Puck Junk Podcast SPECIAL! The One In Which We Box Battle For Ice Supremacy

On a very special episode of Blossom, er, The Puck Junk Podcast, Sal and I take it live on video and battle it out.  Not in a battle of wits (because clearly I would win), or a battle of jokes (I would win that too), or a battle for the Royal Palace of Eternia (Sal might have an edge).  No, we are battling with boxes of 2019-20 Upper Deck Ice!

We each have a box we have been saving for an epic pack war that only your wonderful hosts could provide for your listening, AND now viewing pleasure.  You can check out our Podcast mostly each week wherever you find free podcasts but this week, head over to our YouTube channel and feast your eyes on our opening, reveal, and discussion of 2019-20 Upper Deck Ice. 

Box Break: 2019-20 Upper Deck Allure

Upper Deck Allure released back in early February, 2020.  While I was abundantly aware of the product at the time, I wanted to give it a cooling off period for a bit before diving in.  Even a good steak needs to sit for a couple minutes after it comes off the grill.  Everyone knows that.  I was hesitant because my skepticism got the best of me.  Why?
This is uncharted territory for Upper Deck as Allure is a new title in their arsenal of products.  There really hasn't been a comparison to put it up against and hockey card collectors generally adhere to the paradox of wanting innovation but fearing change.  The previews didn't completely sell me either because what looks good on the screen may not have the same impact in-hand.  The concept design was very nice and had great potential, but the idea behind the product seemed strange.  With focus on rookies, short prints, inserts, and parallels, the low price point at about $100 per box didn't seem to fit the typical configuration for that pricing level.

So let's see what's so alluring about 2019-20 Upper Deck Allure...(see what I did there?)

Box Break - - 2018-19 Artifacts

This article was originally posted over on Puck Junk. Thought I would post it here as well for posterity.

When it comes to new hockey card releases, I am frequently a late bloomer when it comes breaking boxes. This year, 2018-19 Artifacts was no different. Released October 4, 2018, Artifacts is usually one of the first products to hit the market at the start of the new season (as well as MVP and O-Pee-Chee). I hadn’t had a chance to pick this product up until recently and I wanted to share my break and thoughts with our readers.

Continuing in it’s annual tradition of including memorabilia options as well as rookie redemptions, Artifacts gives collectors a chance at a variety of “hits” without breaking the bank. For around $100, every hobby box features eight packs with four cards per pack. A break should expect to feature three premium cards which will include a combination of memorabilia cards, autographs or an Aurum insert, the all-gold foil printed cards that return for another year (which I will get to in a minute).

Box Break - - 2016-17 O-Pee-Chee Hockey

It's been a long time since I have posted any original content on here.  I could go on and on about where I have been or why I haven't posted but I don't want to waste anyone's time (assuming there is anyone left out there).

I wanted to try and get back on the horse and what better way than with a long-winded box break write up.  The first box of any hockey card season for me is usually always O-Pee-Chee.  This year is no different.  I try to put this set together every year because it is the biggest set to build and most challenging.  For example, I have yet to complete a season going back each year to 2006-07...but I'm getting close on a few (you can help if you are so inclined).

My wife and I picked up a couple boxes on our visit to Baseball Card Exchange over the weekend and I wanted to share my take on the product and what we pulled.


What's in the box, you ask?

• 32 Packs per box
• 8 Cards per pack
• 12 Boxes per case
• 660 Base cards in the set (550 regular, 110 short-printed high numbers)
• 18 super short-printed cards (661-678) 

Most boxes are going to have 16 high numbers (551-660) which consist the Marquee Rookies (players who made their debuts after January last year) and cards that had been inserts in past years but are now part of the main set, such as Season Highlights, Team Checklists, and League Leaders.

There is also one Retro parallel card per pack.  This years cards have the '71-72 feel to them (one of my personal favorite sets of all time), although the design is a bit more "cartoonish" looking which is very reminiscent of the UD Retro cards of the early 2000s.  There are also about eight Rainbow cards, with most boxes probably yielding one or two Black Rainbow cards #/100.  Love them or hate them, the V-Series mini cards are back for a third installment as well.  These are a throwback to the O-Pee-Chee V304 Series cards from 1933-1937.  There are two in a box.

