Published June 01, 2025 | By Alyx E, Founder of Collectors MD

Color Blast. Color Wheel. Downtown. Kaboom. Manga.
True Gold. Tie-Dye. Snakeskin. Tiger. Zebra.
FOTL-Exlusive Orange Pulsar. Black Pandora. Black Finite.
The ever-elusive One of One.

Concourse Level. Premier Level. Club Level. Suite Level. Field Level.

Every. Single. Year.

The names might change.
The borders might get sharper (or softer).
The chromium might pop a little more (or less) under the right studio lighting.

But it’s the same set. Over and over again.

Did you know there are over 3,000 unique one-of-one cards in 2024 Panini Select Football alone?
That’s not a typo—3,000 so-called “one-of-a-kind” cards in one product. One sport. One sub-brand. One year.

Between hobby, FOTL, international, retail—base tiers, insert sets, autographs, RPAs, patches, and exclusive parallels—True Black, Black Velocity, Black Disco, Black Dragon Scale—the idea of a true 1/1 has been completely diluted.

When thousands of “unique” cards exist in a single release, we have to ask:
How rare is rare, really?

Here are four different Patrick Mahomes Color Blast inserts from various years of Prizm Football—same insert, slightly new pose, minor design tweaks, and every year it’s sold as a once-in-a-lifetime type of hit. The same formula applies to almost every so-called “SSP insert” in the hobby.

Let’s be honest—this isn’t innovation. It’s oversaturation.

Breakers scream like it’s 2020 all over again.
Influencers pretend this year’s Downtown is more iconic than last year’s.
Manufacturers repackage the same chase cards like they’ve reinvented gravity.

But deep down, we know the truth:
Same formula. Different rookie class. Same vets. Slightly tweaked design. Slightly louder hype.

And us, the consumers? We eat it up like. Like mindless slaves to the hype.
Every. Single. Time.

Not because we’re naive—
Because the hobby trained and marketed us to believe that this might be the year.
The year it moons.
The year you hit big.
The year your guy breaks out.
The year it’s finally different.

But here’s the truth nobody wants to say out loud:

It’s not remotely different.
It’s just marketed a little better.

If you’ve ever opened a pack and felt nothing—this is why.
If you’ve stopped caring to learn these gimmicky new insert names—this is why.
If you can’t tell what year a card came from without checking the back—this is why.

The hobby doesn’t need more parallels, more case hit inserts, more tiers, more chases.

It needs more intention. More balance. More honesty.

Until then?

Rinse. Rip. Repeat.

#CollectorsMD
Same wrapper. Same rush. Same regret.

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