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 - - 2011-12 ITG Between The Pipes

License or not, In The Game knows how to make a top-notch hockey product.  The design, quality, and value are almost unmatched in the industry.  Of course, this is all purely my opinion so you can feel free to think what you want.  

While at the last big Rosemont show in Chicago, I picked up what turned out to be my second 2011-12 ITG Between The Pipes box.  The first one I opened last year at some point and even video'd it.  I never posted about it though (maybe someday in a "lost episode").  At any rate, I wanted to share this now before I forgot. 

I'm not going to put a whole lot of commentary into this.  I think the cards speak for themselves.  I will just mention the fact that this is the 10th Anniversary of Between the Pipes and might be the best release ITG has done.  Each box contains 18 packs with 9 cards per pack, typical of a standard ITG release.  There are Masked Men inserts, of course, as well as Anniversary inserts, various types of autos, and GU cards.  As for guarantees, I believe there should be 2 autographs, 2 GU cards, and a host of inserts including 3 Masked Men cards  Lets check them out.

First, the base cards...There is a sampling of a few of the subsets you will find in here, Penguin heavy of course.

On the inserts, I got the 3 Masked Men I figured that I would as well as 2 Anniversary cards...check them out.

 

And now the "hits".  I received 2 autograph cards, one of a Future Star, the other of an almost forgotten goalie of the 1980s

And for the Game Used, I also received 2.  One was a Patch card while the other was a dual-memorabilia.  Here they are.  

As I said before, great product full of value and excitement to open.  If you can find these under $70, snag it.  You will be happy you did.

Card Show Recap - - Sun Times Sports Spectacular

Every trip to a card show should be accompanied by some collecting goals.  Otherwise, it becomes just a melee of ridiculous purchases and time spent ogling things you have no intention of ever acquiring for you collection.  A couple weeks ago now, I made my bi-annual trek out to Rosemont, Ill. to take in the sites at the (eh, em) 46th Annual Chicago Sun-Times Sports Collectibles Convention.  Considering this happens twice a year, I'm not sure you can call this an "annual" event.  Bi-annual maybe?  What do I know?  I'm not a marketing guy.  At any rate, I picked Saturday to hit the show floor as there is never enough time on a Friday and Sunday just seems too rushed.

(Check out this link from the Herald to see a few pictures of the show)

As I said, you need a game plan at these shows.  The sheer amount of dealer tables, merch vendors, industry businesses, and memorabilia peddlers can be overwhelming when you consider the 220,000 square feet of show floor these things take up (and that was the small hall).  The National will be here too this year but we will save that for later.

So my goals on this trek...

1. Pick up some set needs to try and knock out an incomplete set or two.  Never an easy task considering many of the "common" tables have very large men parked two deep in chairs, actively engaged in a feeding frenzy over all the $.10 cards they can get their greasy fingers on.  This will require strategy and cunning unlike has ever been seen (not really but you have to have some flare for the dramatic otherwise it isn't interesting).

2.  Find some cards for my Player PCs (Guerin, Lemieux, Jagr, Tangradi [I doubt it] perhaps a footballer or two).  This is usually an easy one considering they guys I collect have a plethora of cards out there that I have been unable to acquire over the years.  I don't really think I will ever complete a comprehensive player list of any of these guys but as long as I keep collecting, I'm sure gonna try.

3.  Pick up some autographs for my Penguins project I started last year.  This is something that has always kind of just happened but was never a priority.  This time that changes as I have an extensive list of guys I need to cross off my roster. 

4.  Do some trading.  What fun would a show be without the aspect of the hobby we all love?  Not very.  That's why I spent the better part of my free time over the few days before the show, digging through wantlists of the collectors/bloggers I knew would be there.  Trading is my favorite part of the show.

5.  Pick up some cards for my Team PCs.  Again, this is usually an easy one as my teams of choice tend to be popular ones.  I try to get at least one cool card from each sport (hockey, baseball, and football) that I don't already have.  Keep in mind, cool is in the eye of the beholder.

6.  Bust some wax.  Usually I have a list of boxes that I am targeting, whether for set building or otherwise.  This time around, with many popular hockey releases cancelled, I don't really have a certain type in mind.  I will just see what has the best bang for my buck and go from there.

Let's see how we fared this time around.

1. Pick up some set needs to try and knock out an incomplete set or two.

In typical fashion, the cattle were a grazing.  Big Time!!  There wasn't space to be had at many tables, even just to take a peek at what was on them.  That makes for a long day when you are a set building on a quest for completion.  So instead, I stuck to the quarter, three for a dollar, and other discounted bins, hoping to find something, anything that will fill my goals.  As luck would have it, I was able to pick up quite a few cards from my Parkhurst Champions set I'm working on as well as a few Victory Rookies I still needed.

But the big score came during trading.  Guys knocked out my 4th complete base set for this years Upper Deck Series I and also contributed to numerous other sets.  I can successfully say that I completed a set (albeit a duplicate one).

