BOX BREAK - 2022/23 Upper Deck SP Signature Edition Legends

I can't believe I went the whole month of March without posting. Well...now that I think of it, maybe not. There was little hobby action from me over the past 30 days. No big pickups, no Lindens.

Scratch that...there was one.

After getting a glimpse of what the new Upper Deck SP Signature Legends product had to offer, I decided that I would bust open a box (a rare bird for me these days). My guy has no less than six cards on the checklist...and an unannounced seventh card in the mix. That makes for an exciting product rip.

Sadly, I didn't get to unwrap a Linden myself, but did trade for his base card. The chase continues.

Box breaks feel different than they used to. Fewer cards in a pack...fewer packs in a box. But this isn't a low-end product, so I guess that's the reason why.

For SP Signature Legends, it's 5 cards per pack and there were 18 packs in the box. No chance of building the base set with just one box. In fact, you'd need at least four boxes to complete the 300-card base set (not including the 50 short print cards that beef this up to 350). 

But I'm guessing a lot of the breakers are more interested in the hits.

Here's a look at the base cards. I was fortunate enough to have a friend gift me the Linden. I love the fact that it's a card in the iconic skate logo uniform.

Solid design and slightly thicker design stock makes this feel like a higher-end product - which it is.

The checklist is all over the place. True legends of the game are included (and the short prints are a who's who of the game), but there are some names in this product that just have me scratching my head.

No offense to the Ben Lovejoy collectors or the Mike Weaver chasers...but those are long name pulls. Still, when names like Plante, Sawchuk, Mikita, Trottier are included, one tends to look the other way.

As I mentioned, it's the inserts that are the real star of this product. Let's start with the canvas cards - a staple in big Upper Deck releases. Here, the UD Canvas Legends really shine.

A Steve Yzerman decked out in the oh-so-tasty mid-80's All Star uniforms...exceptional. I was hoping the photo would've been from the 1985 tilt that was held in Calgary (a game I went to), but it appears to be from the year before as I believe it is Denis Potvin's hand that he is shaking.

Still, a real nice photo. And I'd learn that this would be a theme of the canvas cards.

OK...hold the phone. Where was this photography on cards in the 70's and 80's??!! This single piece of cardboard gave me a huge jolt when I unwrapped it. What a snapshot.

The angle, the action, the leather, and of course...the mask. This is a photo worth framing.

I was grinning wide when looking at this card.

So you can only imagine my beaming when I pulled this Davidson. Again, where was this 40 years ago??

As a kid, I would've drooled over a card that had a closeup of a mask on it. And Davidson had some pretty memorable lids.

One more canvas to share...and it's a signed one. 

Michel Goulet was certainly a player I remember collecting when I was a kid. In fact, I remember taking his 1980 rookie card and cutting out the player and name bar (thinking it would look cool). I love when cards weren't seen dollar signs...but just pieces of cardboard.

Thrilled to see him in his vintage Nordiques jersey...how I remember him best.

On to some of the other inserts. These are the gold parallels of the base cards (and were 1:7 packs). The Patrick Roy was a nice find...and is one of the SP chases (so 1:42 packs).

I really like the way the players pop off the gold background. Gives it a crisp, higher-end feel. The facsimile auto is a nice touch too. 

While the etched autos are nice, a hard-signed offering looks even better. Here's the big man Kjell Samuelsson giving fans his auto.

I remember him from the Pens-Flyers rivalries (and probably getting lit up by Mario Lemieux) before joining Pittsburgh and helping them to their second Cup win.

The signatures are really the staple of this product...and from what I've seen, are highly desirable (if you have the right name).

More inserts. These ProFiles cards look sharp. That rainbow foil tint makes those players jump out of the card.

Another Stevie Y and a rookie year Patrick Roy. No complaint with those guys following me on this break.

The Evolve cards are a nice idea. I hit a couple of them, but of course this Gretzky is tops. Shocked to not see him in his memorable St. Louis Blues kit. Ha ha.

