Ahhh yes. The best time of year. Football is back, and everyone is raring to go knock some teeth out. It also means the start of Huddle for the year, and with it, a fresh new set of Marathons. I was curious to see if they went about it the same way this year, considering last year got a bit dicey early on with Bundle buy ins. Now that diamonds have simplified the whole situation, I am seeing some major progress towards keeping value in the cards before eBay drives all prices down to nothing.

Similarly, the addition of the weekly collection award for chasing down all the base marathons are a huge help to creating a market on the trade feed. People will want to make sure they stay within the lines for whatever card is being offered, and this could not be a better opportunity to create buzz.

To make things even better, the addition of rookies and 2017 preseason game photos add a level of authenticity that we never had the chance to get in previous years. Rookies were always left out until much later on in the season, and it left a void that had always been huge. Week 1 cards include Brandin Cooks on his new team, which shows the level of dedication the Huddle team had in creating these, instead of resorting to what they already had done. With approval processes in place that have likely made things difficult in the past, prep for 2017 is clearly on point.

This year also marks the second year that Topps Football is without a physical license, which means that Huddle is the only source of Topps in the NFL this year. Luckily for everyone, TOPPSCOREY is a maniac, and might be the best designer in the stable they have. Here is a breakdown of the first few glimpses into his handy work.

Archives

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This is one of those sets for people looking for a good chase, but dont want to spend that much trading or ripping packs to get the ones they need. I think the look is going to be one of those situations where no one’s jaw hits the floor, but that we kind of expected that to happen. Overall, this is the weakest one there is, but could end up getting much better.

Fan’s Choice

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I think this is one of the strongest fan’s choice designs I have seen, and Im glad they moved away from a retro look to deliver an original take. The quality of this marathon depends on two things – the choices given to the community and the way the community votes. So far, Joe Mixon has won, and that’s a bit representative of the way this whole thing can go.

Matchups

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A new marathon for 2017, this is based off of Bunt, but seems to fit much better in Huddle. I really like the design, and I think it could be cool to see the different players they chose for this set. I believe these will be built around the Thursday night game, and hopefully we can get some color rush goodies to match in some other fashion.

Relic

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I love the relic design this year, and though Im not a huge fan of the set overall, I think its a pretty cool look after a drab few years the last couple of go arounds. With a dual relic set also in play based on contests, who knows where this might land in the hierarchy of value.

Signature Series

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Another year, another great looking design for this set. Unlike previous years, the Gold variant has a different photo, which has been the case in Bunt for a while. It adds some allure to chasing both sigs, and I cannot wait to see the checklist. This could end up being a tough set to complete, with diamonds limiting the availability of the variants to farmers. Another great byproduct of the change, as these cards shouldnt tank as fast.

Huddle Greats

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This mirrors the legends set from last year, and it might be the best looking marathon of the bunch. This could end up being a velvet rope type marathon in the end, with 1000 diamond packs being the only way to get the signature version of the set. Considering how awesome this stuff looks, it should end up being the most valuable to collect and stash away. So far, my favorite new addition this year.

On the Radar

Limited – We havent seen this set yet, but we know its coming. Depending on the way the set is configured, these will be some of the most valuable cards in the app.

Street – The Weekly award is a signature street card, so we have to assume these will be a set of some sort this year. Man do they look cool, and I am so happy these are back after being gone last year.

Dual Sigs – As part of the tournament structure, there are dual sigs that look really freaking cool. Hope we get these as a running set in the app.

Its going to be a fun year if this trend continues, happy to see how much action has already been going now that this stuff has come fast and furious. My compliments to the chef aside, this is definitely the best looking year of Huddle so far. Not even close.