One Card: Epoch One

Hey, US card collectors. Do you remember when cards were just cards? Through the 1980s? Japanese cards were just cards, too - just have a look at Calbee's offerings through 1990 and beyond.

Do you remember in 1989 when holograms started being put in packs? Japan started including holograms too (1989 Calbee, 1991 BBM).

Do you remember in 1992 when parallels first seriously hit MLB packs? Japan started including parallels too (1995 BBM).

Do you remember in 1993 when the first super-premium sets (Fleer Flair, Topps Finest) were issued in the States? Japan's first mainstream premium set hit shelves in 1995 (1995 BBM Diamond Heroes).

Do you remember in the mid-1990s when Upper Deck put the first jersey cards in baseball packs? Japan started issuing relic cards too (1997 BBM Diamond Heroes).

Do you remember around 2001 when relic sets (Absolute Memorabilia) changed the focus toward hits? In 2002, BBM dropped Diamond Heroes to introduce Touch the Game, a relic-based super-premium issue.

Do you see that many releases in the past few years have been high-cost ultra-premium boxes with few cards (Topps Tribute, Museum Collection)? Japan has that too: Epoch now, and Frontier in the past, and BBM has issued a few high-priced sets as well (2018 BBM Glory, for example).

On Demand cards have become relatively common in the US, with Topps' online offerings, especially Topps Now. Well, Epoch has Epoch One.

I've ordered a few cards from Epoch One just to forward on to NPB Card Guy, but I do have a card for my collection. And while I believe this card was distributed in a manner different from the usual online ordering system, it does tie in to that set.

Ami Inamura is perhaps the baseball poster child... or baseball model... or something like that... of the past several years, appearing in JWBL (women's baseball) and NPB (men's baseball) sets several times as she makes appearances at events and throwing out first pitches. Of course, I had to have this card for my collection as well.

What's next for MLB? And how long will it take for NPB card manufacturers to copy it?

New Release: 2018 Epoch NPB

Last year, Epoch tried their hand at a big current set with a Pacific League set. Granted, that was much smaller than this set, but it was a start. Now, Epoch has a full set covering all twelve teams for the first time since 2000, I believe. In 2000, Epoch issued a pack-based sticker set similar to Panini's stickers of the 1980s and Topps' stickers of the past decade or so. And I believe this is Epoch first comprehensive NPB set in nearly 20 years.

 Base cards are pretty attractive. It's not too busy, but the design is fairly unique. Backs are similar to what BBM does - biographical stats, another photo, some stats, and a career biography. There are 432 cards in the base set, 36 cards per team.

 If McGehee's photo looks a little grainy, that's because it has a shiny holographic background which doesn't scan as clean as a regular card. 72 players have the holographic parallel (six per team). Odds for parallel cards is 1:2 packs.

The common insert card is called Silver Foil, which you can see on the front and back. The set is divided into subsets. Silver Foil cards come about 1:2.5 packs, and there are 60 cards in a set - five per team.

 Here is Sluggers.

 And here is Rookies. I don't recall seeing a Hurlers subset, oddly.

Hologram Foil is a 1:12 insert set with 24 cards - two per team.

Finally, Holospectra fall 1:144 packs, with 36 cards in the set, making it the most challenging set to finish in this release. Each card comes in Green, Blue and Red versions, though Epoch didn't release any print runs or odds for the different colors. However, the above green card is #/15, and the blue card is #/7. The red parallel might be a 1/1.

I'm still looking for my base set, but I definitely want a complete set. Hopefully one shows up at a good price soon!

New Release: 2018 Epoch Dragons Rookies & Stars

The Dragons Rookies & Stars set was released on May 19th, with five cards per 400 yen pack, and the usual 20 packs per box and 12 boxes per case.

The base set clocks in at 90 cards, but they're numbered 1-70. Twenty players have photo variations, though they aren't short-printed and are being considered part of a full set.

 I think Epoch was going with a sort of art theme - maybe a framed painting with bronze plaques above and below the image? Anyway, regular cards use white card numbers on the back.

This is an image variation, and you can see the light blue card number on the back. And for you bat flip fans, Merry Christmas.

There are two limited insert sets to be found in packs if you're lucky. Lightning Flash comes in Silver #/75, and Gold #/50. Super-rare Force of the Dragon is found in base #/10 and parallel #/5 versions.

