It seems that whenever I buy a box of cards for $100 or more, I am left with:

• a stack of base cards
• a limited rookie card of a nobody
• jersey cards that no one wants
• a large dose of buyer’s remorse

Of course, I remembered none of that when I bought this box of 2011-12 SPx. I have never purchased this product before, and was itching to give something new a try.

Each box has 18 packs (4 cards per pack) –plus a “Bonus Pack”. Here is what I got:

70 Base Cards

All 70 base cards were different–no doubles. Since the base set is only 100 cards, I will probably try and complete it.

1 Rookie Card

This RC of Hugh Jessiman is serial numbered 198/ 499.

 1 Parallel Rookie Card

The parallel versions of the rookie cards actually look nicer–they use a multi-colored foil board, instead of silver like the regular rookie cards. It is also serial numbered 22 / 25.I don’t know much about Harry Zolnierczyk, other than I can’t pronounce his name (It’s HAH-REE, right?)

4 Jersey Cards
Hopefully, I get better pulls than the usual crap I get in Upper Deck Series 1 and 2.

OK, this definitely qualifies as a good jersey card. I think my heart skipped a beat when I saw this; I thought it was Mario Lemieux and Sidney Crosby. Once I realized that it was Mario Lemieux and Evgeni Malkin, my heartbeat went back to normal.

This card isn’t bad either. Jimmy Howard is a top-notch goaltender, and this card uses two different colored swatches, so it looks pretty cool.

Brett Connolly plays for the Tampa Bay Lightning. I don’t know much about this guy.

Normally, I don’t mind the much-maligned “sticker autograph”–but I hate this one. I am OK with stickergraphs if the sticker nicely integrates into the design. But here, the sticker exceeds the boundaries of the “frame” of the signature area. The sticker was put on crooked, and overlaps the player’s name. You think that if you are spending over $100 for a box of cards, and that box only has 1 autograph, that it would be signed on-card, and not on a sloppily-applied sticker.

Sigh.

Anyway, that was the contents of my 18 packs of SPx. Also enclosed was a bonus pack–actually labeled “BONUS PACK!” It had 5 cards instead of 4.

It didn’t have cards from SPx–it had cards from ICE.

4 ICE base cards

Jordan Eberle, Ryan Getzlaf, Paul Stastny and Niklas Backstrom

1 Ice Rookie Premieres

Some Devils goalie named Keith Kincaid, and numbered 771 / 999. I think getting drafted by the Devils is the worst thing that can happen to the goalie–it all but guarantees that you’ll either warm the bench or languish in the minors until Martin Brodeur retires.

So, what was I left with?

• a stack of base cards – Yep, I got these–from two different sets! But this is expected, anyway.
• a limited rookie card of a nobody – I got 3 limited RCs of nobodys! Are 3 RCs of lackluster prospects better or worse than getting just 1?
• jersey cards that no one wants – I will probably be able to sell / trade these. At least, that is the plan.
• a large dose of buyer’s remorse – Just a medium dose this time. Getting a Mario Lemieux card can make a bad box break seem not so bad.

If I got jersey cards like this more often, then I’d probably like getting jersey cards. But I am tired of Upper Deck putting sets within sets. It was a novel concept when they first did it in 1993-94, but it has worn out its welcome.

Feel free to make offers on the jersey and rookie cards.

And if you have any extra base cards for trade, see my Want List. Maybe you can help me finish the base set.

Contest Update

There were 15 legitimate entries in the contest, so I clicked the randomize button 15 times to make it even more random. And the winner is:

In a strange twist of fate and irony, Captain Canuck–the only Montreal Canadiens fan in the group–won the 1987-88 Topps Patrick Roy card.Brian, your card will be shipped out this week.

Everyone else gets a consolation prize.I will try my best to make the card you get at least somewhat interesting. Those will be shipped out this week as well, but I need addresses from the following people:

• 1967ers
• Kyle
• Oates

Gentlemen, please email me at

sjb AT pucjunk DOT com

or at my Hotmail address if you already have it.

Thanks again to everyone who updated their blogroll with Puck Junk’s new (non-blogspot) address.