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

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.

Signed Plekanec Card in the Mail!

The other day I received two autographed cards in the mail from Tomas Plekanec of the Montreal Canadiens! On November 26th, 2011, I had mailed out cards to various Canadian hockey teams such as the Canadiens. I had previously received an autographed card from Rene Bourque, of the Calgary Flames. This time, about one and a half months later, Plekanec mailed me back the two cards I sent him but with his signature on them. As a collector of sport cards, and virtually everything else, I am definitely encouraged to keep mailing cards in the hopes of having them signed!

To try having your own cards signed by a Montreal Canadiens player send a small note, a self-addressed envelope, and the card of your choice to the address below.

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

Originally posted Jan 19th, 2012

Carolina Hurricanes Fan Pack

Earlier this week I received a fan pack from the Carolina Hurricanes. In the regular sized envelope were two stock photo cards, a 2011-12 schedule, a waterless tattoo, and a sticker. Both the sticker and tattoo featured the team's logo. Tattoos are not something I have found before in fan packs but it is a neat idea, and it seems every team sends out logo stickers which I quite like. The schedule, again, is something virtually every team sends out, but the two photo cards were pretty weak as they were bent in half (leaving a sizable crease down the middle). One of the cards features an unknown player with his head cropped out of the photo and the plain text 'Carolina Hurricanes' at the bottom; I don't really understand how such a generic photo card would get someone excited about a team, especially when it looks like garbage after being sent through the mail. The second card was worse as it again looked like garbage with a massive crease down the middle from being folded to fit inside the envelope. The worst part is that it features a minor player from the 2006-07 Hurricanes roster -Chad LaRose. I suppose the Canes want their fans to be excited about what they had accomplished in the past and not what they are attempting to do this year? Perhaps even more puzzling is why they wouldn't feature their big star, Jeff Skinner, who started his first year in the NHL with the Canes last year and finished the season off by winning the Calder trophy? Bizarre.

While I appreciate receiving a fan pack, this is one of the poorest fan packs I have received thus far. The Hurricanes would be much better off sticking to the tattoo, sticker, and schedule.

Send an e-mail to communityrelations@carolinahurricanes.com to request your own Carolina Hurricanes fan pack.

Originally posted Jan 15th, 2011

Vancouver Canucks Fan Pack Has Arrived!

It took a little while, but the other day I found a Vancouver Canucks fan pack in the mail! The fan pack consisted of a typed (stock) letter, a very sharp looking window decal, and 5 unique 'we are all canucks' 9.5x14 cm player cards that are dated to the 2011/12 season. This is also the first non-electronic fan pack I have received from a NHL team.

You can contact the Vancouver Canucks on their website for a fan pack of your own.

Originally posted Jan 6th, 2012

Rene Bourque Signed Card in the Mail!

As part of my attempt at receiving fan packs, I also mailed out a few NHL cards to particular players. I picked one player from each Canadian hockey team (except for the Leafs since they do not do this), and mailed the card to there team's address with the envelope saying 'attention: player's name'.

The first of these cards came in the mail today. I had originally sent a Rene Bourque off to the Calgary Flames on November 26th, and today the 15th of December, I received the card signed by him! I am really encouraged by this and will be sending off a few more cards to different players!

 

Originally posted Dec 15th, 2011

Status Update on Fan Packs

After only a few days following my online requests for fan packs from various sport teams, I received 8 replies. I think I sent something like 70+ e-mails for fan packs, so I am currently sitting at roughly an 10% reply rate. Anyways, from these 8 replies only 2 said they would send me a fan pack, which is a bit more disparaging. What is truly disparaging though is that the principle reason most teams refuse to send out a fan pack is because I live in Canada! This is most common in MLB teams who refuse to send fan packs across the American border. I find this bizarre as it works counter to marketing ambitions of growing the organization's fan base. Furthermore, Canada HAS a MLB team and one would think that MLB as a whole would try to promote their product as much as they could in Canada so that there are more fans, a healthier fan base for the existing team (the Blue Jays), and eventually be able to expand the MLB teams to more areas in Canada.

From the 8 responses I received, the MLB teams Indians and Braves both said they cannot send fan packs outside of the USA. The Yankees however said I could mail a postcard to their team in exchange for a fan pack, but I feel that they forgot to mention that this applies to only US residents. I also received 5 responses from NHL teams. The Bruins wrote that they cannot send fan packs to individuals living outside of the US. The Senators said that they do not send out fan packs at all because of the high level of requests they have received in the past. The Predators took a different approach, where they wrote that they do not mail out fan packs but instead e-mail an electronic form of the fan pack, which included Predator printouts of their logos and other graphics, and a copy of their team schedule. Ending on a more positive note, the Canucks and Flames organizations wrote that they do offer fan packs and that they should arrive in 1 to 2 months time.

