The Official 2017 TLA Elite NRL Thread (Sell Sheet Page 10, 1/1 Preview Page 17)

Except that they don't have a team to support I envy the North sydney card collectors. a finite list of cards to aim for without fear of a 1/1 to wreck it all for them.

Thankfully I don't think The bulldogs will have a 1/1.

Most of the set looks ok except not anfan at all of /10 mojo or 1/1.

I must say collecting the club issued stuff is more and more rewarding
Just wish all clubs did an accessible club set. I know Souths do a release yearly but it's only 5-6 cards and you have to be a Junior Member to get it
 
I'm surprised that ESP hasn't had some sort of lawsuit against them over the boxes that were sent out to retail. Like you said it should be labeled as retail and hobby cases and the retail be cheaper if the sapphires (and guessing now emeralds) aren't in any of the retail boxes

That would be just written off to 'the cards are randomly inserted in the release and ratio's are not guaranteed' We have seen that is not the case with that limited run of 200 cases going to certain resellers a few years ago.
 
What's everyone's thoughts on having 3 different mojo sets and one of them being numbered to only 10?
My thoughts are that's overkill on mojo sets and having anything limited to only 10 is going to disappoint a lot of collectors and if rumours are true that next year they will have a mojo set limited to only 5 I think that will make some collectors give up altogether.
Thoughts?
If most don't like the ideas of that is it worth us contacting ESP to let them know?

When the dust settles fellas, no need to panic - why? For the following reasons:

1) Many collectors spent a pinch on mojos since 2015 in particular paying as much as $800 for a sapphire set last year and even just as much for ruby in 2015 when that was the sole variant at time and this simply means those in those such PCs will never come out unless someone was prepared to pay as much as they paid so therefore holding SOME value

2) Yes bad news is quite possibly Emerald mojos could possibly plummit to $400 this Christmas period but that mainly being for Titans, Warriors and Knights 10/10 sets however would not be surprised if some crazy collector will pay $1600 for a Thurston 07/10 Emerald set or same for Bunnies, Eels or Saints 01/10 and once they bought they're gone under the pillow and not to be seen angain lol

3) Some collectors will simply not consider emerald mojos as a part of their collecting goals due to their small abundance so even if there is a purple-diamond variant next year same procedure would apply

4) Yes bad news is should ESP go even further with Purple-Diamond /05 mojos next year and finally Black-Diamond 1/1 variant at the same time and then on, that could arguably mean Ruby variants could auction off as little as $40 not to mention Sapphires @$65 plus Emerals @100 but the good news is, considering ESP have contracted the license to end of season 2022, that would mean collectors would technically receive five opportunities to obtain a 1/1 Black mojo set not to mention 25 for purple variant lol should they become an ongoing tradition in series 2 releases

Anyway, that's my thoughts in such regard
 
This release has sent me into a bit of a tailspin in terms of how I am going to collect it. This is down to the Emerald.

The team breaks have been really great, but it does mean people either get exactly what they are after or nothing at all. That in itself is fine (awesome actually), but it does have implications on trading. In the last few years I have bought a case knowing I would get a mojo, LS's etc and then trade. However, due to breaks I noticed last year that trades were few and far between (due to the chances of two people having what each other wanted) and people had to give up and sell what they had and then try and buy what they were needing. I ended up getting my team's ruby mojo in a three way trade that required the generosity of a dealer who gained no advantage)

So do I :

  • Save furiously (and probably get in debt) for a case and then try and trade. This is by far the way in which I want to collect cards. But what if there is no-one to trade with? Is the secondary market on Ebay going to work out here?
  • Go into multiple team breaks and hope to get lucky fairly early on, but run the risk of chucking money away by gambling further and further after the release, and possibly never hit a sapphire/emerald at all
  • Do I buy on Ebay only (lame, but possibly cost-effective). The unknown here is just how scarce the Emeralds are going to be. Are the first ones at ridiculously inflated prices the only ones that are going to become available - is it all or nothing on them?
Card collecting is always gambling which is fun. But this year's release is quite stressful for me and in all honesty if I can't pick up an Emerald that will be me done. I don't think that this is a healthy feeling for collectors going forward, because at some stage we are all going to have an unlucky run. However, this is our how I felt about Sapphires and they actually turned out to be easily acquired, so it may be a perception versus reality thing.

