The Full 2020-2021 Mosaic Basketball Review
Get primed up for stained glass and a more comprehensive list of Mosaic Prizms, with the full 2020-2021 Mosaic Basketball Review. The exciting new product drops on September 17 and looks to build on the momentum from last year’s inaugural Mosaic release.
The team at Cardlines wanted to dig into the product and give it a review, much like we recently did for Donruss Optic Basketball and Select Basketball, 2020-21.
With another solid addition of Mosaic, the “Big 3” of opti-chrome cards (Prizm, Optic, and Select) might be looking more like a Big 4 by the end of the year.
Let’s take a look.
Also Read: A 2021-22 Mosaic Basketball review
Mosaic Basketball Product Introduction
“Mosaic” cards trace roots back to 2015-16 and the release of “Prizm Mosaic” basketball boxes, which were released from then until 2018-19. Those boxes contained 3 packs of ten cards and didn’t guarantee an autograph but offered the big-pull potential for several Mosaic inserts, although it was a (somewhat strange) sub-brand of Prizm at the time.
In 2019-20, Mosaic was given new life and a standalone product with its own cool logo and setlist. The product was undoubtedly well-timed to coincide with the exploding sports card market. However, it didn’t seem as forced as Hoops Premium stock. Instead, it was a solid opti-chrome product with a lot of thought put into it.
The 2020-2021 Release
The 2020-21 setlist only looks to build on the success even further.
This year’s rainbow of Mosaic colors grows deeper than before. It includes hobby-exclusive options including Mosaic White (#/25), Mosaic Gold (#/10), and Mosaic Black (1/1) parallels, plus special FOTL Pink Swirls (#/11) and Green Swirls (#/10) editions.
The cards look even nicer than last year and could become a hot topic for collectors.
The 2020-2021 Mosaic Basketball Review Of Release Formats
Mosaic has been released in several formats. Here’s a breakdown.
Hobby Box
- 15 cards per pack.
- 10 packs per box.
- 1 Autograph
- 5 Silvers and 15 Mosaics Parallels
- 20 Inserts
- Reselling for $1000
FOTL Hobby Box
- 15 cards per pack.
- 10 packs per box.
- 1 Autograph
- 2 FOTL Parallels: 1 Pink Swirl (#/11) and 1 Green Swirl (#/10)
- 5 Silvers and 15 Mosaics Parallels
- 20 Inserts
- Presale for $2050
Fast Break
- 8 cards per pack
- 18 packs per box
- 20 boxes per case
- 1 Autograph
- 10 Fast Break Parallels or Silver Mosaic Parallel
- 1 Rookie Variation
- 5 Inserts
- 1 Silver Prizm
- Preselling for $750
Choice
- 8 cards per pack. 1 pack per box.
- 1 Autograph
- 3 Exclusive Mosaic Parallels and 2 Choice Red/Green Rookies
- 1 Silver and 1 Mosaic Parallel
- Preselling for $700
Blaster Box
- 4 cards per pack
- 8 packs per box
- 4 exclusive mosaic inserts
- Preselling at $90
Mega Box
- 8 cards per pack
- 10 packs per box
- 10 exclusive mosaic per box
- Preselling for $180
The 2020-2021 Mosaic Basketball Review Of Checklist Information
Mosaic doesn’t offer a vast breadth of inserts. But they make up for that with their bright colors and bold design. As a result, the cards are eye-catching and in-your-face, in a good way.
The autographs are as simple as they come. They include only two sets: Autographs and Rookie Autographs. They come in gold /10 and black /1 parallels.
There are five insert sets:
- Overdrive
- Straight Fire
- Center Stage
- Swagger
- Stained glass
Stained glass has been revamped and looks incredible this year.
The 2020-2021 Mosaic Basketball Review Of Value
If you’re hoping to invest in Mosaic 2020-21, the first question to answer is if you should buy singles or wax.
Wax Value
Last year’s Mosaic dropped around the peak of the basketball buzz. As a result, it carried a $1,000 price tag.
As the boxes age, it’s a safe guess that their value will climb thanks to the generational talent of Zion Williamson being inside. For this year’s draft class, I’d stay away from sealed wax if it releases around $1,000 unless you want to hold it for several years. It doesn’t have much quick flip (a year or two) potential.
Singles Value
To get a feel for the long-term value of singles, let’s look at some PSA 10’s of some different Zion rookies from last year’s set.
| Card | Value |
| Zion Rookie | $85 |
| Zion Mosaic | $400 |
| Zion Silver | $630 |
| Zion Pink Camo Mosaic | $185 |
| Zion Green Mosaic | $185 |
| Zion NBA Debut | $73 |
| Zion NBA Debut Silver | $150 |
Assuming this season’s cards reflect a similar proportional value along the rainbow, the NBA debuts might be a sneaky-good investment. Most collectors view these cards as the stepbrother of the “true” rookie cards, but the graded versions still demand a pretty price.
An ungraded common Zion Debut sells about $10 while the Silver sells for about $35. Therefore, buying raw and grading these cards could be a good return if you’re willing to wait on PSA.
Another surprising takeaway from the chart is how much the silver Mosaic insert sells compared to the rest. The silver Mosaic is the most common of any of them, so keep this in mind if you’re buying boxes to rip!
Bottomline Of The 2020-21 Mosaic Basketball Review
Mosaic is a great product but with a correspondingly high price point. So if you’re looking to invest, there are probably better opportunities than buying sealed Mosaic or rookie singles.
On the other hand, if you’re looking to have fun and potentially hit a home run, then purchasing a Mosaic box (or blaster, even) could be an excellent ripping session.
Depending on what you’re looking for, approach Mosaic with caution. After all, some beauties are best admired from afar.