Again, the real appeal of these cards are the signed versions. They look quite sharp with the auto in the sweet spot at the bottom.

Alright...time to share the dud of the box. Sorry Stu.

These Life After Hockey cards really just do not need to be in the product. A very loud, schtick-y card design with some uninspired photography. Do I really need to know that Stu is a lawyer these days?

Not for me.

On the flip side...I was beaming ear to ear when I pulled a Future Watch. No, it's not the auto, but a unannounced acetate parallel. What a great photo of Bobby as a rookie. Those gloves!

It really was the highlight of the box. My hope is to parlay it into a Linden (as he too has the unannounced acetate Future Watch parallel).

This was a really enjoyable break, even more because I opened my box at the same time as my friend opened his. Lots of fun comparing base card names and jaw dropping insert hits. It really reminded me of what the essence of the hobby is all about.

Go rip some packs!

BOX BREAK - 2016 Topps Archives Signatures

There are times when I get a little caught up in the world of box breaking.  Not too much and not that often, but every once in a while it surfaces.

I've had some decent success at times too.  Be it my CFL box break a few months back, my nephew's good luck in picking a box of ITGU or the sheer joy in a half case of ITG Canadiana.  There's something so basic and fun when it comes to opening packs.  I truly believe it's the essence of this hobby....and I hope I never see a day where I no longer have the ability to bust boxes and open packs.

Recently, I've had an itchy trigger finger when it comes to baseball - especially the single hit autograph boxes.

At the most recent trade night I had my eye on a box for most of the night...and was good enough not to cave for most of the evening.  But the temptation got the better of me in the end.

AKA.....I caved.  (again)

So how did I do?

2016 Topps Archives Signatures

Edgar Martinez 1/1

I'd say pretty good.

To me, Edgar Martinez will be one of two things - a Seattle Mariner and a Calgary Cannon.

I remember the days of heading down to Foothills Stadium and watching the Calgary Cannons play in the PCL.  They were the triple-A farm team for the Mariners and we got to see some great ball for a few years.

Martinez was always a fan fave and he was an incredible hitter.  Not a power hitter....but boy could he hit for average.

Always exciting to watch, I was happy to see him break into the bigs and make a name for himself.  Even in the large shadow of a guy named Griffey.

So will Edgar end up in the Hall Of Fame?  I hope so.  I think he has the resume but the fact that he was predominantly a DH might make the road a little bumpier.

Regardless, I'm thrilled to have pulled this card and am looking forward to having it in my trade box and hopefully working it towards a pc item.

BOX BREAK - 2016 Upper Deck CFL

Well, I was really looking forward to this Saturday afternoon.  Nice weather, a break from some of the recent hectic travelings and a chance to get back out on the golf course to smack the ball around and get some good cursing going (ok....I'm not THAT bad on the course).  But there was only one little problem.

I went to the wrong golf course and as a result - missed my tee time.

It was brutal.  Especially when I started receiving texts from my golf buddies heckling me to no end.

So I decided to do some office cleaning and card scanning.  Not even close to making up for the "botch of the year".

But I digress.  On to a nice story about cards.

Right before I left for my trip to Brazil, I managed to make it out for the local trade night.  I knew it would be an abbreviated go as I still needed to pack....and but stuff....and just do a bunch of overall prep work.  I like to leave things to the last minute it seems.

Anyways, while I was at the card shop I was really....REALLY wanting to open some packs.  Sadly, there was no hockey product that was speaking to me.  Even the baseball (which is my second choice) didn't have anything I was excited in.  Not even the non-sports stuff was catching my eye.

Worried that I would be leaving with no cards in tow, I decided to take a flyer on the recent CFL product just released by Upper Deck.  The price was right so I decided to give a box a go.  Shall we see how I did?

2016 Upper Deck CFL

6 cards per pack

24 packs per box

I feel as though the CFL product has a pretty strong niche collector following - especially in Canada and I thought if I could hit a couple cards, maybe some trading could be had at future trade nights.

