2015 Elite Review & Poll

No Doubt · Aug 28, 2015

I personally would love to see 18 cards inc club logo per team. Almost the same players year in year out for a 9 card set. Also then with that many commons just a gold parallel would also suffice. Also how about putting career points on the back as well rather than the same info we normally get.

Secondly i would love to see the order of the teams change. So dull starting with Bronco's and ending with the Tigers year after year. How about putting the teams in the order that they finish in the NRL from the previous year just to mix it up a bit?

Love the quads this year and that they are numbered.

Not keen on the small All Stars / Indigenous subset. Should be a least double (18) if not triple (27) the number of cards for this set out of respect of the representatives.

Nice to see numbered jersey cards as well but if they are to be signed then leave the signed ones for more "elite" player subset.

Finally some of the insert sets are really meaningless over the years. Go back to what Select and Dynamic used to do and introduce a Dally M awards set. At least that subset had some actual relevance. Or even inserting a State of Origin subset rather than selling a smaller seperate series later would be good.

I don't want to "bash" ESP too much as I would dread the day when no-one produces cards for our self absorbing hobby (obsession). But some relevance whether historical and / or statistical in some of the insert subsets would be a breath of fresh air.

This years rating: 7.5/10

Cheers,
Vic.

stormernumber1 · Aug 28, 2015

Parrapaul said:
Interesting read.

If this set was at the same price point as the afl honours 2, what would your thoughts on score be??

To me it's a decent set buy the main restriction on a lot of buyers is price point

Its hard to say, depending on how you look at it, if just the price was the same, it would go up to a 5 or 6, simply because from a case you would be able to make your money back - which is how it should be. The big thing for me is the poor player and poor design, great concepts, just poorly executed, I am not collecting a single card from this year, not that there are many melb storm inserts anyway, but still its pretty disappointing.

Rocket1908 · Aug 28, 2015

Base set: Look decent, not a big fan of the checklist but if we HAVE to have it please just have 8 players and a checklist in the middle.

Parallels (silver & gold): Don't like the double parallel set, especially when they hold little value. Don't like 2 sets, unless there's a gold and a silver in every pack minimum. If not, scrap silver. Golds look nice

Pennants: Nice looking cards, not to mention cheap too. Unsure on the set size issues

Club Champions: Also nice. Very underrated. Will have to pick up Sutton at least when these get a price drop

Young Guns: These look good too. Shouldn't be 1 per box at the size of the set, also sadly don't hold much value for a box hit.

Young Gun Signatures: While not designed as well as the unsigned equivalents these aren't bad due to the signature.

Quads: Like the look of these, sadly aren't easy to come by.

All Stars: I also like the concept of these, but there are other inserts in the set I like more.

Mojo Parallels: Love the red parallel design. Realistically can't complain about the ratio/price as they're supposed to be special, and should be redemption as to prevent box/case searching.

Jersey Cards / Jersey Signatures: I like these, no Souths ones sadly (not for the wallet however!)

Case Cards: These look really nice. Sadly they probably won't be too easy to come by as cases must be purchased to obtain one.

OVERALL
It's very nice, but like most nice thing most people, me included, just can't afford it.

The Mad Hatter · Aug 28, 2015

Croz said:
As a team collector, I notice the set was too heavy on certain teams and other teams just quads and a signed young gun.

Not sure what you mean by this.

All clubs have:
9 club and 1 logo commons / silver / gold / scarlet
5 pennants each
2 club champions each
2 young guns each
1 young gun sig each
2 quad cards.

Only other thing is All Stars, which there are 8 of and the jerseys and case cards and album card.

No matter the manufacturer, the 'top' teams of that year/era have the top end cards.

So that is 16 cards out of the whole kit and caboodle which I think, to ESP's credit, is a pretty good ratio.

Sharky · Aug 28, 2015

No Doubt said:
Secondly i would love to see the order of the teams change. So dull starting with Bronco's and ending with the Tigers year after year. How about putting the teams in the order that they finish in the NRL from the previous year just to mix it up a bit?

