Box / Pack Breaks

Coming out tomorrow (June 20) is the 2013 Draft Prospects set, produced by In The Game Trading Cards. The set focuses on junior league prospects eligible for the  NHL Entry Draft later this summer.

But just like the Heroes and Prospects sets of years past, there are also cards of current and former NHLers — here categorized as “First Round Picks” or “Draft Surprises.” There are also cards of “Future Draft Prospects” who are new to junior hockey and may one day be drafted by an NHL team.

A box costs around $90 and contains 12 cards, including seven base cards, three autographs and two game-used jersey cards.

Here’s what I got in the box I opened: Continue reading “2013 ITG Draft Prospects Box Break”

It’s easy to figure out why someone would want to buy a box of SP Game Used Hockey by Upper Deck. Each and every pack in the box includes a card containing a game-used memorabilia card. A 5-pack box costs around $150, meaning that each 5-card pack costs $30. That heightens the expectations for getting great memorabilia cards instead of the lower-end memorabilia cards prevalent in Upper Deck’s more inexpensive sets.

Five packs is not a lot to play with, so this was one of the quickest boxes I ever opened. Continue reading “2012-13 SP Game Used Box Break”

Panini Limited gets its name, I assume, from the fact that every card is serial numbered. The base, parallels, inserts, jerseys and autographed cards all proudly display a serial number on the front of the card. A box of 2012-13 Panini Limited costs around $80 and contains 7 cards. Three of them are either jersey or memorabilia cards. I recently opened up a box–here’s what I got: Continue reading “2012-13 Panini Limited Box Break”

Artifacts was slated to coincide with the beginning of the 2012-13 NHL season. But we all know how that went. (For those of you reading this blog post 30 years from now, the 2012-13 season was delayed by a 3-month lockout.) Other than the rookie redemption cards, the labor dispute didn’t really have much of an effect on Artifacts, which is laden with current and former star players, as well as three memorabilia hits per box. Each box contains 10 4-card packs and costs around $100.

Here are the results of this box break: Continue reading “2012-13 Artifacts Box Break”

The cancellation of several sets by Upper Deck and Panini means that O-Pee-Chee will be the largest set of the 2012-13 season. There are 500 base cards, 50 Marquee Rookie cards and 50 Marquee Legends cards, making a total of 600 cards. There are several different parallel sets and a few interesting inserts, like Stickers and Pop-Ups, giving this year’s OPC set some nice variety.

I recently opened another box of OPC. Here are the results: Continue reading “2012-13 O-Pee-Chee Box Break”

Motown Madness, released at the end of February 2013, continues In The Game’s series of team-centric hockey card sets. Previously, ITG has released sets focusing on the Montreal Canadiens (Blue, Blanc et Rouge) and the Philadelphia Flyers (Broad Street Bullies). This set is all about the Detroit Red Wings.

A box of Motown Madness currently sells for around $90 and contains 12 cards. Each box guarantees 4 autographs and 2 game-used memorabilia cards.

Here are the results of the box I opened. Continue reading “Motown Madness Box Break”

Upper Deck Series One was released in November 2012. A box will cost you roughly $70 or $80, and contains 24 8-card packs. You can pretty much expect 6 Young Guns, 4 Canvas cards and 2 memorabilia cards in every box.

Here are the results of my most recent box break. Continue reading “2012-13 Upper Deck Series 1 Box Break”

Back in December, there was seemingly no NHL season in sight. But that didn’t stop Upper Deck from releasing their 2012-13 Black Diamond set. This set  has no redemption cards–just base cards, short-prints (at various levels of scarcity), and jersey cards (and we KNOW what I generally think of those). You might pull an autographed card, but at 1 in every 60 packs, your odds aren’t the greatest.

A box will cost you roughly between $90 to $110, and contains 24 five-card packs. Also included is a 25th “Bonus Pack” which has 5 cards from 2012-13 Upper Deck Ice.

By the way, these cards are all metallic-y, so they do not scan too well.

Here is what I got inside the box I opened: Continue reading “2012-13 Black Diamond Box Break”

I bought a sealed case–12 hobby boxes–of 2012-13 O-Pee-Chee Hockey. Below is the breakdown of what I got in each box. NOTE: This blog post has a lot of images.

Continue reading “2012-13 O-Pee-Chee Case Break”

About a week ago, I went to my local Target and purchased 4 O-Pee-Chee “Fat Boxes” and 1 Fat Pack. I did not have time to open them–I haven’t had much time to do anything fun lately–so there they sat, on the floor of my hockey room, in the Target shopping bag, minding their own business.

Then the other day, Gomez the Basset Hound decided that he wanted to rip some wax–and not the way most collectors do.

Keep in mind the following:

• The bag had no food in it–only hockey cards.
• The bag had been sitting on the floor all week–in plain sight and within reach.
• As far as dogs go, Basset Hounds have the second-best sense of smell–second only to the Bloodhound and 800 times stronger than a human’s sense of smell.

So the dumb dog should have sniffed the bag and went about his business. But noooo--he had to bite the box open, just to make sure that there was no candy or gum or anything edible inside it.

The result…

The good news is that the cards rest in the bottom of the box, and Gomez tore into the top. None of the cards were harmed. Which brings us to this box break:

39 base card
No surprises here, as most of the cards in this box are going to be base cards.This mid-range photo of Patrick Kane was one of the best of the 39 base cards.

1 Marquee Rookie
Like my first “Fat Box,” this one also had a Marquee Rookie. Brenden Dillon is a defenseman who played 1 game for the Dallas Stars last year.

1 Sticker
It appears that every Fat Box will have 1 Marquee Rookie and 1 sticker. But the reason why I bought this was the next card, which you can only get in these boxes:

1 Marquee Legends Gold Card
What the…? I already got a Patrick Roy Marquee Legends Gold card in my first box. There are 10 different cards, and now I got 2 of the same one. I was hoping, you know, to get one I didn’t already have. I’m debating if I am going to chase this Gold insert set.

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NOTE: I am definitely building this set. Cash flow has returned, and I plan on picking up a few hobby boxes in the next week. I will them post my Want List and Trade list for 2012-13 O-Pee-Chee.

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NOTE:  If you come across the October 29 issue of The Hockey News, I have another “In the Cards” article published on page 11.