5-Pack Break: 2019-20 Upper Deck Tim Hortons

Once again, for a full review, click here. As more and more Tim Hortons stores run out of their Upper Deck 2019-20 Tim Hortons hockey cards, I'm tricked into believing I need to buy more of these overpriced cards.

I went for another five packs and landed these inserts, starting with a Gold Etchings card of Alex Ovechkin:

Of course, the scan is a little light on the gold foil, but the card looks great to the naked eye.

There were also two Game Day Action cards, of Mark Scheifele and Auston Matthews:

I landed one "Red" parallel of Sebastian Aho:

And one "Special Event" card, of Sidney Crosby from the All-Star Game:

I've now spent $54 and am still far from a complete set set (55 singles, 5 doubles), which means I'm now up to these so far:

Base Set:
5: Mark Giordano
7: Brady Tkachuk
9: Jack Eichel
10: Jordan Binnington 
13: Johnny Gaudreau x2
15: Ryan Getzlaf
17: Victor Hedman
19: Jonathan Toews
20: Sebastian Aho
21: Brayden Point 
24: Jonathan Huberdeau
25: Nico Hischier
26: Blake Wheeler
28: Claude Giroux
29: Nathan MacKinnon
30: Henrik Lundqvist
33: Sam Reinhart
34: Auston Matthews x2
37: Patrice Bergeron 
39: Aleksander Barkov
41: Jake Guentzel
43: Anthony Mantha
48: Connor Hellebuyck
52: Chris Kreider
53: Bo Horvat
54: Jonathan Quick
55: Mark Scheifele
56: Devan Dubnyk
58: Kris Letang 
60: Drew Doughty
62: David Krejci
63: Brad Marchand
64: Eric Staal
69: Cam Atkinson
73: Mark Stone 
75: Frederik Andersen x2
77: Ryan Nugent-Hopkins 
78: William Karlsson
79: Elias Petersson
83: Quinn Hughes
84: Evgeny Kuznetsov 
85: Leon Draisaitl
88: Patrick Kane 
89: Alex DeBrincat
93: Mika Zibanejad
97: Connor McDavid
99: Brendan Gallagher
101: Tyler Seguin
102: Jeff Skinner
104 Kyle Palmieri
112: Marc-André Fleury x2
115: Mathew Barzal x2
118: Jonathan Drouin
119: Anze Kopitar

Game Day Action:
HGD-4: Mark Scheifele
HGD-6: Johnny Gaudreau
HGD-8: Jonathan Toews 
HGD-10: Auston Matthews
HGD-12: Alex Ovechkin
HGD-13: Steven Stamkos
HGD-14: Nathan MacKinnon 
HGD-15: Sidney Crosby

"Red" Parallel:
DC-10: Sebastian Aho
DC-16: Patrice Bergeron
DC-17: Brent Burns
DC-30: Clayton Keller
DC-33: Steven Stamkos

Gold Etchings:
GE-4: Patrick Kane
GE-5: Johnny Gaudreau
GE-7: Patrik Laine x2
GE-8: Alex Ovechkin
GE-10: Sidney Crosby

Franchise Duos:
D-6: Johnny Gaudreau/Sean Monahan
D-7: Connor McDavid/Leon Draisaitl

Clear Cut Phenoms:
CC-5: David Pastrnak
CC-8: Patrik Laine 

Highly Decorated:
HD-7: Jonathan Toews
HD-12: Joe Thronton

Special Events:
SE-2: Tuukka Rask: China Games
SE-3: Nico Hischier: Global Series
SE-5: Patrice Bergeron:  Winter Classic
SE-6: Sidney Crosby - All-Star Game

I do not expect to ever have a complete set, so these will start being included in trades and mail shipments to get signed soon.

2019-20 Upper Deck Tim Hortons: 5-Pack Break

As usual, Tim Hortons stores are running out of their Upper Deck 2019-20 Tim Hortons hockey cards two weeks ahead of time; they were initially supposed to be in stores until November 9th, but most are already sold out, which is why when I crossed a shop that still had some, I took bought packs. (For a full review of the set, click here.)

It's not the best decision I've ever made, but it's very far from the worst.

For instance, I landed two Gold Etchings cards, one of them Johnny Gaudreau:

Unfortunately, I already had a Patrik Laine, but maybe I can get one signed now.

I also landed two Game Day Action cards, of Gaudreau and Sidney Crosby:

And my final insert was of the Special Events type, namely the Global Series, of Nico Hischer:

In terms of collation, I only got one base double (Gaudreau), but I did find it odd that I got a double of an insert.