How are other people going to approach this set?
 
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Most of the points you make Dan resonate with other collectors.

From a personal perspective I will never have a complete Raiders master set this year because of the 1/1. This doesn't bother me because I am loathe to spend thousands on any single card, let alone a one that is not an auto!!

As for the rest, I would love an Emerald but in reality I wouldn't expect change for $1000, at least initially anyway. Do I really want to spend that kind of $$$ on what is basically a parallel set? At least the Emerald will drive down Sapphire and Ruby prices.

I considered saving for a case but dismissed that. My favorite part of the hobby is busting boxes and packets and then trading so to that end I am in for 2 boxes and a folder as I always do a base set and one low level insert set.

I will likely go in a team break also and hopefully have some luck. My last resort will be eBay also as I agree with your sentiments, it is lame!!

Elite prices will drop significantly as they always do so I won't be rushing to get the lower range stuff.

The master set option is certainly a smart choice financially but it is boring and not for me!! Collecting (to me) is about opening boxes, trading and gradually putting together your needs, not getting them in one go!!
 
When the dust settles fellas, no need to panic - why? For the following reasons:

1) Many collectors spent a pinch on mojos since 2015 in particular paying as much as $800 for a sapphire set last year and even just as much for ruby in 2015 when that was the sole variant at time and this simply means those in those such PCs will never come out unless someone was prepared to pay as much as they paid so therefore holding SOME value

2) Yes bad news is quite possibly Emerald mojos could possibly plummit to $400 this Christmas period but that mainly being for Titans, Warriors and Knights 10/10 sets however would not be surprised if some crazy collector will pay $1600 for a Thurston 07/10 Emerald set or same for Bunnies, Eels or Saints 01/10 and once they bought they're gone under the pillow and not to be seen angain lol

3) Some collectors will simply not consider emerald mojos as a part of their collecting goals due to their small abundance so even if there is a purple-diamond variant next year same procedure would apply

4) Yes bad news is should ESP go even further with Purple-Diamond /05 mojos next year and finally Black-Diamond 1/1 variant at the same time and then on, that could arguably mean Ruby variants could auction off as little as $40 not to mention Sapphires @$65 plus Emerals @100 but the good news is, considering ESP have contracted the license to end of season 2022, that would mean collectors would technically receive five opportunities to obtain a 1/1 Black mojo set not to mention 25 for purple variant lol should they become an ongoing tradition in series 2 releases

Anyway, that's my thoughts in such regard
But the thing is for mad team collectors like me we would like one of each card made for our teams and by going the way ESP has and sounds like they will go even further with lower ones makes our collections incomplete so we will lose interest in the collecting knowing that because we can never collect them all. That's what ESP don't seem to get. 10/10, 5/5 and stupid 1/1's just ruin that for many people
 
I think we are one and the same in how we value our approach to collecting, Brendan.

I think I'll set a limit on 2-3 team case breaks and leave it at that and just try and be happy not to take collecting so seriously anymore. That will be one less case opened by collectors this year as I usually buy 1-2 cases, 2-3 team breaks and a few starters. I have already stopped random case breaks, which were a lot of fun.

It really is in ESP's best interests to keep collectors interested in multiple facets of the hobby, A waning interest in certain areas is a waning interest in general. I really love some of the designs that they are coming up with at the moment though - they do produce pretty cards.
 
But the thing is for mad team collectors like me we would like one of each card made for our teams and by going the way ESP has and sounds like they will go even further with lower ones makes our collections incomplete so we will lose interest in the collecting knowing that because we can never collect them all. That's what ESP don't seem to get. 10/10, 5/5 and stupid 1/1's just ruin that for many people

Some might recall me suggesting earlier in the year that there should not have even been a sapphire in this year's release yet alone an emerald and instead a second mojo below ruby but a step up from back-end parallel - this course did not eventuate and I also suggested a third signature series in stead of the blue and green mojos, similar to Legends in series 1 but one for every team. Again that of course hasn't turned out to be such case and before I jump on in my next argument, I see where Jarrad was coming from - some team set collectors just want to acquire every card there is for their team possible in every release. However, no one seems to be whinging about the 1/1 gold-plate cards - emeralds should be perceived the same way to an extent. And as another collector has taught me - key to collecting is patience - so perhaps why not wait till next year to track down your emerald team set mojos for 2017 when the price of them goes down due to the inductions "onyx" (if that's what they could be called) (/05 and 1/1)s lol Well that's what I plan to do in terms of buying an emerald mojo
 