Some of the graphics that the Predators sent me in the electronic fan pack.

Score 11/12: 1 Box

What makes Score a great product is that it is very affordable and offers autograph /chase cards. Products with a similar price point, such as Victory, do not offer autograph cards nor as many subsets or parallels. A box of Score should cost around $30 and I'd recommend buying it early as last year's product has doubled in cost! The cost is why I picked it up during my boxing day shopping, as it added a bit of volume to my purchase while not depleting my bank account!

Score 11/12 boasts a 500 base card set and a further 50 rookies. In addition, there are another 20 rookie cards that are short-printed -not serial numbered. Beyond the base and rookie sets are 11 subsets to collect, all of which vary in rarity. As for the autographs, there are three different sets of autos! The common set is the autographed version of the base set, followed by the Hot Rookie signatures, the short-printed rookie signatures, and finally the Recollection Collection which is a small list of cards from the original 1990-91 Score set that have been autographed. None of the cards in Score are serial numbered, and the odds of finding the cards is not clearly laid out by Score, if mentioned at all. However, most of the information about rarity and checklists can be found on Panini's website or various blogs such as mine! Follow this link to find a comprehensive list of the Score 11/12 cards.

BASE: The base card design is not as attractive as last years. The front of the cards have a white boarder with red curved lines  along the vertical sides and the player's name at the bottom. The problem is that the white boarders become lost in photos of hockey players that already are dominated by the absence of color. Allowing the image to fade out or to bleed past the boarder would have looked better. What doesn't help either is that the player's name also becomes lost in the image as each text color corresponds to that player's particular team. While colors like black and red work well, silver is completely lost; why would anyone think this was a good idea?! Also, the photos are fairly generic and rarely have well framed shots. Too many of the photos are taken at shoulder or eye level with the player's upper body being lost in the arena's crowd. Here, the image would be improved by blurring the background so that the player would take center stage. Score is out-shot by the Upper-Deck series one base cards! However, the Score product is less than half the price of UD and you do get what you pay for.

PARALLELS: Each pack of Score includes one parallel. These parallels are often the glossy variety, which has been improved upon from last year's product. The front of the cards are identical to the regular set except for it being glossy. In last year's product you could sometimes 'gloss' right over these parallels. New for this year, the glossy cards have the word glossy written around the card number on the back. Simple and effective. I also pulled one Gold Rush parallel, which is identical to the regular base set except for the card has a gold colored border on the front. Nothing too special and not exactly worth collecting; the glossy cards look much better. Gold Rush cards fall one per box.

SUBSETS: There are a ton of subsets in Score. There are two that can only be found in retail jumbo packs and another 9 in hobby packs. There are two die-cut subset cards that I think fall one per box (not one each). The design of the non-die-cut subset cards look OK and are nothing too special. They are printed on the same stock as the regular set and have a similar layout to the base set. Regardless, the cards emphasize important moments throughout the season, such as the first goals from the previous year's rookies, highlights from the Stanley Cup playoffs, or the fan affection and ticker-tape atmosphere when a player enters the arena. All of these cards are fun to look at and read the backs of, which is something too many subset cards forget about -fun! What's also fun is the die-cut card. I pulled a NHL Shield die-cut that features a silhouetted Nicklas Lidstrom with a NHL shield graphic cut out of the card's top. The card just looks cool and has a small blurb on the back that explains why Lidstrom is such a powerful force in the NHL -seven time Norris Trophy winner.

HOT ROOKIES: Perhaps the most attractive aspect of buying a box of Score is that you know you will walk away with a mitt full of rookies and one is likely to be a top draft pick! Score rookies do not tend to be highly valued because they are common but it is because they are so common that at least you can say that you have so-and-so's rookie card unlike other products (UD) where you might have to buy 10 boxes before you find that top rookie card! I pulled 17 regular rookies cards and one double (which is likely an error because I never found doubles in any boxes last year). The design of the rookies follows the same format as last years but adds a bit more drama. The player is silhouetted with thick design borders and bold text. The background behind the player is a water color pattern that can be easily created in Photoshop but nonetheless is used for good affect here. As I said before, it is rewarding to pull a known high-draft rookie in a box, and here I found a Cody Hodgson rookie. 