The base cards are nothing jaw dropping.  Simple design, some decent photos (some not so much) and a good overall checklist it looks like (163 base cards with the shorter print ones after card 100).  No career stats on the back...just the past 5 years (a bit of a miss here) but a good effort once again by Upper Deck.  After all, this is their third year doing the CFL release.

A breakdown of the base shows (and I'm going to go out on a limb with a guess here) that cards 1-100 are a given (I had about 15 doubles on top of that).  So that's a real nice start.  Cards 101-140 which are the special teams cards land about 1:2 packs.  I ended up with 11 cards - no doubles.  So some work to do if I want the complete base set.  Cards 141-163 are All-Star cards and land 1:6 packs.  I ended up with 5 so I exceeded the expected 4 cards I should have received.  Nice.

BTW....the horizontal cards don't do it for me at all.  I think it exposes just how bad the logo looks on the front.  I feel as though UD could have done a better job incorporating the logo into the overall layout of the card.

Overall though, the base card offering in this product is pretty good.

Some OPC retro cards in this product (42 cards) and they have their distinct retro look.  I like these cards a lot - except for the smudging just above the photo.  These have a definite 1971 feel to them and I'm sure that set collectors will enjoy the additional chase.

They are 1:3 packs so I should have received 8 in total.

Drumroll please.....

Eight it is.

The box odds call for 2 memorabilia cards and that's just what I got.  Nothing to write home about but I feel like these would make for some good traders.  More so than the dollar jersey cards you tend to get in hockey products these days.

There are patch variations /15 in this product and a quick look on eBay shows some impressive patches.

The more I look at this product, the more I see Upper Deck taking the best of the best from other signature sets and building a real nice niche product for diehard collectors.  I'm impressed so far.

Hey.....I got a thickie.  This was a great surprise.  These manufactured patches are another notch from the OPC belt.  They come 1:128 packs so I definitely hit a tough one.  I especially like that I got a Stampeders logo as I know I'll be able to trade this one locally pretty easily.

And a quick look at the checklist seems to reveal that these are an extension of previous UD CFL releases (as they are listed TL-51 to TL-62).  Pretty cool.

Wow!  Another great box hit.  This High Gloss parallel is numbered to just 10.  While not the top QB in the league, it's still a QB....and should get good trade value as well.

I must say that I'm quite pleased with what this spur-of-the-moment pack ripping adventure has resulted in.

But if only that was all.

There are autos in this product.  Three different types.

Offence base card autos (40 cards) run 1:96 packs, Defense/Special Teams base card autos (12 cards) run 1:256 packs and then there are the All-Star autos (11 cards) numbered to /25.  There are also CFL Scripts (which is what I landed) and they are also numbered to just /25.  Yes, it's a sticker auto but still....more good tradebait.

So.....I can say pretty confidently that I hit a really good box.  Does that change my perception on the product?  Maybe.  Will I try my hand at another one?  Doubt it.  I really like that I have some good traders and should be able to recoup most (if not all) of my box dollars on this one.  Pretty rare when that happens.

If you're a CFL fan....then I would think that this is a must-try product for you.


Have you ever stepped outside the box and tried a product you normally don't rip?  How'd it go?  Did it meet your expectations?


Well....I feel like I accomplished something tonight.  Better than nothing I guess.

But make no mistake, I'd much rather be losing golf balls in the pond today.  Ugh.

BOX BREAK - In The Game Used

I caved- AGAIN!!!!

But sometimes that's a good thing.

So I was out running some errands with my nephew this afternoon and one of the stops happened to be the local card shop.  I don't normally hit the card shops on the weekend as it can get me into trouble real quick.  But I needed new toploaders for the revamping of my Linden collection (finally sorting that out properly).

Anyways.....when I first walked into the shop I noticed the new ITG product on the shelf - In The Game Used.  And yes, my guy is in the product....a lot.  Twenty-one cards in total.  Six of those are Nameplate letters (from a Montreal jersey), one other 1/1 and the rest are most definitely on the radar.  That's yet another good wave of cards on the wantlist.

My nephew is not big into cards.  Actually.....he could care less about them.  And that's totally cool.  He respects that I like them and I think he enjoys that I enjoy the hobby.  I think he likes it too when I involve him in the little aspects about that I think would be fun for both of us.

I was finishing up with my supplies when I called my nephew over.  I asked him to pick a number between one and four (as there were four boxes of the product on the shelf).  He chose two.

Wanna see what he picked out for his uncle?  I knew you would.

2013/14 In The Game Used

(one box - four cards)

Oh yeah.  Another quick and funny story.

So my nephew thinks that all boxes of card have packs in them (like Score or OPC).  So when he saw the box of In The Game Used, he thought he was going to rip open some packs.

He opened up the box and was a little perplexed by the lack of cards and the abundance of emptiness.  His face was priceless.

Of course I knew what to expect and I explained to him that it there were just four cards in the box.

His reaction....."Boring!"

I on the other hand was really excited about the first card I saw.

Teammates Colorado

Joe Sakic & Peter Forsberg

Gold (limited to 10 copies)

A gold parallel to start with.  I was loving that.

In each pack you get a single game-used card, a double game-used, a triple and a quad.  So with no single on top....I got excited.

Guarding The Net Detroit

Terry Sawchuk, Roger Crozier & Ed Giacomin

Some gorgeous vintage on the triple.  That's 2 for 2 in my books.


Now I'll leave the next card in the pack until the end.  The "single" so to speak.

Forever Rivals

Grant Fuhr, Mark Messier, Billy Smith & Mike Bossy

Gold (limited to 10 copies)

Another gold parallel in the pack.  I really couldn't ask for anything more.

But what the heck....why not finish with something bigger.
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Nameplate "M"

Tony Amonte (from his All Star jersey) 1/1

Geez.....way to pick 'em buddy!!!

Of course he was oblivious to what each card was (the scarcity or player names) but he could see my excitement.  What a bunch of fun.

Now hopefully I can turn these goodies into some Trevor Linden cards.  I've got a lot to knock off the list.


Oh yeah.....I'm bringing my nephew to trade nights from now on.  :)

BOX BREAK - 2013/14 O-Pee-Chee

Finally got around to scanning in my OPC box break from the start of the month.  I think the crazy collation and the lack of a killer hit had me a little lazy in showing off the goods.

Or is that the bads.

OPC has been a favorite product of mine for a few years.  I really like the diverse and beefy set (both the base and retro variations), the inserts and long odds pulls.  And while this year seems to be more of a "next verse, same as the first" feel, the overall appeal of OPC was enough for me to cave and buy a box.

I'll say this right off the bat...one and done.

2013/14 O-Pee-Chee

8 cards per pack / 32 packs per box

Remember people to take a look at the bottom of your box.  There's free stuff sitting there.  I was excited to see Carey Price as a part of my free box bottom cards...then I realized that it's the exact same box bottom as Captain Canuck's break.  BOOOO!

Oh well, free is free.  And be sure to save your wrappers.  There's a redemption program again so that's even more free stuff.  And we haven't even busted a pack yet.

The base cards are ok.  Nothing fantastic but not the worst OPC cards I've seen.  A nice full window for the photo and some basic text in the left corner.

The photo selections are average at best with most cards falling in the "nothing special" category.  That said, there's always a few surprises.

Like that Jason Garrison in the vintage threads.

The color selections are not matched to the team colors (a little odd if you ask me).  Instead they are linked to the card number.  The first 100 cards are one color, the next 100 are another, and so on.  Check out Captain Canucks' review for more details (again with the laziness).

Some older guys made the grade.  I've never seen that Orr pic before.  I'm on the fence as to whether or not I like it.  His face seems weird for some reason.

The Clarke is nice.  Can anybody name the goalie in the background?

The 500-card base set makes for a nice chase.  In my box I had 184 of the 500 and no doubles.  The collation is absolutely crazy though.  I won't go through the numbering in detail (lazy) but I can say that it was real easy to guess the cards I had after just sifting through the first few.

51, 54, 56, 59, 61, 64, 66, 69, 71, 74, 76, 79, etc.

And while I had a lot of cards in the 1-100 and 400-500 range, I had only one.....that's ONE card in the 200's.  Bizarre.

As always, there's a crop of rookies in the mix.  I snagged 20 but 4 are doubles.  I'd be miffed but Yakupov was one of my doubles.

Staying with the theme of the base design, these cards don't scream awesome which is too bad because it's a pretty beefy rookie crop.

Retros!!!  And retros of retro players are even better.  This design is truly hit and miss.  I like the Yzerman...

but hate the Oieem Nlrsn.  I'm ok with contrasting colors and all, but let's use readable hues.

I cracked 32 retros (one per pack) and they all end in either 3 or 8.  Thanks for that eh.

Only one retro that stood out from the bunch.  This Rookie retro reminds me of a That's 70's Show dance sequence in between scenes.

JT Miller....is he any good?  Cause I got a desirable card.

It's blank backed.

I was going to have some fun and say that my entire box was blank backed (and just use this scan over and over again) but then I remembered that I'm lazy.

Not sure how rare the blank backs are, but I'm asking big coin for it.  I gotta recoup my money somehow.

Stickers!!!  These are yellow and colorful and star the greatest of all time.  Can't complain there.

I picked up 10 stickers in total and am covering my binders for the upcoming school year.  Wicked!!!!

Shiny cards.  Some people love 'em, some hate.  I don't mind them.  I think it would be a tall task to complete the 500-card base set considering that I only hit 8 of 'em.

A nice white glossy back of the card is par for the OPC course and look sharp.  What else can I say.

Shiny parallels.  Why not.

These are numbered to 100 and I pulled a Schroeder rookie.  Again...big coin.

The black border are a dead giveaway here (not to mention the serial numbering on the back).  Overkill?  It's the OPC way.

Last but not least (and certainly not the most) are the team rings.  I'll admit, I like last years' pop-ups more.  Two of 'em in the box but I feel like they are already destined for the loonie box.

Overall, a fun break.  Was hoping for one of those manufactured patches but alas no.  How many boxes would one need for the set?  I don't know.  Part of me feels like if you hit the unlucky button you could literally end up with a box full of doubles.  I'm sure I'll be able to trade most of these off and help the set builders.

No Linden in this set so I'm off the hook there (but he's rearing his ugly head in ITG's Decades 90's very soon).

And with that...another year of OPC is in the books.

Remember.....readable hues.

OUTSIDE THE BOX - 15 Boxes Of ITG Canadiana

When I prepared to set off to the Toronto Expo a couple weeks ago, I knew there would be some Linden hunting, some new product breaking and some specific request fulfilling.

I did not expect my Friday to consist of one of the biggest box breaks I've ever done.  And by "biggest" I don't mean in terms of biggest hit....

I mean BIG!!!

As in 25 boxes big.

I have been on the lookout for a while for some Canadiana singles for a fellow Linden collector.  Carrying around somebody else's wantlist gives me the chance to dig a little more during average or even boring card shows or if I happen upon a card store.

When I found boxes of Canadiana selling for $40 (that's about 75% off regular price) I decided to try a couple boxes.

And then a couple more.

And then half a case more.

And then I texted the fellow Linden collector and bought the other half of the case for him.

25 boxes in total.

Now I could have brought them all back unopened, but that would have meant checking another piece of luggage at the airport and getting dinged about $30.

I had more fun opening it and it could all be tucked into one of my suitcases.

Wanna see what I got?  I'll share just my 15 boxes.

