Wrapping up the 2025 Spirit lineup here with the “high-end” release, Deluxe. These are meant to be more elevated and timeless. My goal here was to feature the premiere player for each team with a closer crop of the image and some classy design elements.

There’s some gold foil for embellishment to pair with a colorful leather texture and an elegant font. I tried to sprinkle in a bit of variety on the photos, hence the periodic action shots sprinkled in. In hand, the gold foil hat logos would really pop. I’d probably go with a really thick stock and emboss the foil and maybe even some varnish. Something to really make these look high-end.

I’ve done the “flagship.” I’ve done the “retro.” I’ve done the “low-end.” Now it’s time for the “high-end” set in Spirit’s lineup of releases. Deluxe is back once again, kicking off with the base design.

This is the first time I’ve done a primarily white design for Deluxe. The marble texture adds some interest there and calls back to a fancy set from the past. The colored marble behind the player makes for a good contrast to the both the borders and the player photos. The whole thing is trimmed out in gold foil with it running around the border and also the player name and team name/logo in the upper left corner.

I didn’t go into ornate-overload like Topps frequently does for stuff like Tribute, Tier One and the like. Probably a little more “overdone” than I normally do but I still pulled back a bit from what could have been done. I’ve tried to keep some variety to the Deluxe designs over the years so this year’s look is definitely different from previous seasons. Still plenty of color to catch the eye help differentiate each card. Imagining these with a thick gloss surface and they’d really pop.