I bought heaps and heaps of packs of Elite through newsagents last year. I got absolutely smashed with dud boxes. I would say I hit atleast a dud every 2nd box! Didn't get anything higher than a regular jersey patch. No sign of mojos or jersey sigs!
I have no problem with supporting dealers but I should also be able to go down to my local newsagent and have the same chances of getting something good, as I would from a dealers box. Especially if I'm gonna pay the same price per pack and they advertise odds on the packs which are clearly false for newsagents stock!

If it's the same this year I won't be buying any more than a box for a common set
ill sell ya the common set for $20 delivered LOL
 
out of the 15 boxes of elite i brought last year,all from newsagents,3 ruby mojo,s ,3 patches,1 auto patch,9 autos,7 run and gun parallels and many low level inserts.some of the boxes had 2 and 3 hits.only 1 dud box.but can,t get rid of the common cards.thats the only drawback.
 
Some might recall me suggesting earlier in the year that there should not have even been a sapphire in this year's release yet alone an emerald and instead a second mojo below ruby but a step up from back-end parallel - this course did not eventuate and I also suggested a third signature series in stead of the blue and green mojos, similar to Legends in series 1 but one for every team. Again that of course hasn't turned out to be such case and before I jump on in my next argument, I see where Jarrad was coming from - some team set collectors just want to acquire every card there is for their team possible in every release. However, no one seems to be whinging about the 1/1 gold-plate cards - emeralds should be perceived the same way to an extent. And as another collector has taught me - key to collecting is patience - so perhaps why not wait till next year to track down your emerald team set mojos for 2017 when the price of them goes down due to the inductions "onyx" (if that's what they could be called) (/05 and 1/1)s lol Well that's what I plan to do in terms of buying an emerald mojo

If you think no one is complaining about the 1/1s you must be living on another planet
 
Some might recall me suggesting earlier in the year that there should not have even been a sapphire in this year's release yet alone an emerald and instead a second mojo below ruby but a step up from back-end parallel - this course did not eventuate and I also suggested a third signature series in stead of the blue and green mojos, similar to Legends in series 1 but one for every team. Again that of course hasn't turned out to be such case and before I jump on in my next argument, I see where Jarrad was coming from - some team set collectors just want to acquire every card there is for their team possible in every release. However, no one seems to be whinging about the 1/1 gold-plate cards - emeralds should be perceived the same way to an extent. And as another collector has taught me - key to collecting is patience - so perhaps why not wait till next year to track down your emerald team set mojos for 2017 when the price of them goes down due to the inductions "onyx" (if that's what they could be called) (/05 and 1/1)s lol Well that's what I plan to do in terms of buying an emerald mojo
Plenty of us have been complaining about the 1/1's since it was mentioned for last years set. Don't know why ESP want to drive many collectors away from the hobby. Maybe they think they will attack more people with the lower numbered stuff? Or maybe just attract a few people with deep pockets. To me it seems strange the direction which ESP is headed as they don't seem to be listening to collectors, they seem to only take advise from a few people who are most likely dealers
 
If we all just got together, made our own set strictly non-profit. Can they do anything about it?

Saw the other day some Ash Taylor signature cards on ebay, home made. If ESP is going to do something about it surely they would do it soon before goes too much further
 
Ah don't start me on the 1/1's!!!

Happy with the /10. We asked for something bigger than 1/1. Hard to get, but at least still a possibility.

M
 
Yes as much as i still think /10 sux at least there is hope you could get one either luck or buy. 1/1 no matter how high you are prepared to pay u may never have a chance if they refuse to sell
 
Yes as much as i still think /10 sux at least there is hope you could get one either luck or buy. 1/1 no matter how high you are prepared to pay u may never have a chance if they refuse to sell

So true. I can complete my Broncos set only If I fork out the $8000 for the Oates 1 of 1 from last year.
 
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