New this year are OPC Playing Cards.  Yes, I said playing cards.  Not the One-On-One style cards Playoff manufactured back in 1995, but real live, 52 cards that you can play poker, Go-Fish, or any form of Rummy with.  The cards feature various players on each card. The 2s through Kings fall about 1:9 packs but the Aces are much tougher.  

Autographs are available but are always a tough pull for O-Pee-Chee.  There are basic signatures available at 1:192 packs, as well as Team Canada signatures at a rate of 1:384 packs.  There is also an unannounced set called Glo-Pee-Chee.  These cards...yep, you guessed it...Glow In The Dark!! Finally, there are OPC Patch cards randomly inserted, most of which can be found roughly 2 per case, maybe less.  Some, like the OPC Mascots, fall at a rate of 1:3,912 or even 1:31,296.  

Let's check out some of what we pulled. First, the base cards.  You can see that they really aren't too exciting of a design but they aren't supposed to be.  It's an entry level set without many bells and whistles. The cards have white borders and the player photo actually takes up most of the card for once.  In past years, this has been an issue with OPC designs, where the player photo almost took a back seat to the design around the card.

You can see the differences (or maybe you can't) between the general base cards (the Matt Murray), the League Leaders (Jarome Iginla), the Marquee Rookies (Trevor Carrick), and the Team Checklists (Penguins Team)

Here is a sample of the Retro inserts.  These are one per pack and mirror the base set but with different player photos.  As you can see, very reminiscent of the 71-72 Topps/OPC set...See,

 Oooo, look.  Shiny!

A few of the Rainbow parallels we pulled.  They are identical to the base cards but with the rainbow foil printing instead of the standard cardboard.  Pulled only our second Captain McDavid card ever right there.  We didn't have much luck with the Connor chase in 2015-16 products.

Here are the Black Rainbow cards we pulled.  These, again, are the same as the base or the regular Rainbow cards but are serial numbered #/100.  There were two in each box.  At least we ended up with decent players.  Usually the Black Rainbow cards we pull are 4th liners.

We pulled two V-Series C cards in each box as well.  Always happy to pull Penguins in our insert cards.  The Eichel wasn't bad either.

Now, the playing cards.  I really want to put this set together.  It shouldn't be hard since there are only 52 cards.  With four per box, it will only take 13 boxes to build it.  That is, of course, assuming there are no duplicates.

And then...BOOM!  This...

The Sidney Crosby Ace of Diamonds.  The Aces are 1:200 packs in Hobby Boxes.  I'll take it.

Then the BOOM struck again...

A Team Canada Signatures card of Cam Ward.  The Signatures, as mentioned, are a tough pull as it is.  Team Canada Signatures are even tougher at 1:384 in Hobby Boxes.  Cam Ward is actually a Level C auto and falls at a rate of about 1:1,045.

And last but certainly not least, the biggest BOOM of them all...

Harvey The Hound Mascot Patch card.  As mentioned above, Patch cards are rare.  There are 100 cards in the set with overall odds at 1:96.  There are base cards and Legends/Rookies that fall one or maybe two in a case.  The All-Star cards are even tougher at 1:1,043 or higher.  But this is a Mascot card.  Not just any mascot but the Original NHL mascot, the Calgary Flames Harvey The Hound.  Not only is Harvey a rare mascot card, he is one of the two Uber Rare Mascots.  Along with Carlton the Bear from Toronto, Harvey is a 1:31,296 odds on pull.

These are probably the best tandem of OPC product boxes we have ever opened, as you can see.  I was very happy with the collation as well as I don't think we pulled many duplicates.  If you are looking for a challenging set to build or a chance at some very hard to pull inserts, this could be a good product for you to chase.  At under $80/box, it won't break the bank either.

Box Break: 2015-16 Upper Deck MVP Retail Blaster

I used to post box breaks on the blog quite often but I haven't done a review in quite some time.  Now that the first release of the 2015-16 hockey season has hit the store shelves, I felt the need to start things off on the right foot again.