Vic.

oh one things I did like was seeing Cronulla back where they are supposed to be alphabetically, I would like to see them bring back sorting them in the order the teams finish from the previous years...

joemistos · Aug 28, 2015

the problem with this series is that the high end cards were focused on a few teams only.
which sucks if your team wasn't one of the chosen few.
this series wasn't to bad but was definitely not worth the price rise.
I liked the mojo set but I think it needed to be more accessable to most collectors.
Maybe 100 sets for each team.
Now I know this wouldn't please the traders but at 100 to 150 a set most normal
collectors could buy their teams set.
the young guns are a great card.
But the allstars were a letdown with only 9 players again less to collect for all.
Lets hope next years elite brings back the quality signed inserts that previous years had.
cheers everyone.

nznrl · Aug 28, 2015

Does anyone who is willing to share know whether the price has actually increased for the distributors to purchase the product? I had heard in previous releases there was very little margin for the middle men.

I agree that there are teams with very few cards. I find that mystifying given the way master set collectors, IP collectors etc have already been alienated to an extent that ESP would further dampen down some team collectors. I understand that finals jerseys need finalist teams, but I just think that one clear area that ESP won me over Select was that the LS and YG cards were spread per team.

Given the trend seems to be for team collectors to use group breaks there is a real inequality in this. For example the price of a Warriors spot in a group break for the double case break the other day outweighed any combination of cards pulled bar the mojo pack. Warriors get no case card, no All Star, no jerseys, no jersey sigs.

To be honest this feels like a release that went wrong every step of the way. Obviously there were meant to be more jersey cards, and they were meant to have bigger names. I have a sneaking suspicion that LS weren't initially meant to be left out or that they had something else up their sleeve. That might explain the smoke and mirrors surrounding the pre-release.

I also don't think we have seen the worst of it with this release as I would expect prices to continue to plummet on the hits (unless a whole lot of stock is held back)

stormernumber1 · Aug 28, 2015

I doubt anything was left out, the cards are decided well before release, to get them printed and packaged in time, all the "smoke and mirrors" prior to release was simply because they knew it would hurt presales.

I agree with the breaks, if you are not in the 4 clubs that got a jersey card, you are significantly outweighed in the value department, especially because 3 of the 4 clubs also have an All Star and one of them has 2. So the odds and value for those clubs are much higher, the all stars does spread it around a bit, but there are still 1/2 of the teams that completely miss out on the high value cards in a break.

Having said that, this is part of the fun, in a group break its the gamble that you could spend $25 on a single spot in a 2 box break and get a mojo pack or you could pay for one of the better teams and completely miss out

P_Phillips · Aug 28, 2015

I honestly can't understand the hype over the Mojo Parallels.

At the end of the day it is just another PARALLEL. Most people say they are sick of the parallels but then say they love the Mojo I just don't get it.

The thing that people seem to be happy about is that you get a team set in one pack. So let me ask you this if they changed the gold parallels to a team set in a pack every 2-3 boxes and a silver team set per box would everyone start loving all the parallels?

Richard · Aug 28, 2015

P_Phillips said:
I honestly can't understand the hype over the Mojo Parallels.

At the end of the day it is just another PARALLEL. Most people say they are sick of the parallels but then say they love the Mojo I just don't get it.

The thing that people seem to be happy about is that you get a team set in one pack. So let me ask you this if they changed the gold parallels to a team set in a pack every 2-3 boxes and a silver team set per box would everyone start loving all the parallels?

I think people only like them because it is such a short print run, and numbered and all the same number.for me i am not a fan really because its a parallel, i think for cards numbered to 40 at the very least te picture should be different, and possibly even different players.

I don't know why since one of the issues is the cost with the rendering the background out they dont just keep the background. Everyone seems to say they prefer background in like scanlens so why not keep it in and reduce costs. I am sure most people would be on board with this if it meant the pack price could of stayed closer to $6 then $9

Rocket1908 · Aug 29, 2015

I think the reason why they go no background is because the cards look more uniform without it.

