Andrei Markov Signed Card in the Mail!

Woot! Just when I thought I wouldn't be receiving any more fan packs or signed cards in the mail comes a thunderous envelope! Encased inside were two cards autographed by the legendary Andrei Markov of the Montreal Canadiens. One card for myself and the other for my friend who's a big (understatement there) Habs fan. Below is the image of the Markov card that he sent back to me: if you noticed from the other two cards I received earlier, all three of these were from the beautiful SP Authentic UD product from 10/11. Loved the designs on the cards and thought that there would be enough white area for an auto to stand out -I was right about that one!

[Name of person]
c/o The Montreal Canadiens
1909, avenue des Canadiens-de-Montréal
Montreal, QC, CANADA
H3C 5L2

UD Series 2 11/12: 2 Box Breaks

Over the past month I picked up 2 boxes of UD srs II. It is a weaker product from last year's srs II in respect to it not short-printed and hence loaded with big hits in each box; last year I was pulling parallel young guns in almost every box, not to mention auto and buy backs. Compared to other years of srs II, besides the 10/11 edition, the 11/12 product stands as one of the better years. The card design is very attractive, with bar-none the best photography found in any sport card product, much like this year's srs I UD. In continuation from previous year's UD srs II, each box reveals one rookie jersey, one regular player's jersey, and of course the rest of the year's crop of young guns cards. I'm not sure about who exactly is included in this product's young guns list, but I do know (from pulling the card) that Zack Kassian is one of the rookies. In addition to the young guns rookies, srs II again delivers an update to the Victory product. While I do not buy the Victory product, I do enjoy pulling the update cards from the srs II product because it adds some diversity to the box. The addition of Victory cards adds more rookie cards to each box than found in the srs I product which does not include update cards. New to this year's srs II are update cards for OPC and MVP. I really like the idea of adding these other update cards as it adds that much more diversity to what is being pulled and multiplies the number of rookies one finds in a box. Despite this year's srs II not being as loaded as last year's, UD still put out a solid product that is very fun to break and provides a decent bang for your buck.

Young Guns: The box wrapper suggests you will find 6 Young Guns per box, and upon opening my two boxes I found exactly that in each. I also did not pull any duplicate rookies from the two boxes, which is always a relief when trying to build a set! I didn't find any huge names, but it is pretty common that the bigger rookies are seeded in the first UD series.

Canvas Parallel Set: I pulled 6 canvas base cards, 1 young guns card, and 1 retired stars sp card. The base and rookie canvas cards all have the same look as those released through the srs I product. I really like this parallel set and is something unique to the UD srs product. Last year UD had retro parallel sets and it would seem that the addition of parallel sets will continue. My only complaint is that the words 'young guns' on the canvas cards blends too much into the background and I would prefer to see the words stand out more with the usage of a lighter or brighter color or with the use of some foil. As a side note, the retired star card I pulled (from a separate box than the young guns) was of Gretzky. I knew this was a sp card and wasn't something I particularly collect. I after pulling the card I quickly sold it on ebay for a nice little sum that greatly offset the price of the box. The selling of this card demonstrates that the srs II product does produce cards of value! *on a side note, I only received one UD Exclusives serial numbered parallel card. I realize on the box that they only fall 1 per 2 boxes, but I think that they should up it to every box as it does add a little bit more of excitement to opening the product.

Gretzky Canvas sp that I sold.

Subsets: The srs I UD products introduced a new, 1950's theme for the Hockey Heroes cards. This was used instead of highlighting one particular player and UD will continue this theme of highlighting decades in chronological order until at least next year with the 70's and 80's. The srs II, logically, gives us the 1960's theme set and again the cards look great; there are on average 2 cards inserted per box. UD wrote that inserted into packs will be hard-signed Hockey Heroes but it would seem that these will be incredibly scarce; maybe on 10 or so of each signed card. The Hockey Heroes set had become quite bland and overused for the past two decades. It is very refreshing to see a new take on this subset instead of taking the easy way out of not producing them at all.

