Leaf Trading Cards

[OscarsCards]

I've been holding back my frustration for a few months and now I'm trying to find the right word to explain it.
The story is about 2017-18 Leaf Masked Mens product more precisely about Jumbo Patches #JP202 Arturs Irbe /6 cards. I like how Leaf is trying to offer some alternative in a huge NHL trading card business monopoly and is releasing great memorabilia cards which seemed to be unique.

This is my PC card I acquired in August 2018:

14082018CCI14082018.jpg

This is the card which is sitting on eBay for months and has the same serial number:

fake.jpg

The patch in this card is from 1994 NHL All-Star game which took place in New York. Arturs Irbe played in 2nd period in West Conf. All-Star team. It could be possible that player could wear more than one jersey in game because of marketing purposes but most of all the uniqueness which I was in for is totally lost.

I have no respect for Leaf Trading Cards anymore. I could bear Leaf trading card terrible design of many products, plainly stupid serial numbering which is abused by a lot of sellers all around the internet by ridiculously inflating the card price but I can't bare this. I just had enough.

Thank you for reading

[10-4 collector]

I believe it's from a shouler patch, one from each side maybe? Left and right, that’s why they might be the same. I agree about the serial numbering, just stupid.

[30ranfordfan]

What am I missing? Patches are reallu similar, yes, so I'm assuming shoulder patch.

One card is 1/6 and the other is 6/6. What's the problem?

[OscarsCards]

It's a shoulder patch indeed. No problems there, just plain disappointment about how Leaf is producing their products. Terrible design, ridiculous serial numbering which is abused and bad choices in memorabilia inserting in cards. For example there are 3 color patches with serial number /2 and 5 color patches with serial number /5, there are same pattern or color patches but numbered differently for example /1 and /3. I just want to share my thoughts about how desperate Leaf is trying to make unique cards but outcome is doubtful.

[theboxbreaker96]

You have to remember its hard when they cant use images and logos of the players. In regards to your comments about patches being similar just /2 and /5 and /10, UD does the same thing. They usually do it with rookie autos. While they aren't numbered as low, they produce many parallels of the base auto. It gets very repetitive and reduces value.

My complaint with leaf is how they stole Eichel, Hischier, and Patrick and have no idea what they are even doing with them. These autos are practically worthless on ebay and no one wants them.

[10-4 collector]

You have to remember its hard when they cant use images and logos of the players. In regards to your comments about patches being similar just /2 and /5 and /10, UD does the same thing. They usually do it with rookie autos. While they aren't numbered as low, they produce many parallels of the base auto. It gets very repetitive and reduces value.

My complaint with leaf is how they stole Eichel, Hischier, and Patrick and have no idea what they are even doing with them. These autos are practically worthless on ebay and no one wants them.

I totally agree! Leaf can’t even have their exclusive players have hard signed autos! It would have been nice to get a Hischier or Patrick hard signed RPA. You can get Eichel autos for under 10$ on eBay!

[TheLastOlympian07]

yea Eichel, Nico and Patrick would have made the last few draft classes a lot better with UD Signed RC and make their cards worth more. However, not one wants them now. Which is unfortunate because they are great players and deserve to be showcased as such. but then again they probably could care less because they are getting paid regardless

[theboxbreaker96]

I totally agree! Leaf can’t even have their exclusive players have hard signed autos! It would have been nice to get a Hischier or Patrick hard signed RPA. You can get Eichel autos for under 10$ on eBay!

Precisely, Its all sticker auto junk. They have sticker patch autos (with sweeet patches) and are low numbered that can barely get over $20.

[30ranfordfan]

Re-reading the post - If I'm understanding right - your issues are these:

1. The rarest cards don't always have the best patches
2. Too many parallels
3. Don't like the designs

I'll just offer my own thoughts on this stuff.

How good the patch is, would & should vary from set to set. I would expect a rarer parallel of the same card to have a better patch, but that doesn't always happy. ITG didn't always stick to that, neither does UD. If you're talking about a patch /6 from one release, and comparing it to a patch /3 from another - honestly, I don't see the big deal.

The too many parallels: I'm with you. TBH, the amount of variation on some cards, I've ended up chasing fewer cards than I would have if the release was simpler. To make up something as an example.... if they had a set were versions of the card were /25, /10, /5, /1.... instead of /9, /8, /7, /6, /5, /3, /2, /1: I'd be move inclined to go after all four versions of the first one... and more likely to just pick up a single copy of one of the cards, for the second one.