Upper Deck, once again, unleashed their low-end, "for the kids", early season release of MVP.  MVP was a longtime product that disappeared from the market for a few years, only to be revived a number of years ago as an insert to the flagship product.  Last year it made it's return and this year it's back.

The base set this year is comprised of 250.  The first 100 of these are quite easily obtainable.  The rest are all Short Prints of either vets or Rookie, mixed with a return of the NHL Territories cards as a subset rather than inserts.  These are just like the Hometown Heroes sets of old.  The ever popular Silver, Gold and Super Scripts are back as well.  They have also turned the Territories cards into a memorabilia parallel and included an even rarer Autograph version.

New this year is the Colors & Contours parallels which feature a whopping nine tiers to chase.  There are Purple, Teal, and Gold version. I have seen some of these and they are very nice but really Upper Deck?  Nine tiers of these?  Is that necessary for an entry level product?  Most hobby boxes should yield about six of these, the same rate as Young Guns fall in the flagship product.

What I find intriguing is the "hits".  Normally MVP didn't really have anything other than the occasional Jersey card or the multi-player memorabilia cards of old.  The occasional Super Script would pop up now and again but that was about it.  This year, Upper Deck, while not promising anything directly, has include a "hit" per hobby box.  However, the "hits" are considered either a Super Script, Auto, Jersey, 1/1, printing plate, or rookie redemption.  Many collectors have already voiced their disdain as anything other than a jersey, auto, or 1/1 is generally considered not a hit.  But, I repeat...it's an ENTRY LEVEL product.  Not a "hit" driven release.

After hearing they were available, I made the trek to the local Target to pick up a Blaster.  This year, Blaster boxes contain 24 packs with 5 cards per pack.  Let me repeat...BLASTER = 24 packs!  Price tag should be between $19.99-$21.99 in most locales (or if you are lucky like me, things could get mis-priced and you end up with basically two for the price of one).  So to get to the particulars...

Box Breakdown:

24 Packs/Blaster Box
5 Cards/Pack
120 Cards/Blaster Box

I pulled:

113/250 Base Cards (45%, including 1-100)
1 Duplicates (Chris Kunitz)
5 Parallels - 1 Gold Script (Bryan Little); 4 Silver Scripts (Patrick Kane, Patrick Elias, Jonathan Drouin Checklist, Sam Bennett RC)
NHL Territories Jerseys - 0
Signatures - 0
Connor McDavid - 0
Anything else not a base, Script card, or hit - 0

Here are some of the "cool" cards.

 Base Cards

NHL Territories Subset Cards

Short Prints

Script Cards

Super Mario Brothers

No, not those mustachio'd fellows created by Nintendo.

These that I'm about to show.

I gave myself a Christmas present during the Black Friday card sales last year.  Most of the boxes I picked up were opened.  But there were three or four that I left in the shipping box.  Why?  I don't really know.  I think I was going to save them for some reason or another.  But after opening the one box of 2011-12 Parkhurst Champions and pulling this guy...the itch to open the other box I picked up has been strong.  Surely I wouldn't be lucky enough to get two Tier A autographs in back-to-back boxes, would I?

Well the urge finally overwhelmed me the other night and I had no choice but to tear the cellophane and dive in.  I will preface the rest by saying that I did not, in fact, find any other Tier A autos.  Let's get that out of the way first.  But I did get something special.

Let me start by showing the family of Mario cards that came out of this box.  I was intrigued when I realized all of these were in the same box.

2011-12 Parkhurst Champions Mario Lemieux base card (w/ horrible scan job)

2011-12 Parkhurst Champions Mario Lemieux B&W Renditions SP (w/ nice scan job)

2011-12 Parkhurst Champions Mario Lemieux Wire Photo (w/ eh, scan job)

 2011-12 Parkhurst Champions Mario Lemieux Mini SP (w/ beautiful scan job)

Oh, and I can't forget...the whole reason I made this post in the first place was to show off the other Mario that was in this box.  

