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!

Ultimate 08/09: 1 box /pack

A few years ago I picked up 1 pack (a pack per box) of Ultimate 08 /09. This was the second time I purchased this product, with the first being a pack of Ultimate 06 /07 which was discussed in the previous blog post. In comparison to the 06/07 product, the 08/09 cards have a much better design. The color scheme is brighter and more engaging. The players are again silhouetted against a background of geometric shapes, which I find myself torn on whether I prefer seeing the background of the original photograph or if I like the silhouette approach.

What I pulled:

Base Card: Paul Kariya base card numbered out of 299, which is a downsized printing run of 400 in comparison to the 06 /07 series. The lower printing run always makes a series more interesting because it obviously becomes more rare. As said above the design of this product is quite nice, and unique to the base cards is that the lower image of text that displays the name "Ultimate Collection" is pressed into the card in silver foil. The lettering could be brought forward more by the use of a different color against the silver background, but I really like the idea of the shaped area around the text being pushed into the card, providing some depth.

Rookies: I was very pleased with the two rookies I pulled. The first was of Petr Vrana of the New Jersey Devils, numbered out of 399, and features a prominent autograph signed in black ink. The design of the card is quite sharp and the auto has a nice frosted background to make it really pop. I also like the placement of the card's serial number which is placed on the lateral margin to the left of the auto. The only downside is that there are no stats on the back of the card, which is something I've ranted about in previous posts.

The second rookie is what made the pack worth it. This was a Jakub Voracek auto rookie numbered out of 99. The card has the same design as the previous Vrana rookie except that the red and blues were switched in the design.

Material: The final card pulled was an Ultimate Debut Threads jersey of Ilya Zubov, numbered out of 200. The jersey window is shaped like the Ultimate logo and is of a moderate size. The swatch features 1 color. A stock photo of the hockey player is featured to the left, where he is grinning maniacally. Really this is quite a nice looking card and the only drawback is that it features one of the no-name rookies of the 08 /09 season.

I enjoyed the 08 /09 Ultimate product, but this enjoyment hinged heavily upon pulling a case break card (the 99 serial numbered rookie). I would definitely try my hand at another pack of this product if not for the very sharp product design and the hope of pulling the big rookie of that year, Stamkos.