08-09 UD Black Diamond blaster box

So I continually say that I'm going to stop buying blaster boxes. They usually aren't great value, and if you buy 3 or 4 of them, you might as well save up and buy a hobby box, which will have a lot more hits in it. But that doesn't allow me to rip packs open frequently, and so patience is kind of out of the window.

But ever since I miraculously pulled a Thornton patch out of 23 out of a blaster, I've been hooked. (Side note: it was damaged, and I recently asked Upper Deck if they have a replacement. They were overly courteous in their e-mail, told me their policy, and said they would send me things anyway. Maybe they ARE changing...... we'll see what they send anyway) Yes, for all the $24.99 (plus tax) blasters I've bought, I could be much farther ahead on my Doan collection. But the lure of pulling something great remains. And pulling a Doan from a pack is a LOT more satisfying.

I go back and forth on this as I buy them. Sometimes I pull something great and I'm glad I bought it. Other times?...... not so much. Nonetheless, I doubt I'll ever stop buying them. Upper Deck, for all their warts, are very creative marketers, and I'm as much as sucker as any collector.

On that note, I bought a 2008-09 Upper Deck Black Diamond blaster box today. 6 packs (listed as the normal 5 + 1 bonus....), and you can pull everything that you can pull in the hobby packs, which is unusual for a retail offering. There will be at least one Double Diamond in here, and at least one ot two other inserts. 1 in every two boxes will have a quad jersey or a Quad Diamond. Not bad odds, really. Well, here goes......

Pack 1 - Vrbata, Pominville, Derick Brassard Quad Diamond RC, Langkow, Markov
Well that's a good way to start. Brassard had an early end to his season, but this would be one of the better pulls of the box. eBay wise, it should pay for the blaster. Nice. I was looking for the Brunnstrom, but I'm not complaining.

Pack 2 - Kostitsyn, Horton Double Diamond, Vermette, Kaberle, Cleary
The Double Diamond of the box. Likely no Doan at this point.

Pack 3 - Malone, Leclaire, Getzlaf Premier Cuts (Single), Franzen, Carter
So I've beaten the 1:24 for a quad diamond, and now 1:12 on the die cut.

Pack 4 - Shanahan, Arnott Double Diamond, Bergeron, Theodoe, Little
Double Diamonds are 1:4, I have two in 4 packs. Now no Doan for sure.....

Pack 5 - Byfuglien, Bryzgalov, Green, Nylander, Williams
Nothing of note here, but it should be noted that I have yet to pull a damaged card, which is usually very odd with Black Diamond's heavily foiled black cards. Impressive.

Pack 6 - Kronwall, Ellis, Carcillo, Perry, Erik Ersberg Triple Diamond RC
The Triple Diamonds are 1:8, and Ersberg is a decent pull.

Wow. Now these are the blasters that keep me coming back. Either their odds are shorter than listed to make you feel like you got more than you did, or there's some dud boxes out there. I would say a bit of a) and a bit of b), in my experience. It's unusual to beat this many odds in one box. Yes, they are "average across the production run", but you normally beat one of the odds in the box, and that's your hit. I beat them in 4 of 6 packs. Not only that, I got two rookies of quality... neither of them will be selling you a TV at Best Buy anytime soon.

Often after opening a blaster I feel some remorse as I see the commons I've just overpaid for, and search eBay for a deal to make myself feel better, but then don't buy because I've already wasted my money. But then there's days like today, where I can sell a few of these and make some money back. So in the end........ still hooked. Oh well.

05-06 UD Rookie Update box

So, back in 2005-06 I opened some Upper Deck Rookie Update hobby packs and was quite impressed. Well now that boxes have come down in price - thanks to everyone who only wants the newest stuff - I decided today to buy a box. Basically, this set contains a stack of rookies that are updates from Upper Deck's high end sets, like Artifacts, Trilogy, SPx, SP Game-Used, and Black Diamond. I believe most of the packs will have a rookie. There's memorabilia, autographs, and the like, but as per normal for UD in 05-06, no odds on the box. But it's pretty stacked.

The big hits, as always for Rookie Update, are the dual autograph cards with one rookie and one established superstar. Seems to me they were one per box, I guess we'll find out. The only exception on this is Sidney Crosby, who only signed by himself with the other window saying "2005 draft pick" or something. UD wanted Gretzky to sign with him, but word is that Crosby refused. Ovechkin is also in the subset, signing with Ilya Kovalchuk.

Well, here we go.
Pack 1 - Hemsky, Turco, Fedorov, Heatley, Steve Bernier Black Diamond RC
Dallas Star in the first pack, and a now-Canuck rookie. Good start.

Pack 2 - Olli Jokinen, Gagne, Marleau, Brad Richardson SPx Auto Jersey RC 1845/1999
Divealanche rookie, but I loooooove the SPx rookie set from this year.

Pack 3 - Tkachuk, Gionta, Hasek, Frolov, Lindros
Yes, commons. But with a small set, at least players most hockey fans have heard of.

Pack 4 - Lecavalier, Dustin Penner SP Game Used RC 389/999, Svatos, Gagne, Morrison, UD "discount" card on overpriced merchandise
So my rookies are from the Avs, Oilers, and Canucks. Ha. Ha.

Pack 5 - Pronger, Fleury, Saku Koivu, Langkow, Satan
The last card.... well, tells the story of this pack. Hopefully this is the stinker of the box.

Pack 6 - Raycroft, Pitkanen, Tanguay, Straka, Robitaille
....... already eclipsed pack 5 in "commonness". Nice.

Pack 7 - Redden, Jagr, Blake, Bertuzzi, Theodore
Looks like I'm set up for a nice few packs. Can I hope now that these are done?

Pack 8 - Brodeur, Lidstrom, Nagy, Nash, Ryan Ready Rookie Update RC 0423/1999
I'm Ready for a good pack.

Pack 9 - Khabibulin, Sakic, Giguere, Tuomo Ruutu, Greg Zanon Rookie Update RC 0821/1999
Not all rookies are created equally.

Pack 10 - Joseph, Gaborik, Lemieux, Cole, Brad Richards
Second Dallas Star of the box.

Pack 11 - Alfredsson, Keith Primeau, Gomez, Olli Jokinen, Ryan Miller
I have now got two doubles in this box. That's just wrong.

Pack 12 - Yzerman, Nabokov, Drury, Roenick, Ole-Kristian Tollefsen Black Diamond RC
I am Ole, he is Sven. This is the halfway point of the box. I will assume the right side will be better........ I hope.

Pack 13 - Lupul, SHAAAAAAAAAANE DOOOOOOOOAN!!!, Shanahan, Naslund, Mike Green SPX RC 595/999
Much better. Green is a good one to pull, big upside. Led NHL defensemen in goals last year.

Pack 14 - Marleau, McCabe, Spezza, Colby Armstrong Black Diamond RC, Michael Wall Artifacts RC 005/750
My third double, but two rookies in a pack is fine with me.

Pack 15 - Doan, Shanahan, Peca/Eaves Rookie Inspirations Dual Jersey 608/999
Yet another Oiler jersey, with a Sens jersey, both white. Yes, it's a jersey, but the worst one to pull. And two more doubles.

Pack 16 - Kovalchuk, Iginla, Khabibulin, St. Louis, Sundin
More doubles.

Pack 17 - Weight, Belfour, Lehtonen, Morrow, Hejduk
Morrow is cool.

Pack 18 - Murray, Maxim Lapierre Artifacts RC 511/750, Jackman, Selanne, Luongo
Not the worst rookie to pull.

Pack 19 - Auld, Vokoun, Horton, Prospal, Kariya, UD "discount" card on overpriced merchandise
Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaawn.

Pack 20 - Thornton, Tomas Fleischmann Trilogy RC 495/999, Marian Hossa, Gerber, Niittymaki
Not the Capitals rookie I really wanted, but.....

Pack 21 - Smyth, Allison, Bergeron, Zetterberg, Forsberg
They could have easily put numbered parallels of the base cards in these packs. I suppose that costs money, and we're all at the trough anyway, so UD probably didn't care THAT much.

Pack 22 - Aebischer, Leetch, Elias, Kiprusoff, DiPietro
Let's just move on.

Pack 23 - Yashin, Datsyuk, Kolzig, Ribiero, Vitaly Kolesnik Black Diamond RC
I hear Kolesnik might be a good one. But again, a Divealanche rookie.

Pack 24 - Cheechoo, Fernandez, Eric Staal, Demitra, Brett Lebda Rookie Update RC 0790/1999
A Red Wing rookie that's playing with them. I suppose that's a good thing.

Well.......first off, 5 doubles and I'm missing 3 for the base set. No, not horrible, but would it have been that tough to collate a full set in here? 14 rookies, with two jerseys included in that. Did I do well? Not really. It was a fun break for the most part, but really, the value isn't there. Go figure, an Upper Deck product with limited value. The Green is a decent one, the Oiler/Sens one is a dud, and while the SPx rookie auto jersey is a nice card, it's not exactly going to pay my mortgage.... in fact, buying a Coke might require extra change.

Nonetheless, I still enjoy this product. As I said, some parallels might have at least spiced it up, but the rookies partially make up for it. I could buy another box, but I doubt I will. Yes, the Crosby tops $3000, but.......

2008-09 UD Legends Masterpieces

So on the way home from a 10th anniversary getaway with my wife, I stopped in at a card store and picked up a few packs, including one pack of 2008-09 UD Legends Masterpieces. Later on, when running other errands, I stopped by Toys R Us and picked up a retail blaster 8 pack box (why must they say 7 packs with 1 bonus? IT'S 8 PACKS, WE'RE SMARTER THAN THAT!). Coincidence? Not at all. I've been collecting cards for a long time now, and I have not had the chance to say this often - these are absolutely stunning cards. Maybe the best base cards I've seen, in my opinion.

08-09 Masterpieces are cards based on original artwork made for UD. They are on a more or less regular card stock, but the feel of the front of the card is like canvas. Minimal gold foil borders that are done in gaelic writing.... they are just done right. The backs tell us who made the artwork, and a short bio of each player. The only possible complaint about the backs is that the print is very small, and with the light gold background, it should probably be black or something different. In any event, small grumblings from me but no deal breakers, and a much better offering than UD Artistic Impressions from 5 years ago. This also has only retired players by the looks of it, which is another nice touch.

