SP Authentic 2010-11

SPA is one of my favorite products every year because of its great design and solid output of autographed rookie cards, plus the occasional pull of an auto-patch rookie. However, with this year's product there are a few negative points that make it not the strongest product of the year.

In comparison to other products brought out this year, SPA did not appear to increase the quality or quantity of their hits. When Paninini re-entered the hockey card market I was worried it would flood the market and devalue cards much like what happened in the 1990's. Instead, I am finding that card value has remained constant but the quality and frequency of pulling hits has increased, which is a definite win-win for the consumer. Further, while UD has not decreased their price tags, Paninini is offering a product that is slightly less or comparable in quality to UD's but with a 1/3 to 1/2 the sticker price. SPA however, did not pick up on this trend of lower price tags and more /better hits. Instead, SPA is offering fewer hits at the same price as every other year's SPA set. Specifically what is missing from SPA are the parallel cards that are serial numbered. Granted they do have an enlarged patch /auto collection this year, but with their insertion rate of 1 per case good luck finding one! The parallels were always nice because you knew you'd pull one per box and there was always a chance it would be a low numbered rookie.

Other Problems: The design of the set is very crisp and dynamic, but the set layout is the same as every other year. By set layout I mean what types of cards are included, which in this case you get base cards, sp notables (serial numbered), non-auto rookies (serial numbered), auto rookies, and the subsets. I suppose making the layout the same brings the SPA line together as a cohesive product but I would like to see it take some level of a different form in next few years, otherwise it will become dry. The other problem is that you only receive three auto's per box on average. That's it! Compared to other products with a similar price tag there should be at 2 more autos per box! A third problem is that the serial numbered cards should have much lower print runs. The auto rookies are numbered out of 999, which is a huge number considering how many auto rookies you can pull in a box (at best 2!). A print run of 999 for the non-auto rookies is more than fair, but an auto rookie should have a print run of less than 750.

What I pulled from the boxes I bought:

Notables, Front

Notables, Back

SP Notables: I averaged 4 Notables per box. The cards have a very nice design, however the image of the player could be in more focus. The cards are numbered to out of 1999. The 'notable' players are notable and feature the greats of the current and past game. Fun to pull.

Non-Auto Rookies: I averaged 1-2 of these per box. The cards are numbered out of 999, which I think is a fair print run for a non-auto rookie card in a mid-range priced box of cards. The design of the cards is sharp and the best part is that the player's stats and draft info is listed on the back of the card. I don't know why it has become more and more uncommon to display this info on rookie cards, but in my opinion you shouldn't call a card a rookie without having some stats on the back. But I digress...

Auto-Rookies: I averaged 2-3 per box. The front design for the auto vs. non-auto rookies is almost identical but for the deletion of the team logo from the auto rookies, which I prefer being included. The back of the cards (much to my chagrin) is missing the player info /stats and instead has the UD generic 'congratulations' for pulling an auto that you already knew you were getting (it's not actually like you won something here UD). The autos themselves are nice as there is a generous white area for autos on the cards, providing some medium to large autos. The autos were also done with blue markers, which makes it pop off the card. The biggest down side is that the cards are numbered out of 999, which as I said previously should be lower.

The two best auto-rookies I pulled was a Seguin and Subban. Subban's auto looks pretty nice but came as a redemption; however, I only had to wait 2 months for the card which is uncommonly quick for UD redemptions. The Seguin card is also nice but the auto is pretty skimpy. The card is numbered 172/999 but by the shape of his signature I would say the guy had been signing a few thousand cards before getting to sign the one I pulled! Nonetheless, two great rookie cards!

Sign of the Times (subset): I pulled at least 1 Sign of the Times per box. These are auto cards with no information on the back of the card, and tend to feature last year and this year's rookies. The cards have a great design and have ample room for the autos, which again are signed in blue marker. The cards are unfortunately not serial numbered. The vast majority of the cards I pulled were of recognizable players, which makes it worth pulling (such as Hamill, Eller, Kadri, & Couture pictured here). However it seems to be incredibly difficult to pull any of the cards with more than one auto, as I pulled only one and it was a redemption. This year's redemptions do not list the name of the players who will sign your card, but instead list it as a mystery redemption  (fingers crossed for Crosby!).

HOLO FX front

HOLO FX back

HOLO FX (subset): I pulled at least 2 of these per box. Not serial numbered or autographed. This subset has been included in every SPA product and they are a fun pull. The cards feature great photos of some great present and past players. The shiny background could have a bit more style to it (other than a repeated SPA logo), but nonetheless looks really sharp. The back of the cards also list some simple stats such as their weight and height. Cool and fun to pull cards.

So in sum, SPA is a decent product but not the year's best. The loss of parallel base cards from last year is a strike, as is the high print runs of the auto-rookies. Another strike comes in comparison to other products this year that seem to give you a bigger bang for your buck. However, you still get some great looking cards and autos of some of the best players in the game. Really, it's just a soggy if still sweet pickle.