Jersey Cards: The regular jersey cards have the same design as the srs I product, which is sharp looking with the usage of a geometric pattern and medium-sized photo of the player. The jersey swatch is of an average size for a product of this price range -thumb nail size- and features some strong players; I pulled a Tanguay and Dadonov card. The Rookie Materials cards have perhaps the best design out of any of the previous year's UD srs II products. The jersey swatch is thumb-nail size and put into a 'R' shaped window. The design is simple and has a small player photo on the left with an additional close-up on his face in the right corner. The cards look really great and as per usual, fun to pull.

Red card is the OPC Update parallel.

Update Sets: As I mentioned above, this year's srs II product offers three different update sets! You have the MVP, OPC, and Victory update sets included. The Victory cards pull more frequently than the OPC, which pull more frequently than the MVP. The differences in pull rates provides another level of depth to this product that I really enjoyed. I also enjoyed pulling big name rookies that were featured in the srs I product, and hence not available in the srs II young guns list. Most notably of these rookies is Nugent-Hopkins, whom I pulled a rookie of from the OPC and MVP sets! In addition to the Update cards are the parallels of them, which are featured for the Victory and OPC but I am unsure of for the MVP.

2011/12 UD SRS II is another strong product that sits well with its previous year's releases. The cards look very sharp and I greatly enjoy the additions and change ups from the previous year's releases. On the downside, it seems that the boxes are not as loaded or short-printed as the 2010/11 release, meaning that the 11/12 product will not be as collectible, however, also easier to collect because it won't sell out as fast. Another difference is that two boxes of the 11/12 product gave me a full set of the base cards, unlike the 10/11 product that took almost or over 4 boxes to complete. Base cards are not usually worth much, but to me it is nice to be able to complete a set with only a few boxes purchased.

In comparison to what else has come out for the 11/12 hockey market, UD srs II is one of the best products. You get a reasonable bang for your buck and it will leave you with a few bucks left to buy a new box to store your cards in! Much like the 11/12 srs I product, this product deserves a solid and fresh pickle!

Atlanta Hawks & Minnesota Wild Fan Packs

Today I received two fan packs in the mail. One was from the NBA team, the Atlanta Hawks. Within this package was a series of team book marks and a programs from the Jan. 18th game against the Portland Trail Blazers. Nothing too special, but still pretty neat. The second fan pack was from the NHL team, the Minnesota Wild. This fan pack consisted of a rectangular player card. The card is pretty neat looking and features Niklas Backstrom (the auto is a facsimile).

You can contact the Atlanta Hawks by sending them an e-mail at hawks.fanmail@atlantaspirit.com. Contact the Minnesota Wild by e-mailing them at community@wild.com.

Second Box of Score 2011/12

A few days ago I picked up second box of Score 11/12. The first box revealed an autographed rookie and a short printed rookie, along with a stack of nice looking base, glossy parallel, and subset cards. Score is one of the most affordable products in the realm of hockey cards and offers some good value. This second box left me scratching my head and was the opposite of what the first box offered.

The biggest problem with the second box was that I was left with a mountain of doubles. The product's base set includes 500 cards and an additional 50 rookies. A second box for a product with such a big base set should never leave you with a mountain of duplicates, but Score 11/12 did. Additionally, the second box even had duplicates within it -roughly 6 duplicate base cards and 1 duplicate rookie card. I really do not like finding duplicates within one box, let alone finding a mountain of duplicates for cards I busted from just one box previously! In the case of the rookies, I found a total of 17 rookies in the second box. Sixteen of these cards were duplicates from what I had previously pulled! This demonstrates poor random placement of cards in Score boxes. Also, I found 2 duplicate rookies in the second box itself. You should never find duplicate rookies in the same box, and I had never had this happen in last year's Score product. Overall I am not impressed with Score after busting this box!

Word glossy not included around #.