Any guesses?

No?

Well if you said it was a card that has the odds of falling about 1:2,560 packs, you guessed correctly.

Nestled away in one of the last packs was this beauty...

 2011-12 Parkhurst Champions Mario Lemieux Mini SP Parkhurst Back Variation 

(w/ crappy scan job on the back)

Now, I'm not one to brag but...who am I kidding?  Yes I am.

Things I've learned:

A) Never count out any box because of the perceived impossibility (improbability) of odds.

B) My scanner generally sucks and I hate it but I'm not keen on replacing it at the moment.

C) I now want more boxes of these.  I'm sick.

I don't really know what to do with all the duplicate base cards but I'm sure I can figure something out.  NO, you can't have this card.  But, does anyone need cards for this set?  Would anyone like an most of, if not an entire base set?  Let me know.

Box Break - - 2010-11 Panini Zenith Blaster Box

The cards you find in retail are generally focused around what most would consider the low-mid range products.  During the 2010-11 hockey season, Panini revived the Zenith brand but decided to market a "retail" version of their product in addition to the normal hobby boxes.  What a great idea....

That was until you saw the price tag.  $29.99 for 3 packs of 5 cards!!  That's 15 cards for about $30, making it $2 per card.  Quite the steep price tag for anyone interested in busting retail, including myself.  I wasn't even interested in the hobby product at the time.  Not even the "Dare to Tear" promotional gimmick suckered me in either.  My LCS at the time had a Mark Messier Box Topper and they obliged the masses by mutilating the card only to find an EPIX Duncan Keith insert.  Good for a Chicago-land card shop but definitely a downer.

Fast forward a little more than 2 years and we now have these boxes still sitting on some retail shelves.  But our friends at Target are not about to have them sit much longer.  They have slapped everyones favorite round clearance sticker on these and have them market at $9.99.  So at about $.66/card, it might be easier to swallow.

Lets see what comes out of a blaster box of 2010-11 Panini Zenith.

First, here are some samples of the base cards.  There are both current stars (#1-115) and "short-printed" legends that are high numbers (#116-140).

I also pulled a GU card....

This card comes from the Winter Warriors insert set, not to be confused with the Donruss version of these called Boys of Winter.  Here we have Jared Boll of the Columbus Blue Jackets.  At least he still plays for the same team.  It's a plain blue swatch, if you can't already tell.

Finally, I pulled one Rookie Roll Call insert (not a jersey version but still)...


wait for it....

Taylor Hall.  In 2010-11 Hall and Seguin were the two big draws for the rookie class.  Getting a Hall out of this box was pretty cool considering how much 10-11 hockey I opened without as much as a peak of Mr. Hall.  I did pull a few Seguin's back then but alas, no Halls.  I have picked up a few since then but it's not the same when you unwrap one of the bigger draws of a set.

Now that the price has dropped, I would say pick up a box or two if you can find them.  You can even get a hobby box under $70 (I even saw one for $62).  They are nicely designed base cards, will probably yield a few nice hits, and are probably an easy set to put together for all you set chasers out there.

Box Break - - 2012-13 Panini Classics Signatures

One of my goals when I go to a big show like the one a couple weekends ago at the Convention Center in Chicago is to bust some wax.  98% of the time I am successful at that goal but the quality of the products sometimes leave something to the imagination.

This time, after many months of debating whether it was a good deal or not, I decided to take a stab at Panini Classics Signatures.  This product is the first time Panini put that name to their hockey line of cards and I'm sure, won't be the last.

The reason for my early trepidation on purchasing the product was the price point.  It was running upwards of $180 per box for basically 30 cards.  That was way out of my price range for a product considered mid-high end.  But the more I saw of the boxes being opened, and the more product ended up on the secondary market, the more I started to swing my vote to the "yay" side of the argument.  Finally, at the show, boxes were down under $115.  It was time to get off the fence. 


Before I show off what was in here, I'd like to point out that there were a few things I like about the product and a few that I don't.  First, my issues. 

