Fleer Showcase picks up where 2012-13 Fleer Retro left off. Showcase is your typical mid-range Upper Deck hockey card set, with 100 base cards to collect. But 2013-14 Fleer Showcase also has inserts designed after 1990s Fleer sets — just like Fleer Retro did two years back, making it a spiritual successor to Retro.

For those who don’t know, the Fleer Showcase brand was used on baseball, football and basketball trading card sets from 2000 until around 2005. This is the first time that the Showcase name has been applied to hockey cards.

A box costs around $130 and gets you 15 five-card packs. What goodies could be lurking inside? Continue reading “Box Break: 2013-14 Fleer Showcase”

Earlier this year, Upper Deck released a team-centric set called the Edmonton Oilers Collection. The set focuses on the greatest players in Oilers’ history — even including some players from the team’s WHA days. A box contains 10 packs, and each pack has 10 cards. The front of the box boasts that you will “get a full base set in every box!”

Spoiler Alert – I did indeed get a full base set in this box, and a few other goodies too. Continue reading “Box Break: 2013-14 Upper Deck Edmonton Oilers Collection”

It’s goalies, more goalies and only goalies. Between the Pipes is back for its 12th year, and is poised to please fans of old school ‘tenders, current players and NHL hopefuls. A box contains 18 pack, and each pack has nine cards. Here’s what I got in my recent box break. Continue reading “Box Break: 2013-14 Between The Pipes”

Initially, I thought that 2013-14 Prizm would be another clunker from Panini. The cards are printed on shiny foil stock, look like pretty much every other Panini set out there and originally cost $100 for a 20-pack box (each pack contains six cards). But I found a box at a recent show for $50, so I took a chance and was pleasantly surprised.

Prizm cards are printed on a silver, mirror-like card stock. Whereas Upper Deck’s Black Diamond are shiny but dark, Prizm cards have bright, vibrant colors that jump out at you. The cards are also printed on heavy stock. After opening a box, I totally understand why baseball card collectors go nuts over sets like Bowman Chrome: they just look so cool. Of course, I was a sucker for “chromium covers” back in my comic book collecting days in the 1990s, so enjoying “chromium” hockey cards isn’t much of a stretch for me.

Anyway, onto the break. Continue reading “Box Break: 2013-14 Panini Prizm”

Heroes and Prospects, by In The Game Trading Cards, celebrates its tenth season this  year. The set focuses mainly on players who were drafted by NHL teams, players eligible for the 2014 NHL draft, or players eligible within the next few years. There are also “heroes” cards, of former hockey legends, that use  illustrations instead of photographs. Rounding out the 199-card set are 49 short-printed lenticular “Class of 2014” cards that have a cool, 3-D effect. Like all In The Game products, you can also expect autographed cards and game-used jersey cards in every box.

Without further ado, here are the results of the box I opened:

Continue reading “Box Break: 2013-14 Heroes and Prospects”