Upon looking at the glossy cards I pulled from the second box I noticed that not all of the cards said glossy on the back. Glossy cards from the 11/12 Score product should have the word glossy above and below the card number on the back, along with the front actually being glossy. I noticed that all of the Boston Bruins cards had the glossy front but did not have the word glossy on the back. I searched various web sites to see if this was a known error or perhaps a variant short print, but thus far I have not come across anything about this, except for a message board on Beckett cards where people think it is a misprint and seems to have occurred to all the glossy Boston cards.. It would seem that this is an error that occurred on all the Bruins' glossy cards. To me, this is a sign of poor quality.

I picked up roughly the same number of subset cards in the second box, expect did not find any NHL Shield Die-Cuts or First Goal Cards. I believe the Shield cards are not found in every box, much like the snow-dome of last year's product. However, I did find a Score B subset card which I believe falls one per every other box like the Shield cards. Score B is a nice looking card with a black and white photo of Brodeur on the front and a small blurb about him on the back, however I have no idea why this subset is called Score B. It seems pretty random. It seems even more out of place considering that all the other subsets have themes that are logical to what is shown on the card, for instance Making an Entrance depicts how marquee players are shown coming onto the ice prior to a home game.

Sateri Front

Sateri Back: # should be at top left.

The best card from the second box of Score was a short-printed Harri Sateri rookie card. This short print appears exactly the same as the other rookie cards but the number on the back is missing. According to various web sites, this is a purposeful error by Panini and were short printed to somewhere under 100. While it's nice to pull a short printed rookie, I'd much rather have it be stamped with a serial number, marked with a higher number like the Landeskog I pulled earlier, or have a completely different look to it (foil trim or different graphics).

Despite pulling a short printed rookie I am very disappointed with this second box of Score. The only saving grace is that the product is so cheap that I can afford to take another chance on it.

Syracuse Crunch Fan Pack

Yesterday's mail included a fan pack from the AHL team, the Syracuse Crunch! Inside the large white envelope were two small felt pennants, two programs, and a large stitched patch from the Outdoor Classic game that was held back in February of 2010. I'm guessing these patches did not sell too well as they are giving them away in their fan packs, but to find one in the fan pack was quite the surprise for me! The patch looks really cool and is the first one I've seen included in a fan pack. The felt pennants were also a surprise and had not been found in previous fan packs. This was one of the better fan packs I've seen thus far.

For your own Syracuse Crunch fan pack, e-mail the organization at info@syracusecrunch.com

Upper-Deck Series I Hockey: 2011/12

Upper-Deck series I & II hockey are perhaps the best sets available for this sport. It is an affordable product where the base set is easy to build and rookies and subsets add an element of chase, not to mention some very attractive case breaks. While this is traditionally a great product, it has become stagnant over the years and UD has addressed this by offering three types of parallel cards, more types of case breaks, and overhauled the Hockey Heroes subset which is a mainstay of this product. On all of these revamped fronts the 2011/12 product has hit a bulls-eye, however the base cards are perhaps the most poorly designed ever.

The other day I picked up 6 packs of UD srs I. My superstition, which is shared by many card collectors, is that I always grab the last few packs in a box. Again, this was a case where I wasn't disappointed!

Base: As per usual with UD srs products, we have here a 200 base card set, with another 200 base card set tacked on with the srs II. The base cards feature a few of the key players from each team and nothing else too fantastic. This year's base cards are no exception, but for perhaps some of the best photos I have ever seen in this product: loved how Getzlaf is turned into a pretzel in his photo! My criticism for this year's base set is that the front design is very bland, with an uninspired silver outline puck shaped area that presents the player's name at the bottom. The graphics around this puck shape are also very bland and blend into background, which does feature a great photo that is not obscured by the graphics or text. The other weak note is that the backs of the cards have little to no colour, making them again very bland. The text stands out well and even features french translations. The worst part of the backs is that there is a massive negative space between the stats and blurb about the player. This negative space is non-existent on players who have been in the league for more than 8 or so years, but on sophomore players this space is massive! I don't know if UD didn't have enough to say about each player or if someone was too lazy to move the text up a centimeter to match where the stats ended. Either way, I greatly disliked the look of the base cards.

