Buzz Break: 2021-22 Topps UEFA Champions League

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The box: 2021-22 Topps UEFA Champions League soccer cards
First Buzz preview & checklist: Click here
Where to buy: BlowoutCards.com

Keep reading for a full breakdown and gallery of images.

Packs per box: 24
Cards per pack: 8
Cards in this box: 192
Base set completion: 
161 of 200 (81 percent)
Duplicates: 0

Notables on base cards – Cristano Ronaldo, Erling Haaland, Jude Bellingham, Giovanni Reyna, Marco Reus, Luis Suarez, Joao Felix, Kylian Mbappe, Neymar Jr., Christian Pulisic, Gareth Bale, Robert Lewandowski, Jamal Musiala, Edouard Mendy, Weston McKennie, Pedri

Rookie Cards (35) – See all in the gallery.

Insert/SP cards: 31 (all in gallery below with some base)
1975-76 Footballers (5) – Giovanni Reyna, Mohamed Daramy, Francisco Conceicao, Hannibal Mejbri, Leroy Sane
Best Of The Best (1) – Antoine Griezmann
Flags Of Foundation (3) – Kevin de Bruyne, Nicolo Barella, Mohamed Salah
Future Stars (4) – Jude Bellingham, Youssoufa Moukoko, Ryan Gravenberch, Nicolo Barella
Road to St. Petersburg (6) – Lionel Messi, Timo Werner, Youssoufa Moukoko, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Vini Jr., Thomas Muller
Starball Foil (8) – Kylian Mbappe, Gavi, Romelu Lukaku, Manuel Akanji, Tyler Adams, Vini Jr., Phil Foden, Karim Adeyemi
Aqua Foilboard (1) – Evanilson (/299)
Green Foilboard (1) – Alphonso Davies (/199)
Icy Black Foilboard (1) – Jamal Musiala (/10)
Photo variations (1) – Cristiano Ronaldo

Autographs/Memorabilia: None

What's Buzz-worthy: Photo variations here are one in 94 packs and it being Ronaldo there makes it a strong box on its own. But the Icy Black is one in 740 and he's a young star, the Green one in 60 and the Aqua one in 40 ... that's a pretty stacked deck considering there are 188 other cards in the box and some solid names found across the board. There are autos to be found here with the easiest starting at one in 190 packs and all of the inserts are deeply paralleled with stuff like printing plates in there, too. Buzz isn't a huge soccer fan -- probably not even qualified to be called a newb -- but the mix here worked out pretty well with all of the inserts and how the parallels popped out from the others. (One concern was identifying the color parallels on foilboard.) This flagship break was a lot more fun than MLB flagship this year as it's got plenty of stuff to find and not just one insert (or less) per pack. One oddity to watch for? Some teams' base cards are missing the Topps logo ... in fact, it's consistently missing on a few. I doubt it's an error that was corrected ... or maybe it's some quirk with the teams? It's one detail of many that makes this one interesting and the card backs are pretty solid, too. All in all, I liked it. Had it included some kind of hit in every box then this would be an A+ kind of release to go with it being an A+ box.

Product Grade: A-
Box Grade: A+ (statistically this was a box loaded with rare finds ... not bad names, either)
Fun Grade: B+

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