This is what's wrong with card companies .....

Today, Sunday, January 19th, 2014 at 3:01 pm MST I received the following email from Upper Deck.


You just can't make this stuff up.


Oh, Upper Deck? If this is one of my posts that you randomly read.... I'm available for part time hire. Email me, we'll chat.

2012-13 Upper Deck Hockey Pack Break Review

No hockey? Who cares? We'll just keep making cards anyways.

 

I had planned all week that today was the day I visited my local card shops. Including the one that's an hours drive. I did all my chores (the Honey-Do list) and was raring to go this morning. Until I looked outside.

18 inches of snow on my driveway, and still coming down hard. It's 5:30 pm as I write this and the snow hasn't let up yet.....

 

So no grand city tour of card shops. I snuck into the one closest to me and grabbed two packs of

the latest set, Upper Deck flagship, that was released today. The usual from what you would expect from UD. 24 packs per box, 8 cards per pack. This year we have none other than Jonathan Toews on the packaging.

But wasn't he on the packaging for OPC as well? Apparently if you aren't placing Gretzky or Crosby on your labels, you must place Toews. Out of thousands of hockey players... there are only three worthy.

 

 

Moving on to the actual cards..... They're a little bit simpler this year. I like that.

 

First card, a friggin' Leaf. Go figure.

 Less foil this year, which is a great thing. The usual full bleed photos, with both vertical and horizontal cards.

 And yes, that is wood grain you are seeing on the fronts. Wood grain! It's like sitting inside a 1972 Oldsmobile!

 There are several different insert sets to chase this year... Canvas, Exclusives, Silver Skates, MVP, Heroes, etc... but the only one I pulled was MVP.

 Not as good a design as previous years.

The photography is good again, as you would expect.

 Lars is either stretching or he just scored...

 I'm fond of shots that have the puck visible in them, like this card...

 Pack Two

I have to say, the more I look at the fronts with the simpplistic design and the wood grain... the more I like them.

 That shot of Burmistrov is rather cool...

in my second pack, I got another MVP card... so you don't get to see anyof the other inserts.

 Early nomination for card of the year... Craig Anderson. Craig is well known for his facial expressions, and this year's does not disappoint.

 Matt Cooke looking creepy as ever.... and James Reimer praying to the goalie gods for salvation from the Leafs.

 Sorry James... you're stuck there. The gods took pity on Jonas Gustavsson instead. He's in Detroit now.

The backs are pretty standard. Complete stats, both personal and game. Although the write ups on the younger players could be a bit longer to use up more of that space.

Different pictures on the back which is a must! If you don't go different, don't bother doing it.
And more wood grain!

Just going off what I see in my two packs, I give it a solid 8.5/10

Just a minor "Whoops" Upper Deck...

The other night I was sitting on the couch reading the backs of some of my cards... (what? Don't you read the backs? Or are you in it just for the pictures?) Anyways... I came across this card of Pascal Dupuis from this season's Upper Deck Series 1 release.

 A good action shot of Pascal... let's see what UD has to say about him.

Pascal had 85 points as a rookie???? 47 goals in one year??? 78 assists????? Pascal Dupuis??? Holy crap! How have I been missing him in my hockey pools?

Hmmmm...... Something ain't right.  To Hockey-reference.com we go!

 Well that looks a lot more like what I expected.... but it sure isn't what's on the card back.
So if Pascal's best is a 20 goal year way back in '03, then who's stats are on the back of his card?

Again, Hockey-reference.com to the rescue!

Now those numbers look familiar. Evgeni Malkin. Wow. I wonder what family member works at Upper Deck to make that mistake. Malkin does not have a card in Series 1, so we'll have to wait until Series 2 to see if they switched the backs, or just effed up Mr Dupuis.

Oh Upper Deck, I love your products, but as you can see, there's still work to do...I'm available as a proof reader, editor, card front or back designer, or just as a general sounding board for your ideas. (We MUST talk about OPC)

Let me know, I'll be here all week. Thank you.

It's National Hockey Card Day!!! Yay!!!

to celebrate National Hockey Card Day, Upper Deck claims to give away free packs of hockey cards. I say claims, because I'm pretty sure that hobby stores have to buy them, albeit cheaply, and then they give them away. You can also get free packs at Rexall Drugs, and London Drugs. Why only there I have no idea.

Oh yeah, and before you scratch your head too much, yes, National Hockey Card Day is actually tomorrow. But I hate waiting, so I got some today. Connections you know.***

I scanned the whole set, so we'll start at card #1 and work our way through, mmmmmkay?

Taylor Hall. Surprise!

 Oh yeah, the wrapper, for those of you interested in that kind of thing....

 #2 Tyler Seguin - dioes he even play anymore? He was scratched against Montreal the other night. Not enough of a goon I guess.

#3 Jeff Skinner - everybody's favourite. But be careful, he's only 18. You can't even take him across state lines without parental permission.