Hockey Heroes: I pulled one of the Hockey Heroes cards and they look superb! For series I, the subset features the great players of the 1950's, and here I found a Bobby Hull card. I love the graphics and the whole concept of this subset! This is a must collect set for sure.

UD Exclusives: I pulled on parallel card from the 6 packs. These parallels are numbered out of 100 and fall roughly one per box. I didn't find a great parallel card (Zidlicky), but it was still nice to pull one. On the side of criticizing the base cards, this parallel base differs from the regular base only in the addition of the gold foil, numbering, and statement that it is a parallel card. Again, the design is weak and the gold foil does little to improve it.

UD Game Jersey: While not a favourite player, Ilya Kovalchuk is a star player and I was delighted to pull it! The jersey card is pretty much the same as every year except that the design is different. The design differs in the geometric patterns that appear behind the player's photo and in the shape of the jersey window. As per usual, these memorabilia cards are not numbered, but do look pretty sharp. On average these cards fall 2 per box.

Young Guns UD Canvas: I pulled a second short print but un-numbered parallel. This time it was of a rookie card instead of the regular base. The card has a textured front, similar to a canvas, and is printed on thicker stock. The design is also slightly altered from the regular edition rookie cards. This fall one per 2 or so boxes, so I was definitely lucky to pull one of these.

Overall UD srs I is a fun-as-expected product to break. I definitely lucked out on the cards I pulled, and will be returning to this product shortly. I love the price point and the canvas cards are very cool looking; perhaps even better than last year's retro rookie cards. The only down fall of this product is that the base cards have a horrible design, but the rookie and subset cards are what most people collect this product and I am really no different. This is a sweet if slightly soggy pickle of a product!

Upper Deck ICE 08 /09: Collection

Upper Deck Ice is one of my favorite products in the arena of hockey cards. Ice has a great original design and features quality box and case breaks. As I haven't had the money to pick up any new packs of cards, I've begun showcasing what I have bought in the past. In this post I am highlighting my collection of Upper Deck ICE 08 /09, which is the result of opening 3 boxes.

Base Cards: The base cards feature what I suppose has become an almost standard design of a photo of a hockey player removed from his original background. This silhouetted figure is placed upon a light colored color backdrop that includes a few geometric shapes. The background also has small scratches embedded into the card that are akin to scratches on an ice rink. The outline of the player is also raised up and a slight shadow is cast on the lower edges. This gives the card a nice 3D effect and certainly makes it memorable in comparison to so many other products.

Rookies: I absolutely adore the ICE rookies. The acetate card with serial number printed on the card make them unique and highly collectable. The images always look sharp and the acetate gives the images a wonderful soft and realistic feel to the photographs. The silver foil accents also add another dimensions to the card's appearance and appeal. Additionally, there are several levels of the rookies with higher draft picks receiving lower serial numbers, ranging from a printing run of 1999 to 99. From the 1999 print run I picked up a  Karl Alzner rookie and from the 499 print run a Patrik Berglund rookie. Both have become strong and important players in the NHL. The cream-of-the-crop rookie that I pulled was a Kyle Turris numbered 1/99. Turris was a first round pick and has become a strong player on the Coyotes team. Turris is not a household name due primarily to him being a part of a third-string NHL team. Regardless, rookies numbered to 99 fall one per case which makes the Turris card a tremendous hit!

Fresh Threads Jersey Cards: The Fresh Threads cards feature two small square swatches of 'event-used hockey memorabilia' from a rookie player and does not sport a serial number. The cards have an excellent design that compliments the base and rookie card designs; this makes the product more cohesive when subsets and base cards have a similar design. I also love the 'cracked ice' design on the lateral margins of the card. While I cannot be absolutely positive it appears that the two swatches always feature two different colors, which makes the cards that much more attractive. As a side note, the word 'memorabilia' has replaced 'jersey' for many products as the material is being drawn from the player's entire uniform, from the pants to the jersey.

