Stardom Collection Card 2017 Series II Review

Much to everyone’s surprise, after the first set of 2017 sold out so quickly, Stardom just released a second 2017 series for their wrestling cards. The set includes just about every regular wrestler in Stardom, as they included not just their contracted stars but freelancers and gaijin as well.

The packs are sold in sets of five by Stardom directly, here are the basics:

Card Set: Stardom Collection Card 2017 Series II
Cards per Pack: 10
Number of Cards in Set: 126
Cost per Pack:  Sold at $50 for five packs, plus shipping
Where to Purchase: At live Stardom events or their Stardom International Store

Since last time I didn’t get as many packs as I wanted before they sold out, this year I got 25 packs. This set is similar to the one released earlier this year, let’s take a quick look.

Pros:

• 10 cards per pack. A new standard from them but still worth mentioning, much better chance at getting some wrestlers you like with such a high number of cards available.
• 24 different autograph cards. This is up from 22 earlier this year, as each set has had slightly more autographs than the one before.
• Gaijin base cards. While I will cover another aspect of this under “cons,” the set still did a great job of having a wide variety of gaijin wrestlers. Wrestlers with cards in the set include Kay Lee Ray, Nixon Newell, Viper, Taya, Rebel, Gabby Ortiz, Chelsea, Chelsea Green, Tessa Blanchard, and many more.
• More dual autographs. Nothing is more fun than pulling a signed card with multiple autographs on it. In this set, there are three dual autograph cards available: Oedo Tai, Team Jungle, and Queen’s Quest. Its just a nice little bonus and gives the set a bit of variety.
• Higher autograph frequency. Stardom still doesn’t guarantee an autograph per pack, but with more autograph cards it does increase the chances of getting one. In the 23 packs I opened, I got 29 autograph cards. I got two packs with no autographs, but one pack had three autographs and multiple packs had two autographs. So in any set of five packs, the chances of getting at least five autographs is very high.
• On card autographs. Only serious collectors will probably care about this, but the autographs are on-card and not stickers. Which is much more aesthetically pleasing.

Cons:

• Can only purchase in bundles. The cheapest way to buy Stardom cards internationally is in a bundle of five packs for $50, so if you want to check out the cards the lowest amount you will pay is $65 with shipping. For someone that isn’t a serious card collector, that is a lot of money, especially for only five packs. It wasn’t an issue for me, but for casual wrestling fans it may be a little tougher to pull the trigger for that minimum cost.
• Still no guaranteed hit. Even though my autograph ratio was awesome, it would still be nice if they just put one autograph in each pack. $12 a pack is just a fair amount to only get base cards, even if they are rather nice base cards.
• Far less gaijin autographs. The first set of 2017 had a fair number of gaijin autograph cards, but this one only has a couple (of the 23 packs I opened, I only got one gaijin signed card). This is likely because they used less gaijin in June when the cards were made, so not as many gaijin wrestlers were available to sign them. Probably not a big deal to those in Japan, but for me it would have been nice to have more outside talent with signed cards in the set.

Card Set List (click to expand):

Autograph Card Examples:

Base Card Examples: