Inspired by some of the discussion in other threads, I figured a lot of collectors would have a lot to say when it comes to the products Upper Deck has been churning out over the past few years. The question I'm posing is:

If you could choose only eight Upper Deck products to be released next year, what would you choose?

Here is my current list, in no particular order:

1. The Cup
Every sport in my opinion needs at least one high-end offering for the collectors with expensive taste. I think rather than have a bunch of high-end products Upper Deck should take the best inserts from Ultimate Collection and Black and combine them into The Cup, making it a super product. I would use the following sets from all three products: Limited Logos; Signature Patches; Honorable Numbers; Game-Night Ticket Autos; Pride of A Nation; Ultimate Signatures; Ultimate Achievements; Ultimate Autographed Shields (Single Player); Dual NHL Shields; Dual Autographed NHL Shields; Cup Chirography; Emblems of Endorsement; Lustrous Materials; Legendary Cuts; Property Of; and of course the Cup Rookie Patch Autographs.

2. Upper Deck Series One/Two
This is the original Upper Deck, and even though I'm not a big fan it just wouldn't be the same without the Young Guns. I think rather than bring back MVP, Upper Deck should dilute the hits in Series One/Two and bring it down to MVP price levels so younger collectors will still have an affordable product and the rest of the rookie collectors can still chase the Young Guns.

3. O-Pee-Chee
I absolutely loved the 2008/09 version, and honestly I'm not sure what they could do to improve on it. They should keep bringing back classic concepts, offering both another affordable low-end choice for young collectors as well as nostalgic collectors who love retro-style products.

4. Sweet Shot
I know, not many people will agree with this but hear me out. I think the reason many people didn't like Sweet Shot was the price. The cards looked great in my opinion and the autograph sets were some of the most unique and colorful I have seen, but the price per five-card tin was pretty high. If Upper Deck were to cut down overall case production and offer more hits per tin instead, or keep the same amount of hits for a lower price I think the product could have done much better.

5. Champs
Another one most people wouldn't agree with, but the lineup needs a niche product and this is it. I know a lot of collectors are like me and need a break from the same old rookie, jersey, and autograph chase product after product, so pulling a dinosaur every now and then is kind of refreshing if you ask me. If anything Upper Deck should expand on the concept and offer more fossils and relics for us sentimental collectors next time around.

6. SP Authentic
Another Upper Deck classic, the Future Watch and Sign of The Times cards are some of the most desired every year and this product should never be shelved. After seeing the early design of the Sign of The Times from 2008/09 I kind of wish Upper Deck would stick to the simple, classic looking designs rather than the busy, high-tech looking cards but I'll wait until I see some of them live before commenting any further.

7. SPx Diamond
I would propose combining Black Diamond and SPx, keeping the tiered base/rookie set of Black Diamond and taking on the Rookie Jersey Autographs from SPx. The Rookie Jersey Autographs would replace Rookie Gems and be tiered to the different diamond levels, with say 99, 199, 299, and 499 as the quantities (shoudn't be higher than 500). This would provide a low-to-mid range product that combines both the Rookie Jersey Autographs that people love in SPx and the collectability of a tiered base/rookie set. I would also take the Glacial Graphs from Ice and use them in this product (Diamond Graphs), replacing Gemography with a hard-signed version for the autograph set.

8. OPC Premier
This would be the other high-end product I would keep around, as I loved the crisp designs of the 2007/08 version and the upcoming 2008/09 version looks sharp so far as well. I would like a lower price and less manufactured content, or at least keep to autographed versions of the manufactured cards only.


That is my list, which includes two high-end products, two low-end products, and four mid-range products. Having combined some aspects of different products into others it has, I think anyway, kept a lot of the favorites in while reducing the number of releases.

Notice I have scrapped a lot of products that to me have outstayed their welcome, like SP Game Used, Trilogy, and Artifacts.

Let's see what your lists would be!

1. The cup - obvious. high end.
2. Ultimate/OPC Premier - LOVE LOVE LOVE the look of ultimate! its beautiful! Same goes for OPC Premier but these two can be merged somehow (get rid of those CRAP manufactured patches)
3. Hot Prospects - nothing beats a rookie patch auto out of every box. they also had jersey cards and hot commodities. was great.
4. SP Authentic - 3 autos a box. a shot at a patch. some nice looking inserts. great box. but would make it only 20 packs not 24.
5. Upper Deck series 1 and 2 - cant go without them. they are great boxes. average 6 young guns and 2-3 jerseys. shot at autos, patches, tons of inserts. very great and lovely base
6. SPx/Artifacts - somehow mix SPx and artifacts. I love em both but I think they could be combined
7. Black diamond - black diamond provides a lot of value for its price. they are always great looking cards.
8. OPC - good low-end box. always have great looking cards!

UD 1 & 2
SP Authentic
OPC
Champs
The Cup
Hot Prospects

Keep these as they are. OPC and Champs are retro, UD and SPA are standard, The Cup and HP are rookie Patch centric.

Here's the new stuff

OPC Premier Black - Just like last years OPC, but with the black motif
SPx Ultimate - SPx, with the Ultimate motif now including jerseys and autos
Ice Shot - Ice with some of the neat stuff from Sweet Shot better implementation

The Cup
Series 1&2
BD
Sweet Shot
SPx
SPA
Trilogy
OPC Premier

Masterpieces
Series 1&2
O-Pee-Chee
Black Diamond
Trilogy
SPx
SPA
The Cup

Ok right off the bat, Sweet Shot is CRAP! And not because of value, because look at the design. You can't tell the Signature Stick Signings or Ice Rink Signings apart one year to the next. It's the same with Trilogy Ice Scripts the past two years, uninspired designs. It's not always about value in my books, it's about enticing the collectors with effort and something eye-catching. Yes, that would be innovation UD. The only good thing in Sweet Shot was the Game Used Signature Sticks #15. Those WERE nice.

Ok, now that I "shelved" crap shot, here is my lineup.

UD 1 & 2 - Gotta have your flagship brand.
OPC - Good stuff even kids can afford and good-looking, nostalgic cards with the retros.
SPA - First hard-signed rooks and in a set focused on autos galore. They need to ban ALL stickers on the combo autos in this set though. It must be hard-signed all the way.
Victory/MVP type combo set - Great for the kids and even adults with those Black parallels.
Champs - Just make it hockey's A&G and tweak it every year. It's pretty solid.
Parkhurst - Make it hard-signed and give us autos of those older greats we never get. Regional type heroes who may never otherwise get a card, let alone a signed one.
Hot Prospects - I agree with most, the poor mans Cup rookies. Gotta have them but make it better and make them hard-signed. Don't be afraid of effort UD.
Black - Good looking stuff but make it a current year product with rookies. Implement some of the technology from other sets that were cut here. (Specifically shields. How about Ultimate "Black" Shields)
The Cup - No brainer but the design needs help. Put more holographic foil in like the inaugural version in 05/06. It keeps looking "cheaper" every year.


Some of my cuts and reasoning:

- Artifacts. 55 parallels for your player? No thanks.
- Trilogy. Worthless in every sense of the word. The only worthwhile thing in that set was the Personal Scripts which they axed this year.
- Power Play & Ovation. Why? Seriously? Don;t tell em kids, that's why you have Victory/MVP/OPC
- SPX. Like a lot of UD products, blah, uninspired, gag me.
- Sweet Shot. Explained.
- Ultimate. Nothing but a glorified SPA with less content. Move the Shields to Black. Now THAT would be flippin' nice.
- OPC Premier. Manufactured junk. Unimpressed all around. Looks like they start with SPA, it mutates into Ultimate and finally, they screw around too much in the mad laboratory and it ends up being OPC Premier. UGH.