From the Fresh Threads series I pulled two parallels. One is an Oscar Moller card with a serial number of 12 /100. The front and back of the card have an acetate cover that adds a wonderful gloss and shine to the card, and of course makes it slightly more thick. The second card is a jersey /patch card of Andreas Nodl numbered 11 of 25. This is a great card for it has the same design as the other Fresh Threads but includes a two color break on a patch and has a very low serial number.

Frozen Fabrics: Fresh Threads featured rookie NHL players and in contrast Frozen Fabrics features retired and current superstar NHL players. This series has a similar design with angled lines and a cool blue motif as the Fresh Threads, but inverts the position of the two material swatches. The regular version of the Frozen Fabrics that I pulled features Larry Robinson of the Canadiens. The second Frozen Fabrics card I pulled was a parallel version numbered 44 out of 100 and showcases Sergei Fedorov from when he played for the Capitals. This card has an acetate front and back, the same as the Moller parallel mentioned above.

Glacial Graphs: I pulled three Glacial Graphs, which are autographs on clear acetate cards. These cards do not sport serial numbers. The three cards feature (individually), the autographs of Alexander Edler, Luke Schenn, and Devin Setoguchi. These are three very strong names for the 08 /09 NHL season and I was ecstatic when I pulled them. Again the cards feature a complimentary design to the rest of the set through the usage of angled lines and a light grey /blue color scheme. The autographs are signed with a fine blue marker in an open spot on the acetate card next to a medium sized silhouette image of the player. The autographs look absolutely superb as they are of a great size, and the Schenn auto has great detail that does not look rushed or tired, unlike so many other autographs you might pull.

Upper Deck Ice 08/09 is a truly great product and was the highlight of that season for me. I loved the cohesive design and the usage of acetate. I loved how the material and autos were brought to the forefront on the card and featured recognizable NHL players. The great collectability of the rookie cards with different levels of print runs also makes each box exciting to open and encourages the collector to continue picking up more; I'm still yearning for a Stamkos rookie! As per usual, 08/09 ICE is a certifiable cold and crisp pickle, fresh from the canning jar picked up at grandma's house -and nothing's better than that!

Upper Deck SP Game Used 09 /10: Collection

For a period of time I picked up a solitary pack of Upper Deck SP Game Used (spgu) alongside multiple packs of a cheaper product. I did this because I knew that the SPGU guaranteed at least one hit per pack, which is something the cheaper product could not boast. SPGU has a high-end price tag, where each pack runs between $20 and $30 and the average hit is a jersey of some sort. In all I believe I picked up 6 packs and managed to find a box or case break in each pack, which are incredible odds and is why I picked up as many packs as I did.

The 09 /10 season was the first time I had picked up packs of SPGU and it might be my last as well. This is because the 09 /10 season has the sharpest designs I have ever seen come from the product's line and has the highest ratio of great hits. I've not known previous or later years of SPGU to release so many great hits but I suppose the ratio of hits might have been my uncanny luck and not due to the manufacturer. The other reason I am not inclined to buy into this product again is because it has a high price tag that only guarantees you a jersey card. The regular jersey card is not numbered and honestly not all that special in comparison to the jersey cards you automatically receive from a box of regular series 1 or 2 UD, which costs only slightly more than two packs of SPGU. For this price tag I'd be better off purchasing a middle-range priced box or saving for a pack of Ultimate or whatnot.

What I pulled:

Base: The base cards are not serial numbered but do have a great design. The lettering and team logos are embossed in silver foil and make the cards look very attractive. The image of the hockey players are silhouetted against a mostly white with limited geometric patterned background. The pattern also has a texture similar to cloth, with stitching going over the top margin of the design. This design is great because it ties the base set into what the SPGU is all about: jersey cards.

