At Loupe, we keep tabs on upcoming product releases with a monthly calendar of what’s imminently launching. Taking a look at March’s schedule, there’s more going on than usual. The calendar is absolutely slam-packed with cards that warrant your attention.
That’s why we thought it’s worth getting some of these products on your radar. In a month where it’s easy to overlook stuff, these are the March releases that we think you should keep an eye on. Let’s do one from each sport.
2020 Panini Encased Football
There were a few choices for a representative from football. Panini One launches this Friday, and we’ve always loved the way those cards look. There’s also Panini Select, which is one of the flagship lines.
But, we’re going with Panini Encased Football as our endorsement here. Slated for a March 31 release, Encased has a schtick that we’ve always loved. Each box features a graded BGS card, which is an exciting premise. Given the NFL’s deep rookie class this year combined with the ability to skip the lengthy waits from grading companies, Encased is a no-brainer this year.
20-21 Panini Prizm Basketball
To be fair, this one probably isn’t going under anyone’s radar. Prizm Basketball is always one of the most hyped launches of the year. Everyone loves Prizm, basketball is growing at an absurd rate — the stars are perfectly aligned for this to be an absolute monster.
Prizm Football lit Loupe on fire back in December, and Prizm Basketball will be no different later this month. There are a ton of great rookies, some big second-year autos to chase, and a whole lot of parallels. It’s everything that everyone wants from a quality big-name basketball product. We’re going to have a lot of fun with this one.
20-21 Upper Deck Series 2 Hockey
We very nearly went with Upper Deck Clear Cut Hockey here. Clear Cut features one acetate card per box that has a hard-signed autograph in a one-touch case. It’s a really nice product.
But, we couldn’t deny Upper Deck Series 2‘s potential. Because Alexis Lafreniere hasn’t set the world on fire, the Calder Trophy winner (Rookie of the Year) will almost certainly come out of Series 2. Kirill Kaprizov, Tim Stutzle, Josh Norris, Pius Suter, and Kevin Lankinen are among the best rookies this year, and all of their Young Guns are in Series 2.
Upper Deck’s flagship product is on the exact same trajectory as last year’s. Series 1 will go largely forgotten while the price of Series 2 will skyrocket.
2021 Topps Inception Baseball
Baseball has some very heavy hitters this month in the buildup to Opening Day. Donruss Baseball seems like a fantastic rip. Topps Sterling is a pricy way to get some very cool (and potentially extremely valuable) cards.
But we love the artistic flair of Topps Inception the most. Splashy backgrounds and stylized photography makes anything in Inception immediately worthy of being added to the PC. Also, each pack contains an autograph, so there’s a lot of opportunity to pull something you’re pretty proud of.