From the serious black and copper tones of the Generation Pack, Nike goes back to something light and joyful with the ‘Blast’ Pack to start 2023. The cotton candy-like vibe of the pack colourway suggests a playful aura, one where a player treats football as a game to enjoy.

You get a sense of the Baltic Mercurial being worn by a kid who just outruns everybody and never looks back, and the Baltic Phantom GX on the feet of someone who playfully dribbles and freestyles past his friends. The Tiempo on this pack provides that relaxed atmosphere of a footballer who extracts glee in every touch of the ball.

With the way the upper is comprised in the Phantom GX, white and baltic blue build up a somewhat half-and-half look, with the former covering the Flyknit part and the latter the Gripknit layer. Pink Blast courses through the big Swoosh outline, with the smaller solid Swoosh on the elbow covered in a deep-toned Laser Blue.

The Mercs execute the theme by having white on the Vaporposite+ and the feature blue shade on the Swoosh and ‘AIR’ branding outlines, with the other accent called ‘Pink Blast’ found on the studs and Air Zoom window on the outsole. A recurring pattern of small ‘Mercurial’ lettermarks in indigo and pink highlights covers the space inside of the branding and logos, giving the boot some dark-toned details.

For the Tiempo, you get the all leather part and knitted tongue in white. The synthetic heel is a bit greyish but has that purplish radiance, probably stemming from the fact that the rear part of the soleplate has that light purple hue. The Baltic theme flows through the Tiempo Legend logo on the heel and the outline of the almost blackened dark blue Swoosh on the side of the boot.