Base Card Parallel: I believe that one parallel of either a jersey, rookie, or base card was inserted into each box. I pulled one parallel of a Drew Doughty base card numbered 100 out of a 100. It is a very nice looking card that has the same design as the regular base set except that the foil and bottom of the card is gold colored. My only complaint is that the serial number is part of a sticker. I much prefer it when serial numbers are stamped onto the card as it seems less like an afterthought or a lazy method to serial number a card.

Rookies: SPGU is not known for its highly collectible rookie cards. These tend to be listed in the Beckets for almost half the value of products with half the retail values; for example Ice has twice the value of SPGU rookies and SPGU rookies are roughly on par with regular UD rookies. Despite the lack of collectability, the 09/10 SPGU rookies have a nice design to them. The fronts sport a silhouetted photo of the player in question alongside a serial number out of 699 at the top of the card and the back of the card has a small bio and stat listing. Overall a nice looking rookie card. I can't say I pulled any big names from the packs but I am still happy with what I did pull because of the sharp design.

Jersey: I pulled one regular Authentic Fabrics jersey card of J.P. Dumont. The card does not have a serial number and features a medium sized square swatch of his jersey. This is roughly the size of jersey swatch found in the UD Ice product. Overall it is a nice design, but with a high price tag each memorabilia card should be serial numbered.

I also pulled three parallel Authentic Fabrics jersey cards, which do have serial numbers. Like the base parallel, these are serial numbered out of 100 and have the same overall design as the regular Authentic Fabrics except for the addition of some gold coloring. Of the parallel jerseys I pulled a Jay Bouwmeester (awesome card since I live in Calgary) and two Steven Stamkos jerseys. I'm still a little stunned I managed to pull two Stamkos parallel jerseys due to their rarity, and have a hard time parting with the duplicate since he's a big name and the cards look so damn nice!

Patch Time!: There is a chance to pull a patch per box, and I pulled a doozey! This was a Dual Athentic Fabrics patch numbered 24/25 of Alexander Ovechkin and Evgeni Malkin. This was my second Malkin patch (first is from Ultimate 07/08) but the first Ovechkin memorabilia! The patches are slightly smaller than the jerseys from the regular Authentic Fabrics cards but the patches themselves are really nice and easily make up for the smallish size. The Ovechkin patch features 8 breaks and 4 colors, while the Malkin patch has two breaks and two colors.

Significant Numbers: Continuing with the theme of Evgeni Malkin, I also pulled one Significant Numbers of Evgeni Malkin that features a swatch of his jersey (black) shaped into his jersey number that is accented by a sticker auto below it. While a hard auto would have been nicer, the auto is signed in blue and the combo material and auto make the card a real prize! Also is that the card is limited to his jersey number, meaning this card is serial numbered 19 out of 71! Terrific looking card.

The final hit from SPGU was not actually pulled from a pack. Instead this was sent to me by UD because they had lost one of my redemption cards. I don't recall exactly who the player was, but I do remember that it was not a big name player. So in apology for the delay (it took about a year) and for them loosing the card, they sent me a Dale Hawerchuk Marks of a Nation autographed patch card numbered out of 6! This is an absolutely amazing card and really made me think highly of UD. These limited marks of a Nation cards were inserted roughly 1 per case of SPGU, and each player's card was limited to the number of letters found in their home country's name. These were in celebration of the Olympics and featured prominent players both past and present from across the world who have played in the NHL. For Mr. Hawerchuk I received number 1 of 6, meaning I got the letter C. Along the side of the C is his autograph signed in metallic silver. Absolutely great card.

The 09 /10 SPGU product is filled with massive hits. The overall look of the cards, from base to jersey designs are all spot on and have great details (like the stitching I had mentioned). The hits feature A list players and I managed to pull quite a few case and box break hits. While the price tag is prohibitive, and the previous and later years products of SPGU were not as strong, I would still recomend picking up a pack or two of the 09 /10 line. In all the SPGU 09 /10 product is sweet and delicious pickle with many surprises!

