2016 Spirit Deluxe

The flagship, "low-end" and retro base designs have been in the books for a while now, so it's time to finish up the Spirit quartet with Deluxe, the "high-end" set.

I tried to keep the elements to a minimum and keep the cards from getting too busy. The player names are along the bottom left, stamped in silver foil. Additionally, there's a silver line below and the Deluxe "D" in the upper right corner, all three elements stamped with a bit of an embossed effect. The look is mimicked by the team cap logo in the bottom right corner, though the embossing there is strictly a design effect and not physically embossed. You can see why in the autograph parallels below.

With the white feather coming up from below to help ensure the autographs are visible, the fake embossed look for the logo is a necessity so the players don't have any issues when actually signing.

The backs probably look pretty similar to previous years of Deluxe cards with a good sized photo up top with the rest of space devoted for stats/write-up/other info. Here we have full-size team logos as well as a single stat line encompassing the players's whole career. Also, I actually took the time to do the "write-up" instead of using lorem ipsum text like I usually do, so enjoy more of my meandering writing if you'd like.

The next design post will probably be the Clubhouse All-Stars insert I've done every year but I may do a "review" post with an exciting new format! (Mostly because I've been reeeeeally bad at keeping up with reviewing the 2016 releases from Topps and Panini thus far.)

2015 Spirit Deluxe

The base set for the final Deluxe product of 2015 has arrived. We've done the flagship, the low-end and the retro releases. Here's a look a the "high-end" set, Deluxe.

I decided to go more with a simplistic design instead of the ornate, cluttered stuff that usually passes for "high-end." The cards are cut into 2 team-colored halves with a full-color player cutout jumping off from the background. Player names and team hat logos are in gold foil along the bottom along with a solid stripe making its way around the partial edge.

The back is split but not 50-50 like front, leaving a little room up top for a more intimate photo and space for the player write-up on top of a colorful background below. Also, being a high-end set, there are autographs to be had. There will be insert autos as well but I wanted to start out here with just the base parallel auto. The bottom color half fades to white a little more drastically to make room for the ink but that's the only design difference for the base autos.

More designs to come for the Deluxe set as well as the other Spirit releases.

2014 Spirit Deluxe

Time to slow things down a bit on the Spirit base front since we're approaching the end of Series 1 and the season hasn't even started yet. Here's this year's "high-end" release, Spirit Deluxe.

The front features a full-bleed photo again, though this year the background is a shimmery, refractor-y, prismatic thing. I'm not sure I can replicate it digitally but I think this gives you an idea. It's a lot more prominent on the day game photos. At the bottom is a team-colored marble block with lots of silver foil accents. The thin rails on the left and right extend up into the photo space before softly fading out. It reminds me of a spotlight receding into the darkness of night.

On the back, the team-colored marble takes up about 2/3 of the bottom, leaving room for a brief write-up and some fine print along with the player name. The rail element from the front reappears, this time anchoring the bottom as well as separating the photo from the text block. The team logo sits inside a white circle centered where the 2 sections converge.

Here's a look at the standard auto and relic variations. The auto has a white glow for the player to sign. It covers up the light rails a bit but it's functionally necessary.

I think this is a nice evolution from the 2012 and 2013 versions. They aren't drastically different but hopefully you'll be able to distinguish from year to year. I just want to keep the full bleed, glossy thing going so there's consistency.

Thanks for checking this out.

2013 Spirit Deluxe

Directly on the heels of the low-end offering from Spirit comes the singular high-end release. It's kind of a cross between Stadium Club and something like Tribute, only with out the avalanche of randomly numbered parallels.

Like last year we have full-bleed photos on a glossy stock with silver foil accents. The team logo sits in the center, flanked by three team-color swatches. The subtle knit texture from last year makes another appearance. Beneath it all is a soft white fade leading from the bottom edge to keep things from getting too harsh.

For the back we have the player photo taking up most of the top half with a solid black background below. The team-color polygons from the front make an appearance here to tie together both sides. Underneath the name, position and team is a brief write-up of the player's 2012 season.

Being a high-end set, we also have an autograph and relic variation. The auto just has the white fade up a little further from below. For the relic, I figured it would be nice to have a nice big swatch for such a set. The semi-circle allows for a bigger patch without intruding too much into the photo.

I'm not a big fan of the idea of spending so much for a box of something like Tribute or Triple Threads to where all that matters is the autos or relics as the base cards barely register any notice. The Deluxe set would have a sizable base set with the hits coming like every few packs or something. A standard pack would have 6 base cards with and come with either a pair of inserts or a hit, with relics being about twice as common as autos. I think that would place the price somewhere around $10-$15 a pack, which is still a lot but not ridiculous. To me, that's about as high as I'd like to go on "high-end."

2012 Spirit Deluxe

So first I did the flagship with a few inserts. Then it was the low-end with an insert. I guess now it's time for some high-end stuff. Topps and Panini have done a good job scouring the thesaurus, locking up every suitable synonym for "best" or "expensive," but luckily they seem to have overlooked "deluxe." So I'm gonna claim that now while I have the chance.

 I'm gonna start off with the base card design here. Much like Marquee, the full-bleed photography takes center stage here, though the bottom of the card is ceded for some color. We've continued the colored knit texture that's shown up on a few other Spirit designs. Here, it softly fades into the photograph with the team logo just above. Below the logo is the player name in an elegant script font and stamped with silver foil. The bottom edge of the card is a shiny stripe of the alternate team color and the player position/team stamped in silver foil.

On the back side, the player photo takes up most of the top half with a soft fade into the team color knit. This time, the alternate team color shows up at the bottom in the knit texture instead of a solid block. Player name and position/team are found in the middle with a brief player write-up found below.


I'd say the major characteristics of the Deluxe set are the team colors, soft fade, great photography, and sophisticated typography in a simple design. These elements will continue onto upcoming inserts (auto, relic.)

Trying to keep the Spirit line from getting bogged down into too many different-but-the-same sets like Topps has done, I'll start bouncing back and forth by introducing new inserts for each of the sets. I'm still looking for some innovative ideas to keep from just redesigning what's already out there, so if you have any, feel free to share.