2.  Find some cards for my Player PCs (Guerin, Lemieux, Jagr, Tangradi [I doubt it] perhaps a footballer or two). 

No brainer here.  I got a handful of Lemieux's, a handful of Jagr's, a couple Guerin's and one Bettis card for my secret, unpublished "Bus" collection.  I already showed every one the Jagr's the other day after he got his 1,000 career assist and the Lemieux cards too.  Here were the other's in case anyone wanted to see...oh, no?  No scans?  Ok, then.  Moving on.

3.  Pick up some autographs for my Penguins project I started last year.

Surprisingly, this came easy too.  I found two tables with cheap auto cards, mostly certified, and they had plenty o'Pens.  In fact, there was one table that I even put some back from my stack that I pulled because I felt like I was going overboard.  These will all be posted over on my Auto Project blog that you can get to from this link or over on the side panel.  I will say this though, I have 12 more players crossed off the master list.

4.  Do some trading.

Again, no brainer.  There is always at least one trade going to go down at these shows, assuming another trader will be there.  This time, there were three.  Unfortunately, I didn't know about the third until it was too late so I had nothing available for them.  Next time, though.  Trades at these shows goes something like this...I find a small-to-large stack of things from a persons want list, they find find things off my list, and we swap.  Nothing fancy, no book values, no worrying about who gets the better deal.  No pressure.  That's the way I like it.  I ended up with a bunch of stuff for my set lists including the final UD cards I already mentioned up there.  I also ended up with some other really cool things which will be posted about later.  Thanks to Sal & Nick for all the goodies.

5.  Pick up some cards for my Team PCs.

I picked up 6 Steeler cards, 2 Pirates, and a bunch of Pens stuff.  I would say that this goal was met in spades.

6.  Bust some wax.

Wax is obviously a misnomer nowadays.  But I will still call it that probably forever.  I didn't really have a target product this time around.  I had an idea of some things I would have liked to see at certain price points but all of it was high-end and none of it was in my budget.  What I did wrestle with and finally compromise on was a box of 12-13 Panini Classics Signatures, which I already posted about, a box of 11-12 Panini Rookie Anthology, which I already posted about, and a box of 11-12 ITG Between the Pipes which I haven't posted about but will in the near future.  All the boxes yielded some really nice stuff as you can see if you check out the box break reviews.  I was very fortunate and the breaks were a lot of fun.  

Box Break - - 2011-12 Panini Rookie Anthology

Back in June 2012, Panini released an end of the year product called Rookie Anthology.  Reviews were mixed for this in the beginning as the price point (over $100) was a little steep considering this is a mish-mash or all the previously released sets.  What does that mean, you ask?  Think of Upper Deck's old Rookie Update sets from the early-mid 2000s and you would be pretty close to a match.

(Contrary to popular belief, I am over the age of 9, therefore I was able to purchase and open this product without legal ramifications for both the seller and my parental guardian.)

Rookie Anthology packs "updated" rookie cards of late entry rookies and players that got to see action further in the season from their card releases earlier in the year.  This is a great improvement over jamming early releases full of redemption cards.  Crown Royale, Pinnacle, Luxury Suite and Limited are all featured with additions to the Ice Breakers checklist, the Rookie Royalty and Silhouettes checklists, and the Limited Phenoms checklist.  In addition, Panini added their own base cards as well as Rookie Treasures which feature a dual sweater or patch plus an autograph of any of the plethora of rookies.

Each box contains 10 packs with 5 cards per pack.  Guaranteed in each box are 1 Rookie Treasures card, 1 additional autograph card, and 2 memorabilia cards.  

Let's take a look at what we pulled.

First, the BASE CARDS:

When I first saw these out there, I didn't think they were anything new or fresh.  Just basically your run of the mill Panini set.  The more I saw them, though, they kind of have a way of growing on you.  

The base set cards feature a zoomed in shot of the player, fully colorized to stand out from the background.  The color coding matches the team colors on the boarders and design.  There is a, believe it or not, fairly unobtrusive product logo in the top left corner, and a gold foil stamped team logo on the right.  The players name, number, and position are arced across the bottom in a ribbon/banner type design.  They are clean, bright, and look very nice side by side in binder pages (its only a 100 card base set).  

ROOKIE INSERTS:

The interesting thing as I already mentioned, with Rookie Anthology is that it is much like the old Rookie Update sets from Upper Deck back in the day.  Panini created new updated rookie cards with high numbers for the various sets produced that season and inserted them into this product.  Here's what we pulled...

From 2011-12 Crown Royale.  This is a Rookie Royalty card of Warren Peters.  Warren is in the Penguins system now after signing with the team as a free agent in July 2012.

 

Here are the Ice Breakers from the Pinnacle "Update" set that I pulled.  With the Nufex technology in full effect, it's hard to see what is going on with these scans (especially since my scanner now wants to put stripes on everything).  And on top of that, I forgot to flip them before I uploaded them.  Clockwise, I pulled Cody Eakin from the Capitals, Calvin De Haan from the Islanders, Peter Holland from the Ducks, and Anders Nilsson from the Islanders.

GAME USED/AUTOGRAPHS:

I pulled one Rookie Rivalry card.  Here it is and features Toronto's Matt Frattin and David Rundblad from the Coyotes.  For some reason, I pulled Rundblad in a few products as a hit.  Too bad I don't collect Portland Pirates cards, or Coyotes, or Rundblad.