First off.....base.  There were 8 card per box and about 5 or 6 would be base.  The reds are the most common and I was able to get about half of the 100-card set (sadly....15 doubles).

For those of you not familiar with Canadiana, it's a product that celebrates all things Canada.  From sports to politics to entertainers to inventors, Canadiana is a trading card look at our country's history.

There are also blue parallels of the base cards and are limited to just 50 copies each.  I pulled 23 blue base and this Maurice Richard is a great example of the simplicity and cleanliness of the design.

I like the fonts and brushed background.  It works for both old and new photos, color or black & white.  There's decent photo selection although there are a few pics that are a tad on the blurry side.

A nice hit here....GSP black base parallel.

This onyx parallel is limited to just 5 copies.  I've heard that they often sell quite low on the secondary market.  I'm hoping that's not the case with mine.  I'd love to recoup some dough and this could be a big help.

What would an In The Game product be without autographs.  Yes, they are sticker autos but ITG does a really nice job ensuring that the sticker works with the card design (unlike some of the slappers on the new Fleer Retro hockey product....ouch).

A simple design again and I really like the black look with the black pen (done with purpose I might add).

Don Cherry has one nice looking sig and was one of my more favourites out of the break.  In total I pulled 18 (2 duplicates).  Heads up though.  Most people in the product have 2 autos (different photos on each) so there would be a Don Cherry 1 and a Don Cherry 2.

Some of the other faves include a nice Scott Niedermayer and a sweet "Mad Dog" Vachon.

There are also blue auto parallels and the ultra rare red auto 1/1's.

No reds for me, but I did hit six blues.

This one hands down was the best.  Anybody who doesn't know who Stompin' Tom is.....go do your homework immediately.  Do not look at or think about anything hockey.  And return when you are caught up.

Hockey's national anthem (and many feel that it's Canada's unofficial anthem as well).  Awesome.

And now for the Pamela Anderson section of the post.

Yes, what would a product about Canada be without the buxom blonde from Baywatch.  She makes an appearance (actually.....many) in the set.

This is the Mega Memorabilia insert set and is a pretty simple concept.  It works great because there's lots of memorabilia (in this instance...not as much).

Some of these silver versions are limited (90 copies) and some extremely limited (20 copies).

This might be the one single card that would make my sister start collecting.  Corey Haim.  Nice.  I got two of these....not so nice.

In total, I pulled 13 Mega Memorabilia cards, so about one per box.

14 if you count this gold version Scott Niedermayer out of 10.  Anybody know where the green jersey piece comes from?

If there was one gold to hit.....I like that it was a hockey player.

From single to double.  There's more goodies in these boxes.

Double memorabilia cards are set to 90 copies each and feature some cards with just one person with two pieces of jersey...

...or two people with a piece of memorabilia for each.

Yes...more Pam.  And some Trish too.  Not bad.  I pulled 5 Double Memorabilia pieces in total.

Almost done guys.  Hope you're having fun learning about Canada.

These Authentic Patch cards are really nice.  The swatch size is smaller, but the piece is of higher quality.

I like this Angela James piece a lot but must confess that out of the other 10 boxes I opened, there were two....Larry Walker and a short print Steve Yzerman.  Sweet.

That gets us to the final card of the break.  And yes.....it's Pamela Anderson.

These Autograph & Memorabilia pieces are limited to 35 and are a tough pull.  There was one in my 10-box half case and one in the other half.

It's not a sticker auto but I can't consider it hard signed either.  It looks like a card was signed and inserted into the card cut.  ITG has used this technique many times before and is a nice balance for those who can't sign the actual card for whatever reason.

Well, that's that.  Was the 15 box break worth it?  Absolutely.  Will I get my money back?  Maybe not.  But boy was it ever fun to bust the boxes open. I like the base set and autos so much that I might build the sets myself now.  Further to that, this might be an excellent product to build with my 11-year-old nephew.  We can both learn a little bit about Canada's history (and Pam Anderson) and have fun completing a set together.