Should I just e-mail them?:sign0020:

ok i absolutly hate the regualr upper deck set, the jerseys are just plain crap. if i had it my way only these 8 would make it.
1 - the cup (of course)
2 - champs (love it)
3 - parkhurst (vintage players with hard signed autos, hard to beat)
4 - trilogy (love the ice scripts but the rest needs an update of some sort)
5 - ultimate collection - (usually a nice design and love the big patches)
6 - ice (like the glacial graphs but the rest needs something done, more hits per box)
7 - black (very nice stuff but needs a better price point or needs to book for more)
8 - upper deck version of between the pipes (hey i collect goalies here)

we should send these off to upper deck

ok i absolutly hate the regualr upper deck set, the jerseys are just plain crap. if i had it my way only these 8 would make it.
1 - the cup (of course)
2 - champs (love it)
3 - parkhurst (vintage players with hard signed autos, hard to beat)
4 - trilogy (love the ice scripts but the rest needs an update of some sort)
5 - ultimate collection - (usually a nice design and love the big patches)
6 - ice (like the glacial graphs but the rest needs something done, more hits per box)
7 - black (very nice stuff but needs a better price point or needs to book for more)
8 - upper deck version of between the pipes (hey i collect goalies here)

we should send these off to upper deck

those wouldn't work just because no low-end for kids. I would say

1. UD Series 1/UD Series 2- I am a set collector. This product is a must for set collectors. The Young Guns are the best non-memorabilia rookie cards out there. So many inserts to go after, a master set isn't out of the equation. It is one of the best bang for your buck products.
2. UD MVP/UD Victory-Another great cheap set for set collectors, and another product kids can buy. The dual jerseys are a great find. The rookies are easier to find. Make it 1:3 finding of rookies. But number the gold out of /199 maybe, and black out of /25 or less.
3. OPC- Brings back the retro side of collecting cards, a HUGE set to collect, some great hits involve, for a low-end product.
4. SPGU/Sweet Shot- Lower the price on both of these products and it would be fine. 140 for a box of spgu for sometimes 20 dollars back... no good.
5. Champs- You got to change it up with the mini's, and it seems every sport has these time of cards. (A&G,murad,mayo). Also hard signed auto's.
6. The Cup- No questions. Okay just one suggestion. Add some of the Black stuff to it (game tickets, pride of nation)
7. Black Diamond- Another bang for your buck product.
8. SPA- 3 autos per box. What can be better than that!

But I really thing the products out now are fine. Many of us die-harders will buy most of the boxes that come out of the 15 or so products, each product has flaws, but with some combining of products, Upper Deck could lower products with better return.

Like the idea of SPx Diamond...maybe it could be called "SP Black". UD has done just SP before and they do Black now...

Ok right off the bat, Sweet Shot is CRAP! And not because of value, because look at the design. You can't tell the Signature Stick Signings or Ice Rink Signings apart one year to the next. It's the same with Trilogy Ice Scripts the past two years, uninspired designs. It's not always about value in my books, it's about enticing the collectors with effort and something eye-catching. Yes, that would be innovation UD. The only good thing in Sweet Shot was the Game Used Signature Sticks #15. Those WERE nice.


Some of my cuts and reasoning:

- Artifacts. 55 parallels for your player? No thanks.
- Trilogy. Worthless in every sense of the word. The only worthwhile thing in that set was the Personal Scripts which they axed this year.
- Power Play & Ovation. Why? Seriously? Don;t tell em kids, that's why you have Victory/MVP/OPC
- SPX. Like a lot of UD products, blah, uninspired, gag me.
- Sweet Shot. Explained.
- Ultimate. Nothing but a glorified SPA with less content. Move the Shields to Black. Now THAT would be flippin' nice.
- OPC Premier. Manufactured junk. Unimpressed all around. Looks like they start with SPA, it mutates into Ultimate and finally, they screw around too much in the mad laboratory and it ends up being OPC Premier. UGH.


Should I just e-mail them?:sign0020:


Ahh so much to say here. I COMPLETELY agree about sweet shots. I HATE HATE HATE it and the look.

