2019-20 Panini Prizm Premier League

This was the first year Panini brought Prizm to English soccer, and it landed right in the middle of what turned out to be one of the most competitive Premier League seasons in years. You're getting base cards of the usual suspects, Mohamed Salah, Harry Kane, and the rest of the league's top talent, but what made this release special was the parallel rainbow. Every card came in multiple finishes, from Silver Prizms all the way up to rare one-of-ones. The production run was modest compared to later years, which means even common parallels hold value now. If you stuck an early Prizm soccer product in your collection back then, you made the right call. The parallel spectrum is where 2019-20 Prizm Premier League gets interesting. Silver Prizm is the entry point and shows up in most packs. Gold, Ruby, Green, Blue, and Purple Prizms get progressively scarcer, with Autograph Prizms sitting at the very top of the rarity pyramid. Print runs varied by color, but the Gold and Purple versions typically run 99 copies or fewer per card. There aren't a ton of autograph options in this release compared to modern Prizm soccer, so pull rates on autos felt tighter. Retail boxes are slightly softer on odds than hobby packs, but the parallel tiers stay consistent across both. This is more of a set for collectors chasing the rainbow than box rippers looking for quick hits. If you're building parallels of a favorite player, buy singles. The base cards are common and cheap, which means you can spec on the rare colors without breaking the bank. Anyone who slept on early Panini soccer should consider hunting for sealed product or high-end parallels now, since this was the foundation of what became a much hotter market. It's not flashy, but it's solid.