All told, I've spent $45 I'm still at one-third of the set (two doubles), which means I'm now up to these so far:

Base Set:

5: Mark Giordano
7: Brady Tkachuk
9: Jack Eichel
10: Jordan Binnington 
13: Johnny Gaudreau x2
15: Ryan Getzlaf
17: Victor Hedman
19: Jonathan Toews
20: Sebastian Aho 
21: Brayden Point
25: Nico Hischier
26: Blake Wheeler
28: Claude Giroux
29: Nathan MacKinnon
33: Sam Reinhart
34: Auston Matthews 
37: Patrice Bergeron 
39: Aleksander Barkov
41: Jake Guentzel
43: Anthony Mantha
48: Connor Hellebuyck
52: Chris Kreider
53: Bo Horvat
54: Jonathan Quick
55: Mark Scheifele
56: Devan Dubnyk
58: Kris Letang 
60: Drew Doughty
63: Brad Marchand
64: Eric Staal
69: Cam Atkinson
73: Mark Stone 
75: Frederik Andersen
77: Ryan Nugent-Hopkins
84: Evgeny Kuznetsov 
85: Leon Draisaitl
88: Patrick Kane 
89: Alex DeBrincat
93: Mika Zibanejad
97: Connor McDavid
101: Tyler Seguin
102: Jeff Skinner
104 Kyle Palmieri
112: Marc-André Fleury x2
115: Mathew Barzal
119: Anze Kopitar

Game Day Action:

HGD-6: Johnny Gaudreau
HGD-8: Jonathan Toews
HGD-12: Alex Ovechkin
HGD-13: Steven Stamkos
HGD-14: Nathan MacKinnon 
HGD-15: Sidney Crosby

"Red" Parallel:

DC-16: Patrice Bergeron
DC-17: Brent Burns
DC-30: Clayton Keller
DC-33: Steven Stamkos

Gold Etchings:

GE-4: Patrick Kane
GE-5: Johnny Gaudreau
GE-7: Patrik Laine x2
GE-10: Sidney Crosby

Franchise Duos:

D-6: Johnny Gaudreau/Sean Monahan
D-7: Connor McDavid/Leon Draisaitl

Clear Cut Phenoms:
CC-5: David Pastrnak
CC-8: Patrik Laine 

Highly Decorated:
HD-7: Jonathan Toews
HD-12: Joe Thronton

Special Events:
SE-2: Tuukka Rask: China Games
SE-3: Nico Hischier: Global Series
SE-5: Patrice Bergeron:  Winter Classic

Some stars are included too often, no offense to Toews and Gaudreau, but it's ridiculous. One player shouldn't feel like he's 10% of the series.

11-Pack Break: 2019-20 Upper Deck Tim Hortons

It was a long weekend, and I had many chances to visit Tim Hortons stores to score packs of Upper Deck's 2019-20 Tim Hortons hockey cards. For a full review, click here.

In these eleven packs, I landed the following insert cards:

One Steven Stamkos "Red" parallel:

One Jonathan Toews Highly Decorated card:

Three Game Day Action cards, of Toews, Stamkos and Nathan MacKinnon:

Two Gold Etchings cards, of Patrick Kane and Sidney Crosby (both are available for trade):

Two Clear Cut Phenoms cards, of Patrik Laine and David Pastrnak (also available for trade):

And two Franchise Duos 3-D-type cards of the Calgary Flames (Johnny Gaudreau/Sean Monahan) and Edmonton Oilers (Connor McDavid/Leon Draisaitl):

$36 in and I'm at roughly one-third of the set (only one double, though), which means I'm now up to these so far:

Base Set:

5: Mark Giordano
10: Jordan Binnington 
13: Johnny Gaudreau
15: Ryan Getzlaf
17: Victor Hedman
20: Sebastian Aho
25: Nico Hischier
28: Claude Giroux
29: Nathan MacKinnon
33: Sam Reinhart
34: Auston Matthews 
37: Patrice Bergeron 
39: Aleksander Barkov
41: Jake Guentzel
43: Anthony Mantha
48: Connor Hellebuyck
52: Chris Kreider
53: Bo Horvat
55: Mark Scheifele
56: Devan Dubnyk
58: Kris Letang 
60: Drew Doughty
63: Brad Marchand
64: Eric Staal
69: Cam Atkinson
73: Mark Stone
77: Ryan Nugent-Hopkins
84: Evgeny Kuznetsov 
85: Leon Draisaitl
88: Patrick Kane
93: Mika Zibanejad
97: Connor McDavid
102: Jeff Skinner
104 Kyle Palmieri
112: Marc-André Fleury x2
115: Mathew Barzal
119: Anze Kopitar

Game Day Action:

HGD-8: Jonathan Toews
HGD-12: Alex Ovechkin
HGD-13: Steven Stamkos
HGD-14: Nathan MacKinnon

"Red" Parallel:

DC-16: Patrice Bergeron
DC-17: Brent Burns
DC-30: Clayton Keller
DC-33: Steven Stamkos

Gold Etchings:

GE-4: Patrick Kane
GE-7: Patrik Laine
GE-10: Sidney Crosby

Franchise Duos:

D-6: Johnny Gaudreau/Sean Monahan
D-7: Connor McDavid/Leon Draisaitl

Clear Cut Phenoms:
CC-5: David Pastrnak
CC-8: Patrik Laine 

Highly Decorated:
HD-7: Jonathan Toews
HD-12: Joe Thronton

Special Events:
SE-2: Tuukka Rask: China Games
SE-5: Patrice Bergeron:  Winter Classic

8-Pack Break: 2019-20 Upper Deck Tim Hortons

It's that time again, where Sidney Crosby adorns each pack of Upper Deck's 2019-20 Tim Hortons cards and collectors try to land one of the 87 signed cards of his while dishing out $2 for each pack of three cards - two base cards and one insert.