1.  The price point.  I already mentioned it above.  $180 was just too steep of a price for what I was initially seeing coming out of the box breaks.

2.  The checklist is just too large for a mid-high end set.  I love the fact that Panini went all out to try and get 200 of the best legends that have ever played the game into their product.  But precisely for that reason, this shouldn't have been a $180 box out of the gate.  100 cards is probably the max that any product like this should have been.  Save the rest for short prints, inserts, and other goodies (a la Parkhurst Champions). 

3.  The card design is just too plain and under the radar for a higher end set.  I could even live with that if they would have used more of the card for the photos.  But you can't win them all.

But despite those facts, there is still a lot to love about this set.

1.  The Autographs.  There are a ton of autos jammed in this product.  At one auto-per-pack, every break is bound to turn a hall of famer or two.  Plus with the Line Combo cards, there is the potential for dual and triple autos of some great linemates.

2.  The player selection.  The guys featured in this set are the best ever (except Gretzky).  If there is a legend to be had, they have at least one card in this set (except Gretzky). 

3.  The photography.  While the card design leaves something on the table, especially for a higher end product, the photos used on the cards themselves are terrific.  Nostalgic is the only word that comes to mind when looking at player cards with old jerseys, teams that no longer exist, and logos that have been changed once or twice since these guys laced up their skates.

I won't leave anyone in suspense any longer and I will get right to showing off what was in here.  The box configuration is 5 cards/pack, 6 packs/box for a total of 30 cards.  There is also one autograph card per pack for a total of 6 autos.  I don't believe this set has any memorabilia cards.

First, the base cards...

As I said, the base card design kind of leaves a bad taste in your mouth, especially if you paid the MSRP initially at $180.  These kind of look more like a design for the basic Score, Donruss, or Pinnacle sets (minus the Nufex).  However, as I said before, the player selection and photos used are great.  Here we have Stan Mikita, now announcer Bill Clement in the old Atlanta Flames uniform (there are B&W photos mixed with color), Kevin Dineen in the classic green Whalers jersey, and Ron Francis sporting the Captain C for Pittsburgh.  You can tell the time frame of the Francis by looking at that old Diet Pepsi ad behind him.

There were also Retired Number Banner cards too.  These fall at a rate of one per pack.  Here are the six that I pulled... 

But I'm sure what everyone came looking for was to see the autographs that were pulled.  Here they are in no particular order...

If you were a Flyers fan, this would have been a great box.  Not one, not two, but three Flyers autos.

I even pulled two Kings autographs.  One of a player I already had an auto of, one with an epic goalie mask.

And the one auto that I was kind of excited about was this...

The first Ranger to have his number retired and a member of the famed "goal-a-game" line, Rod Gilbert.  Look at how neat that signature is.  He even put his player number.  I also like how he didn't want to cover up his image with the auto so he put it over on the side below his stick.  Very nicely done.


But wait...There's more...

For some reason, six autos weren't enough.  This box had 7.  And what an auto to have as a bonus.  When I saw this card of the Roadrunner in here, I first thought it was Guy Lafleur because anytime I see a Hab without a helmet I seem to think it is Guy.  But Lafleur's linemate, 10 time Stanley Cup winner and HOFer is just as good in my book. 


But wait...There's more...

I don't know if this can be considered a "hot box" or not with the bonus autograph but this might give it that extra push...

If you can't see it because of my crappy scan, this is a redemption card for a Classic Combos - Trios auto of Guy Lafleur, Larry Robinson, and Yvon Cournoyer.  That's right!!  A triple auto card of three of Montreal's greatest legends.  As far as I can tell, this one will be numbered either out of #/50 or #/25.  Either way it was quite a surprise. 

So if you consider the autos by themselves, this box yielded 10 autographs.  Not bad at all for the price point, although at the normal rate of 6, it would still probably be a good deal assuming I would have pulled the same types of cards (including the redemption). 

Overall, I like this product but just wish Panini wouldn't have gone so crazy with the checklist.  There is some potential for big cards and from what I can tell so far, a great secondary market for the ones that don't fit your collection.