Your lineup was meh to me. I like artifacts even if it does have a crapload of parallels. it is a good hunt for a player collector like me. But I would say combine artifacts and SPGU. Trilogy had potential. If the ice scripts werent the same things every year itd be nice and if they brought back the personal scripts it would be that much better. Powerplay and ovation need to go for sure. I don't agree with you on SPx. It's one of my favorite boxes. You are always saying cards look the same year to year. Just look at spx rookie auto jerseys from 05/06 to 06/07 to 07/08 to 08/09 and you will see they really are designed a lot differently. Most of the cards in this years product do not look the same as the year befores. Erego I think SPx needs to stay. Sweet shots is the worst product made. I LOVED ultimate. The look was so nice and there really was a big difference in looks of the cards between years. OPC Premier would be awesome without the manufactured patches. The Triple/Quad remnants are beautiful to me and the rookie auto jersey cards with the patch parallels were beautiful

Ahh so much to say here. I COMPLETELY agree about sweet shots. I HATE HATE HATE it and the look.

Your lineup was meh to me. I like artifacts even if it does have a crapload of parallels. it is a good hunt for a player collector like me. But I would say combine artifacts and SPGU. Trilogy had potential. If the ice scripts werent the same things every year itd be nice and if they brought back the personal scripts it would be that much better. Powerplay and ovation need to go for sure. I don't agree with you on SPx. It's one of my favorite boxes. You are always saying cards look the same year to year. Just look at spx rookie auto jerseys from 05/06 to 06/07 to 07/08 to 08/09 and you will see they really are designed a lot differently. Most of the cards in this years product do not look the same as the year befores. Erego I think SPx needs to stay. Sweet shots is the worst product made. I LOVED ultimate. The look was so nice and there really was a big difference in looks of the cards between years. OPC Premier would be awesome without the manufactured patches. The Triple/Quad remnants are beautiful to me and the rookie auto jersey cards with the patch parallels were beautiful

Dude, you are still in the infancy of excitement with your player PC. Wait until you collect a player as long as I have. (18+ years) Trust me, then you'll despise parallels.:winking0071:

Seriously? Combine SPGU and Artifacts? THAT would be the ultimate PC nightmare. All the parallels and then the GU parallels and parallels of all of that? Sounds like **** if you ask me................again, go ask a guy who has had a player PC for even 5 years if he agrees with that. But, it is your opinion!

SPX? I dunno, more than the set itself, I think it is the stickers autos that repell me. I am just so over the sticker autos. If SPX were hard-signed I'd say keep it. So let me just say any sets with sticker autos should get the boot! That's a nice solid, all-encompassing answer!

I just think sticker autos have no place in this hobby anymore. But that's me...............

OPC Premier manufactured crap looks minor league and is minor league. This is the BIG show people and UD needs to play at that level. The quad rookies last year looked good, this years design looks like they just took the vertical Rare Remnants combos design from last year, changed the background color to white and made them the rookies.

It is yet another example of UD being unimaginative and lazy. Sorry, that's my take.

Dude, you are still in the infancy of excitement with your player PC. Wait until you collect a player as long as I have. (18+ years) Trust me, then you'll despise parallels.:winking0071:

Seriously? Combine SPGU and Artifacts? THAT would be the ultimate PC nightmare. All the parallels and then the GU parallels and parallels of all of that? Sounds like **** if you ask me................again, go ask a guy who has had a player PC for even 5 years if he agrees with that. But, it is your opinion!

SPX? I dunno, more than the set itself, I think it is the stickers autos that repell me. I am just so over the sticker autos. If SPX were hard-signed I'd say keep it. So let me just say any sets with sticker autos should get the boot! That's a nice solid, all-encompassing answer!

I just think sticker autos have no place in this hobby anymore. But that's me...............

OPC Premier manufactured crap looks minor league and is minor league. This is the BIG show people and UD needs to play at that level. The quad rookies last year looked good, this years design looks like they just took the vertical Rare Remnants combos design from last year, changed the background color to white and made them the rookies.