I also pulled a short-printed and an autographed rookie. Short printed rookies are identical to the regular rookies. These cards are numbered 551 to 570, being the additional 20 cards to the regular rookie set. The one I pulled was of Gabriel Landeskog, someone definitely making an impact in the NHL. The autographed rookie was of Erik Condra and this card is from the regular set of rookies. The autograph is signed in blue ink over top a sticker. I am not a fan of sticker autos but I know they are cheaper to produce and hence more commonly used in cheaper products. Overall, my luck was definitely running high with picking up a sp and auto rookie in one box!

The verdict for Score 11/12 is that it is a certified sweet pickle of a winner. There are many short-comings with this set and there is a lot to improve upon. However, there are noticeable improvements over last year's product so it would seem this would be a product that will continually evolve and improve. The most important aspect of the Score product is it's price! At $30 a box, this is a very affordable set to build and it is a set that is not too large like the 800 card OPC sets that are very difficult to build and who's boxes cost roughly $70 a pop. I also really appreciate the number of subsets and the restrained amount of parallels. The inclusion of autographs and short prints also adds that extra layer of icing to this cake.

Upper-Deck Artifacts 11/12: 4 Pack Break

Continuing my thread of boxing day box and pack break extravaganza is the rundown of what came out of 4 packs of Artifacts 11/12. This is hands-down THE best product so far of the 11/12 season. The packs can be a little expensive at $10 each but there is a guaranteed hit in each one! This guarantee is included in all the Artifacts products from previous years except the 11/12 product includes the biggest and most numerous hits!

Two of the four packs had common hits, which I refer to the subset base cards as. These cards are broken into two groups, Stars and Hockey Legends. Both of these sets are serial numbered out of 999 and continue the base card numbering. These sets are getting tired as they have been included in each year Artifacts has been produced, but it is fun to see which current NHL star will be included for that year. Regardless, I pulled one Star and one Legend from the packs. Thankfully the other two packs provided a much bigger jaw dropping experience!

The first big hit was an Artifacts Tundra Trios card, numbered 148 of 149 that featured three jersey swatches. The jerseys came from Subban, Price, and Plekanec of the Montreal Canadiens and features two red and one white swatch. I loved that more than one color was found in the jerseys and loved it even more that the card featured some of my favorite players from one of my favorite teams! Awesome jaw dropping moment!

The fourth hit of the packs was huge! This hit was of a jersey and patch base parallel numbered 42 out of 65! The card is of Patrice Bergeron, and yes I know it is sacrilege to like both Boston and Montreal. Nonetheless, the patch is beautiful with three breaks, featuring a large yellow chunk and a smaller black and white area along with a second tiny black piece in the corner. The jersey is lackluster as it is solid white but who cares when the patch is this prominent!

Striking two big hits like the Montreal Trios jersey and Bergeron patch /jersey cards are why I will keep going back to this season's Artifacts product! Just awesome stuff!

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.

Artifacts 2010-11: Two 3-Pack Adventures!

On two separate occasions I picked up 3 packs of 2010-11 Artifacts. I really enjoy this product as it has a low price-point that produces a hit per pack that could either be a serial numbered card or a material /auto card. Also, the cards look really sharp with a flashy foil accents on the borders.

The hits I pulled:

Legends: Pulled 1 Cam Neely Legends card numbered out of 999. The card is without auto or material attributes, but nonetheless is a nice looking card. The card is not part of a subset but rather belongs to the regular set which is broken into base cards, rookie cards, legends cards, and stars cards. This is the same organization as the previous years' Artifacts product.

Rookies: Pulled 2 rookies, both numbered out of 999. The rookies weren't big names (Tokarski & Hamill), but the cards are still sharp looking serial numbered rookies that always adds depth to a card collection.

Jersey Cards: I pulled a base card parallel where two small swatches of jersey were placed at the bottom, and the card numbered out of 150. This is a great way to produce a base card parallel, and while the jerseys are white and the player is not a big name, the card is still very sharp looking and a fine addition to the collection. The second jersey card I pulled was of Roberto Luongo and is also numbered out of 150. The card belongs to the Frozen Artifacts subset and features two square jersey swatches, with one above the other. Not a bad looking card of an A-list player.

Patch Cards: This is perhaps the best patch card I have ever pulled from an Artifacts product. This is a duel patch card of the Tundra Artifacts Tandems subset and features the two A-list players of Henrik Lundqvist and H. Zetterberg. The card is numbered out of 15. The patches are of the same size and shape as the jersey cards: two squares over top one another. The patches are really unique as the Lundqvist patch is all white, but the material is looks like looped wool; really neat looking. The Zetterberg patch is also very nice looking, with a seem on the left side, showing a splash of red along the squares border.

Overall I felt I did quite well with these 6 packs. Artifacts continues to be a strong product, but I do wish they would make the jersey and patch windows a bit bigger.