A Wild Mess of a Card Set

Wild Card was a brief blip in card history, debuting in 1991 and lasting for three years. The brand had a couple of trademark features: a border of multi-colored numerals and the "stripe" chase cards. Last week, when I found blasters of a new product called Wild Card Matte, I wondered how much this new incarnation would look like the old one. The logo was the same, at least.

I could tell right away that it wasn't anything approaching a major release. It wasn't even as big-time as Leaf; the manufacturer appeared to be "IPL" (Individual Player Licensing, apparently). The lack of a logo on Trevor Lawrence's helmet told me that there would be no team licensing in the product--pro, college, or otherwise. But when Leaf revived Pro Set this year, it closely mimicked the old set. I was curious. And when I saw the base set had 70 cards and each box contained 40, I figured I could at least build the set while satisfying my curiosity. I picked up three blasters.

This will be a scan-heavy post as I show you all 120 cards I pulled, pack by pack.

 

Box 1, Pack 1

The top photo shows base cards. The bottom photo shows two inserts. There were two inserts per pack, without fail. The base cards are nice. They're glossy and thicker stock, definitely not flimsy. The inserts didn't scan well at all. Greg Rousseau--on the left--is from the Weekend Warriors set and Jaylen Waddle is an X-Plode card.

For each pack, I'm going to list the players and their draft results.

• Penei Sewell--1st Round, Lions
• Devonta Smith--1st, Eagles
  
• Rondale Moore--2nd, Cardinals
  
• Trey Lance--1st, 49ers
  
• Jaelan Phillips--1st, Dolphins
  
• Sam Ehlinger--6th, Colts
  
• Justin Fields--1st, Bears
  
• Elijah Moore--2nd, Jets
  

 

Box 1, Pack 2

A new insert set shown here: Javonte Williams on a Rookie Heat. As I go through the players and their draft results, I find there is already one duplicate here. I won't re-type a player's info if I have already done so. Pay attention to the attrition you see as the duplicates pile up.

• Jamie Newman--UDFA, Eagles
  
• Kyle Trask--2nd, Buccaneers
  
• Greg Newsome--1st, Browns
  
• Micah Parsons--1st, Cowboys
  
• Tylan Wallace--4th, Ravens
  
• Travis Etienne--1st, Jaguars
  
• Mac Jones--1st, Patriots
  

 

Box 1, Pack 3

The inserts are Elijah Moore (Rookie Heat) and Davis Mills (Weekend Warriors).

• Andre Cisco--3rd, Jaguars
  
• Jaret Patterson--UDFA, WFT
  
• Greg Rousseau--1st, Bills
  
• Michael Carter--4th, Jets
  
• Tyson Campbell--2nd, Jaguars
  
• Trevon Moehrig--2nd, Raiders
  
• Kadarius Toney--1st, Giants

 

Box 1, Pack 4

 Inserts of Najee Harris (Weekend Warrior) and Rondale Moore (X-Plode).

• Caleb Farley--1st, Titans
  
• Kylin Hill--7th, Packers

Here we are, the last pack of the first box still, and already six of the eight base cards are repeats. There are still more to come as we move into the other two boxes.

 

Box 2, Pack 1

Inserts of Najee Harris (Rookie Heat) and Kyle Pitts (Rookie Heat). It's hard to see in the scans, but you may notice that the Rookie Heat and X-Plodes come in different color variations.

• Chazz Surratt--3rd, Vikings
  
• Jay Tufele--4th, Jaguars
  
• Pat Freiermuth--2nd, Steelers
  
• Cade Johnson--UDFA, Seahawks
  
• Patrick Surtain II--1st, Broncos
  
• Terrace Marshall--2nd, Panthers
  
• Jevon Holland--2nd, Dolphins

 

Box 2, Pack 2

Inserts of Jamie Newman (Weekend Warrior) and Travis Etienne (X-Plode).