The retail version of this product promises parallel cards 1:9 packs - done like Beehive with matting on top of the card, with 5 levels of parallel (including 1/1). Game used cards 1:24 packs, again with 5 different versions, autos 1:240, and masterpiece sketch cards 1/1, which I will assume is an original drawing of some sort. So with the aforementioned EIGHT packs in the blaster, I have a pretty good chance at one parallel, a 1:3 chance of a game used, and 1:30 chance of an autograph. I've certainly beaten higher odds than that, but I'll be honest, although this might jinx me...... an entire box of base cards wouldn't make me angry. Yes, they are that nice.

So here we go.

Pack 1 - Gretzky (Kings), Neely, Bourque (Divealanche), Clarke brown border parallel
The Gretzky is the same pic as the 88-89 Topps version. I went nuts for a second - I thought the Clarke was a Black border, which would have been a 1/1, but it's the unnumbered brown instead. Still a nice card.

Pack 2 - Messier, Shutt, Ciccarelli Canvas Clippings game used card - brown border, Lafleur, Apps
The Canvas Clippings card is sweet. It pictures Ciccarelli in a North Stars jersey with a Capitals jersey piece, but it's nice anyway. Not sure if the brown border is the norm or a parallel. UD did screw up a little - the memorabilia pack is supposed to have 3 base cards. I don't know if these are searchable or not, I thought it was a decoy in there, as it was significantly fatter than the other packs. The hobby pack had the quintissential UD propoganda card, so that makes it even more difficult. Anyway, something to watch out for.

Pack 3 - Lady Bing, Foster Hewitt, Eddie Shack, Bobby Orr
Sweet cards.

Pack 4 - Kurri (Divealanche), MacTavish (Blues), Hull/Howe, Lester Patrick
A few things of note here. Kurri is standing in front of a gold stick, which from the writing on the back seems to be in honour of his 600th goal. The weird thing? We can see the entire stick in the picture, Kurri is not holding it, and no one else is either. A gold stick is cool, but a levetating gold stick? Nice touch. Cheating Divealanche. Another thing - what's Craig MacTavish doing in this set? Not worthy in the slightest. The Hull/Howe is cool..... I got one in the hobby pack too.

Pack 5 - Esposito, The Sutters, Gretzky (Oilers), Langway
The Sutters card is very well done.

Pack 6 - Bower, Bathgate, McSorley (?!?!?!), Lemieux
Again..... Marty McSorley? What? Why? I'm going to assume there is an auto version of all base cards and that they needed to find 87 players who would sign, and they got to the bottom of the barrel..... at least I'm hoping that.

Pack 7 - Roy (Habs), Mr Hockey, Gretzky (Oilers), Fuhr
A double? Seriously? It's an 87 card set (gee.... what's 87 for? ), so I guess it's not horrible, and better to have a Gretzky double than...... MacTavish or McSorley.

Pack 8 - Perreault, Vaive, Richard Brodeur, Tony Esposito
Rick Vaive too. Huh.

Well, it seems I beat the odds, getting both the game used and a parallel when the odds say I should have got neither. Aside from some curious player selection, I have no issues at all with what I pulled. Still very impressed with the set, and I will probably go for the full one with such a small set. I would highly recommend buying some of this product, I know I will buy more. Based on my return, maybe I should reduce my expectations on every box. ;)

Musings of the past in the present

I first started collecting hockey cards at around age 8 (1980). When I bought packs in 1980, they were pennies on the dollar per pack. A box of 48 packs would cost a huge $12. In 80-81, there were team cards, and other subsets within the set, but no autographs, no game used, certainly no foil on the cards, and usually a lot of ridiculous paint-overs of jerseys for players on new teams. Lots of laughs, and just a lot of fun. Value was measured in your favourite team, and how well a card would knock others down against a wall to win more damaged cards.

For better and worse, the hockey card market of today is much, much different. There is a constant demand for bigger and better, and tons more value. I can't imagine looking ahead from 1980 and seeing a $10,000 rookie card, as the Crosby from UD The Cup is. I would be amazed at how far the hobby has come along, but probably a bit disappointed too. It's not a game anymore, it's a business.

So when I walked into my local card shop today and he showed me a box of 06-07 O-Pee-Chee - 36 packs for $40 - the nostalgia of the old days hit me, and I had to buy it. Besides that, when a 11 pack blaster is $25 and you get 44 commons, this certainly couldn't be any worse.

Until 1990, all I knew was O-Pee-Chee hockey cards. Topps existed, but only on trips to the US, and even then, finding it wasn't that easy. And besides that, there was no real reason to get it, as OPC was better. They were not perfect by any means, the quality left a lot to be desired, but they were cheap, fun, and a connection to your heroes. Sure, stickers left a bit of a dent in the wallet too, but finding cards was a big deal. OPC was bought out by Topps, then UD was allowed to take over the NHL market alone, and thus they bought it probably to gain a little nostalgia back.

In both 06-07 and 07-08, UD made OPC into large sets, as they were back in the old days, with inserts, some game used cards, and some autographs. It's certainly not a huge value set, but the price point is still reasonable, and they are clean cards that look good. It would have been nice for UD to go all out and put French on the backs of the cards, but UD going all out simply doesn't happen. They have no need to, they're the only game in town..... yes, so was OPC, and yes, they did some of the same things, but at 25 cents a pack, who cares. At $5 up to $500 per pack, it does matter.

Anyway....... this is one of the square 06-07 OPC boxes, not the typical long rectangular hobby boxes. However, I have been assured that the hobby also came in this format, and that this box will contain one memorabilia card. There IS one subset card per pack - should be rookies 1 in 2 packs - and autographs are one in every ten boxes. Main rookies are Malkin and Kopitar. Of course, as always, I'm looking for Doans and Dallas Star cards, and in a 700 card set with plenty of inserts, I should do fine here.

I've never done a 36 pack live break before, but here goes. I should have more comments than the Hot Prospects box, because I'll get more.

Pack 1 - Van Ryn, Commodore, Arnason, Sundin, Bonk, Dustin Boyd RC
Shiny bronze design, large O-Pee-Chee logo at the bottom, almost no reference to UD.

Pack 2 - Lang, Prucha, Cullen, Sopel, Gaborik, Alexander Ovechkin Capitals checklist
The checklist cards are also a limited subset, kind of the SuperAction cards of today. Oddly, the card list is on the back, and has a lot of extra empty boxes. Can I write my name in there? I may later in the break, but not on an Ovechkin card.

Pack 3 - Thornton, Armstrong, Schultz, Saku Koivu, Boynton, Adam Dennis RC
Decent photography, and the full NHL record on the back. I like that.

Pack 4 - Jason Smith, Ray Whitney, Brad Richards, Eric Staal, Zherdev, UD propaganda card, Marian Gaborik Wild checklist
Four players that I have to spell out in full because there are others with the same last name in the league. This entry will be long enough without that happening again.

Pack 5 - Sakic, Ladd, Wyatt Smith, Kapanen, Auld, Hall Worthy Dominik Hasek
Thankfully, Brian Sakic is no longer in the NHL, or I would have had to type "Joe". Whew. I wish the picture of Hasek was him on his stomach trying in vain to stop Brett Hull in the 99 finals. It's not. But he does look sad in the picture, so maybe he's thinking of that moment.

Pack 6 - Zhitnik, Thomas, Stillman, Fedotenko, Malholtra, Jan Hejda RC
Despite the constant bronze colour, no damage on the cards. A welcome change from other UD products.

Pack 7 - McKee, Ryder, Fahey, Grahame, Johan Holmqvist, Patrice Bergeron Bruins checklist, UD propaganda card
Upperdeckkids.com is a sad, sad website. "Hey kids, go buy $5000 in cards, then you can get an Upper Deck hat!!!!". They should be ashamed. Instead, they laugh like little girls......... no offense to little girls. But grown men should not dance like you unless you're dancing with them.

Pack 8 - Michalek, Gionta, Hedican, Gerber, Robert Lang O-Pee-Chee Swatches jersey, Nate Thompson RC
Well, there's the jersey card. Certainly not the best pull of the lot, but looking at the checklist, I avoided Arron Asham, David Aebischer, Marc Denis, Manny Fernandez, Manny Legace..... I didn't get the worst one, but there are better ones out there.

Pack 9 - Cheechoo, Nilson, Michael Holmqvist, Cleary, Vokoun, Patrick Coulombe RC
I'm still mad at Cheechoo for putting out Stu Barnes in last year's playoffs. Without Stuuuuuuu, the Stars just weren't the same team. Speaking of the Stars, we're 9 packs in, and none have appeared aside from Richards and Johan Holmqvist in their Lightning jerseys.

Pack 10 - Kobasew, Thibault, Olli Jokinen, Matt Bradley, Sydor, Letang/Seabrook Rookie Showdown
Sydor is pictured in a Stars jersey. I still have a spot for him because of the Cup run and the Finals run the next year, but this incarnation of Sydor as a Star.... well, I don't acknowledge its existence. The Rookie Showdown card is very nice.

Pack 11 - Kozlov, Gelinas, Ott, Burns, Gomez, Peter Harrold RC
Steve Ott, Stars superpest! I noticed that there's no height, weight, hometown, and handedness on the back of the card, just another large O-Pee-Chee banner. That and the Ott card has stopped me from wondering who Peter Harrold is, and what he's doing in an NHL set.

Pack 12 - Gratton, Brule, Straka, McLean, Shelley, Wade Redden Stat Leaders
The Stat Leaders is an odd card. The font screams "Old Wyoming!", but there is a picture of an obviously drunk or coked-up player on there. Yes, Redden is rumoured to be a fan of the nose candy. Maybe now that he's in New York and Emery is in Russia about to be targeted by the Russian mafia, Redden will straighten up. Then again, he's rich and in New York.

Pack 13 - Alfredsson, Pratt, Wayne Primeau, Nash, Garon, Michael Ryan RC
Michael Ryan is an old draft pick of the Dallas Stars. 8 years ago. I wouldn't bet money on him being around the league long.

