Obsidian is a natural phenomenon that is beautiful to behold. It is a dark natural glass that is formed when molten lava cools.
The aptly named Obsidian football product by Panini America attempts to capture those cool elements. The set uses intricate designs, geometric patterns and natural elements on a colored chromium stock.
The product has become a staple of Panini’s releases across several sports and is projected to be released on March 22. That is an improvement from the 2021 version, which was delayed until June 2022.
A hobby box will be heavy on hits. There is one pack in each hobby box, with seven cards in the pack. Four of them will be either autograph or memorabilia cards, while two of them will either be a parallel or insert card. There is one base card.
Base set
For those collecting base cards, there will be 100 that are devoted to NFL veterans and 100 that will put rookies in the spotlight.
There will be a diverse group of parallels for the base set.
Veterans and rookie parallels can be found under the Electric Etch heading, with Contra the most common. Numbered parallels will include Purple (100), Orange (75), Green (50), Yellow (25), Gold Flood (10), Red (10) and Blue Finite (1/1). Neon Mojo (5) is new this year.
Autographs
The big hits in an Obsidian box will be the autographs with base autographs numbered 25 or less. Rookie autographs will be numbered 199 or fewer.
There will be several parallels for the first-year player autographs under the Rookie Jerseys Electric Etch banner. These cards, which include signatures and memorabilia, can be found in Orange (75 or less), Green (50 or less), Yellow (25 or less), Red (10 or less) and Blue Finite (1/1).
Rookie Jersey Ink also gives collectors a combination of signatures and relics for top first-year players. The Electric Etch parallels for these cards can be found in Orange (numbered 99 or less), Green (50 or less), Yellow (25 or less), Red (10 or less) and Blue Finite (1/1).
Current and former NFL stars get attention in the Aurora Autos, Lightning Strike and Matrix Material Autos subsets.
Matrix Material Autos will have Electric Etch parallels in Orange (numbered 75 or less), Green (50 or less), Yellow (25 or less), Red (10 or less) and Blue Finite (1/1).
Galaxy Ink and Magmatic Signatures make their debut in this year’s set.
For Magmatic Signatures there will be Electric Etch parallels in Orange (numbered 75 or less), Green (50 or less), Yellow (25 or less), Red (10 or less) and Blue Finite (1/1).
Inserts
The ever popular Color Blast Black inserts return, featuring backgrounds that have multi-colored splashes on a dark background.
Making its debut this year is Orbital, an insert that utilizes a die-cut design with circular patterns. Electric Etch parallels include Orange (numbered to 50), Green (25), Yellow (15), Red (10) and Blue Finite (1/1).
Other inserts are Supernova, Vitreous and Tunnel Vision.
Tunnel Vision will showcase Electric Etch parallels with Contra, Orange (numbered to 50), Green (25), Yellow (15), Red (10) and Blue Finite (1/1).