Certified 10/11: 3 Pack Break

Certified is a product of Panini's and was one of their first products in the re-entry to the world of Hockey cards. As with many new products I like to try a few packs to gauge if I'd like it, especially since this was one of the initial products by Panini. Panini's Score was a home run in my opinion for it's incredibly low price, nice retro design, and hard-to-find hits. Crown Royale, discussed previously, is also a product by Panini and was an excellent product despite the high price tag. Certified bucks the trend of the Crown and Score products in that it is an absolutely horrid product, except (oddly) the base cards.

What I got:

Front of base cards

Back of one base card

Base: The base cards have great photographs with an eye-catching shimmer and foil to them. The cards are not serial numbered, but look incredibly sharp and stand out against any of the other base cards produced by UD or Panini this year. The back of the base cards is regular card stock with a somewhat lackluster design that still manages to compliment the fronts. The base cards are almost worth collecting by themselves.

Back of Champions card.

Front of Champions card.

Non-Material or Auto Subset: I pulled one Certified Champions card, numbered out of 500; this was the hit from one pack. The card has a similar style to the base cards and features images of Corey Perry & the Anaheim Ducks from when they won the Stanley Cup a few years back. The card looks OK but I've never been a huge fan of these types of subset cards, where events are highlighted from previous years of the NHL. However, at least it's not highlighting something completely random but instead showcases Stanely Cup winning teams, regardless of how tired that theme is in the world of hockey cards. In contrast, the In Harm's Way subset from Crown Royale is interesting for it showcases goaltenders being in physical conflict with other players, which is a different idea for hockey cards (however, the NHL & NHLPA prohibit sport cards from depicting photographs of fights so this Crown subset is treading a fine line).

Notice the big negative space 

around fabric.

Back of Varlamov card.

Material: I pulled one Fabric o the Game card and this is where much of my disappointment resides. The card features a moderate sized square red jersey swatch from Semyon Varlamov, with a serial number of 250 on the back. Varlamov is not a bad player to pull, but the card's design is incredibly boring. The photo of Vaarlamov is dark and placed on top an equally dark background, making the photo disappear. The design itself is erratic as it appears to represent part of a jersey (?), with a long tag stretching down one side in which the jersey swatch is located. The tag is long enough to accommodate more than one jersey swatch, which is the idea as there are different levels of the jersey cards (eg. 1 or more jersey swatches or patches). This is a very lazy design that leaves a lot of unused space on the card around the jersey swatch, which is also a very lightly colored area that makes the card unbalanced as the player's photo is dark. Furthermore, I prefer to see the serial numbers on the front, as this is part of the key attraction to the card, material or auto + rarity + player photograph = a good card!

Notice the poor quality punch of letters.

Back of Toews card.

Moving on. The second material card I pulled was a Fabric of the Game Jonathan Toews three piece jersey. The card is numbered out of 25 (again printed on the back side) and has the identical design to the previously mentioned Fabric of the Game. It appears that three different parts of the uniform /jersey were used for this card, and the fabrics are inserted below a cutout of the letters NHL. All the previous negative comments from before apply to this card plus with one additional flaw. This flaw is that the letters NHL are cut out incredibly poorly, with jagged pieces sticking out along the margins of each letter as though this was done by a child. Such poor quality can be glossed over on cheaper products, but not one where each pack runs you close to $15 and especially since a card numbered out of 25 would suggest this would be one of the better cards in the set.

This is a really poor product mainly due to the quality and design behind its material cards. Additionally, that one of the hits was a subset card numbered out of 500 leaves you wanting a lot more when you plopped $15 down for that pack. For that price the subset card should be on top of a jersey or lower numbered card, however this argument can apply to many other products such as Artifacts. Overall I would not buy this product again and I regard this as one of if not THE worst product of the 10/11 season. I rate this product as one soggy, half molded over sour pickle.