2023 Topps Finest MLS in finally here just after the 2024 MLS season has started. Better late than never right? Lionel Messi cards are the big chase in the set. Read the review below to see how hard it is to hit his cards and what else to look for.
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2023 Topps Finest MLS Details
Checklist – HERE
Box Makeup – Hobby (Search On Ebay) – 2 Mini Boxes, 6 packs each, 1 auto per mini box, ~3 color per mini box
Print Run – ~2500 cases
Rookies To Look For – Benja Cremaschi (Search On Ebay), Diego Luna (Search On Ebay), Kristian Fletcher (Search On Ebay), Caden Glover (Search On Ebay) , Mateusz Bogusz and a special shoutout to Preston Judd who’s a part of the hobby.
Soccer Cards HQ Review – Messi, Messi, Messi!! Try to hit a Lionel Messi card. That’s it that’s the review. OK I am kidding just a little bit. As you probably know by now Lionel Messi has on-card autos (Search On Ebay) in 2023 Topps Finest MLS. That is driving the craze of this product and for good reason. There is obviously more to this set than Messi but purely based on value Messi is where most of it will be found as you will see.
Lionel Messi has 4 different cards in 2023 Topps Finest MLS, base, Prized Footballers, Hidden Gems and his own insert named Finest Idols. He has a base and Prized Footballers auto. Going off the preview images that Topps used in their Mystery Redemption Auto press release there are 190 base and 26 Prized Footballers autos. That means you’re going to hit a Messi auto in every ~11.5 cases. In case you haven’t see the Messi Superfractor base auto has already been pulled. There are a total of ~175 Finest Idol Messi cards (Search On Ebay), Bronze 100-Silver 50-Gold 25. The Finest Idols cards are full bleed and for that reason I feel like they should do well in the secondary market. They aren’t numbered though so you never know. You will hit 1 of those in every ~14 cases. The Hidden Gems add good value to the Messi spot. The 2023 Topps Chrome MLS Messi Gold and Orange base refractors are under $500 now so even hitting one of those may not get you to breakeven. That means I think you will break even on roughly 1 in 5 cases depending how the Finest Idols and Hidden Gems sell. If they only ending up selling for a few hundred dollars it gets much harder and you are pretty much at Messi auto or bust. I will be very interested to see where the Neon Green (aka the Watermelon refractor) /99 autos sell for.
Unlike most products 2023 Topps Finest MLS rookies aren’t a huge chase. If you look at what the rookies are selling for in 2023 Topps Chrome MLS you will see what I mean. Even Benja Cremaschi is down as he was injured in the preseason so he hasn’t played yet. He just started training again so we will see what happens with him. Just to give you an idea Kristian Fletcher is a young attacker which is great for the hobby and his Chrome Super rookie auto sold for $700. You could buy that card and a case of 2022 Topps Finest MLS for less that what 2023 is going for right now. The good news is this product was so delayed that the new season has started so maybe some of last season’s rookies start doing well.
If you aren’t going to hit Messi you’re best bet is to probably hit one of the players in the extended set checklist. There are 10 players in the extended checklist 9 of which are retired and Sebastian Blanco who is still plugging away in Portland. These players were also in 2023 Topps Chrome MLS and are highlighted by Kaka, Wayne Rooney and Steven Gerrard who all have autos.
Prized Footballers Fusion (Search On Ebay) and HoloGlow Variations (Search On Ebay) are the case hits in 2023 Topps Finest MLS. You are probably familiar with the Fusions but the Hologlow are new. Topps did not number or include the print runs for all of the Fusions. Here are the print runs for those not numbered Yellow/Red ~55, Orange/Red ~35, Pink/Red ~10, Black/Gold ~1. As for HoloGlow the print run on the base will be ~85 and the rest are numbered. You can see how that stacks up to other Lionel Messi case hits in 2023 soccer products HERE.
I think the thing that most people that jump in on 2023 Topps Finest MLS that are not really MLS collectors will soon realize is how little most MLS cards sell for. You can get a case of 2022 Topps Chrome MLS Finest for $250 now (Search On Ebay). Those boxes released at roughly $100 and are now down to $30. That will give you a rough idea what the non Messi players in this set are worth. Yes, this is a better checklist but it’s not that much better other than Messi. I am seeing Messi case break spots sell for somewhere around $400 and the rest of the teams/players at around $1000. That is just terrible value on the non Messi spots and actually pretty reasonable as far as break prices go on the Messi spot. You could reverse them and it would be closer to where it probably should be. I don’t foresee the box prices going down from release prices because of the Messi autos and I could see them actually going up based on Chrome prices. I just wouldn’t want to be a breaker having to fill the non-Messi spots. If you are a MLS collector not chasing Messi it’s more prudent than ever to just buy singles.
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