As soon as I thought that Topps Flagship, as a whole, was on the rise, Topps released the design, very early I might add, for the 2020 base set design.
Granted, my feelings regarding next year's Topps design have improved since I first laid eyes on the cards last week, but I can't ignore that my first reaction to this unimpressive set was to utter the words "that's horrible."
Honestly, the cards don't look like they belong in the Topps Flagship set. The design looks cheap and unfinished, like something that you'd see in the Topps Bunt digital set.
Some collectors have compared the design to 2016 Bowman. Although I prefer the 2020 Flagship design, the set as a whole is underwhelming. After a respectable showing in 2019, I expected something more than what Topps came up with.
After all, the 2020 design is ushering in a new decade for Topps Baseball cards, and this is, unfortunately, the first look that we'll be getting of 2020s Baseball cards.
It seems like Topps doesn't want to make things easy for its customers. First, the 2019 design has the last name, for some odd reason, on top of the first. Now, the banners with the player's name, position, and team are located on the side of the card, meaning there's going to be a lot of head tilting once 2020 comes along.
For the second year in a row, Topps doesn't seem to know whether they want borders on their cards or not. The 2020 design has some sort of half-border with a banner that looks like it's recycled from the 2018 design.
Undoubtedly, I have my issues with the 2020 design, but it's not all bad. The photography, per usual, is stellar, and I appreciate that the colors match the team's logo. We've certainly seen worse from Topps (i.e 2016), but I simply expected something better for the 2020 design.
It is worth noting that I was very critical of the 2019 Topps design at first glance last August, and I ended up altering my opinion once I saw the cards in person.
Could the same thing happen in 2020? I'm not too sure. All I know is that I thought, following this year's design, that Flagship would soon have borders and drastically improve. Now, I'm not so certain.
It's hard to judge based on these three cards. But so far... the jury is still out on the design. I don't hate it... but don't love it either. As for the photography... I like the action shots... but they're zoomed in way too much for my taste.
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