Pack 14 - Arnott, Wesley, Pandolfo, Fedoruk, Liles, UD propaganda card, Patrick Marleau Sharks checklist
Marleau is a fellow Saskatchewan-born person, so I hate to say bad things about him..... but why is he captain of the Sharks? Then again, it's him or Slow-Mo-Joe Thornton, so maybe it's a theme.

Pack 15 - Westcott, Morris, Laperriere, Goc, Bochenski, Alexei Mikhnov RC
It's a strange thing, but cards 4 and 5 in every pack are somewhat stuck together. It makes no sense, but it's a fact.

Pack 16 - Turco, Budaj, Jagr, Zubov, Selanne, Hall Worthy Sidney Crosby
Well this is a great pack. Two Dallas Stars, Selanne has been a favourite since the Jet days, and Sidney Crosby to value out the pack. Relish..... relish....... relish...... ok, I'm done.

Pack 17 - Nolan, Visnovsky, LeClair, Marchant, De Vries, Mike Card RC
I do not like Todd Marchant. I just don't. Maybe he is a great guy that saves kittens from burning buildings and recycles like a madman, but I just don't like him. I should meet him one day, and if he turns out to be a jerk, I'll just tell him that. It would be awkward if he cried after that. But somewhat funny too.

Pack 18 - Samuelsson, Halpern, Sturn, Jurcina, Sullivan, Thoresen/Steen Rookie Showdown
Patrick Thoresen...... I can't see that name without wincing. I wonder if he was able to keep his..... ummm..... boy? Loved how Glenn Healy called him out for being a wuss, then we found out Thoresen had an injured testicle. Hey Healy, let's shoot one at your wedding tackle and see if you fall. My money is on you puking and crying for your mommy.

Pack 19 - Hemsky, Bernier, Mellanby, Hordichuk, Sillinger, David Mckee RC
First pack of the left stack of packs nets little. But the 4th and 5th cards were NOT stuck together. Hmm....

Pack 20 - Schaefer, Heward, Tomas Kaberle, Markkanen, Crosby, Ilya Bryzgalov Stat Leaders
Crosby packs are always cool. Saved a really yawn-inducing pack.

Pack 21 - Chara, Lilja, Hasek, Axelsson, Dupuis, Jeff Drouin-Deslauriers RC
4th and 5th cards were stuck together again. And why would you saddle your kids with the handle of the guy at the end. Not only is he a "who's that", how will they fit the name on a jersey? I'd say his mom likes him, but that might not be true considering how she let the name happen. Hopefully he has a girlfriend who will make him choose the name. Unless he's already married and his wife made him take her name too. Then he needs his testicles back from her purse. A world of possibilities, I say.

Pack 22 - Bergeron, Miettinen, Daniel Sedin, Ward, Cammalleri, Stastny/Svatos Rookie Showdown
I get cards of the Sedin sisters like you wouldn't believe. Stastny and Svatos are on the Divealanche, but it's a decent card.

Pack 23 - Wellwood, Handzus, Justin Williams, Lapointe, Lukowich, Martin Houle RC
Just realized that you can see through the back of the pack. Squint for the name, and you can avoid pulling Martin Houle cards.

Pack 24 - Olesz, Clemmensen, McCabe, Gleason, Winchester, UD propaganda card, Hall Worthy Eric Lindros
Ok....... much will be made about whether or not Eric Lindros is a hall of famer. Many see him as a bust. However, in terms of hall of fame membership, do we measure what a player did, or what a player didn't do that we thought he should have. 865 points in 760 games. Dominant for a few years. Cam Neely had 694 points in 726 games. Lindros has a Hart trophy, a Pearson trophy, and 6 all star games in 13 seasons. Neely had 5 all star games in 13 years, no trophies. Not necessarily comparing them, but there are many who say Neely is a hall of famer and Lindros absolutely is not. I say there isn't much difference in the two, aside from expectations. Although Lindros is pictured as a Dallas Star in this card, so I may be a little biased. Anyway.......

Pack 25 - Mikko Koivu, Floppa Forsberg, Martin Biron, Dempsey, McClement, Stefan Liv RC
Got both Koivus now. That's a relief. I was getting worried there. Yep. Downright frightened even.

Pack 26 - Yelle, Zidlicky, Taylor, Huselius, Stefan, Hall Worthy Keith Tkachuk
Keith Tkachuk vs Eric Lindros as a hall of famer? Tkachuk is American, so he's in.

Pack 27 - Bell, Zednik, Nieuwendyk, Rucchin, Wideman, Jean-Francois Racine RC
Any Stars Conn Smythe winner is good in my books. But there haven't been any Shane Doans in this box. Now THAT I'm getting concerned about.

Pack 28 - Kuba, Vyborny, Ryan Whitney, Boyle, Guerin, O'Brien/Beauchemin Rookie Showdown
Many teams have signed Bill Guerin to huge contracts expecting miracles. Instead, he contributes disappointments and a willingness to disappear without even being asked! Yet on the back of the card, after a 40 point season, the card back says "Guerin continues to be one of the most feared offensive players in the league". He must have a very good agent and an excellent PR team.

Pack 29 - Morrison, Breezeby, Lebda, Kelly, Lombardi, Alexander Edler RC
A decent rookie that I've heard of. With 100 rookies in the set, I can see how there would be a few commons. But this has been a little crazy.

Pack 30 - Pronger, Sjostrom, Tanguay, Begin, Salo, Ilya Kovalchuk Thrashers checklist
At some point in the near future, Atlanta will lose their hockey team due to the fact that they should not have been given one in the first place. At that point, Kovalchuk will go to a real team and be a force. That's a good thing.

Pack 31 - Stajan, Walker, Kilger, Holmstrom, Ranger, Drew Stafford RC
There's a good rookie. I'm still not thrilled, but......

Pack 32 - Khabibulin, Prospal, Mike Johnson, O'Donnell, Orpik, Bourdon/Phaneuf Rookie Showdown
Very sad about Bourdon's death. He was ready for a breakout season, and threw it away so he could ride a motorcycle. I don't get it. Yes, he was just a kid, but he was a kid with a future most can only dream about.

Pack 33 - Larose, Fisher, Hamrlik, York, Corvo, David Booth RC
I just have nothing to say. I hope there's a Doan in the next 3 packs.

Pack 34 - Hartnell, Kapanen, Carney, Numminen, Conroy, UD propoganda card, Curtis Joseph Hall Worthy
Hey, Larry Murphy and Bernie Federko are in the hall. Any NHL player should take solace in that.

Pack 35 - Eaton, Havelid, Lindros, Ponikarovsky, Sanderson, Michael Blunden RC
A pack full of people who have played in the National Hockey League. How splendid.

Pack 36 - Pettinger, Dandenault, Savard, Jovanovski, Zubrus, Mike Modano Stars checklist
Cool on the Modano! But yet another Doan-less box.

Well, I don't have much to say anymore. I had fun opening it, got a bunch of rookies and inserts, which is more than I can say for most of the stupid retail blasters I open. However, I can say with confidence that if I went back to the store tomorrow and did this with another box, I probably would do better than this. Then again, who knows. I can't say I'm that disappointed, but I'll have to go buy a Doan card on eBay to make things a bit better. Nonetheless, if you're a dedicated pack ripper, a box of 06-07 O-Pee-Chee satisfies the craving. There are worse boxes to open, that I will say. If you need to open packs, give one a try.

Packs and packs and packs

So last time I bought packs, it was a 12 pack of random retail with "one game worn jersey or autograph" per plastic pack. Got pretty much nothing, and upon seeing the ones at my local Toys R Us tonight that were messed around so you could see the jersey/auto...... well, I wasn't going that route again. Instead, another 11 pack blaster of 07-08 Fleer Hot Prospects, two retail packs of 07-08 MVP, and one retail pack of 07-08 Artifacts. Not expecting much from the packs, and I've already reviewed the Hot Prospects, so it's time to open!

Artifacts pack - Tucker, Kariya, Vanek, Frolov, Latendresse
I guess it was $1.98 for a reason. Still, very nice LOOKING cards.

MVP pack 1 - Arnason, Campbell, Spezza, Kessel, Pronger, Biron, Vlasic, Matt Ellis RC, UD propoganda card
.......... it's best we move on from this.

MVP pack 2 - Jagr, Sillinger, Jackman, Boyle, Marleau, Huet, Rookie Redemption Card!!!!!, UD propoganda, Zach Stortini RC
The redemption card is good for a 3 card pack of rookies from the 07-08 season. There are 30 cards in the set, and some good ones.

On to the Hot Prospects packs......
Pack 1 - Fedorov, Stafford, Vokoun, Marleau
Stafford is an ex-UND Sioux player and Marleau is a fellow Saskatchewanite, so that's cool. I'm reaching. Far.

Pack 2 - Kopitar, Zetterberg, Lehtonen, Perry
Moving right along......

Pack 3 - Blake, Hejduk, Bernier, Latendresse
Bernier is the newest Vancouver Canuck............. uhhhh.......

Pack 4 - Emery, Brodeur, Alfredsson, Lundqvist
Alfredsson..... every time I think of him, I think of Mike Richards from the Fan 960 radio station in Calgary. They get someone to do a mock Steve Armitage from CBC that's absolute gold. To fake Armitage, Alfredsson is just "Alfred". Bad story on my part, but worth a listen.

And the first four packs have been crap.

Pack 5 - Luongo, Giguere, Briere, Toskala
3 goalies! We're almost halfway, and that's not a good thing.

Pack 6 - Tucker, Fleury, Jagr, Ovechkin
Ovechkin is the best card I've pulled so far. I've also not fallen down the stairs today. I'm equally excited about both.

Pack 7 - Radulov, Lecavalier, Gagne, Pronger
I'm starting to sweat.

Pack 8 - Turco, Horton, Savard, DiPietro
The first Dallas Star of the packs!!!

Pack 9 - Spezza, Staal, Samsonov, Drury
No comment.

Pack 10 - Huet, Sakic, Naslund, Satan
One more left.

Pack 11 - Miller, Sedin, Getzlaf, Phaneuf
Anger.