 #4 Jordan Eberle - I'll take him on my team anyday.

 #5 P.K. Subban!!! Woot!

 oh yeah, here are the card backs for you stat geeks. Uh.... oops. There are no stats.

 #6 Jason Spezza - if anyone can afford his contract, Ottawa will trade him to you. So that means he's staying a Senator.

 #7 Dion Phaneuf - we HAD to have a Leaf in the set, so Dion gets the nod.

 #8 Jarome Iginla - I can't believe people were talking about trading Jarome earlier this season. Where are those people now? In the hospital getting treated for ankle injuries from jumping on and off and on the bandwagon.

 #9 Roberto Luongo - ditto here what I said about Jarome.

 #10 Sid the Kid. Get well soon man, the game needs you.

 #11 The Ghost of Patrick Roy... no wait. That's just some weird sepia thing UD did to the photo.

 #12 Mario Lemieux - must all Penguin superstars be injury riddled?

 #13 Gordie Freakin' Howe - I once saw him crush 8 walnuts to dust in one hand. Hey, you try it.

 #14 Bobby Orr. Wow. Either him or Gordie for best ever. What might have been for this guy if not for injuries.

 #15 Wayne Gretzky. Nice hat.

 Checklist showing 15 of the 16 cards available, #16 Jonathan Toews is a hobby store exclusive. I'll pick him up tomorrow on, well, you know, National Hockey Card Day.

 and an advertisement for the upcoming Heritage Classic. I can't wait. I hope the weather holds out. It's starting to warm up around here....

There you go boys and girls.... hopefully I can get a set to give away here... some sort of contest or just a random freebie. Hopefully.

poppin' a cherry...

A lot of collectors spend a lot of time on the various forums available. There are waaaaay too many to list, but the ones I browse include Sports Card Radio, Freedom Cardboard, and Hobby Insider. I don't really spend more than 10-15 minutes every couple of days total for these. There aren't a lot of users on Sports Card Radio or Freedom Cardboard, so going there twice a week means you really don't miss anything.

But one day on FCB (that's what the kids call it) I found a post from a fellow set collector trying to unload some of his duplicate 'Young Guns' from the '08/09 Upper Deck hockey set. He listed all the cards he had available and the prices he wanted for them, but made it clear that everything was negotiable.

Now keep in mind that I have never bought anything from anyone in any forum before. We were entering new territory. I sent him a message telling him of the nine cards I was interested in. According to his list, he wanted $10 for these particular 9 cards. His message back to me was 'How about $8 shipped?'

I could do that, although I was a little leary about the whole thing, not having done it before....

A couple of weeks went by and no cards. So I sent him a message. He got back to me right away saying he thought they had been mailed, and would get me a tracking number. The next day i find out he found the envelope in his girlfriends car. Apparently she did not mail it. He apologized and told me he would be refunding me my postage for my troubles. I got back $2 into my paypal account the next day. A few days after that, my cards arrived.

The Young Guns checklist featuring Alex Pietrangelo, Steven Stamkos, and Drew Doughty.

 Adam Pineault. Adam played 3 games for Columbus in 2007/08 totalling 33 minutes and no points.

 Adam was traded to Chicago in January of '09 and is currently playing for HC Eaton Pardubice in the Czech Republic.

Vladimir Mihalik was a 1st round pick by Tampa and is still trying to crack the lineup, having played 15 games for them over the past two seasons.

 Lauri Korpikoski was a first round pick of the Rangers but was traded to Phoenix at the end of the '09 season.

 Lauri is enjoying his second season with the Coyotes, having scored 8 goals in the 28 games played so far this year.

Oscar Moller is a 2nd round pick in his third season as a part time player for the Kings.

 Erik Ersberg played for three seasons as the Kings backup goalie behing Jonathan Quick. With the emergence of Jonathan Bernier this year, LA sent Erik down to the Manchester Monarchs of the AHL.

 Erik wasn't happy about that, feeling he didn't get a fair chance at winning the job. Erik packed his bags and went home to Sweden. The Kings terminated his contract, allowing Erik to sign and play for Salavat Yulaev of the Kontinental Hockey League.

Shawn Matthias was Detroits 2nd round pick. Detroit sent young Matthias to Florida for veteran Todd Bertuzzi.

 Shawn has become a regular for Florida over the past two seasons.

Adam Pardy was a 6th round pick of the Flames in 2004. I think UD kinda reaches on some of these "Young Guns'. However, they fluked out on this one as Adam has played three solid seasons for Calgary. He's one of their most reliable blueliners this year.... but that ain't saying much......

 and the crown jewel of the deal, Tunguska's favourite player.... LUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUKE!

Luke Schenn was Toronot's 1st round pick and has played three solid years on a not so good team. He's always improving and his best days are still ahead. Brian Burke should be trading him any minute now....

So there ya go... 9 Young Guns for what turned out to be $6. And a successful first forum transaction. I won't be doing this a lot, but it's nice to know there are options.