Brendan_B · Aug 29, 2015

Some great reviews so far, keep them coming.

Obviously the price is the big sticking point but overall I think the reviews have been constructive and identified both the good and not so good points. IMO this is what ESP need to read, opinions straight from the collectors.

thenamesgould · Aug 29, 2015

Rocket1908 said:
I think the reason why they go no background is because the cards look more uniform without it.

Variety is the spice of life. The backgrounds actually make the cards a bit more memorable to me, you can see what team they're playing, what ground, if it's day or night ... it makes them a lot more engaging, I reckon.

Ben Tone · Aug 29, 2015

I have to ask why people are so excited about and paying big dollars for a Mojo set ?

There is 40 sets per team x 16 so that means there is 640 sets out there whereas the Jersey Signatures are only 50 per player.

That's not that limited.

Brendan_B · Aug 29, 2015

Ben Tone said:
I have to ask why people are so excited about and paying big dollars for a Mojo set ?

There is 40 sets per team x 16 so that means there is 640 sets out there whereas the Jersey Signatures are only 50 per player.

That's not that limited.

I take your point but I think the reason the mojo packs are so popular is the novelty factor. This is a completely new initiative and to bust a complete high end team set from a packet or box is a very exciting thing.

Jaede · Aug 29, 2015

Ben Tone said:
I have to ask why people are so excited about and paying big dollars for a Mojo set ?

There is 40 sets per team x 16 so that means there is 640 sets out there whereas the Jersey Signatures are only 50 per player.

That's not that limited.

I believe it is due to what brendan has said and also the fact for some teams the mojo pack is the high end insert for there team as they don't have jersey cards, allstar or case cards to chase

collect94 · Aug 29, 2015

Ben Tone said:
I have to ask why people are so excited about and paying big dollars for a Mojo set ?

There is 40 sets per team x 16 so that means there is 640 sets out there whereas the Jersey Signatures are only 50 per player.

That's not that limited.

That also means there are more black league leaders 16 x 50 = 800 out there than mojo sets and we know what they sell for if you can find one.

And they're a parallel version of the gold league leaders.

Brendan_B · Aug 29, 2015

Gee Dynasty was a cracking release

Anyone want to run a case share???

Wizzle · Aug 29, 2015

Brendan_B said:
Gee Dynasty was a cracking release

Anyone want to run a case share???

yes please

Brendan_B · Aug 29, 2015

No Doubt said:
I personally would love to see 18 cards inc club logo per team. Almost the same players year in year out for a 9 card set. Also then with that many commons just a gold parallel would also suffice. Also how about putting career points on the back as well rather than the same info we normally get.

Secondly i would love to see the order of the teams change. So dull starting with Bronco's and ending with the Tigers year after year. How about putting the teams in the order that they finish in the NRL from the previous year just to mix it up a bit?

Love the quads this year and that they are numbered.

Not keen on the small All Stars / Indigenous subset. Should be a least double (18) if not triple (27) the number of cards for this set out of respect of the representatives.

Nice to see numbered jersey cards as well but if they are to be signed then leave the signed ones for more "elite" player subset.

Finally some of the insert sets are really meaningless over the years. Go back to what Select and Dynamic used to do and introduce a Dally M awards set. At least that subset had some actual relevance. Or even inserting a State of Origin subset rather than selling a smaller seperate series later would be good.

I don't want to "bash" ESP too much as I would dread the day when no-one produces cards for our self absorbing hobby (obsession). But some relevance whether historical and / or statistical in some of the insert subsets would be a breath of fresh air.

This years rating: 7.5/10

Cheers,
Vic.

You make some excellent points Vic, like all the others who have taken the time to reply. We all love our footy cards and would be devastated if there were none to collect. That being said this is the kind of feedback I think ESP need to read, after all the hobby is about the collectors and if they are happy then it sells!

2015 Elite Review & Poll

Does the 2015 Elite product justify the significant price rise?

Yes

No

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