With Valor football, Topps continues to play up the attributes most of us admire in football players — courage, strength, speed, discipline and of course, valor.
With a gold foil “V” in the top left-hand corner of every card (the shield analogy is impossible to miss), Topps lends a military air to this set of 2015 cards, which should appeal to collectors whose spending falls in the mid-range.
A hobby box will contain 20 packs, with six cards to a pack. Topps is promising four hits per box, including an autograph and auto/relic card.
The base set will be 200 cards, with Speed parallels exclusive to hobby packs and falling approximately one to a pack. As it turns out, I pulled 16 Speed parallels. The others I pulled were Courage (Paul Hornung, numbered to 299), Discipline (Giovani Bernard, numbered to 199), Glory (C.J. Anderson, numbered to 99), and Strength (Brandon Scherff, not numbered).
Collectors also can find Valor parallels, along with 1/1 Heart parallels.
With a gold foil “V” in the top left-hand corner of every card (the shield analogy is impossible to miss), Topps lends a military air to this set of 2015 cards, which should appeal to collectors whose spending falls in the mid-range.
A hobby box will contain 20 packs, with six cards to a pack. Topps is promising four hits per box, including an autograph and auto/relic card.
The base set will be 200 cards, with Speed parallels exclusive to hobby packs and falling approximately one to a pack. As it turns out, I pulled 16 Speed parallels. The others I pulled were Courage (Paul Hornung, numbered to 299), Discipline (Giovani Bernard, numbered to 199), Glory (C.J. Anderson, numbered to 99), and Strength (Brandon Scherff, not numbered).
Collectors also can find Valor parallels, along with 1/1 Heart parallels.
The hobby box I opened had 76 base cards, with a nice mixture of stars, legends and rookies. Star cards included Richard Sherman, J.J. Watt, Julio Jones, Odell Beckham Jr. and Ndamukong Suh. Legends like Jerry Rice, Tim Brown, John Elway, Lawrence Taylor and Bob Lilly also were included, along with 16 rookie cards.
The hits were as advertised, with some nice thick cards to go along with a sticker signature. I still don’t like stickers. I understand the need for them; it doesn’t mean I have to like the idea. Beats waiting for a redemption card, I suppose. But on-card signatures with this design would have really looked great.
The hits were as advertised, with some nice thick cards to go along with a sticker signature. I still don’t like stickers. I understand the need for them; it doesn’t mean I have to like the idea. Beats waiting for a redemption card, I suppose. But on-card signatures with this design would have really looked great.
The first hit was a sticker autograph card of Jaguars wide receiver Rashad Greene, numbered 429/800. This was the thinnest of the four hot cards, basically the same as base cards.
The second hit was a Shield of Honor autographed patch card of Jets quarterback Bryce Petty, numbered 608/800. The sticker autograph also included a multi-colored swatch, of mostly green with a thin strip of white. There were only two cards in this pack; the second was a Speed parallel of Panthers running back Jonathan Stewart.
The second hit was a Shield of Honor autographed patch card of Jets quarterback Bryce Petty, numbered 608/800. The sticker autograph also included a multi-colored swatch, of mostly green with a thin strip of white. There were only two cards in this pack; the second was a Speed parallel of Panthers running back Jonathan Stewart.
The third hit was also one of two cards in the pack. This one was a patch card of 49ers running back Mike Davis, numbered 063/289. It was another example of a two-color swatch, with red the dominant color along with a white stripe (wider than what was displayed on the Petty card) on the left-hand side.
The final hit was a jumbo relic card of Seattle’s Tyler Lockett, numbered 55/99. This card is not as thick as the other two relic cards, but certainly thicker than the base cards. A die-cut photo of Lockett is positioned at the card center, with a background of a white jersey swatch taking up most of the card.
The final hit was a jumbo relic card of Seattle’s Tyler Lockett, numbered 55/99. This card is not as thick as the other two relic cards, but certainly thicker than the base cards. A die-cut photo of Lockett is positioned at the card center, with a background of a white jersey swatch taking up most of the card.
In addition to the Speed parallels, I pulled a few more out of the hobby box I sampled.
There was Courage (Paul Hornung, numbered to 299), Discipline (Giovani Bernard, numbered to 199), Glory (C.J. Anderson, numbered to 99), and Strength (Brandon Scherff, not numbered). Collectors also can find Valor parallels, along with 1/1 Heart parallels.
There were three Gridiron Warrior inserts. These are cards that spotlight the toughness of 25 retired and current players.
There was Courage (Paul Hornung, numbered to 299), Discipline (Giovani Bernard, numbered to 199), Glory (C.J. Anderson, numbered to 99), and Strength (Brandon Scherff, not numbered). Collectors also can find Valor parallels, along with 1/1 Heart parallels.
There were three Gridiron Warrior inserts. These are cards that spotlight the toughness of 25 retired and current players.
Topps Valor is an affordable set with some decent hits. The design, particularly the background of the card, sometimes looks like impressionist painting. But while the cards will never be mistaken for a Van Gogh, Valor still paints a pretty picture.
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