2013-14 Panini Crusade Basketball Cards

Product Review

2013-14 Panini Crusade Basketball Product Review

Reviewed by Ryan Cracknell

Good: Crusades inserts anchor the release, solid designs throughout.

Bad: Why aren’t the Crusades the base set?, pricey considering what you get, parallels for the sake of having cards with low serial numbers.

The Bottom Line: I love the Crusades cards in this set. So why are they inserts? The base set, although it’s nice, doesn’t serve much of a purpose here that I can see. Actually, after going through the box, I continue to find myself gravitating back to the Crusades. Maybe what this brand needs is a little better integration of that look and feel throughout the product, including the hits.

Card Design: 4.3/5.0

Crusade has some elegant designs throughout with everything fitting the regal theme of the brand. The standouts are the Crusade inserts. The mix of the griffin backgrounds and Refractor stock makes for a very sharp look. Etching is something that further helps them stand out. Personally, the parallels don’t do a lot for me. Unlike other Prizm sets that have different coloured borders or bold backgrounds, it’s merely the griffin that changes (along with the serial number). It’s not a big enough difference to be any more compelling than the base cards. The exception here are the die-cut parallels. Recent Prizm sets have done a good job of adding patterns. I don’t know if it would work with the more intricate designs here, but it might be worth trying.

The base cards, inserts and many of the autographs and memorabilia cards fit very nicely together. It’s not the greatest designs, but for something that doesn’t rely on many gimmicks, they’re solid. It’s also nice to see a product that runs with a theme.

Checklist: 2.8/5.0

My biggest issue with 2013-14 Panini Crusade Basketball is why the Crusades are inserts and not the base set. The main set is okay for what it is, but it’s completely overshadowed by the inserts that are just as plentiful (and have a bigger checklist). I love the Crusades and would have preferred to have seen an extra one or two per pack if the existing base set was dropped in favor of these.

I also get the sense that the base set parallels are there simply to offer low-numbered cards. I pulled a “Silver” Shaquille O’Neal numbered to 25. Pretty cool, right? After comparing it to base cards for a few minutes, the only different I could spot was the addition of the serial number. With that, I struggle to wonder what the point is. For me, there needs to be something much more compelling than just a number. Rarity can be a good thing, but it needs to feel like it matters. Here, it didn’t.

Autographs and memorabilia cards are comparable to other Panini products. There are big names, but there is a lot of rookies that are low on the food chain and don’t show a ton of promise.

Value: 2.0/5.0

I like the concept of offering smaller boxes like this that are at a more reasonable price. Panini did the same with 2014 Prizm Baseball, which came out at about the same time. However, it shows a big difference. Crusade has six packs; Prizm has 12. Crusade promises an autograph and a memorabilia card; Prizm has a pair of autographs. All cards in Prizm are chromium while only just over half are here. What it boils down to is that Prizm Baseball comes across as a much better value when you compare the two. I won’t pretend to fully understand the logistics, but does the NBA license add that much more cost to a product. When you break it down to a per-card cost, Crusade is about twice that of Prizm Baseball. I’d even argue that Prizm is a more exciting product, overall. If the Crusade checklist were loaded, it would have been understandable. But the baseball set seemed stronger in that regard as well. Had the two not been released on top of each other, I probably wouldn’t have noticed. But it does provide a striking comparison.

The Fun Factor: 3.0/5.0

I think the Crusade brand has some strong potential. It needs some tweaks, but the focus is a good one and the main Crusade cards are fantastic. They need to become the base set. They’re far too over-powering not to be. I like the smaller box structure, but there still needs to be some added value. More on-card chromium autographs, like Prizm Baseball would be a good start here as well. There are some very nice cards in here, but lots that are easy to overlook also.

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2013-14 Panini Crusade Kobe Bryant /249 Crusade Teal Chrome Refractor PSA 8 #108

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LeBron James 2013-14 Panini Crusade Blue Prizm Refractor Miami Heat PSA 9

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2013-14 Panini Crusade Basketball Tim Duncan Teal Refractor 191/249 #269

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2013-14 Panini Crusade Crusade Refractor/349 Kawhi Leonard #289 SGC 9 MINT

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DWYANE WADE 2013-14 PANINI CRUSADE GOLD BLUE REFRACTOR CARD #248 Dwayne 🔥

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2013-14 Panini Crusade Orange Die-Cut Refractor Karl Malone #261 Insert 99/99

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2013-14 Tim Hardaway Panini Crusade #292 Holo Silver Refractor

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2013-14 Steve Francis Panini Crusade #212 Holo Silver Refractor

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2013-14 Crusade Blue and Gold Refractor- Dwyane Wade Miami Heat!@

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2013-14 Crusade Blue and Gold Refractor- Damian Lillard Portland Trail Blazers!

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2013-14 DELL CURRY 10/10 PANINI CRUSADE GOLD REFRACTOR

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2013-14 Crusade Blue and Gold Refractor- Shaquille O'Neal Orlando Magic!

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2013/14 Crusade Blue Refractor #92 MOSES MALONE 76ers - Hot Card

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2013-14 Panini Crusade TAJ GIBSON GOLD REFRACTOR PRIZM #293 BULLS 9/10

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2013-14 Panini Crusade Basketball Card Orange Refractor 18/99 Roy Hibbert #156

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2013-14 Panini Crusade Basketball Card Refractor Jason Richardson #45 76ers

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MAGIC JOHNSON 2013-14 Panini Crusade /249 TEAL PRIZM REFRACTOR Lakers Hga 9.5

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2013-14 Crusade Blue and Yellow Prizm- Kevin Durant

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