BOX BREAK - 2012/13 Artifacts

Last night was trade night and three days earlier was Artifacts release day.  Linden's in the product.  That all adds up to a box break by yours truly.

And while it was not the spectacular pack ripping session I was hoping it would be, it was still fun to rip open some packs.

2012/13 Artifacts

(hobby box)

There are 4 cards to a pack and 10 packs in a box of Artifacts.  Inside a box is three memorabilia hits and an auto.  Add to that a fresh crop of rookies and parallels galore and this can be a quick boom or bust.

You've already seen the key card to the break...but I'll show it again.  My Linden base card is one of the few times that I've actually pulled a card of his from a pack.  I'm always thrilled when that happens.  Even if it's just a simple base card.

The base card design isn't terrible...but not the best I've seen come from this product.  They moved away from the complex backgrounds and more towards an ice surface look.  Other than the text and the huge 'Artifacts' along the top, you'd think this came out of a pack of Upper Deck Ice.

I ended up with 29 base cards (in a set of 100 cards) meaning you'd need 4 boxes to complete a set.  That is of course if you didn't hit too many doubles.

I suggest pilfer some from a friend.

I hit two parallels.  The Stall is blue (Sapphire) /85 while the Niemi is green (Emerald)  /99.  The level of excitement I felt when I pulled these cards.....went away very quickly when I learned that neither of them were named Linden.

Here's a nice little subset that I think will get some looks from collectors.  This Hockey Canada subset is numbered to /999 and (shockingly) shows players wearing their Team Canada garb.

Iginla is a solid pickup - especially here in Calgary.  I like it.

I got my allotted three rookies.  I've never heard of the top two guys, but that third one is very popular in sportscards these days.

Redemption.  I don't know who the Flyers guy might be, but I'll be anticipating this arrival in the mail...once I figure out Upper Deck's redemption process.

Ink!  OK....sticker.  But these Autofacts cards are a fun set to build on a yearly basis (if you can handle the non-hard auto aspect).  Why?  They go dirt cheap in a few months of so when the desire dries up.

I've picked up many dollar autos from previous years and am quite confident that this Timonen sig will fall right into line.

Thanks for the scribble Kimmo!

Two jersey cards (one multiplayer and one single player dual piece).  Nothing to write home about....but again - I'm looking for Linden.

Hopefully I can put these in the trade box and they can help me land a new pc card.

Now on to the true hit of the box.  The 'thickie' as the hobbyists like to call it.

I knew right away when I saw the white edge that it was not a decoy card.  And the slow reveal was supposed to be just like a band-aid.  It wasn't supposed to hurt.

Irk.  Anybody collect Mike Moulson?  Anybody like boring one-color patches?  You're in luck then.  I've got a beauty for you...and it's numbered to /15.

note:  it has been brought to my attention that it's not Mike....but Matt Moulson.  I knew that, but just had a brain cramp.  

In all honesty, I can't be too disappointed about this pull.  For every Crosby, Malkin and Stamkos in the set, there's a Moulson staring you in the face.  Sometimes the odds just aren't in your favour.


Was it a great break?  Not really.  But I can't say that it's a terrible product because of it.  If my patch would have been a Gretzky or a Linden then yes, it would have been spectacular, but the product isn't terrible because of what's pulled out of a single 10-card box.

I'm sure the box underneath it is filled to the brim with hits.

(I knew I should have picked that one)