Illusions

il/lu/sion:  (1): a misleading image presented to the vision (2): something that deceives or misleads intellectually (3):  an illusory effect created by a sleight-of-hand performer or a magician from Webster's Dictionary

I would like to know what was going through the heads of those involved in creating the 2017 and 2018 Panini Illusions football sets. The brand name itself implies an act of deception, a mirage, or something fundamentally fake- hardly the vibe you would think a card manufacturer would want to attach to a product. 

But then you have something even more odd: the execution of the checklist. 

Panini pairs a current player (some are vets, while others are rookies) with a prominent former player from the same franchise.

And this is where I think the whole idea is flawed. For one, I have never liked the idea of comparing a young, up and coming player to a franchise icon- let alone a Hall of Fame member.  I mean, I get it, the media does it because it sells and card manufacturers produce such cards because collectors eat them up. But like I said in my opening paragraph: doing it under the Illusions brand name seems to imply that Player A (in this case, Winston) is a wannabe Player B (Williams or Young); that he's a fraud. 

Maybe I'm just reading too much into it, and need to just enjoy the cards more.