This year again, they're all-foil and beautiful, with the backs of cars showing statistics from the past five seasons to get a clear picture of what makes the selected players "stars":

The picture on the back is a cropped version of the one on the front, but that's not something I mind in this set, it works well.

Eight packs means I got eight inserts, and I thought I could feature them in ascending order, saving the best for last. It starts off with "meh" season review-type cards, of which I landed one from the so-called China Games (the first two games of the regular season between the Boston Bruins and Calgary Flames) featuring Tuukka Rask, and a Winter Classic card featuring the Bruins' Patrice Bergeron:

Of note, the French translation are mediocre at best; the Winter Classic card is O-Pee-Chee-level bad, where instead of saying the French equivalent of "Bruins defeat Blackhawks at Notre Dame", they wrongly use a verb that reads similarly to the French words for "loss" ("défaite") and instead come off as saying "The (yes, they added an article here) Bruins undo the (another new article) Blackhawks at Notre Dame". I mean, there were only six fucking words, guys.

There are also cards depicting past award winners called "Highly Decorated", of which I landed Joe Thornton, the only player ever to win an Art Ross Trophy in a year split between two teams (although the picture is more recent, from the Old Man Jumbo era):

A staple of the Tim Hortons sets is the Game Day Action sub-set, such as this one featuring the one and only Alex Ovechkin, this year with a nice, clear place to have players sign... if Ovie did such things:

the foil looks black/dark, but it's actually silver to the naked eye

I also landed three"red" parallels this time around, of Bergeron, Brent Burns and Clayton Keller:

They look great.

As does this Gold Etchings card of Patrik Laine:

I feel like this uniform comes out too often in 2019-20 cards so far (urgh wordmarks), but I'm one of those who feels Laine will be a perennial 40-goal scorer with a couple of seasons in the 50-goal range, possibly even a high of 60. His shot and skill level really is that good, he just needs to mature a bit and play a more complete game with maximum effort regardless of who he lines up with.

These cards' price tag still makes me balk for the poor collation (although I didn't get any doubles this time around) and the fact that it's supposed to be a mass-market product with a "for kids" part that shouldn't be forgotten, but they look and feel really cool, and I'm always glad I have them, year in and year out.

It's another solid 7.5/10 for me this year, particularly since the base features 120 players, which is higher than a few years ago.

2018-19 Upper Deck Tim Hortons: 15-Pack Break

As usual, I bought myself a few Upper Deck Tim Hortons packs this year to see if I liked them, and to have "special and unique" cards to try to get signed. At $1.99 per three-card pack, these have been consistently priced for nearly half a decade, which I guess is a good thing.

They also consistenly look good, although they usually come curved, so it's nearly impossible to get true gem mint cards in a given pack. Still, you can't say that these don't look terrific:

I chose to feature Pierre-Luc Dubois' back, which consists of only one season, but it's good to note that the cards show the semi-detailed stats from the past five years, with career totals.

I landed five All-Star Standouts inserts, which look like this:

That's Auston Matthews, Carey Price (twice), Sidney Crosby and Connor McDavid. Hard to do better, even if it's only for the trade value of the Matthews, Price and Crosby (any takers?).

I also fell upon three nice foil Game Day Action cards of Evgeni Malkin, Nikita Kucherov and Brad Marchand (not pictured, of course):

My favourite sub-set, though, is probably Superstar Showcase, for which I pulled McDavid, Matthews and Taylor Hall (not pictured):

The set does its best to feature the biggest stars, the best youngsters and a few players per team, all within a 120-card checklist that includes former Leaf Tim Horton himself, which means that for a Kyle Palmieri and Rasmus Ristolainen inclusion, there is a Dustin Byfuglien, Ryan Ellis or a Thomas Chabot missing.

It's a hard and expensive set to complete (I have never completed a series myself), but a very nice collection to just get cards for fun from, which makes it a very good flashback/nostalgia piece, bringing me back to the days when, as a kid, I couldn't afford more than a pack of cards per week, maybe two, and it was more about the fun of seeing what I was going to pull and trying to trade for a Patrick Roy or a Wayne Gretzky than completing a series.

The player selection and price bring this note down, but the look and card stock make up for it. This is a solid 7.5/10.