New Release: 2017 Epoch Pacific League

Epoch has been countering BBM's higher-priced issues with a more-affordable option that's a bit toned down. That doesn't mean these don't have tricks.

I've posted about the Epoch Lions set already, and there are several more team set posts to come. But first, the Pacific League set.

The Pacific League set came out on July 22nd, and features the six teams of the Pacific League.

There are 54 regular cards in the set. Border colors change depending on the team's colors.

The One-Star variation has a closer crop. (Note the single star on the back, at the bottom of the card.)

Two-Star is a photo variation.

I don't have a Three-Star card, but I know they exist. These appear to be cropped photo variations.

The "PS" parallel has a printed signature on the front. Note that these are not foil signatures. All players in the 54 card base set have a print signature parallel.

And "PC" is the Cosmic Spark parallel, with a background design instead of the photo background. This is a partial parallel; 18 players (three per team) received this parallel.

I finally have an insert from the Holografica series. The cards look a little nicer in person but really aren't that special. They really feel just like regular foilboard inserts. A total of 36 Holografica inserts were made, six per team.

Finally, the super-rare autographed cards (24 total subjects) can be obtained by collecting 100 "points" which are inserted into packs. Each pack should have one point card and/or a promo card of some sort.

I'm going to go ahead and add here that I'm really happy another manufacturer is getting into the "flagship" set game - the more more I look at and think about the cards in these issues the more I like them. Epoch's sets are not as comprehensive as BBM's, but they do provide a nice alternative.

At first glance, they appear cheaper. One pack of Epoch's sets will run you 250 yen for four cards plus the point card (63 yen per card, not counting the points as a card). BBM's team packs is 400 yen, but you do get six cards (67 yen per card). And the 1st/2nd Version BBM packs are 300 yen for 10 cards (30 yen per card). In the end, BBM's flagship is cheaper per card, but with such a small size (54 vs. 300+ cards), Epoch's Pa-League set costs much less total.

I'm going to go ahead and get a Pacific League set (and hopefully a Central League set, if they issue one), because it's an interesting issue. But I don't collect BBM's team sets so I'll pass on Epoch's.