Far and away, that is the WORST blaster I have ever opened. And that is saying something, because I have opened some duds in my time. In fact, the "one game worn/auto guaranteed" per plastic pack would have been a far better choice. The only thing that saves me anger is the rookie redemption card, and that's not exactly huge.

I like the blaster boxes because they're relatively inexpensive. But increasingly, they are providing little to no value, or big value - you get a home run, or absolutely nothing. And more often then not, it's nothing. In this one, there isn't even an insert card. Just 44 commons. And I suppose if you look at it as 50 cents per common, it's not as bad. But it's still not worth the money I paid for it, because these commons mean nothing to me.

I have to take my own advice - I have to stick to eBay, and instead of buying blasters, buy hobby boxes, and sometimes, the prices are similar......

2002-03 Pacific Quest for the Cup hobby box

There are times when the latest and greatest just gets........ old, if only for a moment. Sometimes one years for something just a few years back, for "new" variety.

Pacific Trading Cards manufactured hockey cards from 1997-98 to 2004-05. Throughout their history, they were known as the company who were bold enough to try new things. Cards with strange die-cuts, parallel sets, cards with netting inserts...... you name it, they tried it. Some things failed, some things were....... well, really cool. They were also willing to be wide open enough to admit when they were wrong. Michael Cramer, Pacific's founder, railed against Upper Deck's idea to insert game used hockey jersey pieces into hockey cards, saying it was a fad that wouldn't last. Then, he realized something - people really, really liked it.

So sure enough, in 1999-00 Omega, a late surprising addition was a jersey card - one in every 5 boxes (1:180 packs). Not only was this the first jersey cards for Pacific, but the pack insertion rate was better than UD's (1:288)! After that, Pacific broke out the first jersey-in-every-pack set with Private Stock, and the hobby has never been the same. So while their efforts were often panned - many people HATED the parallel cards they used to do - one cannot say that they were boring. Upper Deck? Boring. In The Game? Less boring, but product prices that were crazy for the offering.

When you opened a pack of Pacific cards, you knew that you were likely to get something. A parallel, a neat insert, and memorabilia cards that were attainable at a decent pack price. Yes, the aftermarket prices were rarely high, but for pack rippers like myself, the rewards were almost always high with Pacific. The only possible knock was a lack of autographed cards. You didn't hit home runs, but you rarely got shut out. I really do wish they were still around. Upper Deck cards are simply boring. They use the same concepts every year with subtle changes. They could do revolutionary things never seen before. But why do that when you can do the same thing over and over again and violate the card collectors of the world? In The Game does a few different things - they have to without an NHL license, but their cards all look the same to me, and always have.

With this in mind, when I saw a box of 2002-03 Pacific Quest for the Cup hobby on eBay for a decent price, I decided to get it. Rookies 1:5 packs, gold parallels 1:5 packs, jerseys 1:9, Pacific Complete subset 1:1, Calder Contenders 1:13, Chasing the Cup 1:5, ITECH Masks 1:25, and Raising the Cup 1:9. So really...... with 24 packs, there's something in every pack. There should be 3 jerseys in 2 out of every 3 boxes. Ooooooooh......... and Marty Turco autographs numbered out of 500 randomly inserted. For a Stars fan like myself, this is the big hit.

So even though it's 24 packs...... I'm doing a pack by pack! Here we go. (player - C means the Pacific Complete card)

Pack 1 - Leetch C, Ronning, Brent Johnson, Spezza Calder Contenders, Zhamnov, Vokoun
All names I know. Shiny cards. I really do like them.

Pack 2 - Boughner C, Gaborik, Demitra, Heatley Chasing the Cup, Thibault, Biron
...... ok, an Atlanta Thrashers Chasing the Cup card? Odd. Kind of like a Vancouver (ok, Memphis) Grizzles NBA Championship Hopefuls card.

Pack 3 - Holmstrom C, Fernandez, Lidstrom, Gagne Gold 091/325, Fleury, O'Neill
The gold card is sweet. Fleury's card drunkenly tried to swing its stick at me when I opened the pack. Then it mooned me. Weird. Actually, looking at it, it IS an odd one. He's got a "You got a problem with me?" look on his face. That, or he just soiled himself and is too embarrassed to say so.

Pack 4 - Yelle C, Dupuis, Joseph, Eric Godard RC 053/950, Daze, Kovalchuk
I'm looking for the Spezza, Nash, or Zetterberg rookies. Eric Godard's mom might be looking for him, but I'm certainly not.

Pack 5 - Marshall C, Potvin, Hull, Shanahan Raising the Cup, Havlat, Heatley
For foil cards, the base cards have far less chipping than I expected, but the insert cards are a little banged up. Just something I noticed.

Pack 6 - Fedoruk C, Roy, Kapanen, Mark Messier jersey card (blue swatch), Burke, Hossa
I'm far from a Messier fan, but pulling a jersey card of a hall of famer is never a bad thing. And not nearly as easy to pick out of packs as UD packs.

Pack 7 - Kraft C, Shanahan, Fedorov, Kovalchuk Chasing the Cup, Bonk, Ozolinsh
Ok..... seriously..... TWO Atlanta Thrasher Chasing the Cup inserts????? Yes, I suppose they wanted as many Heatley and Kovalchuk cards as possible, but come on..... the Thrashers are due to win the Cup in NEVER years. Anyway.....

Pack 8 - Wallin C, Cloutier, Turgeon, Langenbrunner gold 079/325, Alfredsson, Kariya
The first Dallas Star I pull is Pierre Turgeon. Nice. And by that I mean "thanks for the kick in the junk". That being said, the gold card of Langenbrunner - who should STILL be a Dallas Star - kind of makes up for it.

Pack 9 - Richardson C, Bertuzzi, St Louis, Rick Nash RC 394/950, Messier, Giguere
One of the big RC hits of the box. I'm a big Nash fan, so this is a great pull. Between the Nash and the Messier, the value paid for the box has been hit. Upper Deck, are you reading this???????

Pack 10 - Holik C, Sundin, Lecavalier, Forsberg Raising the Cup, Lindros, Legwand...... and a small piece of card
Thinking of the Avs raising the Cup is nauseating. Not Oilers raising the Cup nauseating, but I would turn the channel. The note in this pack is the 1/18 size piece of card. Looks like it belongs on the end of the Legwand, but my card is full size, so...... hmmm..... next pack?

Pack 11 - Perrault C, Lehtinen, Roenick, Joe Thornton jersey (white, with slight puck stain?), Hedberg, Cechmanek
Two notable things - first current Dallas Star, and the Thornton jersey (I pulled a black Thornton jersey piece out of this product in 2003). This likely means this is a 3 jersey box.

Pack 12 - Pronger C, Mogilny, Khabibulin, Thornton Chasing the Cup, Denis, Zednik
Two Thrasher Chasing the Cup cards, and one Bruin. Wow. Really, if I collected Joe Thornton cards, I would rarely have to buy them on the secondary market. For some reason, I pull his cards out of packs constantly - patches included.

Pack 13 - Sanderson C, Palffy, Nabokov, Ronning Gold 264/325, Francis, Perrault
Pack 1 of the right side of the box is easily the worst of the box. Oh well, 11 more to go!

Pack 14 - Hlavac C, Allison, Salo, Dennis Seidenberg RC 361/950, Turek, Koivu
Pack 2 isn't much better.

Pack 15 - Demitra C, Luongo, Comrie, Ales Kotalik Calder Contenders, Iginla, Satan
The Calder Contenders cards are well done.

Pack 16 - Chelios C, Jokinen, Carter, Naslund Chasing the Cup, Drury, Thornton
Ok, in 2002-03, with the NOTABLE exception of Dan Cloutier, the Canucks could have been considered Cup contenders. Certainly far more than the Bruins or Thrashers.

Pack 17 - Turgeon C, Lemieux, Gagne, Olaf Kolzig jersey (white, with slight puck stain again?), Forsberg, Lalime
So likely no Stars jersey, but you won't find me complaining much more than that. 3 nice looking memorabilia cards. And the Turco auto is still possible!

Pack 18 - Khabibulin C, Smyth, Yzerman, Naslund Gold 220/325, Kovalev, Murray
The Khabibulin is the first damaged card of the box. Upper Deck, again, are you reading this????

Pack 19 - Sean Pronger C, Nylander, Guerin, Jim Fahey RC 933/950, Bure, Hackett
Hmmm. I think we'll just move on from here.

Pack 20 - Shanahan C, Kolzig, Whitney, Jagr Raising the Cup, Yashin, Langenbrunner
Jagr won't be raising the Cup anytime soon.

Pack 21 - Bierk C, Jagr, Weight, Kariya Chasing the Cup, Peca, Friesen
Finally a Chasing the Cup that is worthy of the card.

Pack 22 - Blake C, Naslund, Tkachuk, Radovan Somik RC Gold 046/325, DiPietro, Elias
Gold RC? Glad the Nash wasn't.

Pack 23 - Daze C, Modano (yeehaw), Amonte, Chistov Calder Contenders, Hejduk, Turco (......... non-auto)
Two Dallas Stars in a pack is a good thing. Was a little excited when I saw the Turco....... no auto is disappointing, but a Turco card is good.

Pack 24 - Gill C, Morrison, Stillman, Jay Bouwmeester RC 151/950, Blake, Brodeur
Solid final pack. Bouwmeester is a mid-range rookie in the set, certainly not the worst one you could get.


That was a good box of cards. Something to look at in every pack, and very good value. I do rant on and on about Upper Deck. And boxes like this strengthen my distaste for them. Why can they not offer a decent product loaded with inserts and memorabilia at a decent price? The only result I can come up with is that they simply don't have to. If you want NHL cards, you will buy Upper Deck cards, even if they are too expensive.

The more I see this, the more I realize that I might just buy my packs on eBay. The blasters I buy are in the $24.99 range. This box was $40 with shipping from Quebec. Take a look at the H&P blaster above, and compare it to this box. I didn't get near the $24.99 for the H&P. I eclipsed the $40 easily. When I open this, I get the urge to stop feeding the UD propaganda box machine and go with these, buying the current cards online.