A total of 32 players have autographs in the set. Twenty-seven of those have regular horizontal autographed cards with silver backgrounds. Eight players have gold vertical parallel versions. Rookie Signature horizontal cards can be found for six players, with three players having vertical parallels. Print runs vary wildly - one player has only three regular autographs, while others have up to 74.

New Release: 2018 Epoch Lions Rookies & Stars

The Lions pack-based set from Epoch hit shelves on April 14th, with the standard five cards per 400-yen pack, 20 packs per box, and 12 boxes per case.

 Base cards are numbered 01-69. Base cards have a lot of border at the bottom, but I don't dislike the design.

 While 69 players are in the set, a complete set has 90 cards, because there are 21 image variations. I'm not exactly sure how to distinguish the original image from the variation, but it might be the location of the card number on the back. Image variations are not short printed, and considered part of a full set.

 There are two parallels with border color differences. Sapphire Parallels have SP prefix card numbers.

Ruby Parallels have RP prefix card numbers. Both parallels have 13 cards, and the checklist for Sapphire is identical to Ruby. As far as I can tell, the parallels aren't very limited and might have similar or identical print runs (neither parallel is more rare than the other).

One limited insert set can be found in packs. Holografika can be found in either Silver (#/90) or Gold (#/45) versions. Two autograph sets are also randomly inserted into packs. Authentic Signatures has 27 cards #AS-01 to #AS-28; there is no card 8. Cards are #/79 or less. Rookie Signatures has 8 cards, #/50 or less.

New Release: 2018 Epoch Legends of Yokohama

Let's take a break from all of Epoch's pack-based team sets to look at one of Epoch's recent high-end team sets.

Legends of Yokohama isn't really a "one team" set, but it does follow the same franchise. Yokohama is currently the home of the BayStars, but not terribly long ago they were known as the Whales. It's the same team, but Epoch distinguishes between the two teams in its premium cards in this release.

The base cards are printed on foilboard, with foil highlights on the front. As usual, not too much thought went into design for the base cards, though the color scheme is decent. Unfortunately, the same picture is found on the front and back. While the back does have a career stat line and highlights with the team, I can't help but feel this card is just one tiny step away from being the same as BBM and Epoch's meaningless inserts.

There are 23 base cards in a complete set, and each card has a parallel version #/75. Cards 1-9 are Whales players, while 10-23 are BayStars.

There are 14 premium insert sets with autographs. These are:

• Authentic Signatures - Whales - Vertical (8 cards, #/21 or less)
• kanji signatures; many have inscriptions
• Authentic Signatures - Whales - Horizontal (8 cards, #/31 or less)
• regular signatures; one player has an inscription
• Authentic Signatures - BayStars - Vertical (15 cards, #/21 or less)
• many have kanji signatures and inscriptions; foreigners have regular autographs
• Authentic Signatures - BayStars - Horizontal (15 cards, #/31 or less)
• regular signatures
• Legendary Signatures - Whales - Vertical Gold (12 cards, #/6 or less)
• kanji signatures and/or inscriptions
• Legendary Signatures - Whales - Vertical White (13 cards, #/11 or less)
• most have kanji signatures and inscriptions
• Legendary Signatures - BayStars - Vertical Gold (13 cards, #/6 or less)
• most have kanji signatures and inscriptions
• Legendary Signatures - BayStars - Vertical White (11 cards, #/11 or less)
• most have kanji signatures and inscriptions
• Legendary Signatures - BayStars - Vertical Grey (2 cards, #/11 or less)
• kanji signatures and inscriptions
• Legendary Signatures - Whales - Horizontal Grey (12 cards, #/16 or less)
• regular signatures; one card has inscription
• Legendary Signatures - Whales - Horizontal Gold (12 cards, #/6 or less)
• regular signatures; four cards have inscriptions
• Legendary Signatures - BayStars - Horizontal Grey (11 cards, #/16 or less)
• regular signatures
• Legendary Signatures - BayStars - Horizontal Gold (13 cards, #/6 or less)
• regular signatures, five have inscriptions
• Legendary Signatures - BayStars - Horizontal White (2 cards, #/18 or less)
• regular signatures

Boxes each contain two autographs and one parallel card, plus three base cards. Given the number of parallels, there are 1725 boxes out there. This is actually a higher number of boxes than Epoch's pack-based team sets, but with only six cards per box here, instead, of 100, there are far fewer cards overall.

