Wild Card entered the trading card scene during the peak of the junk wax era in 1991.  Now, 30 years later, they have relaunched the brand in the midst of another red hot market.

It was the 2021 National in Chicago where I learned that Wild Card would be returning to hobby shops and retail stores.  I assumed a new ownership group had bought the trademark and was attempting to capitalize on the nostalgic brand.  I was surprised to learn that the original founder Daniel Atkins, was still involved and that he and his son were behind the relaunch.

A Deeper Look

I got my first look at their cards via some VIP promo packs which were part of the 2021 National Swag Bags.  The glossy finish and sharp designs were pretty impressive, and the 30th anniversary parallels brought back memories of the original 90s design.  

Wild Card MATTE was the initial release and featured 22 of the 2021 top NFL prospects.  Boxes contained 6 packs of 6 cards and there were 3 on-card autos in each pack!  Every card, including base cards, are individually numbered.  A variety of subsets were included such as Smoking Guns, Red Hot Rookies, Weekend Warriors, X-Plode and ThumbAGraphs which include an autograph and actual fingerprint and autograph.

A few months after release, two box lots of hanger boxes are selling for about $40 and full hobby boxes are selling for over $1,500!

Alumination is another announced release and the plans are for it to go down as the first product which would be issued in a foil pack.  Boxes are scheduled to contain 10 packs of 6 cards.  10 parallels and 4 autographs should be found in each box.  Stripe, Stargaze, Thumbagraph, Shattered, Comix, and Highlight are the insert/subsets.

I received a special “Industry Summit” box of Illumination cards and once again, these looked fantastic.  The biggest highlights from this promo box included a 1/1 Micah Parson and a Bryce Young autographed card serial number 1/2!

Basketball cards are also part of the plan, and it seems the recent NIL developments are opening up the potential for future checklists.

2021 Matte Checklist

Trevor Lawrence

Justin Fields

Trey Lance

Devonta Smith

Najee Harris

Zach Wilson

Kyle Trask

Mac Jones

Jaylen Waddle

Javonte Williams

Travis Etienne

Terrace Marshall Jr.

Micah Parson

Penei Sewell

Greg Rousseau

Jaycee Horn

Kyle Pitts

Patrick Surtain

Kwity Paye

Caleb Farley

Eric Stokes

Rashod Bateman