Product Grade: C-
After frustrating and baffling collectors with delay after delay, Upper Deck continued the train wreck that is 2012 for them with an absolute subpar 11-12 SP Authentic. This may be the most disappointing and worst product of 2011-12. Our advice is simple – stay clear.
Base: C (Base Set Completion: 100 of 150 [67%] with 0 doubles)
HB: I will honestly say to start, I was pleasantly surprised that out of a box that contains 100 base cards that we received no doubles. That is an impressive job by Upper Deck on collation, at least at the box double. It would be interesting to know how the base collation is at a larger scale (half case and case). Theoretically, it should only take 2 to 3 boxes to complete the 150 card base set. The base design is pretty similar to past years’ SP Authentic. A large player picture on a white background. Really not much change, either good or bad, in this area. It certainly isn’t a design to write home about.
HB’s Grade: C+
HG: This product has a lot of base cards. A lot. This can be a good thing sometimes, if the base design is exceptionally nice, however, that is not the case with this set. The design is not terrible, but it is bland and boring. It is a white card, with very small metallic stripes in the background, and an cookie-cutter photo of the player. Seeing as the base cards are a very large majority of this product, I would have liked to see a more interesting and unique.
HG’s Grade: C
Inserts: C-
(not pictured: Carl Klingberg, David Ullstrom, T.J. Brennan, & Simon Despres)
HB: I don’t understand the Rookie Extended Series set. It makes no sense to me. I’m not sure why Upper Deck included them. They are the same design as the base cards and the only difference on the back is that the card number has an “R” in front of it. These cards were a pointless addition to me and a waste of space in the packs. Another big miss by Upper Deck was not numbering the SP Essentials this year. Once again, this made zero sense to me. The SP Essentials design is alright. Not really good, but not really terrible either. And here is the biggest miss of all to me – why in the world are the Holo FX cards this year ONLY Rookie Holo FX? Why? Why? Why? These cards are awesome and have a great design. It would have been a great complete parallel set of the base cards plus rookie cards. It would have been an awesome 250 card set for collectors to chase and try to complete. Instead, it’s a 30 card set of only rookies. The best designed card in the entire product is limited to 30 total players and all rookies. I would much rather see the 100 card Rookie Extended Series set go away (have I mentioned how pointless I thought this was?) and have a much more complete Holo FX subset. Instead, of the 24 packs, most feel like all base packs because of the 12 Rookie Extended Series cards that common collector won’t even know that they aren’t just base cards. Imagine instead pulling 10 to 12 Holo FX cards and 2 to 4 numbered SP Essentials cards. Wouldn’t that be a lot more satisfying? The inserts in this product were a train wreck.
HB’s Grade: D
HG: I am not entirely sure how to talk about the inserts we got. We got 12 Rookie Extended Series cards, that look identical to the base cards, but are numbered differently, so I am not really sure where they fit in here. We also got 2 SP Essentials, one of Henrik Lundqvist and one of Ryan Miller. These cards look like they were just thrown together, with a very generic background and photo. Disappointing. The other inserts we got are two Rookie Holo FX. Typically, I don’t really like an entirely metallic background, but because these cards draw your eye, after all of the boring, unexciting cards in this box, these are a welcome relief. I also actually like the design of the back of this card. (it may feel like I’m reaching with this comment, but I don’t want to say all negative things about this set!) So, overall, the inserts are just ok.
HG’s Grade: C+
Rookies: C
HB: Once again, Upper Deck baffles me with the decisions they make. I really actually enjoy the design of the non-autographed Future Watch cards. The font is a little plain and boring, but the large player picture and the cool ice / rising sun background has a cool effect. But then comes a design change for the autographed and more desirable Future Watch rookies. The player picture is cut in half and surprise, there’s a lot of empty white space for the player to autograph. There is TOO MUCH white space. I think a better design would have been to fade the bottom half of the player picture and have the autograph over that. The autographed Future Watch rookie cards were a huge disappointment to me. These are some of the most anticipated rookie cards of the year and the design is just simply terrible.
HB’s Grade: C-
HG: We got two rookie cards in our box. One of the cards was a Future Watch /999 of Anders Nilsson from the Islanders. This isn’t my favorite design but it isn’t bad. It has a pale blue sunburst in the background and metallic logo and font. We also got an Auto Future Watch of Calgary’s Roman Horak which one would think would be the more exciting of the two, but I really do not like the design of this card at all. They fade out half of the card for the autograph and it really just looks so poorly thought out. Unfortunately, these simply are not very nice looking cards.
HG’s Grade: C+
Hits: C
HB: It is very, very cool to pull our first Patrick Roy autograph. I used to love watching him when he played on the Colorado Avalanche with guys like Peter Forsberg, Joe Sakic, and Ray Bourque. It’s a great player and a great autograph. The card design itself is just bizarre. Once again, there is a TON of white space. This is a repeating pattern over multiple card designs, but I just don’t understand it. The player picture is in a tiny frame on the card and behind it is a picture of a chain link fence. The last time I checked, chain link fences aren’t the most formidable of stoppers. In fact they’re quite easy to get through. I’m not complaining about pulling a Patrick Roy auto. That part was very exciting. But the card design itself is simply lacking. We also pulled a Sign of the Times card of Brett MacLean (who?). I won’t comment much on this card, but once again the card design leaves something to be desired.
HB’s Grade: C
HG: As far as hits go, we technically did pretty good, but I am not jumping up and down over them. The first hit we got was a Signs of the Times Auto of Brett MacLean of the Phoenix Coyotes. I think this card is my favorite of the set as far as design goes, but still, it is not very out of the ordinary. I like the faded team logo in the background, and the more up close photo, but I do not like the font or gold non-metallic accents. The nicest hit that we got could have been very nice, but again, the design was just not there (I feel like I am saying that a lot here). We got a Signature Stoppers Auto of Patrick Roy /25. Super cool right? Yes, but not as cool as it could have been, because the design of the card is just awful. A tiny square photo on a faded chain link background with a large blank white area for the signature makes this card fall flat for me. For someone who typically really likes goalie cards, I am disappointed that this nice auto was not on a nicer card.
HG’s Grade: C
Value: C-
HB: There’s really not much to say here – the value is just simply not there. At right around $110 a box for 3 autographed cards and that’s it, steer clear of 11-12 SP Authentic. If there were more inserts (such as my suggest 10-12 Holo FX and 2 to 4 SP Essentials cards) or the addition of more non-autographed Future Watch rookie cards (1 per box?) in addition to the 3 autographed cards there would be a lot more value. We were lucky to pull the Patrick Roy auto because that single handedly saves the box, but there are many more people who will pull a Roman Horak Future Watch auto, a Brett MacLean Sign of the Times, and another relative no name autograph. I understand not everyone can have big pulls, but at least allow a person to pull big name players in the form of a hit or at the very least an insert card. That would add a lot more value.
HB’s Grade: C-
HG: In case you couldn’t tell, I was not a very big fan of this product. It is not because there are not a lot of hits, or because there are a lot of base cards. It is because design matters. Technically, the value of this box was there because we got a valuable hit, but as far as enjoyment of the box as a whole goes, I don’t think it lived up to the $110 price tag. I may sound like I am being tough, but I think that the design of both the base cards and hits should be equally important as the dollar value of an autograph on a card. And if you agree with me, then you will probably want to skip this product.
HG’s Grade: C-
Much love,
Hockey Boy & Hockey Girl