Nonetheless, this is not about Upper Deck. This is about celebrating an old company that was a good one for my collecting years. Much maligned by many, but a great one in my mind. I will again buy a Pacific box somewhere, and let the memories - and value! - live again.

It's been a while

So I haven't given up collecting, but it's certainly a little more sparse. Upper Deck is again flooding the market, and using almost the same things as last year with different designs. Still overpriced. I've been collecting O-Pee-Chee (the bastardized UD version, of course) because it's relatively cheap, and the buyback cards are cool - they bought cards from previous O-Pee-Chee releases back to..... well, who knows when, but I've pulled a couple from the 80's, including one that was autographed! Nice product, very recommended for the price point. My local dealer actually refuses to let me buy several of the UD products. They are THAT bad.

But I'm a collector, and I like to try new things. 2007-08 Fleer Hot Prospects hockey just came out. Nice looking set, and it seems like there are a lot of hits. I have a blaster retail box sitting here (10 packs plus 1 BONUS pack!!! Why they can't just say 11 packs I don't know.....), and those that collect know the drill on these. You might hit a long shot, you might get nothing. Thankfully, you don't pay much.

HP's major attraction every year are autographed rookie patch cards and a load of memorabilia and inserts. One might call it a poor man's SPx, but one would be generous in saying that. It's one of those sets that has its fans, but many ignore it completely. I like the set myself - but again, like other UD offerings, it's too expensive for what you get.

Anyway, time for the pack by pack. Will I get gold, or golden bladder water? We'll find out.

(First thing I notice on opening the box? Packs in these are usually pretty unruffled and evenly set. Not this one. Looks like it was packed by a monkey. Anyway.......)

Pack 1 - Satan, Naslund, Koivu, Hasek
A friend of mine is a Naslund collector. He'll have a new card. Kind of disconcerting for the first card to be the player whose last name is the same as..... well, you know.

Pack 2 - Kariya, Parise, Getzlaf, Phaneuf
Nice clean design on the cards. Limited use of foil, done very well. 3 good young players in the pack. Could be worse. And if I was a betting man, I would say there WILL be worse.

Pack 3 - Hemsky, Carter, Roloson, Jokinen
Wow. Already. If I were a betting man, I would be rich. With these 4 cards INCLUDING two Edmonton Coiler players, this is the bottom of the barrel for me.

Pack 4 - Shanahan, Williams, Weight, Gaborik
Shanahan, Weight, and Gaborik would probably be a devastating line.
They are also provide devastatingly low value for this pack.

Pack 5 - Nash, Jarret Stoll 2 colour Hot Materials jersey, Gionta
.........ok. Clearly someone is playing collecting tricks on me. I HATE the Edmonton Oilers almost as much as I like any other sports team. But if I am to pull an autograph or game used memorabilia card, there is seriously a 50% chance it's an Oiler. Stoll is from my old home town, and eventually he will leave Edmonton for a place that doesn't suck so badly, so I'll let this one slide. Nice looking card anyway.

Pack 6 - Khabibulin, Mason, Vyborny, Arnott
Huh.

Pack 7 - Hossa, Guerin, Cheechoo, Tanguay
No Shane Doan or Dallas Star cards yet. That would make me upset.

Pack 8 - Sakic, Miller, Ovechkin, Gagne
Ovechkin is cool.

Pack 9 - Daniel Sedin, Gionta, Pronger, Savard
A double (Gionta) already???????? Upper Deck still has no idea how to collate cards.

Pack 10 - Mikko Koivu, SHAAAAAAAANE DOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN!!!!, DiPietro, Samsonov
A Shane Doan card that I don't have redeems almost any box. At least that's what I tell myself.

Pack 11 - Cheechoo Hot Commodities insert #841/999, Drury, Kiprusoff, Pitkanen
Wow, even gone to cheap dot matrix style inkjet printing of serial numbers rather than gold foil. Shame shame, UD.

So what is there to say? 10% of the box was Oilers, which sucks most of all. 1 jersey, 1 insert, and one Doan. No Dallas Stars. No rookies. I would call it a dud, but then again, there's no odds on the box, which probably means that I struck....... oh crap, I didn't even think of this........ oil! I did strike Oil, didn't I. Hardeeharhar. Anyway, when UD puts no odds on the box this year, it means "good luck finding anything in here". Since jerseys/patches in the hobby box version are 1:5 packs, this is probably somewhere, oh I don't know, 1:144 or something. The UD series 2 blaster, instead of hobby's 1:12 pack jersey run, was 1:240!!!! I'm hoping that's a typo......

Anyway, certainly not the worst box I've ever had. Considering that a hobby box of this is running $65 on eBay - which with shipping is about 2 or 3 of these blasters.... - I would be better off spending the extra cash and getting that instead of another one of these. In fact, I just might. Then again, the new UD Ice looks nice...... but that sucked last time. I'm not that bright nor perceptive though.

I do have a retro box coming my way which should be fun to open........

And it arrives!

Well, I didn't get a box. But I got more than one pack - I got 8 packs of 06/07 SPx. This would retail for about $120 (the customs declaration on the package said $19 US..... are they gouging us that much, or trying to save me the duty?) so getting them for just the price of yelling at Upper Deck is pretty much worth it. The packs were in a #0 bubble mailer, just basically loose. I'm not really impressed by that, but the packs appear undamaged, so I'm not exactly upset either.

SPx has always been a more premier product. They started as inserts in the regular UD in the early 90s, then graduated to their own set. These days, it contains some of the more sought after rookie cards, at least until SP Authentic and the ultra high end sets come out. A box should have 1 rookie jersey, 1 autographed rookie jersey, 1 Winning Materials jersey card, and 2 numbered inserts, not to mention regular rookie cards and parallels galore. So with a game used card 1:6 packs, I should technically get one in these packs. And since these are more or less a promotion to a new or disgruntled customer, I would bet that UD would do what they can to make this somewhat worth my while.

Pack 1 - Eric Lindros, Dave Bolland RC 0187/1999, Pavel Datsyuk, Jaromir Jagr
Nice looking cards, although maybe a touch over the top. Lots of foil - some people like it, some don't - and the picture on the back is just a headshot from the picture on the front, which is a little strange for a high end product. Not particularly thick card stock either. But high end cards that are free. So I'm fine with it.

Pack 2 - Brian Gionta, Shaaaaaaaaaaane Dooooooaaaaaaaan!!!!!!!!!!!!!, Cam Ward, Alexei Yashin
A Doan in a pack for a Doan collector like me is super cool. And I need it for my collection. 3 other spuds, but the Doan makes up for it (for me anyways, likely not for others). And a message for the Dishonourable Denis Coderre..... get a life, and stop the baseless accusations against an innocent man. Don't get me started on this.......

Pack 3 - Petr Prucha, Chris Pronger, Jean-Sebastien Giguere, Sergei Fedorov, and a UD Kids propaganda card, likely also inserted to discourage pack searching
If I paid $15 for that, I would be highly displeased.

Pack 4 - Henrik Lundqvist, Lanny McDonald SPXcitement 375/999, Keith Tkachuk, Brenden Morrow
An insert, a Dallas Star, and an ex-Jet make this an ok pack for me. McDonald helmet looks like it could be one of those new foam gardening shoes. Pretty funny.

Pack 5 - Marek Svatos, Scott Gomez, Henrik Zetterberg, Marc-Antoine Pouliot Dual Jersey Auto 1269/1999
Nice! Two colour swatches on both pieces. But he's an Oiler. And I hate the Oilers. And there is a lightly damaged corner on the upper left. Oh well. Looks nice anyway.

Pack 6 - Peter Forsberg, Martin Havlat, Roberto Luongo, Kari Lehtonen, and a UD Kids propaganda card
The Luongo is a cool looking card. The blue is the best colour on these cards.

Pack 7 - Brad Boyes, Mark Recchi, Joffrey Lupul, Olaf Kolzig
Wow. That's worse than pack 3. And that was bad. So worse is like..... wow.

Pack 8 - Dany Heatley, Jonathan Cheechoo, Mike Ribeiro, Miikka Kiprusoff
Ribiero in a Habs uniform with a Dallas Stars notation. An odd looking card.

Well, SPx are pretty decent looking cards, and they were fun to open. But I'll be honest with you, if I paid $130 for this stack, I would not be pleased in the slightest. Luckily, the box prices have come down considerably - they're between $75-$90 US on eBay. I guess when 18 packs have 2 more jerseys you might do ok, but I did get the auto dual jersey, which would be the king. And Pouliot is selling for under $10 on eBay, so there you go. If you get a Malkin or one of the other more limited jerseys, you're well ahead. But if you don't...... well, do have fun opening the packs.

So while I wouldn't be pleased if I paid $130, or $85, or $90, or whatever, the fact is that I paid nothing for these packs. It was an olive branch from Upper Deck for the crap that they put me through. It was a nice gesture, I'll give them that, but it took them a little long to get to this point, and a lot of aggravation. If I were not so crazy about collecting, I might have given up and gotten nothing, and discontinued my card collection entirely. 8 packs of SPx isn't a Gretzky rookie, but it's something, and it half restores my faith in Upper Deck.

It doesn't inspire me to spend $90 on a box of SPx, but......

Huh. Well then. Isn't THAT odd.

So UD tells me they're sending me "SPx unopened product". Pack, packs, box...... whatever, I like getting unopened product anytime.

Especially considering what I got in the mail today.

Shane Doan Scoring Kings Auto Jersey 13/20.

The one I wasn't supposed to get because it doesn't exist. The one I was apparently already compensated for.

Looks mighty cool for an invisible card.

See..... this is what happens when your customer service and redemption program needs a serious overhaul. Having it online is good - but if you have a computer guy on staff who can create a back end for it that actually helps you track who's been sent what, you can make it great. One where someone would KNOW what I got for what, and one where they would KNOW that I AM getting the Doan /20.

Instead, they're wasting time and money sending me product. Hey, I win in the end, but really, this is symptomatic of the UD monopoly - right now, I'm not sure they know what's going on. They're just flying by the seats of their pants. I haven't mentioned this yet..... but they did not once try to verify my identity or my claims. Really, it makes me wonder if some random person would fire off an angry e-mail about crap they received for a redemption, and if they could get free product out of it. I'm a call centre manager myself, and really...... secretly I would LOVE to move to UD and get their shit in order. I have a passion for cards, and I love the call centre industry. Anyway........

