Box Break: 2018-19 Upper Deck Series 1 Hobby Box

For the second time in as many days, I was granted a Christmas wish - to receive 2018-19 hockey cards for Christmas; this time around, my Mom bought me a full box of 24 eight-card packs of Upper Deck 2018-19 Series 1 cards.

The hits were pretty massive this time around as well, including six regular-issue Young Guns rookie cards, including hyped first-overall pick Rasmus Dahlin (as well as Marcus Pettersson, Samuel Montembault, Trevor Murphy, Morgan Klimchuk, and Luke Johnson):

I also pulled four Portraits cards, featuring Ben Bishop, Jake Guentzel, Semyon Varlamov and rookie Lias Andersson:

There were also five Canvas cards, including Young Gun Dominik Kahun, Claude Giroux, Artem Anisimov, Mikael Granlund and the checklist card featuring Taylor Hall and Nathan MacKinnon (not pictured):

One pretty sub-set that is contantly a staple of Upper Deck's flagship set is Shooting Stars, and I managed to land William Karlsson:

But the card that will soon make its way to my binders is this Ben Bishop jersey card:

My main gripe with this one is the card selection mixed with the odds; the main set consists of just 200 cards. This box had 190 pieces of cardboard (173 regular-issue cards, as the jersey card took the space of three cards in a pack) and my tin from yesterday had 96 (89 regular-issue cards if you take away the inserts).

Out of those 89, 75 were doubled in this box - or 85%. I still have 17 cards left to collect to complete the main set (notwithstanding the 50 Young Guns and other assorted sub-sets). This at a cost of over $100. Somehow, it doesn't feel right.

Still, it's a quality set.

I'll stick with the 8/10 grade I tacked onto it yesterday, it's just that it's accompanied by a slight feeling of disappointment.

Box Break: 2018-19 Upper Deck Series 1 Tin

Anywhere I could, this Christmas, I asked for 2018-19 hockey cards or help paying for my upcoming driving classes; the first Christmas Miracle came in at a gift exchange party where the person who had picked me went with the list I provided and got me a tin box of Upper Deck's flagship 2018-19 Series 1 cards, which consists of 12 eight-card packs for a total of 96 cards. These usually go for roughly $40-45.

Here is what this year's set looks like:

The design borrows heavily on past Artifacts sets, but with the traditional Series 1 super gloss. The photography is mostly excellent, and each team has as many different uniforms as possible, but I could do without the oddball pre/post-game shenanigans as well as the pretend-military-style warmup garbs:

 One sub-set that was new to me was Rookie Commence, of which I pulled Dylan Sikura:

Although the one everybody is curious about is the Young Guns, of which I pulled my favourite rookie, Elias Pettersson (as well as Nick Seeler and Mikhail Vorobyev):

I also pulled a rookie out of the two UD Portraits cards I nabbed:

And there was a Canvas card of Steven Stamkos:

My experience from years past makes me think I should unload the Pettersson card even though I really like him - he's by far my favourite rookie this year - because I fear losing it in yet another move or worse, damaging it. I've seen it go for $80-125 online and my guess is that someone paying that much for it would make sure it remains in pristine condition. Then again, I'd love to get it signed and use it as the centerpiece of a player collection of his...

All told, Upper Deck's flagship series once again hits the mark. This box is a solid 8/10.