Here was my Rookie Treasures card which features Tomas Kubalik dual memorabilia and autograph numbered out of 499.  These RT cards are numbered either /99, /199, or /499 with an additional run of /15 inserted as case hits.  Kubalik has played 12 games for Columbus but has not had a call up this season.  He has split time in the AHL between the Springfield Falcons and the St. John's Ice Caps.

But the next card made the whole box (and then some).  If you follow my Twitter, you probably already know what is coming.

Sorry for the crooked scan.  The picture I posted on Twitter was much nicer I think.  I even got a retweet by Panini because it's such a crazy card.  This is the big one of the checklist.  The RNH  #/99 auto/dual multi-color swatch card has been moving on the secondary market, albeit at a much slower pace now that we have some time between release and now.  It's kind of funny to see the differences in final sale prices between the plain swatch ones and the multi-color ones too.  But still, I had a heck of time even pulling basic RNH cards out of products last season.  Now this???!!!  I was pretty happy as I haven't had much luck on rookie autos as of late.  Very nice card, indeed.

BONUS PACK CARD:

In every box of Rookie Anthology, there is a bonus pack that contains an additional card.  This card can be anything.  More times than not, it will contain one of the hits of the box or an extra hit.  On occasion, I have seen some of these with only base update rookies.  Mine....??

We had another pretty awesome autograph...

This is a 2011-12 Panini Limited Stanley Cup Winners Auto of Brad Marchand.  The card is some type of hybrid acetate/thick glossy/plastic-like material.  So much so, that Brad (and all the others) had to sign with a silver sharpie marker.  Brad's signature leaves something to the imagination but there is no question that it is his.  He even put his number on there.  Very nice looking card.

Overall, this is a nice Panini product.  The base cards are nice and at 100 cards for a set, it isn't too difficult to track down the ones you may need to fill a checklist.  The hits are plentiful and the opportunity to expand the base checklists of the earlier releases makes the set building chase even more challenging.

I would definitely recommend anyone to pick this up, especially at the current price point under $60.  Check around and you will find some great deals on this one.  You will probably get plenty of bang for your buck.  I know I did.

Working on something for everyone...

(I know, stealing images from old album covers is wrong.  But it fits.)

That's right, kids!!  You heard me correctly.  Despite the countless additions to my PC and the seemingly endless box breaks, coupled with the trips to shows, my LCS, and numerous collection acquisitions...I'm going to now do something I have never done.  What is it, you ask?  Quite simply...

THE REAL DFG's FIRST EVER MID-SUMMER PRE-SEASON AFFORDABLE COMMUNITY GROUP HOCKEY BOX BREAK EXTRAVAGANZA!!!

or

The RDFGFEMSPSACGHBBE for short.  On second thought, let's just go with Group Break.

I thought long and hard over this one and decided to give the fans what they wanted (actually no one wanted it but I thought it would break up the monotony).  Believe it or not, I am growing tired of opening stuff just to throw it all into a box or binder and forget that I have it.  I love to share (brag) about what I open but I lack the originality to pull it off in an entertaining way.  It's also taking way too long to catalog everything I have, too long to separate out what is for keeps and what is sell-able, too long to create lists of what I need to complete more sets of newly busted wax, and I just don't have the time that I used to.  So the beneficiaries of my little, oh, we'll call it a funk...will be the readers of the blog.

I don't have all the details ironed out yet but it will be open to all the readers and even non-readers if they crawl out of the woodwork (and pay me).  As the title suggests, it is going to be HOCKEY related so the teams will all be NHL based.  I know, I know.  Hockey breaks generally don't do too well historically.  Well, I'm being optimistic here.  I haven't seen anyone try one of these in a while (at least not with non-high end stuff) and there are way too many hockey collectors out there in blog-o-land currently to not be able to pull off something like this.

I'm looking to mix this up a bit with some early 2000s Pacific branded stuff since I have received numerous comments from other readers and bloggers about how they enjoy those because not many collectors have a ton of this stuff.  Depending on what happens between now and probably the middle of next week when I decide to open these flood gates, I may have a few more things up my sleeve to add to the mix.  I'm thinking at a minimum, at least 5 Hobby Boxes.  That should get us a nice assortment of base cards as well as inserts and 10-12 "hits".  If I can come up with more than that, I will, but the key is AFFORDABLE...(so no high-end stuff here [unless of course people start demanding it])  I'm also going to work on a way to try and get some type of "hit" to each participant and possibly balance out any team stacks that fail to live up to what I think may be worth their weight of the break fee.

Speaking of break fee?  I'm sure you are all wondering the cost.  I'm pretty sure I will be able to get this to about $10 shipped and probably have two teams per entry.  That way, we can have 15 slots with everyone getting 2 teams (one you pick, one I pick).  Of course the Penguins will be off the table (and any Pittsburgh "hits" will be replaced) but all others will be fair game.  As long as I can get about 1/2 to 3/4 of the board filled, I think this can work out.

Stay tuned for more details.