• Elijah Mitchell--6th, 49ers
  
• Dyami Brown--3rd, WFT
  
• Joseph Ossai--3rd, Bengals
  
• Jaylen Waddle--1st, Dolphins
  
• Sage Surratt--UDFA, Lions
  
• Trevor Lawrence--1st, Jaguars
  
• Ian Book--4th, Saints
  
• Paulson Adebo--3rd, Saints

 

Box 2, Pack 3

Two X-Plode inserts of different colors: Patrick Surtain and Greg Rousseau.

• Rashod Bateman--1st, Ravens 

Only one new base card in this pack.

 

Box 2, Pack 4

Well, that makes two packs in a row with a yellow (gold?) Rousseau. And a second Rookie Heat Kyle Pitts in this box, though they are two different colors.

• D'Wayne Eskridge--2nd, Seahawks
  
• Joe Tryon--1st, Buccaneers
  
• Jaycee Horn--1st, Panthers

Final Box . . .  

 

Box 3, Pack 1

 

The two inserts are Greg Newsome (X-Plode) and another Najee Harris Rookie Heat Blue (See Box 2, Pack 1).

 

Aaaaand, a pack full of duplicate base. So 9 of 10 cards in this pack I have pulled already, including on insert, right down to the color variation.

 

Box 3, Pack 2

Inserts here are Rashod Bateman (Weekend Warrior) and Justin Fields (Rookie Heat). I'd probably be way more excited about the Fields pull if I didn't have such strong feelings about the Bears.

• Feleipe Franks--UDFA, Falcons
  
• Amari Rodgers--3rd, Packers
  
• Trey Sermon--3rd, 49ers
  
• Brevin Jordan--5th, Texans

 

Box 3, Pack 3

Inserts of Trevon Moehrig (X-Plode) and Kadarius Toney (Weekend Warrior).

• Zach Wilson!--1st, Jets
• Javonte Williams-2nd, Broncos
  
• Eric Stokes--1st, Packers
  
• Dayo Odeyingbo--2nd, Colts
  
• Jeremiah Osuwu-Koramoah--2nd, Browns
  
• Shaun Wade--5th, Ravens

 

Box 3, Pack 4

The inserts make this a Rashod Bateman hot pack! Here we have a Weekend Warrior (2nd one this box) and a Rookie Heat.

 

For the base, I turned the duplicates over so you could see what the backs look like instead of getting a second or third (or even fourth!) look at the front. The back quality leaves a bit to be desired. Being unable to mention any teams hamstrings the write-up and the little bit the backs do say is riddled with typos. But new base cards in the last box are

• Kyle Pitts--1st, Falcons

and that's it. Phillips was already pulled before, I just failed to turn the card over.

 

So those are my pulls. After three boxes that gave me 96 base cards, I'm still 16 shy of completing the base set. Not good. Even the inserts were duplicated within the same box. 

 

While I like the look of the cards, I can't say much else for the product. It's super confusing. If you've read Matt's post about his break over at Cards Over Coffee, you may have immediately noticed that his box produced cards with a white background. Apparently there is a Wild Card Matte White and a Wild Card Matte Black. But the base set we were pulling in our blasters differs from the actual checklist. Apparently, the hobby base set is only 22 cards, all serial-numbered. The larger base set is only available in retail blasters. I think. And it appears that stripe parallels do exist, but I don't think they were available in blasters.

I think I may try to complete the set. I averaged 18 new base per box, and I'm missing only 16, so maybe I am crazy enough to try it again. Then again, do I want to spend $90 in blasters for this product? Then again, there are still some available at Wal-Mart. Then again, why are they still available when everything card has been disappearing before I even see it on the shelf? We'll see where I land after this riveting conversation with myself.

And Matt, since you have white and I have black, I would love to swap a Kadarius Toney for your Zach Wilson. Two Toneys, in fact, because I'd love to send the Weekend Warrior Toney your way.