All this being said....... well, assuming I get the SPx too at this point, I turn into a happy customer again. In all honesty, with the unopened as a topper (especially if it's a whole box), they have more than compensated me for the timeframe I had to wait for. I did have to spend a whole lot of time and aggravation over it, but they have actually acknowledged it. And maybe that's the bottom line. If I'm happy and tell people I'm happy, maybe sending me a box that costs them $40 US to create does the trick for them. I certainly know a lot of collectors and dealers, and when I told them I was getting unopened product, all of them had a slightly restored faith in UD.

I don't know. Maybe they're customer service geniuses. Or maybe they just don't know what the hell they're doing and they're just dumbass lucky. I'd probably side with the latter, but when money isn't much of an object, I suppose it's all relative.

Update

I've now sent Upper Deck about 12903849028 e-mails on the redemption replacements I received. A synopsis:

• I say "Here's some facts. You sent me 25% of the value I was waiting for, and you didn't give me the chance to make any sort of input on that, despite the fact you told me you would"
• They say? "Well, we think you got enough"
• Me: "No, it's clear that I didn't."
• Them: "You did. Too bad."
• "Not good enough. Tell me why you think it is."
• "We know a guy who watches hockey. He says it is."
• "Ok..... can I buy his collection then?"

This final exchange actually led to another guy getting involved. I figure some sort of supervisor, because the tone and the ante changed. It was obvious that the knob I was dealing with was tired of me, and had no intention nor power to help me.

This guy expressed regret at what occurred, and told me that redemptions were final. He did tell me that he could arrange for me to be sent something extra. I told him that I understood the business reasons for the exchange, but that their process absolutely sucks. They need to learn a bit more customer service. I also emphasized my frustration, and the fact that I was considering just stopping collecting altogether....... (I get sad every time I write that. I'm not sure I could do that. Hopefully I won't have to.)

As per the old e-mails, I told him the 5 players or other stuff I might look for as an addition. He replied that although he could not get single cards, he DID have the ability to send me unopened product without a problem.

I told him that I would be ok with unopened product, especially those with a few Shane Doans in it. He responded quickly asking which ones those were - I thought that was a little strange, I would think it would be easy to look up for him. But no matter, he asked and I thought that was kind of cool. So I told him my first choice was Artifacts, since that's parallel city. I gave him a couple of other options, both higher end. Basically, I don't want him to send me Victory or something like that.

Am I giving up? Kind of, I guess. I can rest easy knowing that I tried everything to get what I wanted, but if it's not there, it's not there. If I'm not getting Doans, I want to get something good in return. And if you read the rest of my blogs, you know that I like unopened product! And really, UD would much rather send out unopened product. They can write it off as "promotional", and leave the replacement cards for other redemptions. So I guess we're meeting in the middle.

So we'll see. Maybe I'll get a pack of something, maybe a retail blaster, maybe even a whole box. Right now, although my hopes for something good are pretty high, my expectations have been riddled with bullets for too long. This was the first time I've talked to Upper Deck where there was actually some semblance of a solution being presented that would be somewhat customer service based. And with him actually bothering to ask which products feature Doan cards prominently, I'm at least a little impressed that he cared enough to ask.

WHAT THE F........?

So.

In the past few weeks, looking up my two Doans on the Upper Deck redemption site, I see that they are complete, and being shipped. I thought well holy crap they're finally removed their heads from their collective asses. So I sit, awaiting the package. It arrived today.

I open with anticipation to hope to find:
05-06 UD Ice Glacial Graphs Shane Doan (Book Value $10)
05-06 Fleer Ultra Scoring Kings Auto Jersey Shane Doan ##/20 (No book value due to low numbering, but these usually run in the $50 range or so)

.................... I RECEIVE:
In lieu of the first:
05-06 UD Ice Glacial Graphs Ryan Kesler (Book Value $10)
- I hate not getting the Doan, but this IS proper book value, so I guess....... well no, I'm kinda pissed.

In lieu of the second
05-06 UD Ice Fresh Ice Glass Henrik Zetterberg (Book Value $12)
- I was stunned for about 3 seconds. Then, cage rattling, fire breathing fury. What in the flying hell are they thinking??????????

A math lesson for UD:
$10 = $10 - yay, you got that right.
$12 <> $50+ - idiots.

How can this company continue to do business this way? How can the NHL be SO STUPID as to allow these assholes their only contract? The problem is that both know that we are lemmings, and if we want NHL cards, this is the shit we need to put up with.

(Something you should know about me. I don't like profanity. If I use it, especially in typing it, I'm extremely angry)

I've fired off an angry e-mail to UD. It likely won't do anything except earn me more excuses. I'll also send an e-mail to the NHL. I can't imagine more than a canned response in return.

At this point in time, for the first time in my life, I'm ready to pack it in. I love hockey cards, but I simply cannot support a company that treats its customers this badly. I've already slowed my buying considerably. Will I stop? I doubt it. I won't include redemptions in my Doan collection anymore, that's for sure. I refuse to spend my money on cards that may or may not come my way.

I don't know. I don't have anything more to say. I held my hopes up (to me "autos in stock, cards being sent" means I'm getting what I asked for), and again, the useless bastards shit in my mouth. They continue to stun me with their incredible incompetence. Do I stop collecting altogether, change the way I collect, or just say screw it, this is how it is?

Retail return blister break...... "hodgepodge"

From Toys R Us in Nanaimo today, a 12 pack blister of retail return packs from Echo Brand Management. On sale for $14.99, just over $1 per pack. I know what you're thinking - retail packs are completely picked over. Well, I've bought these before and had bad experiences - the worst was when a few packs had obviously been bent. But I have pulled a few decent things, even game used cards.

Interesting one this time. They're normally within the past few years, but this one stretches all the way back to 1998. By pack, and comments..... when I have any.

Pack 1 - 1997-98 Score Pinnacle. Wow. As far as I remember, there were Dufex cards in here that looked pretty sweet. And we get - one card. By that I mean they're stuck together. Nice.

Jason Dawe, Owen Nolan, Hnat Domenichelli RC, Dino Ciccarelli, Martin Gelinas, Randy Cunneyworth, Valeri Kamensky, Kevin Hatcher, Curtis Joseph, Trevor Kidd, and a $10 discount on EA Sports NHL 98 (ummm.....cool)

Cards are ugly. That's about it.

Pack 2 - 1997-98 Pinnacle. Higher end, I guess. Insert with long odds - like 1:2250 packs for press plates, and 1:3888 for game used. My hopes aren't high. Let's see. Oh, and these are stuck together too.

Kevyn Adams RC, Steve Rucchin, Matthew Barnaby, Damian Rhodes, Mike Richter, Jason Allison, Chris Dingman RC, and a coupon to spent $7.99 US total on a screw down with "Pinnacle...Guaranteed Scarce" on it. Riiiiiiiiiiiiight.

Much nicer cards than the Score. A couple of RCs that are still in the league too. Pretty much worthless, but still......

Pack 3 - 1998-99 Pacific Dynagon Ice. Lots of Pacific-ky inserts.

Kevin Hatcher, Chris Gratton, Martin Straka, Jocelyn Thibault, Michael Peca

Difficult to look at, these are. And not just because of who I pulled - and after 7 years, 4 of the 5 players are in the league! Ok, sorry, I'm reaching again, aren't I.

Pack 4 - 1999-00 Pacific Paramount. A Paramount of inserts. More than you can handle.

Steve Konowalchuk Gold (1 per pack), Colin Forbes Holo-Gold 028/199 (supposed to be the 1 per pack copper), Bryan Berard, Markus Naslund, Paul Kariya, Curtis Brown

A decent pack for what you could get, I guess. As with most Pacific products, they tried to make the photos way too sharp, and so they appear a little funky.

Pack 5 - 1999-00 Pacific Omega. Pacific's first offering with jersey cards - after owner Mike Cramer said that it was a fad. After this, Pacific basically made jersey cards jump the shark - they put them in everything, and were the first to market with the 1 jersey per pack watermark. To the cards.

Sami Helenius/Brian Willsie RC, Jose Theodore, Alexei Kovalev, Brad Leeb/Alfie Michaud RC, Nikolai Antropov RC, Martin Biron RC

Did I mention that the jersey cards were 1:5 BOXES? Guess not. 4 rookies in a pack. Even heard of most of them.

Pack 6 - 2004-05 Pacific. The very last Pacific set before the NHL lockout, then UD took over the whole thing. Although Pacific didn't exactly make the nicest sets on the market, at least they tried some new things. And on opening a Pacific pack, you at least felt like you got something. And from the feast or famine in most sets from the last two years, that's significant.

Marc Savard, Sergei Zubov, Scott Walker, Dave Andreychuk red parallel (1 per pack), Steve Sullivan, JS Aubin, Gary Roberts.

A bit of an edit "And on opening a Pacific pack, you at least usually felt like you got something."

Pack 7 - 2005-06 UD Parkhurst. Ah yes. "The crap". "Feast or Famine". I'm betting on famine. Let's hope for a surprise.

Dallas Drake, Philippe Boucher, Stu Barnes, Brian Leetch, John Grahame, Kevyn Adams

Well, two Stars (favourite team). I've had worse Parkhurst packs.


Pack 8 - 2005-06 UD Parkhurst. Not a typo. 2 of them in here.

Jocelyn Thibault, Marek Zidlicky, Erik Christensen, Mike Cammaleri, Patrick Marleau, Andrew Raycroft, Crappy McCrapperson

The last card may have been my imagination.

Pack 9 - 2006-07 UD PowerPlay. Not nearly as good as the 05-06 version, I heard. So this is pack 1 of these for me.

Milan Hejduk, Jaromir Jagr, Masi Marjamaki RC (RCs seeded 1:4 packs), Eric Staal, Manny Fernandez, Hernik Sedin, card to potentially win a trip to Dallas for the All Star Game to be a stick boy (kinda old)

Cards aren't as nice as last year. Names are too small. I heard right, I think.

