Upper Deck e-Pack Details

[ChuckNorrisFearsS]

Honestly, I think part of UD's plans in all this is that they can save money by not printing large amounts of base cards. They print the hits for the epacks, but not the base cards (or at least just a small portion of them). They know the cards will never be wanted, so they won't have to. People will simply combine them and "redeem" them for the foil versions or they will just sit in people's accounts and never go anywhere. That way, UD can get away with never bothering to waste the money printing them. Collectors wont care about a bunch of base cards they don't want, and UD doesn't have to waste money printing them.

Agreed entirely though I think it's a LOT more than just part of their plan. I'd go so far as to say it's one of the driving forces.

[TRDouble]

I just ordered a e-pack for the fun of it and I have to admit, it was almost as fun to click as it was to rip. Especially since I pulled a Lucic game jersey. It's not even a great card or pull, but it was still kind of cool. And no duplicate base cards to deal with either.

Addendum: It almost makes me wonder if this is the death kneel for base cards though. We have seen the smaller companies switch to Hits Only product, culminating (for me) in Leaf dropping the base cards in Heroes and Prospects. I still like base cards and I can see the e-cards being my main purchase after I have finished a base set (not good for card stores, local or online), but I think more people than not don't care about the base cards at all.

[creasecollector]

I just ordered a e-pack for the fun of it and I have to admit, it was almost as fun to click as it was to rip. Especially since I pulled a Lucic game jersey. It's not even a great card or pull, but it was still kind of cool. And no duplicate base cards to deal with either.

Addendum: It almost makes me wonder if this is the death kneel for base cards though. We have seen the smaller companies switch to Hits Only product, culminating (for me) in Leaf dropping the base cards in Heroes and Prospects. I still like base cards and I can see the e-cards being my main purchase after I have finished a base set (not good for card stores, local or online), but I think more people than not don't care about the base cards at all.

I like the base in the the way it is right now TBH. Very few have massive base sets (honestly, I'd like 1 maybe 2 more giant base-heavy products to be released), and the rest of the product has either no base at all, or very few limited size of base sets. I think this will give collectors across the board a lot to choose from. This is why the UD / Panini thing was great. There was something for everyone. :)

[Sharky94]

This is why the UD / Panini thing was great.

Yet the "experts" in the NHL and NHLPA can't understand that competition is good for an industry, and a monopoly is bad. I guess none of them ever took an ECON 101 course in college.

[ReimerFan]

Just an FYI:

If you transfer your cards to ComC you will get charged with a storage fee right away. I was under the impression that you had 90 days. This is not the case. Just something to consider.

[geschrocks33]

Yet the "experts" in the NHL and NHLPA can't understand that competition is good for an industry, and a monopoly is bad. I guess none of them ever took an ECON 101 course in college.

Yeah, what he said ^^^

[malsk]

Yet the "experts" in the NHL and NHLPA can't understand that competition is good for an industry, and a monopoly is bad. I guess none of them ever took an ECON 101 course in college.

I agree but I was told that it was more the PA not wanting two companies. They just don't have enough time to sign 5000 autos for two companies. Makes sense. I can't imagine how much time that must take, especially the rookies, they must sign 5000 autos per company. SP Authentic alone is 999. Now take Crosby and have him sign 1000 to likely 5000 per year with all his other commitments. It sucks for us collectors but I get it.

[Sharky94]

I agree but I was told that it was more the PA not wanting two companies. They just don't have enough time to sign 5000 autos for two companies. Makes sense. I can't imagine how much time that must take, especially the rookies, they must sign 5000 autos per company. SP Authentic alone is 999. Now take Crosby and have him sign 1000 to likely 5000 per year with all his other commitments. It sucks for us collectors but I get it.

Then they should cut down on the number of autos per company. Not that difficult to figure out. Sign 2500 for each company, and it would force the companies to be more judicious in what they put out. Face it, 1000 copies of a single signed card is a bit of overkill. And you know what? If you make fewer of them, they will be worth more, so they can charge more. Amazing how that works!

[RGM81]

Then they should cut down on the number of autos per company. Not that difficult to figure out. Sign 2500 for each company, and it would force the companies to be more judicious in what they put out. Face it, 1000 copies of a single signed card is a bit of overkill. And you know what? If you make fewer of them, they will be worth more, so they can charge more. Amazing how that works!

Which means less people will buy the products. Many collectors' wallets are already hurting, particularly up here in Canada, due to the changes in the economy and the tanking of the Canadian dollar. If they raise the barriers to entry much further it's only going to price out more people from the market. That's the antithesis of what they want to do during a season such as this.

There was a guy on one of the Facebook trading groups spouting off about economic theories like he just completed his ECON 101 course. It basically took him 500 words to get to the simple point: popularity drives demand, therefore popular players are worth more. Well, yeah.

You say that 1,000 SP Authentic Future Watch autos is overkill--but a highly scientific SCF poll shows that over 50% of respondents have not pulled or acquired their own Connor McDavid YG...and that's a card with much more than 1,000 copies. Demand right now for McDavid is enormous, literally on a par not seen in a decade. The value on his FWA is not going to be hurting in the least.

And besides, Panini's Contenders rookie autos were always tiered, with the main guys being SP'd to around 200 copies. Which would you rather have if you can only have one, and which sells higher?

[Inferno]

Yeah, 1,000 copies of a once-in-a-decade phenom (who also plays for a Canadian team) is really not that many. Add in the hard signed auto and highly respected product and his FWA is going to be massive.