It is yet another example of UD being unimaginative and lazy. Sorry, that's my take.

i know what ya mean about the spgu/artifacts things but this would cause LESS parallels cause there would only be one rookie 1/1 instead of two. I TOTALLY agree that spx would be more attractive had it been hard signed but until UD has to compete, we're stuck with stickers. And I agree with the OPC Premier unoriginality.

Barrie, all around, UD doesn't touch ITG. If ITG got an NHL license, I wouldn't touch another UD card

i know what ya mean about the spgu/artifacts things but this would cause LESS parallels cause there would only be one rookie 1/1 instead of two. I TOTALLY agree that spx would be more attractive had it been hard signed but until UD has to compete, we're stuck with stickers. And I agree with the OPC Premier unoriginality.

Barrie, all around, UD doesn't touch ITG. If ITG got an NHL license, I wouldn't touch another UD card

Ok, so technically, combining Artifacts would be 1 less card for people to chase? What about all the parallels of base and subsets in Artifacts combined with the dizzying tiers of GU from SPGU? So combine two products so rookie collectors have one less card to chase? No way.................

And yes, UD needs competition. And I'd be willing to bet if ITG came back, so would scores of people who quit collecting when ITG lost their license. UD would be in serious trouble and then some.........

Ok, so technically, combining Artifacts would be 1 less card for people to chase? What about all the parallels of base and subsets in Artifacts combined with the dizzying tiers of GU from SPGU? So combine two products so rookie collectors have one less card to chase? No way.................

And yes, UD needs competition. And I'd be willing to bet if ITG came back, so would scores of people who quit collecting when ITG lost their license. UD would be in serious trouble and then some.........

no it would take a LOT of cards out. so lets say theres 6 boyle parallel rookies in spgu and artifacts each. there would be 12 total. if you combined the two boxes it would cut it down to 6 rookies. get what i mean?

First off I dont think 8 products is quite enough. I would prefer around 10 through out the year with 2 low end OPC and Victory for the younger collectors. I would keep UD Series 1 and 2 and even Black Diamond as they are great set collections with decent RC's and few paralells for a decent dollar(keep sticker auto's in these products). I would definatly keep SP Authentic but all auto's must be hard signed and I am a huge fan of Hot Prospects knowing you are gonna get a RC patch in every box. know here is where I would change up stuff alittle I would combine Ice with Black due to the fact I like the Glass Paralells in Ice and I like a some of the design concepts of Black (Pride of a Nation Glass Paralell #/10):winking0071: I would also go with 12-18 packs in a box with a few more hits than Ice would give you. I would keep one of either Champs or Masterpieces even though I personnaly dont like either of these products there are alot of people who do and they are something alittle different(Might even be interesting to combine the 2 sets). Last but not least definatley keeping The Cup as it is the one product that almost never fails.

Here are some products I would do away with.

Trilogy - Only like the Ice Scripts
Spx - I like this product but it doesnt change any from year to year
Artifacts/SPGU - Way to many Paralells and game used is so over used.
Ultimate - I like it but can be implemented into other products.
Sweet Shot - Like the Stick Signings but thats it.
Ultra/MVP - Dont need all these low enders.

I would combine Ice with Black due to the fact I like the Glass Paralells in Ice and I like a some of the design concepts of Black (Pride of a Nation Glass Paralell #/10):winking0071: I would also go with 12-18 packs in a box with a few more hits than Ice would give you.

Here are some products I would do away with.

Spx - I like this product but it doesnt change any from year to year


ive got quite a few problems with this sorry to say. combining ice and black makes no sense. ice is a mid end product and black is a super high end. that wouldnt work. and how can you say SPx doesnt change from year to year? please tell me how the cards listed below aren't change.

