I'm Doing It Again...2010-11 O-Pee-Chee Preview

In an effort to prevent myself from boiling over with excitement, I decided to do what I don't like doing and post another product preview.  This time, it's the December scheduled release of my yearly mountain to climb, O-Pee-Chee.

Very slick design with the black hockey blade shaped logo swoosh.  Perhaps a little too much border space rather than photo but it is a refreshing switch from the brownish/gold borders of past years or the very busy/colorful design of last year.

Upper Deck has released their preview of this years O-Pee-Chee flagship set and to me, it doesn't disappoint.  As with every year since it's return to the fold of viable card sets, the O-Pee-Chee "monster", as I call it, has been a mainstay in my collection and many set collector's in the collecting community. 

Keeping with the apparent theme of this years releases, "what's old is now new", the design for the Marquee Rookies is something straight out of the junk wax era.  You even get the impression (well I do at least) that they are borrowing from the 1976-77 set (see reference below).  I can only assume the Tangradi card is is a "test" shot because of it being slightly out of focus.  The Subban is more like what I am expecting for the finished product.

1976-77 O-Pee-Chee Mike Corrigan.  The design looks very similar.

There doesn't appear to be any change with the set collation again as 600 cards has become the calling card for this huge set.  It will also feature a decent crop of rookies in the Marquee Rookie subset, along with the Legends subset that many collector's have come to love.  Plus, with the cards coming out in December, you will be sure to see many of the rookies that lace up the skates in October.

Very slick looking autograph cards.  Design looks very similar to the Legends subset a couple years ago.  I can't really tell if it is a sticker or on-card auto but the space for the signature seems built into the design and doesn't interfere with the card. 

In addition to the 600 card base, there will be (tentatively) Retro Parallel cards, Rainbow Foil Retro Parallel cards both regular and the more rare Black Rainbow.  The In-Action insert cards are back as well but with an addition of a 1 per case SP version.  There will also be a signature set with cards falling about 3 per case and an O-Pee-Chee Souvenirs set that features the "floating head" design and 4 player jersey pieces, also falling about 3 per case.

The "floating head" card design with the jerseys...I don't remember a hockey release trying this design before but it was done in baseball numerous times like the 1979 team cards, Upper Deck Vintage from earlier last decade, or 2001 Fleer Tradition.  All I know is I have to have this card.

Pack out on this bad boy is going to be typical:  6 Cards/Pack, 36 Packs/Box, 12 Boxes/Case.  Estimated price on the packs with most definitely range from $1.99-$2.99 for retail and possibly $3-$4 for hobby although those are just a guess.  Regardless, I think this years set is going to be a big hit once again

Box Break - 2009-10 Upper Deck Victory (Blaster)

I couldn't resist this one. I had to get my hands on some fresh 09/10 Hockey. The first release out this year is Upper Deck Victory. Walmart's shelves were jammed with them.

11 Packs/Blaster
6 Cards/Pack
Box Guarantees: 1 Oversize Card, 1:2 Victory Rookies or Star Inserts (basically 1 per pack)
200 card base set (250 Total)

I pulled 54 base (no doubles) which is 22% of the set

Rookies (6):

Mike Santorelli #205
Byron Bitz #212
Luca Caputi #225
Jesse Joensuu #232
Andrew McDonald #240
Mike McKenna #243

Parallels (1): Brandon Sutter Gold #38 (avg. 1:36 packs)

Inserts (5): Game Breakers - Brad Boyes, Evgeni Malkin, Eric Staal; Stars Of The Game - Marian Hossa, Marty Turco

Oversize Card (1):


Luke Schenn

Summary:

The first cards of the year are always exciting, even if they are from the UD Victory product. Victory has, over the past few years, had a standard "run of the mill" type design that has not varied much from year to year. The same goes for 09/10. This year features a lot more white space, if that was even possible. The borders are even more expansive than last year, with the images centered on the card and a more rounded feel to the edge. The insert sets feature the standard Victory Game Breakers and Stars of the Game, which showcase the top players on each team. The Victory Rookies feature many of the guys that played at the end of 08/09 and the design of the card is an improvement over last year, in my opinion.

I would give the set itself a 6/10. The box...maybe a 5 1/2/10, possibly a 6 because I like these cards but definitely better than a 5.