One box carries a suggested retail price of 13,000 yen.

The image above of autographed cards is a promotional image from Epoch.

New Release: 2018 Epoch Swallows Rookies & Stars

The Rookies & Stars line is Epoch's version of team sets, and while the cards aren't as cheap as last year's pack-based sets, they come at a lower price point than most of Epoch's offerings.

The Swallows set has five cards per 400-yen pack, with 20 packs per box and 12 boxes per case.

 The Swallows base set is complete at 90 cards, but that includes several variations. Cards are numbered 1-72, but players with variations have "a" and "b" (and occasionally "c") card numbers, as you see in Yamada's card above.

Epoch calls this insert "Rookies & Stars", and the card numbering (RS- prefix) and text on the front matches that, but the Swallows Rising logo on the back of the card is more prominent than the insert name. There are 27 cards in this set.

Holografika has 18 cards, numbered 60 copies each for players and 35 for the mascot.

There are 27 cards in the Autographs A set (857 cards), with 18 cards in Autographs B (198 cards). Players in B also appear in A, making B a parallel of sorts. I believe the horizontal cards are in the A group, with vertical cards in B. As you can see, the mascot appears in both autographed sets.

Each box of Swallows Rookies & Stars includes 95 base cards, 4 inserts, and 1 autograph. With 1055 autographs accounted for above, and 1055 Holografika cards, the numbering works out that there are 1055 boxes. That makes one box short of 88 cases, and a very small number of base sets in all (about 1100).

New Release: 2018 Epoch Buffaloes Rookies & Stars

This set was released on May 12th, with 5 cards per 400-yen pack, 20 packs per box, and 12 boxes per case.

 Base cards have a tan/gold top border that fades to white. Backs include prior year and career statistics.

 Rookies get a special logo on the front, and rookie designation in place of the statistics on the back.

There are 90 cards in the base set, but cards are numbered 1-70. As you see in the above card, 20 players have multiple cards with image variations; those players have "a" and "b" card numbers.

The most common insert set is titled Rookies & Stars, and features 27 cards. Like BBM's insert sets, Epoch doesn't put much thought into their inserts beyond "make it shiny."

The Holografika insert set is serial-numbered to 64 copies each. And there are two autographed sets. Autographs A features 29 subjects (997 total cards), while Autographs B has 16 (155 total cards). All of the players in B are in A, so B serves as a sort of parallel. B does have a smaller print run; A is #/50 or less, with B #/10 or less. The above image is a promo from Epoch; I believe the top two cards are "B" autographs, with "A" in the middle. The bottom two cards are Holografika.

Each box contains 100 cards, which Epoch claims is 95 base cards, 4 inserts, and one autograph. You would expect a full base set in each box, but I've never tested Epoch's collation. With 1152 total autographs by my count, there are thus only 1152 boxes, or 96 cases. And with about one set per box, there are fewer sets of this product than most BBM "limited" box sets.

New Release: 2018 Epoch Carp Rookies and Stars

Epoch is going whole hog on team sets this year, putting up a bit of competition to BBM. The first set they released, on April 7th, was Carp Rookies and Stars.

Each 5-card pack retails for 400 yen, with 20 packs per box and 12 boxes per case. 

The base set has 90 cards, but that includes variations - up to three for some players. Cards are numbered 1-69. Fifteen players have variations; nine have one variation each, six have two variations each. ( 9 + (6x2) = 21 variations. 21 variations + 69 regular = 90 cards). The variations all appear to be photo variations.

Twenty-seven players appear in the regular insert set, titled Franchise Favorites. With 27 cards, you're looking basically at the regular team roster at the top level.

The limited insert is titled Rookies, and includes six of the team's rookies (duh?). Regular Red Rookies are #/150. Green Rookies are #/85. Yellow Rookies are numbered to their jersey number; Endoh's yellow parallel is thus numbered to 66 copies.

There are 27 Authentic Signatures cards for regular players; these are serial-numbered to 10 or 20 copies each and the checklist almost exactly follows the Franchise Favorites checklist, with a few exceptions.

Additionally, the six Rookies players have Authentic Signatures cards with various numbering. Each rookie has three versions with different photos on the front. Numbering differs slightly for some players, but generally the print runs are about 100 copies, 70 copies, and 30 copies.