05/06
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm19/cnshockey/z%20-%20PC/montoyaspx.jpg
06/07
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm19/cnshockey/Autos/osullivanspxrcaujsy.jpg
07/08
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm19/cnshockey/z%20-%20PC/Jack%20Johnson/jmfjspxrcaujsy.jpg
08/09
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm19/cnshockey/z%20-%20PC/BRIAN%20BOYLE/boylespx.jpg

please tell me how that is not change? every year has looked different and all have looked good, with 06/07 being the worst. And please do not take offense to any of this. i am just stating my opinion

ive got quite a few problems with this sorry to say. combining ice and black makes no sense. ice is a mid end product and black is a super high end. that wouldnt work. and how can you say SPx doesnt change from year to year? please tell me how the cards listed below aren't change.

05/06
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm19/cnshockey/z%20-%20PC/montoyaspx.jpg
06/07
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm19/cnshockey/Autos/osullivanspxrcaujsy.jpg
07/08
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm19/cnshockey/z%20-%20PC/Jack%20Johnson/jmfjspxrcaujsy.jpg
08/09
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm19/cnshockey/z%20-%20PC/BRIAN%20BOYLE/boylespx.jpg

please tell me how that is not change? every year has looked different and all have looked good, with 06/07 being the worst. And please do not take offense to any of this. i am just stating my opinion

Seeing as Black originally appeared in 07/08 UD Ice it wouldn't be hard to combine these 2 even if the price went up and with more packs per box you could spread the hits out making a nice product out of it, also Black is way overpriced for the 2 letterman and 2 other hits you get. As for Spx sure the rookie design has changed some but the Winning Materials and other GU inserts have only changed alittle and they havent added or deleted anything to keep the product fresh IMO. I do really like the Spectrum patch cards /25 in SPX but they are such difficult cards to pull. I wouldnt object to switching Hot Prospects out for SPx but only one of these products is really nessasary IMO. I do like the Patches(multi colored) in HP so that is why I took HP over Spx.

WELL... In my opinion (keep that in mind)

- Trilogy, Artifacts and SPGU should all be combined maybe add Black Diamond (it's exactly the same every and doesn't seem to do as well as other sets. NO this doesn't mean they have to have unlimited parallels just take a couple of the better ideas from each and voila.
- Black was crap.
- MVP is fine, nothin wrong with some low-end cards.
- Ultra is also fine with the low-ends.
- Ultimate is fine
- The Cup is fine
- OPC (don't have to say anything)
- SPX i quite like.

I leave much out? Sure everything could use some more thought and design, but this is Upper Deck and we have to keep things realisic lol.

Rather than producing a list of products I'd like to see kept around, I'll post the concepts I'd like to see amalgamated into different sets.

1. Acetate/plexiglass cards - I quite like Trilogy's Ice Scripts and Frozen in Time subets, and I also like the Ice RCs. I'm not a fan of either set as a whole.
2. Tiered RCs - many sets use this, from Black Diamond to SPx to Ice to The Cup. Don't use it for every set, but do use it for several of them, and once in a while, mix it up so that the players everybody wants are easier to grab than the players nobody outside of the player's market/hometown wants.
3. Tiers of GU that are actually tiers - have a certain number of jerseys, have a certain & smaller number of patches, and a certain & even smaller number of tags/fight straps/numbers. Don't try and tell me that a dual player GU /25 with two white swatches is somehow more collectible than a dual player GU /100 with a red and a red/blue swatch.
4. Hard-signed autos - nuff said. If it means paying players a few extra bucks per auto to ensure that they get them in on time, do it.
5. Minimizing redemptions - see above. Follow the example of the Canadiens Centennial set: players that didn't get the autos in on time don't appear in the set. It's disappointing, but far less so than having to wonder how long it will take certain players to get their cards sent in.
6. Using new pictures - I am sick of seeing the same images of Carey Price and Matt D'Agostini used on so many cards. If it means paying Getty Images a few extra bucks for new photography, so be it. And for goodness sakes, if you're releasing a product in January, make sure all those off-season acquisitions are being pictured with their current teams. Fact: the first release this year to picture Alex Tanguay as a member of the Montreal Canadiens was ITG Superlative Bleu, Blanc, et Rouge. It's one thing to have an OPC card using an old image, but by the time SPGU comes out, it is unacceptable to have Marian Hossa in a Penguins jersey.