2023-24 Topps Merlin UEFA is finally here over a month later in the calendar than 2022-23 Topps Merlin UEFA was released. The 2024-25 Champions League campaign has started and we are still getting 2023-24 cards. As you will see below the print runs are up from last year. As a result the amount of base numbered refractors jumps from 2067 to 2490. That was to be expected with Lamine Yamal rookie card mania happening. Read the review below to see what to expect this year.
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2023-24 Topps Merlin UEFA Breakdown
Checklist – HERE
Box Makeup – Hobby – 1 Auto, 3 #’d cards (Search On Ebay)
Blaster – 1 #’d card, ~2 Autos per case (Search On Ebay)
Print Run – ~5200 hobby cases ~200,000 retail blasters
SoccerCardsHQ Review – Merlin used to be one of if not my favorite release of the year because Topps would include rookies with lots of hobby potential that didn’t have previous rookie cards. Part of that was because most of the other big hobby products were Champions League only while Merlin included all the Club Competitions. That changed last year but we still got a couple of nice players that didn’t have a ton of rookie cards. 2023-24 Topps Merlin UEFA doesn’t feel like it has that potential right now. Yes, Topps did add some new rookies but I am not seeing new ones that will get the hobby too excited. Of course, even if there was a new rookie or two they wouldn’t compare to Lamine Yamal so Topps probably wasn’t too worried about finding any. There are 2 rookies that get hobby love and have their first autos in Merlin, Frencesco Camarda (Search On Ebay) and Viktor Gyokeres (Search On Ebay).
Speaking of Lamine Yamal rookie cards (Search On Ebay) Topps made sure to get him in pretty much every way they could in 2023-24 Topps Merlin UEFA. He is of course in the base and auto checklist. Out of the 7 other possibilities Topps managed to get him in 5. The only cards he doesn’t have is Ageless Alchemy, which is for legends, and the Sword which is a 5 card checklist which I still don’t quite understand. All of this is good for the value of this set, but it feels like Lamine Yamal rookie fatigue is setting in.
Speaking of the Sword insert it is the hardest to hit in the whole product yet Topps didn’t put any of the top tier hobby favorites in there. You can expect to hit them 1 in ~25 hobby cases and ~17 blaster cases. Even being so hard to hit the print run on them is still ~100 each because the checklist is only 5 cards. Another new insert is the Merlin’s Gamers (Search On Ebay). These cards definitely have a TCG feel which is going to make the polarizing in the hobby. If you are a TCG collector you will probably love them, and if not you wont. If Topps was going to take a chance on a design like this Merlin does make sense. The cards also have parallels which should help. They are only available in blasters. That said the base (green) still have a print run of ~800. Mystic Nights (Search On Ebay) is another new insert that definitely fits into a Merlin product. These look nice because they have a full bleed feel to them. The base are very common with over 19,000 of each but thankfully there are colored parallels. Sadly the colored parallels are not full bleed and on the background effects which isn’t great. Mystic Nights is the only new insert to have autos. Chosen One (Search On Ebay) is another new insert with a colorful design that is about as common as Mystic Nights. It too also has numbered parallels which is nice.
Renaissance (Search On Ebay) are back as case hits although this year you can only hit them in hobby boxes. The print run on them is going to be ~270 each which is less than half of last year. It’s in the same range as Kabooms yet it doesn’t get near the love. It is much less than the 2023-24 Select Stained Glass. Match Ball Signatures (Search On Ebay) are back as hobby case hits as well. This year there is also a Match Ball Signatures Jumbo Book cards which are new this year. Ageless Alchemy returns with colored parallels and autos as well. Sorcerers autos are back as well with mostly a legend fill checklist. Rookie Variations (Search On Ebay) are also back with a base print run of ~100 in addition to color parallels. There are two Cristiano Ronaldo The Grail cards with a print run of 50 on each. Mark’s Of Excellence on-card autos continue to be included in 2023-24 Topps soccer card sets with a checklist that won’t be known until they are pulled.
Topps will be releasing 2023-24 Topps Merlin UEFA at $230/hobby box and $30/blaster. The thing that jumps out the most to me is at those prices how much better value blasters seem. For simple math lets just so you can get 7 blasters for the price of 1 hobby box. That means you get 4 extra numbered parallels in exchange for 1 guaranteed auto. Blasters do have a chance at autos but there will hit roughly 1:20 blasters. If you get 2 cases of blasters (80 total) you will have 80 numbered cards and 4 autos and will be roughly $350 cheaper than a hobby case. In that hobby case you will get 12 autos, 1 Renaissance, 1 Match Ball and 36 numbered cards. It’s also much “cheaper” to hit base Superfractors in blasters. It will cost on average ~$68,500 to hit one in a blaster and ~$229,000 to hit one in hobby. While the amounts change the idea is the same for all of the non-auto Superfractors. If you really love autos then stick to hobby and if you like numbered cards go with blasters.
Is 2023-24 Topps Merlin UEFA good value compared to other Topps 2023-24 soccer card releases? 2023-24 Topps Chrome UEFA hobby boxes are down to $175-$225 with some auctions going as low as $150. Chrome as a brand is undoubtedly better than Merlin. The past values tell us that. Where Merlin usually makes up the difference is in the new rookies that this year just doesn’t have. 2023-24 Topps Finest UEFA is right around the $225 box range as well and you get double the autos and color. If blasters jumped a little bit it wouldn’t surprise me but I just can’t see hobby boxes going much higher especially after the initial hype wears off. I am also hearing the card stock is not of normal past Merlin quality which could hurt the set as well.
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