Pack 10 - 2006-07 UD MVP. I like these, already reviewed them!

Chris Clark, Steve Ott, Jamie Langenbrunner, Pierre Turgeon, Jussi Jokinen, Sergei Brylin, Todd White, Rick DiPietro International Icons insert

I collect Jokinens. Still like MVP.

Pack 11 - 2005-06 UD Ice. You're going to pull a Crosby or Ovechkin #/99 for thousands of dollars. Or a pack of cards containing NHL players or something resembling that.

Eric Lindros, David Aebischer, Nicklas Lidstrom, Brian Leetch, Kevin Weeks

The latter. Again. Still hate Ice.

Pack 12 - 2005-06 UD Rookie Update. The hobby version is good. Retail, not as good. Let's see.

Jarome Iginla, Nikolai Khabibulin, Grant Stevenson Black Diamond RC, Alexander Frolov, Eric Lindros

Not a bad pack. That's what the hobby version is like - names you know, and a rookie from a high end set.
______________________________

So....... as a pack ripping fan, this wasn't bad. I've gotten a lot less and spent a lot more, and I got to see lots of different cards. The Stevenson is an $8 card, and got a few others that I collect. I'm not displeased. Not thrilled either, but it is what it is.

The takeover continues

So according to the UD website, one of my Doan autos is FINALLY on its way after 8 months. We'll see how that goes.

Walked into the local card shop today, and what do I see? O-Pee-Chee! A blast back to my childhood, very exciting to see..... then I remembered. Only one company is authorized to make NHL cards this year. Which means Upper Deck owns the O-Pee-Chee name. Icky icky icky. But since it says O-Pee-Chee, I thought what the heck, let's give it a shot. At 10 packs for $20, it's decently priced, and from the samples he had in the store, it looked nice.


One big difference from the old days of OPC? Shiiiiiiny. Kind of a goldy bronze colour, very clean with a large O-Pee-Chee logo at the bottom, and another large one on the back. Aside from a UDC in the small print on the back (and no French with it, which would have been a nice touch), there isn't anything to suggest Upper Deck about this - they've made the O-Pee-Chees huge and the UD small. So that's good. One jersey per box (major difference from OPC), and one to two autographs per case. Parallels to 100, one shortprint/rookie per pack, 700 card set. In other words, Parkhurst from last year, but it's better, and not $3 a pack.

And I hate to give UD props, but these cards are pretty well done. Price point is fine, card fronts and backs capture a bit of the essence of OPC cards. The shiny is a little tougher to get used to,
but the simple design is pretty good. The set isn't all that much in terms of value, but for UD, that's not surprising. For a $65 box, you're getting just over 200 cards, with the one jersey, and 36 rookies/inserts/short print base cards. MVP might be a better buy in the end, but this certainly isn't UD's worst offering. I'd pick more up.

06/07 UD MVP, "The Monopoly" and "The Redemption Follies"

Well..... despite the fact that I felt a little dirty feeding the UD monopoly (I'll get to that in a bit.....) , I went out and purchased an MVP Blaster Box today. Decent looking product, 1 insert or rookie per pack, dual jerseys 1:24 packs, dual autos 1:288 packs. This blaster box had 12 packs, so I figured 6 rookies and 6 inserts, with a 1:2 chance for a jersey, and 1:24 chance for an auto. I don't think the numbered script variations are in the blasters, but I'm not completely sure.

I was going to do pack by pack, but I didn't think about it in time, so here's a quick recap. Nice clean looking cards, decent design. Got the 6 rookies as planned, but none are serious names. "Prospects" would be charitable. 4 defensemen though, and we know how valuable defensemen rookies are...... also 6 inserts. Also nice looking inserts, good photography, but a fair bit of foil, so if that's not your thing, then they might look kind of ugly I guess. I liked them though.

The topper was that I actually pulled a dual auto. The bad side of that is that it was Joffrey Lupul and Shawn Horcoff - from the Coilers. I HATE the Coilers. The good side is that I can likely sell it on eBay with no problem.

Would I buy it again? Probably. Decent value for the buck I think, the hobby version would also have the numbered cards, which would be even better. I'd recommend it over Victory, this year's Power Play (which by all accounts is garbage).... heck, I'd probably recommend it over regular UD this year, which has half the value of last year's, but the same price point. So I'd buy MVP, but begrudgingly. Why?

I've had it with Upper Deck. I've had it with their complete abuse of their monopoly. I've had it with their putrid bank-like customer service. I've had it with their abandonment of the hockey card collectors in favour of pure profit. Each of their products this year has less in it than last year, but is at or above the price of last year's. I understand that Crosby and Ovechkin aren't coming around every year, so they can't really be blamed for lower secondary value. But dropping the number of autos and memorabilia in the base UD when series 2 last year was already received as crap makes no sense when the price point is exactly the same. UD's response to me would be something like "Well, then don't buy it. We're not forcing you to." (Technically, Gary Bettman and his sock puppet assistants are, but.....) Fine. I won't buy it.

Redemptions. The stories from the past with UD is that if they were unable to provide the product to you within 12 weeks, you would receive riches. They were so upset with not being able to provide the cards to you that they would basically give you whatever you wanted so that you would continue to buy their cards. Now? Well....... I have two redemptions waiting. One for 6 months, one for 8 months. Both Shane Doans, which I bought on the secondary market to supplement my Doan collection. So really, that's what I want.

E-mail #1 to UD, at the 16 week mark, as they instruct, asking if there is any possible update to when or if I will get my cards. Response? "Unfortunately no, let us know if you want to exchange." No "Please accept our apologies for being short sighted" or anything. Not even "HAHAHAHHA We're Upper Deck, in terms of hockey, we answer to NO ONE!!!! HAHAHAHAHA". Just a "Your collection doesn't matter to us in the least. If you take something different, you'll stop bothering us and rejoin the rest of the blind doddering herd who are forced to eat our crap and like it." So instead of starting a war with morons and risk being pulled down to their level and being defeated by experience, I wait. I don't want exchanges. I bought these for a reason.

Then 06-07 Series 1 appears. It's the same thing as normal, of course, just less with it. And the same price as always. So I check eBay, and see a Signature Sensation card of Shane Doan with a sticker auto on it - like the stickers on the cards I apparently can't receive!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! My hair catches fire. I need cards with the sticker autos. They say I can't have them yet. They have NEW cards with stickers. I send an e-mail back to UD asking them what in the blue hell is going on. This is crazy.

Response? Wait for it...... "We can send you a replacement." Grr. Apparently I give them a list of 5 players - ones of equal or comparable Beckett value to the ones I'm getting. If they don't have one from those players, shipping just sends a random one of comparable Beckett value. I look at the e-mail and blink. For a long time. How EXACTLY is that customer service for a player collector? What use would I have for a Ryan Smyth auto jersey card - because with my luck, they'd send an Oiler card.

Not acceptable.

Next e-mail tells them so. I collect Doans, so unless you're sending me something of great value that I can sell on eBay and buy more Doans, I'm not biting and gambling on what you think is the same. I ask that they explain why this is the case - explain that there are new autos out when old ones go unfilled. The response is that it's contractual - players can be upset with their contract one year, love it the next, so they will sign all the cards from one year and not the other. The problem is that this is a sticker. Not a card. So take an 06-07 sticker, frikkin put it on my 05-06's and frikkin send them to me. If they still had no Doan stickers, I could place some blame on him, but they obviously have restocked.

So UD is basically telling me that it's not happening. So I ask.... any other Doans in stock? Well..... stock changes daily *of course*, so no idea. That's why we want your list of alternates, so we can screw you over and laugh, because hey..... we're the only game in town now! If you want to collect NHL player cards, you have no choice but to love us, no matter WHAT we do! Remember OPC prior to 1990? We're even worse! Anyway.......

So I've e-mailed them back. They've got me by the wedding tackle, obviously. Can they at LEAST send me a Doan auto card from this year as a "Sorry we've been such jackasses, here's something to at least consider buying more from us." gift? I'm expecting nothing, not even a response. However, if I don't get a response within a week, I'm calling them. I heard recently that calling in gets you a little more, because the reps have less room to dance around.

I can't stop collecting. The difference is that I won't be buying much in the way of packs or boxes until something gets resolved in this that restores my confidence. I frequent two card shops, and both are likely wondering where the hell I am. Well, I'm buying Doan singles off of eBay right now. So I'm still eating from the Upper Deck trough, but indirectly. I'll be spending 15-25% of the amount I normally spend on cards in a year - and I've spent a LOT of money in the past few year. And none of my money will go directly to Upper Deck. Like today, I'll buy a blaster here and there, but of a lower level product, because that's where the only realistic value is this year.... like every year.

I think the NHL and NHLPA will be getting e-mails from me on this monopoly. Likely won't make any difference, but I'd at least feel as though I tried.

A new job.... and the "going away" gift from myself :)

Well, after over four years at my current job, it was time to move forward to a new challenge, and today was my last day. In celebration of that, I decided to buy myself a box of cards.

I chose the new 2005-06 Fleer (ok, UD with Fleer badging...) Hot Prospects. Not cheap by any stretch, and to be honest, I know very little about it, other than it has some good stuff in it. Well, there's only one way to find out, isn't there.

Pack 1 - Turco, Raycroft, Nash, Nabokov, Kiprusoff
A goalie collector's dream. Different design, sharp photography with a nice emphasis on the player.

Pack 2 - Recchi, St. Louis, Zetterberg, Kariya, Richards
If I was paying $15 per pack, I wouldn't be happy. Thought I'd share that.

Pack 3 - Bertuzzi, Murray, Giguere, Gonchar, Hossa
Ok.

Pack 4 - Andrew Alberts Prized Prospects Rookie Auto Patch 239/349
One colour (black), and more initials than an autograph. Better than a kick in the teeth, but barely.

Pack 5 - Thornton, Weight, Kyle Brodziak RC 0598/1999, Sundin, Staal
Well, a rookie is a rookie.

Pack 6 - Koivu, Jackman, Hasek, Jokinen, Lecavalier
Into everyone's life, some commons may fall.

