Welcome to Ripped — where we tear into the hobby’s biggest new releases and show you what’s actually inside.
We’ve been sitting on this one for a bit. With the holidays behind us, we finally got a chance to rip into our personal boxes of 2025 Topps Chrome Update.
Back in our Wax Watch preview, we were wary of the draft class depth, especially when paired with the steep dollar-per-card cost on the secondary market. We still decided to call it rippable/stashable.
Let’s see if it holds up to our expectations.
Base
At this point, we’ve talked about the design of this year’s Topps cards to death. We love it. But we’re ready for a new look in 2026.
The bigger issue here is quality. There’s something a little off about these base cards this year. They seem dull, even compared to 2025’s earlier chrome release. There’s a noticeable, film-like residue along the edges of the base cards that, in some cases, is already starting to peel.
For a premium stock card product, this isn’t great. We’d like the cards to feel like the amount we paid for them.
We still have concerns about the depth of the draft class. Nick Kurtz looks great. Cade Horton looks great. Roki looks good. After that, it’s anyones guess.
Verdict: C- — A shallow draft class and a cheap feel sink the base cards.
Inserts
We’ve seen some of these inserts in earlier releases, but they still work. Power Players and Fortune 15 are fun and colorful designs. And 1990 Topps looks awesome in a chrome finish.
We’re also big fans of the newer additions. While we knocked “Night Terrors” in our review of Flagship Update for not being flashy enough, it looks so much better in a chrome finish.
Notably, the chrome finish looks far better on the inserts than on the base cards.
Verdict: A — Strong variety. New additions hit the mark.
Parallels
The parallels popped — as they should. Refractors had a great sheen and the colored parallels we pulled were incredibly vibrant. You’ll see a lot more of the color in our hits at the end.
One of our refractor pulls came out of the pack with a noticeable dent along the edge. It always sucks to pull a damaged card from a fresh pack. Luckily, it was the only damaged parallel in our two Hobby Boxes.
Verdict: B+ — Parallels look great, but get dinged due to quality control.
Hit Consistency
Product odds tell one story, but the actual distribution inside boxes can tell another.
Our Rip: 2x 2025 Topps Chrome Update Hobby Boxes (1/6 of a Case)
Box 1
1x Numbered Auto • 2x Numbered Cards • 8x Refractors • 4x Prisms • 12x Inserts
Box 2
1x Numbered Auto • 2x Numbered Cards • 8x Refractors • 4x Prisms • 12x Inserts
As advertised, we got our Auto, 2x Numbered Cards, and 12x inserts. It also appears that 8x refractors and 4x prism parallels per box is the norm.
We got lucky with both autos being numbered parallels. We wouldn’t expect this out of every Hobby Box.
⚠️ WARNING
Both boxes had their numbered cards and autos on the left side of the Hobby Box, with the auto always on the lower left.
While we can’t speak for other formats, we’d recommend passing on loose Hobby packs on the secondary market. This collation makes it very easy for people to sell off the packs they know won’t have a hit.
Final Thoughts
Since we put out our wax watch, prices are dropping on the secondary market. While this is great news, there’s a reason for it.
A good portion of the Rookie Debut Patch Cards have been pulled. The only major players still out there seem to be James Wood, Cade Horton, and Roki Sasaki.
On X, @TP_35cards has developed and maintained a great tracking tool where you can see which RDPAs have been pulled. We’d highly recommend looking at this before pulling the trigger on buying the wax.
The combination of low-quality base cards and many of the biggest chase cards already being pulled is making us rethink our initial grade for the release. We still think the product is rippable, but the long-term stash value has taken a hit.
We’d also recommend ripping retail only for a while. These boxes are still widely available at MSRP online at Target and Walmart and still hold the best dollar per card.
We expect hobby and jumbo prices to continue sliding over the next few months. Maybe then we’ll pick up another.
Hit Me!
Check out some of what we pulled below! If you ripped any Update yourself, drop your best hits in the comments.
Disclaimer: The content in The Hobby Wire is for informational and entertainment purposes only. Commentary, analysis, and opinions on sports cards, rookies, and the hobby are not financial, investment, or professional advice. Collectors should always do their own research before buying, selling, or trading cards. Market values are volatile and can change rapidly—past performance is not a guarantee of future results.
Unless specified, all pricing references are based on the Prizm/Refractor parallels of an athlete’s Chrome rookie card, with prices from alt.xyz & 130pt.com.
Any odds mentioned were derived from DraftKings Sportsbook.