said, the cards do still look great. My only design change would be to have the cards be completely black, including the side edges! Total bad @$$-age right there. Just my two cents!
As for the hits, my box provided me with some more great looking cards... let's talk about some of the hits now.
I have to say that design-wise, there are some real winners here. The Rookie Patch Autographs are done nicely. They are clean and refined looking cards. The Mohamed Sanu card I pulled featured a crazy looking patch piece. I took some time and checked out eBay and saw that many of these Rookie Patch Autograph cards have unique patches imbedded in them. It's awesome when pieces of patch enhance the cards so well. The gold ink autograph was also a nice touch... I do, however, wish Sanu was given a skinnier pen to use. His auto is small, and the girth of his stroke is a bit too big for my taste.
Another card with amazing patch pieces was this Flacco/Rice Materials Combos card. I was stunned at how nice the included patch pieces were. Each piece had multiple breaks and colors. I'm sure Raven's fans would love to get their hands on this one. Though the Sanu and the Flacco/Rice are great looking cards, I would say that if I were to sell both, they would not go for too much - at least no where close to what the box price was.
My other inserts were just a couple more autographs and a jersey card. The NFL features so many rookies that don't pan out that it makes it really hard to get too excited about these pulls.
All-in-all, Panini has again done a really outstanding job of making a beautiful card product. As with all super premium card releases, they are a pretty big gamble if you're looking to break even or hit the jack pot. I have to say that at $200 a box, the price is a bit too high for essentially five hits (keeping in mind that usually three of the hits would be just 'filler' type stuff). Black is a product I'd love to buy many boxes of... but the price to value ratio is just a bit too skewed for me. That being said, I know that there will be many football collectors out there who will take that gamble in search for some beautiful rookie cards of Andrew Luck and Robert Griffen III as well as some of the other stand out rookies this season.
Overall Rating:
7.5/10
Let me know what you thought of Panini Black or my review of it in the comments section!
coooooooooooooool
ReplyDeletehockeycardcollecters
cool break, hope to see more
Deleteairgunkills
nice video luke, I hope you do more of these vids
Deletesupergabriel2001
This is the first time seeing this product, but it looks awesome!! Must be quite pricy a pack I'm guessing.
ReplyDeleteYoutube: edge88000
One of my favorite looking football products of the year. I love the look of the rookie patch autos.
ReplyDeleteGBforce12
Generous Panini!
ReplyDeleteVery slick product from the gridiron - excellent review
YT=Skroeker24
I like your review of the box itself!
ReplyDeleteyt:ryannturnaa
Sick break! Nice to see you getting in to some football products!
ReplyDeleteYT: jtayl132
Nice product, looks really good. Great review
ReplyDeleteWVColtsFan from SCF (SportsCardForum). Great Review. I love that Flacco/Rice. Posted on the boards, but please let me know if its available!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the review!
Tim
I like it. It's like the prime of football
ReplyDeleteYouTube micerule934
i like it looks like a lot of fun to break and its like prime
ReplyDelete29Toaster
Different then your normal breaks I'm happy you got 2 eagles hits :) go eagles
ReplyDeleteYouTube( XplodingmonkE11) thanks again
Great looking cards, really nice to see you open some stuf other than hockey. The card design really reminds me of the old UD Black! When I first saw the Bengals Rookie Patch I thought you hit an AJ Green. Football has treated me well as my team the Colts denied the dreaded Texans from home-field advantage. I think you should continue to do other products that aren't hockey related.
ReplyDeleteYT Username: GTAHockeyCards
Im dont collect football, but this product makes me rethink that! love the design of the autos with silver or gold ink. Great review too
ReplyDeleteyoutube: 49ersfan619
This is definitely a product I'd like to see done for hockey. Then again, I'm biased because I'm a fan of black in general, but I digress.
ReplyDeleteThe patches are indeed sick, and while extra base may be unnecessary, they still do have their place and it's nice to see more added in this way.
The rookie selection in football is pretty much the worst (baseball is also up there) just because of how many there are and how few pan out, so it'd be nice to see more than one veteran hit per box. Aside from that, solid stuff.
Trevor/Force/klowd1661 [YT]
This product is just amazing! The cards look really great! Think that i agree to your review!
ReplyDeleteYoutube-Irbehockey cardcolect
Great product! Huge Bengals fan so the Sanu is amazing! Glad to see you do more than just hockey. Go Jackets, Go Bengals, Go Reds and Go Celtics lol. YouTube username: CUB3Jsg22
ReplyDeleteReally interesting product, it often looks nice with dark cards. I especially like the patch cards, they look awesome to the design!
ReplyDeleteYoutube: Majlfp
Black Football is vey nice. I like the dark patch cards with the gold auto on the Sanu
ReplyDeletesportsreviewcan
Great lookind patches and card design! And really cool Sanu autograph!
ReplyDeletemartinspridstavlaet
DeleteAwesome looking design, very solid break.
ReplyDeleteYoutube Username MrHockeynut77
Some of the nicest looking cards of the year so far for football. The rookie patch autos are the main sell point as their design is incredible in my opinion.
ReplyDeleteYouTube: baseballpackopenings
Love the patches they are clean and well layed out. I really enjoyed the rookie patches. They would make a great show piece on a collectors wall.
ReplyDeleteYoutube: Starsfan00
looks good.the packaging is certainly interesting and seeing how i usually buy single packs i dont know if i'll go for $200 a pack or something like that.
ReplyDeleteyoutube: capecodunicycles
love the design... if only they made this for hockey. Panini s packaging is always good.
ReplyDeleteyoutube name: vancanuckman1234
I LOVE the design and package its in! Always loved black cards and this product does really looks great! Thanks for another great review!
ReplyDeleteYoutube:MrThendro
I like the product, I think that they shouldn't have put the word BLACK on every card though.
ReplyDeleteYOUTUBE
Eoj18