2021-22 Upper Deck Series Two Hobby Box Break

Upper Deck Series Two usually comes out in March or April — just in time for the Spring Sport Card and Memorabilia Expo. However, with all of the delays and production problems, due in large part to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2021-22 Upper Deck Series Two set did not see its release until mid June of 2022 — right as the Stanley Cup Final was underway. Late or not, Series Two is always a hotly-anticipated hockey card set, as it features cards of many rookies who made their debut earlier that season. 

Originally a hobby box of Series Two was selling for around $100, but has since settled to about $90 per box. Each box has 24 packs, and each pack has eight cards. Let’s see what’s inside a hobby box of 2021-22 Upper Deck Series Two Hockey. 

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2020-21 SP Authentic Hockey Box Break

SP Authentic is perhaps best known for its popular Future Watch autographed rookie cards — and its sparse, mostly-white base card design. Like many of Upper Deck’s other hockey cards from 2020-21, SP Authentic also had a very late release. In fact, SP Authentic was not released until June 29, 2022 — three days after the 2022 Stanley Cup Finals concluded. 

Fortunately, though, SP Authentic was not cancelled like other sets for the shortened 2020-21 season. And that’s a good thing, because personally, I’ve always liked SP Authentic’s clean base card design and  on-card autographs. And the Future Watch autographed rookie cards may be second in popularity only to Upper Deck Young Guns when it comes to hockey rookie cards among collectors. 

However, SP Authentic is more expensive now, costing around $300 for an 18-pack box. Each pack has five cards, and each box guarantees two autographed cards. 

I recently got a box of 2020-21 SP Authentic. Let’s see what cards were inside. 

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2020-21 Premier Hockey Box Break

Premier Hockey is another high-quality, premium set by Upper Deck, similar to Stature and Ultimate Collection, which offer just a handful of cards per box. And like Stature and Ultimate Collection, the 2020-21 Premier Hockey set came out almost a good year after intended, as it was released towards the end of the 2021-22 season. This is great if you are still hoping to get rookie cards of Kirill Kaprizov, Alexis Lafreniere, or other players who made their debut during the shortened 2020-21 season. 

2020-21 Premier Hockey costs around $400 for a six-card box. Every box should net you three autograph and/or memorabilia cards, plus an acetate autographed patch card. Well, that last card has me intrigued; it has an autograph, a piece of jersey patch AND is an acetate card, a la “Clear Cut.” I can’t wait to see what that looks like! You also get an additional numbered rookie card and a base card — or a parallel of either. 

OK, let’s open this bad boy up and see what we’ve got! 

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2020-21 Ultimate Collection Hockey Box Break

The 2020-21 Ultimate Collection hockey set was released towards the end of the 2021-22 season; about a year after it should have come out. But better late than never, as they say. Even though many hockey card collectors had already turned their attention to the new crop of rookies found in the ’21-22 sets, like Trevor Zegras and Moritz Seider, Upper Deck wasn’t done enticing us with last year’s rookies — players like Kirill Kaprizov, Jason Robertson, Tim Stutzle, and Alexis Lafreniere. 

A box of 2020-21 Ultimate Collection Hockey cots around $240 per box and contains four cards. I recently got a box of Ultimate Collection. Let’s see what $240 gets you. 

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2020-21 Stature Hockey Box Break

It still seems weird to be talking about “new” hockey cards from the 2020-21 season at the end of the 2021-22 season. In late May 2022, Upper Deck released its 2020-21 Stature Hockey set, which features cards printed on thick, foil board card stock. 

A box of Stature costs around $180 and contains one eight-card pack. Each box promises one autographed card or autographed patch card per box, plus one rookie card per box. 

I recently got my hands on a box of 2020-21 Stature Hockey. Here is what I got. 

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2021-22 O-Pee-Chee Hockey Hobby Box Break

Since the 2006-07 season, Upper Deck has made O-Pee-Chee brand hockey cards. But you won’t find holograms, gold foil, UV gloss coating, or any other modern features that you usually see on Upper Deck cards. Instead, modern-day O-Pee-Chee cards try hard to look like old Topps and O-Pee-Chee cards from 40 years ago. The cards are free of foil or gloss and printed on plain brown cardstock, giving these new cards a very retro feel to them. 

2021-22 O-Pee-Chee Hockey cards cost around $60 for an 18-pack hobby box. Each pack has 10 cards. I recently opened a box of OPC. Let’s take a look at what was inside. 

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2021-22 Upper Deck Series One Hobby Box Break

The one set that I look forward to is Upper Deck’s flagship release — a.k.a. Upper Deck Series One, Upper Deck Series Two, and for the first time last year, Upper Deck Extended Series. This season, I had to look forward a bit longer, as production delays pushed Upper Deck Series One’s release date from November 2021 to March 2022. 

But it’s March and I finally got my hands on a hobby box. Like last year, a hobby box of Upper Deck Series One has 24 packs. Each pack has eight cards. Let’s take a look and see what was inside my box of 2021-22 Upper Deck Series One Hockey. 

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2020-21 Upper Deck AHL Box Break #2

I have been a fan and collector of minor league hockey cards ever since I bought a ProCards Saginaw Hawks team set in 1989. I enjoy cards of future NHL players, as well as “borderline” players who are sometimes called up to the parent club but never got their own hockey card.

Needless to say, minor league hockey cards have evolved a lot over the past 30+ years. They no longer use dark photos and have plain, black-and-white card backs. Upper Deck’s 2020-21 American Hockey League card set is every bit as good in quality as its other hockey card sets, with crisp, color photography, glossy coating, and silver foil. At first glance, you might mistake these for Upper Deck Series One, save for the fact that they picture AHL players instead of NHL players. 

Last week, I opened a box of 2020-21 AHL cards; you can read about that here, as that break gives more details about the set. Let’s see if this box is better, worse, or about the same as my first break. 

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2020-21 Upper Deck AHL Box Break

2021-22 has been a strange year for hockey card collectors. This season, there were still cards from the 2020-21 season coming out in the middle of the 2021-22 season. One such set is 2020-21 Upper Deck AHL, which features cards of future NHL prospects, as well as star players from the second-best hockey league in the world. 

2020-21 Upper Deck AHL hockey cards costs around $50 for a 12-pack box. Each pack has 10 cards. Each box promises six “Star Rookie” cards, an autographed card, a numbered parallel, and an additional chase card. 

I recently opened a box of 2020-21 Upper Deck AHL. Here is what I got. 

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2021-22 MVP Hockey Box Break

Hockey cards for the 2021-22 season finally started hitting store shelves at the end of 2021. First up was 2021-22 Upper Deck MVP Hockey, the company’s “lower-end” card set that isn’t too expensive to buy or too difficult to complete. It also doesn’t have any rookies from the 2021-22 season; the 30 rookie cards are of players who made their debut in the abbreviated 2021 season. A box of MVP has 20 packs with eight cards per pack. The current online price of MVP is around $50 for a hobby box. I recently got a hobby box. Here is what I found inside. 

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