For both Football and Basketball, I understand why Panini went the direction they did with Luxe. The framed autographs from Topps have been insanely popular, so why not rip them off? Unfortunately for everyone, when you rip something off, like Panini does FREQUENTLY, it rarely turns out as well as the original. In the case of Luxe, it pretty much flopped in Basketball, mainly because no one really saw the appeal. Im guessing Panini felt they could turn the brand around in football, but now that we see the results, its clear that was a bad choice.

2015 Panini Luxe Marcus Mariota Gold Frame Auto Patch /25

2015 Panini Luxe Andrew Luck Gold Frame Auto Patch /5

2015 Panini Luxe James Harrison SB Continuity Autograph

2015 Panini Luxe Jameis Winston Gold Frame Auto Patch /25

2015 Panini Luxe Dan Marino Die Cut Auto /10

The main issues with Luxe, aside from the name of the set, is the condition of the cards and the checklist. Gambling on a box of Luxe is pretty much the hobby equivalent of gambling on a fart. Either way, you are going to end up with something smelly and potentially worse. Plus, who in their right mind names a product something that rhymes with “sucks?” Waaaaaaaaaay too easy there.

Starting with the worst part of this whole things, the cards and frames in this set are beat to fucking hell. Its so unusual to find a frame that looks good, especially when they are the color parallels. Most of frames suffer a horrible fate. Paint is peeling off, its dented, card is popping out, I have seen it all. For a product that costs as much as Luxe does, this condition is inexcusable. Not just inexcusable, but bush league.

After seeing so few people outside of group breakers bust Black Gold because of a weak checklist, seeing Luxe’s checklist is a second strike. The usual firepower we see in many high end products is absent, leaving shitty rookies and shitty veterans to populate the majority of the readily available checklist. Brady and Luck are there, with a few of the normal legends, but you have a better chance of getting a 9.5 on a framed Luxe auto than getting one of those guys. There are so many bad autographs to be had. So many. Have fun with Vince Mayle, Aaron Dobson and garbage autos like that. The good stuff seems to be MUUUUUUUUCH more short printed than it should be in a crazy expensive high end set.

Products like this make me curious what they were thinking taking on so much for 2016. Its obvious the football team cant pull new products out of their ass unless they go balls deep in the Basketball team, so what are they going to do? I hope everyone is excited for the return of every defunct product Panini football has ever made, because they dont have the chops to do it on their own. Luxe is a prime example of how much the football team can fuck up a bad basketball product even more. Its actually pretty hilarious.

Just when you think it cant get any worse, they find a way. They always find a way.