2021 Topps Chrome MLS – Hobby Box

Topps Chrome MLS 2021 was released on 1 September 2021, and the hobby box holds 18 packs of four cards. That gives 72 cards, and the configuration states one autograph per box. The distributor case contained twelve of these boxes.

The base set has 200 cards. The last 25 numbers, 176 to 200, make up the subset Pitch Prodigies and so sit within the base set rather than as separate inserts. The year's insert sets are 1975/76 Topps Footballers, Celebration FC, Big City Strikers and Future Stars. The Chrome finish means the cards are printed on foil card stock, and the parallels are built as refractors on top of that surface.

Four cards per pack is a small pack. The Chrome sets are built around the print surface and the refractor ladder rather than card volume, and that is why a Chrome pack costs more per card than a pack from a sticker collection. Eighteen packs still give enough pulls for one box to last an evening of opening.

The box works well for anyone filling gaps in an MLS collection from earlier years or looking for rookie cards from the 2021 squads. The edition is English-language and American. What goes into an individual pack is decided by Topps, not us, and we cannot pick out individual players or teams from a box.