By the time this part of the season rolled around last year, we were already well past products like Topps Magic. Although 2010 Magic was pretty much a way for Topps to rid their stores of all the extra stickers they had lying around, I thought it was a great looking product. I couldnt bring myself to spend the amount of money on a box, but I did want to chase a few of the singles from the guys I collected. Im a huge fan of the painted looking cards, and I thought the way these were done made good use of that techinque. Magic was not going to be the football version of Allen and Ginter, but many people did like the fact that it was a similarly constructed pack format.

This year, Topps took the idea for Magic last year, and combined it with some of the ideas that Panini put into the Rated Rookies box set. It was only being offered online through their site, and as we can expect, its going to take a miracle to get any money back on the 20 dollar pack price. Even at 1 autograph per box, the good autographed rookies must come at ridiculous odds. They are so uncommon that I have to believe some of these prices wont seem out of sorts because of how SPed these cards are:

2011 Magic Cam Newton SSP Auto RC – Sticker Version – A lot of Newton collectors will be looking for this card, and frankly there will not be many of these.

2011 Magic Mark Ingram SSP Auto RC – Inception Cut Version

2011 Magic Christian Ponder SSP Auto RC

One of the best parts of this set should have been explored a lot further, possibly as a way to give collectors more for their money at no extra cost. There are a list of SP variation cards that are inserted randomly into packs, and these cards feature painted versions of the game photos instead of ones from the premiere. I have always supported SSP base card variation, and I think a product like Magic should focus completely on this component of the set.

The cards do look very similar to last year, but there are two specific things that are DEFINITELY bothering me.

First is the colors Topps used for the borders around the pictures. Although I understand they were trying to create a retro styling, I dont like the colors or the way it looks. They should have used team colors or normal production colors instead of the pastel pinks, more to create a good looking card over one that defies normal color schemes.

Second is the use of cut up inception cards for some of the autographs. Bottom line, this should never happen. I can tell that Topps has to know this isnt kosher, because I get that feeling in talking with them. Not only do the cards look ridiculous, but I dont understand why they would be done this way. We know that some of the Inception cards had chipping problems, and were probably sent back for replacement, so this could be the only way to get further use out of them. Regardless of the reasoning, when pulling one of these autos I kind of feel like I know the present I just got is re-gifted. Lets hope they give up on this awful idea.

Magic will be a non-factor this year in more ways that it will be successful. I know they will get orders because of the promise of one auto at 20 bucks, but I have to say that I miss the cool cards from last year. The Chrome refractor autographs were awesome, and I am still chasing the Peterson to this day. This stuff? Ill pass.