Introduction to Fortnite Trading Cards
Welcome to the world of Fortnite Collecting. If you are just getting started you will want to first take a look at the most recent releases. You can find the checklist here for Series 1 and Series 2. You may also want to check out the timeline of past releases and record sales on the timeline page.
The best thing about collecting cards is that you build your collection in whatever way you want. Some people aim to collect full sets. This means acquiring every base card, holo, and parallel from a particular release. This can be very challenging and expensive! Others like myself focus on collecting their favorite cards/skins based on their own preferences. With so many different skins in Fortnite many people have different skins that love the most.
If you are just getting started and want to collect some of the biggest names you have a lot of catching up to do. Skins like the Black Knight, Skull Trooper, and Ghoul Trooper have been heavily sought after which has driven prices through the roof.
Series 1
Series 1 is the pinnacle set and contains a majority of the most nostalgic skins ever introduced in Fortnite. If you are fan of the game and have played since the first few seasons, this is the set that will have most of the cards you will want. With this being the first ever Fortnite Cards released by Panini, the print run wasn’t huge and the number of huge hits is very low. Sealed product has already sky rocketed to as much as $4,000 per mega box.
Fortnite Series 1 was printed in three countries: Italy, USA, and Brazil. There isn’t too much difference in the cards between each country except for the print quality. USA has had better overall print quality across the series 1 set. While you can still find some Italy and Brazil cards in mint condition, USA cards are more often going to be in better condition. The only other difference is the sets between countries is the cracked ice pattern of the crystal shard cards. The USA version have bigger ice shards and a more seamless pattern where the other two counties printed smaller shards. Both look amazing if found in good condition. USA cards currently sell for a little more than Italy print but that could change in the future as print runs and the number of graded cards are determined.
Soon after the release of Series 1, Panini released 9 Promotional cards. These 9 cards were numbered P1-P9 and were all cracked Ice Cards that were only available through Panini America’s website. At the time of this article, the highest recorded sale of these 9 cards was $7,950. There was a 10th Promotional card (P10) Released in 2021 with the Series 2 Promotional set.
Fortnite Reloaded
Fortnite reloaded may be the best bang for you buck today. While the print run was most likely shorty than Series 1 (It was only printed internationally and sold to European countries) the prices are still very low for this series. This is a very undervalued set currently with the most expensive card being around $50. This set has some really cool cards and is sure gain value over time. It is important to mention that this set was produced very badly. Getting a mint card is HARD. If you are able to get one of the few Mint Black Knights from a Fortnite Reloaded pack, you may see a very nice return on your investment.
This set included 4 different types of cards. You could find Moving Cards where the skins danced or changed styles by tilting the card back and forth. There were also glow in the dark cards, holofoil wallpaper cards, and regular base cards. None of the skins in this set were holo. The only holo cards were the illustrated wallpaper cards as seen here.
Fortnite Series 2
Fortnite Series 2 was only released in the USA unlike series 1. The biggest change for this set was the introduction of Optichrome Holofoil cards. These cards have a heavier metallic like holo applied to the card making even the outlines and details of the pictures shine. Panini also changed the pull rates for Series 2. Holos were twice as easy to pull, where as Optichromes had the same pull rate of holos from Series 1.
Panini released Series 2 Promotional cards from their website in 2021. This time there were 10 promo cards and they also included the 10th series 1 promo card with your order.
Did Brazil print short prints because I bought some cards from Brazil and in the back it’s says pretty much the same as us and Italy except it had SP at the end is that something there supposed to have?
SP doesn’t stand for short print on the brazil cards it is for the location in Brazil.
Hey thanks for the reply really appreciate it.I was also wondering how many prints ran for black knight and how many prints for the promo series 1 especially the galaxy ,I’m currently collecting the promos I got 5 out the 10 but I finally got the 1 I believe is the most important 1 which is the galaxy ( that may give the black knight competition )but I’m just your average joe nobody and that’s my opinion but what would I know
Galaxy is definitely going to be the most important promo card from series 1. We don’t know the print run for either the promo cards or the regular series cards but one of the good points that have been made is that their are only shards of the promo sets. There are no base or holos of the promo cards which makes that specific skin more rare in general. May not have less shards than the BK long term but there will be less Galaxy cards than Black Knight cards if you count all of the variations and parallels.