Digital Dabblings #46 – Monarchy Mayhem! Chrome Sapphire 1/1s, Night of Champions & More

By William M. Noetling – Specialist

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The State of the App

Once more into the breach we go for the month of June in WWE Slam!  And it was, well, an underwhelming month to be honest.  The road to “King of the Ring” at Night of Champions has been a rocky one for WWE this year, with all sorts of nastiness happening in the nearby areas where the event is being held. That said, the event is ongoing right now, with Cody and CM Punk vying for the KotR title as I post this!

I suppose the big news was the release of Series 2 of the 2025 base set, which features all of the newer stars and everyone that was missing from series 1.  They are sprinkled into all packs now, there is a special pack with nothing but base, but who really buys those?

For the next several weeks it’s all going to be about Sapphire though.  The major drop which wasn’t really announced but was more or less expected, happened yesterday.  Super packs for 1500 diamonds ($5-7) yield a legendary 1 in 3 and a guaranteed Iconic, so that’s nice.  There are hundreds of Legendary cards.  The 200 card base set has multiple LE variations including two 1/1s, so there’s a lot to chase.  IF you buy diamonds.

Also this set will sell out of everything when the limited editions all sell out, so even though the packs say they’re available for 20 days, they probably will be the first pure sell out of 2025.

Of course when you can pull a card you might be able to sell for over $100, people go nuts.

Excellence Black returned to the app, with a card design that looks so familiar already.  Seriously I don’t think they’ve ever changed it majorly.  The set was super popular for a time, as the legendary cards were sought after, but faded quickly.

Vapor was hot over 2 sets for a mid-week set and Wings excited fans for a couple of days until Sapphire hit.

The John Cena Topps Now $50 Legendary card bundle rubbed folks the wrong way, but has been part and parcel of Topps MO forever, so I’m not sure why it pissed people off.  Completists who can’t afford it I can understand, but no one is forcing anyone to buy it.  I certainly wouldn’t.

 

Let me explain – the bundle was for an alt-image Cena Topps Now, plus 100,000 coins and 10,000 diamonds for $50.  I saw a lot of chatter that it was a pure cash grab and disgusting.  Well, yeah, it’s a cash grab.  But again, par for the course.  No I wouldn’t buy it because 200 diamonds per dollar is a horrible ROI.  Platinum VIPs get 300 per dollar.

 

The Prize Wheel got a revamp and with it new mechanics in Idols and Prize-Wheel craft cards.  Idols are a single performer (though I do believe it’s a set of cards) in two varieties, uncommon and rare.  You can craft 5 uncommons to get a rare.  Whomever has the most of each type of idol at the deadline gets some awards.  My understanding is that you’ll need thousands.

You can also get silver and gold prize wheel set cards that are also craftable.  Silvers craft into golds and golds craft into iconic diamond signature variants.  

It does also appear that the major PLEs are all getting event card sets now, which are definitely more grinding, but also provide better rewards in iconics that show up sparingly.  

New Sets June 2025

Base Sets

• 2025 Base Set Series 2 (75 cards)
• 2025 Base Set Series 1 Yellow Lightning (75 cards)

Topps Now

• Money in the Bank Roundup (7 cards, 4 variations Unc to Leg.  1 Poster Unc., 1 SSP Hoard Challenge Reward.
• Ron Killings (1 card Unc)
• Raw & NXT (3 cards Unc)
• John Cena (1 card, 2 variations Unc & Leg)

Normal Insert Sets

• Ron Killings Return Spotlight (1 card, 3 variations 2xUnc to SR)
• Excellence Black 
  • Base (32 cards, 3 variations Unc to SR), 1 Award
  • Signature (20 cards, 3 variations R to I), 1 Award
  • Dual Signature (13 cards, 3 variations SR to L), 1 Award
  • Signature Relic (10 cards, 4 variations R to L), 1 Award

• Vapor (2 drops)
  • Base (16 cards, 3 variations U to SR), 1 Award
  • Signature (16 cards, 3 variations SR to I), 1 Award
• Fanatics Fest NYC (24 cards, 3 variations U to SR), 1 Award
• Wings
  • Base (22 cards, 4 variations U to I), 1 Award
  • Signature (12 cards, 4 variations R to L), 1 Award
• Chrome Sapphire
  • Way too many to list again, hundreds of 1/1s and LEs.

PLE Based Sets

• Money in the Bank Ladder Warfare 
  • Studio Base (12 cards, 3 variations Unc to R), 1 Award
  • Action Base (10 cards, 3 variations R to I, 1 Award
• Night of Champions
  • Base (40 cards, 3 variations U to SR), 1 Award
  • Signature (20 cards, 3 variations R to I) 1 Award
  • Dual Signature (20 cards, 3 variations R to I), 1 Award
  • Signature Motion (10 cards, 3 variations SR to L), 1 Award
  • Champions Hall (20 cards, 3 variations SR to L), 1 Award
  • Predictors (4 cards, U)

Season/Event/Prize Wheel Sets

• Global Performers (Season rewards)
  • Base (20 cards, 4 variations U to I), 1 Award
  • Level Up (4 cards, 2 versions, regular & premium)
• Prize Wheel 
  • Base (10 cards, 2 variations U & R), 1 Award
  • Diamond Signature Crafting Exclusives (10 Cards, I), 1 Award
  • Hoard Challenge Idol Card (1 card, 3 variations U to SR)
  • Hoard Reward Idols (1 card, 4 variations I & L)
• Coronation Class (Night of Champions Event Rewards)
  • Base (17 Cards, 4 variations, U to I), 1 Award

New Additions to Ongoing Sets

Daily:
Main Event Daily Sets

Each has two Variations (Uncommon/Rare) 5 Daily cards, 1 Award

• Father’s Day
• Champions of the 00’s
• WCW US Heavyweight Champions

Thursday:
Technicians (2 variations, Unc & R) 1 Award

• Chelsea Green
• Mr. Perfect
• Bret The Hitman Hart

Friday:
Free Pack Friday (2 variants, UNC&SR, 1 award)

• 6-13-25 Zeus (28016 cc)
• 6-20-25 Nia Jax (27679)
• 6-27-25 Stephanie Vaquer

Sunday 

Hidden Treasures (3 variants, Rare to Icon, 1 award)

• The Miz
• Jimmy Uso
• Rey Mysterio

Secondary Market Update
Once again I’m going to wait on the sold listings for another month.  In fact I may start doing them once per quarter.  Sales are currently very robust on a number of 1/1s and LEs from Sapphire.  And the market is flooded with them currently.

The market is still very strong, with over 16,000 current listings on ebay.  Suffice to say if you pull a 1/1 you’ve got a decent card that’s worth some actual cash.  

I’ll be shooting for Saturday July 12 for the next column, until then if you have any comments, questions or concerns, send me an email to wmnoe@yahoo.com, or hit me up u/wmnoe on Reddit.com.  Remember, I’m GRENDELSEN in the app if you wanna trade!