Pack 7 - Thornton, Jim Slater Hot Materials Jersey (blue), Marleau, Khabibulin
No idea who Jim Slater is. And for there to be doubles in a box of this size is kinda crazy.

Pack 8 - Kovalchuk, Hejduk, Mark Giordano RC 0980/1999, Malone, Roenick
A rookie is a rookie. But who ARE these people?

Pack 9 - Kolzig, Gaborik, Luongo, Drury, Ribiero, and an Upper Deck Store discount coupon
When will UD learn that most people don't want to pay $199.99 for an autographed Tiger Woods 8X10 with a cheap frame? Anyway.....

Pack 10 - Shanahan, McCabe, Nick Tarnasky RC 1216/1999, Fernandez, Hemsky
(takes another swig of beer) Mrs. Tarnasky is getting some mail. A hockey card of her son.

Pack 11 - Alfredsson, Bergeron, Brian McGrattan RC 0840/1999, Elias, Jagr
FINALLY a rookie I've heard of. A goon, but goons are worth something in the card world.

Pack 12 - Frolov, Belfour, Forsberg, Sullivan, Gagne
If I'm going to get commons, can I at least get a freaking Doan card???

Pack 13 - Lemieux, Miller, Corey Crawford RC 1897/1999, Horcoff, Sakic
(silence)

Pack 14 - Robitaille, Evgeny Artyukhin Hot Materials Jersey, Pronger, Modano
I've heard of Artyukhin. Had to look on the spelling though. And the Modano is cool. Can I get a Doan in pack 15?

Pack 15 - Heatley, Selanne, Svatos, Prospal, Joseph
Nope.

Verdict?
Well...... can't really complain about an auto rookie patch, 2 jerseys, and 5 numbered rookies in a box. I could have picked up a UD Series 2 box for slightly less, but I would have got less too, unless I managed to pull an Ovechkin. The auto patch was disappointing in the auto and small one colour patch, but it is what it is, and they're selling. Would I buy another box? I'd pay less on eBay for it, and.... yeah, I might. It's a little more expensive than most boxes, but there's some value here, and it's a fun break.

Where I give UD major points is that this is unique. And for UD, that's a MAJOR thing. Again, it looks like they need to sharpen the cutting blades a little, as there are some damaged sides, but the cards look nice, and the design is actually a different.

Grades out of 5:
ROOKIES: 4
- For quantity, not quality. And an auto rookie patch per box is a nice thing, especially considering SP Authentic's price versus value.

GAME USED: 3
- 2 per box is fine, and both were rookies (I think.... I don't know for sure.... and I follow hockey pretty closely). But small pieces, and photo shoot pieces. This late in the year, that's questionable a little.

SET BUILDERS: 4
- Looks to be a 100 card regular set, and a box puts you close to it, I think. But I got a double. And that bugs me. Call me petty if you must, but......

AUTOS: 2?
- Only auto was the patch (if you can call it an auto). I heard there was supposed to be 2, and there was one. So I'm judging hard.

OVERALL: 4
- I was going to say 3.5, but I'm assuming I got a bit of a dud box. It's a nice set, and while it's not necessarily cheap, nothing is this year, and this is pretty good value for the buck. I'd buy more. But definitely buy by the box, not the pack. As a warning, with the patch the only card in the pack, it's very very searchable. If you're going to buy packs, get them from a dealer you trust.

Blaster box and more packs

Found a Parkhurst blaster - 7 packs for $12.99, under $2 per pack. Although this does worry me a little, seeing as the hobby version is kinda sparse, what does this look like?

Well, upon opening pack 1, I decided not to do a pack by pack breakdown. 1 rookie and 2 "limited" cards in the box. In other words? Garbage. Do yourself a favour, and either wait until this product's price falls through the floor, or buy MVP instead, similar price with a lot more upside. Heck, buy Victory instead. I know I'm done with Parkhurst until prices crash, if I even try again. This should have been $1.99 hobby and $0.99 retail per pack. Instead, it's far higher. Horrific value.

Found blister packs of Rookie Update and UD Ice. Tough to find, and will probably be gone in a hurry, if Black Diamond blister packs were any indication.

Oops. Didn't see that the Rookie Update was Retail packs. Got nothing. Oops. Got nothing from Ice again. Wow. Shocking.

One day I'll realize that buying packs isn't worth it. But I'm not that smart, so it could take a while......

Another pack break

Today, as I get a new job, I decided to treat myself to a few packs of hockey cards. Two new ones that recently came out. Here we go:

Parkhurst. To hardcore hockey card collectors, it evokes memories of Gordie Howe, Rocket Richard, and the days of old, where hockey cards were 5 cents a pack, and the cards are now worth thousands - a tale of hockey history. To card "collectors" who caught the fever in the early 90s, or people who were young then, it is memories of ProSet's attempts at a higher end brand, and some of the first full set parallel sets, when hockey cards were up to $1.00 a pack, and the cards are now worth basically nothing. Today? Upper Deck Parkhurst. A 700 card monster set. Worth it? Let's open the packs:

Pack 1 - Elias, H. Sedin, Brown, Koivu, Rucinsky, Valtteri Filppula RC.
Hmm..... a 700 card set will have a lot of commons, I guess.

Pack 2 - Exelby, Dallman, Plekanec, Erskine, Chouinard, George Parros RC.
Hmm..... a 700 card set will have a lot of commons, I guess.

Pack 3 - Lidstrom, Morrow, Knuble, Koltsov, Frolov, Steve Yzerman Captains Insert.
Hmm..... a 700 card set will have a lot of commons, I guess.

Verdict? Decent looking cards, but at $3 per pack, pass until the prices come down. This is a set for rookie and set collectors. 1 auto per box, 1 jersey per case - but 8 jerseys PER CARD! Not a horribly bad set, but do yourself a favour and wait until boxes on eBay come down.

Next is Rookie Update. I don't know much about it aside from it having a LOT of rookies. Let's go:

Pack 1 - Fedorov, Turco, DiPietro, Kiprusoff, Milan Jurcina Black Diamond Triple RC.
First thing I notice? Big mistake by UD. The BD rookie has gold colouring on the bottom, which in the regular BD was the colour of cards #/10. Nice regular cards though.

Pack 2 - Roenick, Primeau, Alfredsson, Tanguay, Brad Richardson Artifacts RC 669/750
Second thing I notice? Rookies from high end sets with packs at $8 instead of $20+.

Pack 3 - Kovalchuk, McCabe, Jokinen, Gomez, Jordan Sigalet BD RC
Third thing I notice?..... if I didn't like rookies, I'm not getting much here.

Pack 4 - Iginla, Svatos, Yzerman, Miller, Connor James Rookie Update RC 1795/1999
Fourth thing I notice? Well.......

Rookie Update appears to be a nice product. Pack price of around $8 seems a little pricey until you realize that you're getting a lot of rookies, and from packs that were in the $15-$50 range in earlier ones. No, the rookies aren't as good now as in the original sets, but if you like rookies, this looks like a great set, especially for variety. I'd recommend you pick some up.

Live pack break!

Today, three regular type packs - 1 2005-06 Upper Deck Ice Hockey, and 2 2005-06 UD SPAuthentic hockey. Also, have a blast from the past.... brought to the present. NHL Pogs! Also, at the end, one surprise pack that I've heard of, but never seen in person. More on that at the end when I open it. :)

First, the POGS pack. Don't know much about it, but it has a Shane Doan card in it, so if I pull that, we call this a success. "Collect all 60" it says. 5 POGS per pack, 1 "slammer" (whatever that is) and 1 "series card" (whatever that is.....). Anyway, on to opening:

The opening tab on the side of the pack is nice. It's also in a blister pack. Ooh.

The series card is a checklist, probably should have figured that out. An Ovechkin in here, but no Crosby. I guess Upper Deck owns Crosby. The slammer appears to be a plastic mini-puck about a 1/4 inch thick, with the NHL logo on the back. I guess this IS supposed to be a game of some type, so this slammer must facilitate that.

Pogs? Daniel Briere, Jarome Iginla, Keith Primeau, Mark Recchi, Glen Murray. Funky holograms on the back, much better quality than the previous ones. This was a loose pack I saw at Superstore. No price tag. I hope I didn't pay much. Oops, looked at the sales slip. $4.98. Well, once is fine.

UD Ice pack - I reviewed this already :). On to the pack: Esche, Nabokov, Poti, Antropov, Luongo. You know, I don't really like the one insert per pack idea..... but crap, if you don't pull an auto or jersey, you get nothing from these.

SP Authentic. One of the sets rookie collectors look forward to every year. Feast or famine, really. You get something great, or you get..... well, cards. Anyone who's collected hockey cards knows the drill on these, so I won't go into detail. Let's look at the two packs and see what's there:

Pack 1 -Palffy, Lindros, Ribiero, Stajan, Roloson
Worse than crap. Unimaginable.

Pack 2 - Biron, Gomez, Gionta, Khabibulin, Yzerman
Slightly better than pack 1. Slightly worse than eating thumbtacks.

Cards look nice. High quality card stock, no damage. But again, feast or famine. In my case, famine.

Now for the odd one. I found a pack of 2003-04 UD Manchester United soccer cards! Match-worn shirts 1 per box, autos 1:96 packs (1 in 4 boxes). Definitely a rare item. Finding it alone is tough, so really, even if I get all commons, finding it was a reward. Although it would be nice not to find crap. Here we go:

Opening..... A checklist card. Sir Alex Ferguson hoisting a trophy. To be honest, I have no idea which one, and I've been unable to find out. It's got kind of a crown thingy on top. Four regular cards, Diego Forlan, Bojan Djordic, David Bellion, and Wes Brown. Then, a "Ruud Awakening" insert card, seeded 1:12 packs.

Unique cards, but the design reminds me of UD's golf card offerings, or the old Collector's Choice hockey. The red foil should have been yellow or gold, not red. They tried to use red and black for everything, it just makes it difficult to see properly. Pics are rather boring. The Diego card is the only one with actual in-game action. The rest are practice, or in the insert card's case, a pic, but no background. I give them points for being different to me, but there isn't much special about them.

Overall, not a great pack busting episode. I basically got nothing except something unique in the ManU cards. Oh well, I guess there's those days.