I think a big part of it, there is the perception that the more limited as card is, the more valuable it should be (and that makes sense, to a degree). I just don't see a lot of difference between a card #ed to 4 and a card #ed to 6, so it muddies the "value" thing, at least for me.

As for sellers who use those low serial numbers to justify high asking prices: Ignore them. I used to be a "get every card" guy, and in recent years I've stopped. Now it's "get every card I want". I can't achieve 100%... I can't even achieve 95% when you consider there shear volume of 1/1 (or at least extremely limited) cards out there. I'm not going to let that fact take away from my enjoyment of the hobby.

As for the designs: This is kind of an extension of what I was saying about the number of parallels. Chase what you like. The last set that came along for me with a lot of variety was also Leaf Masked Men. My PC player (Bill Ranford) had cards in the following subsets:

Decade of Dominance (multi-player GU, 6 versions)
Goalie Gear (gu, 6 versions)
Goalie Graphs (auto, 6 versions, 4x plates exist)
Signature Goalies (auto / gu, 6 versions, 4x plates exist)
Masked Men Base (Inserts?): I think between the "base" version, and the more refactory "Wave" versions: There are 19 different variations (10 "base" and 9 "wave").

So what I did:

The Decade of Dominance: I picked up a single copy. Didn't care about the serial number, but wanted nice patches... and didn't want to pay a lot. That meant I couldn't hit a BIN on anything when the set was new... I had to wait for a bunch of stuff to go through auctions.

Goalie Gear: I really liked the designs, and chased them all. I've got 5 of the 6 versions.

Signature Goalies: The designs were okay, didn't care all that much. Made sure I got one copy. I've picked up a couple more variations... because I won auctions for under $10, despite "BINs" be out there for over $60. I've got 3 of the 6, doubt I'll end up with anymore.

Signature Goalies: I realliy liked the design, and have all 6 variations.

Masked Men Inserts: I love these things... and I've got most of the 19.. and paid through the nose (on auction) for a couple of them.


I guess all I really want to point out: The Decade of Dominance cards... not having 5 of the 6 variations, I just don't let that effect my enjoyment of chasing after the other cards that I do want.

There's been other Leaf releases over the last year+ I did the same thing with (by same thing, I mean "don't care enough to chase all of these"). The most recent ITGU had a 6 player jersey card that I simply picked up 1 copy of (7 variations).... a dual auto that I have 1 of 7 variations.... and a quad jersey card that has 7 variations, plus a "patch" version that has another 6. I got a jersey and patch version. 27 cards total, I looked at the checklist and said "four will be enough".


I look at that Irbe in your post, the patch is incredible. Is it the best looking design I've ever seen around it? No... but I don't think I would care that much. Just to keep reiterating what I'm saying: Collect what you like, don't collect what you don't like and don't let too much of one take away your enjoyment of the other.

[creasecollector]

Re-reading the post - If I'm understanding right - your issues are these:

1. The rarest cards don't always have the best patches
2. Too many parallels
3. Don't like the designs

I'll just offer my own thoughts on this stuff.

How good the patch is, would & should vary from set to set. I would expect a rarer parallel of the same card to have a better patch, but that doesn't always happy. ITG didn't always stick to that, neither does UD. If you're talking about a patch /6 from one release, and comparing it to a patch /3 from another - honestly, I don't see the big deal.

The too many parallels: I'm with you. TBH, the amount of variation on some cards, I've ended up chasing fewer cards than I would have if the release was simpler. To make up something as an example.... if they had a set were versions of the card were /25, /10, /5, /1.... instead of /9, /8, /7, /6, /5, /3, /2, /1: I'd be move inclined to go after all four versions of the first one... and more likely to just pick up a single copy of one of the cards, for the second one.

I think a big part of it, there is the perception that the more limited as card is, the more valuable it should be (and that makes sense, to a degree). I just don't see a lot of difference between a card #ed to 4 and a card #ed to 6, so it muddies the "value" thing, at least for me.

As for sellers who use those low serial numbers to justify high asking prices: Ignore them. I used to be a "get every card" guy, and in recent years I've stopped. Now it's "get every card I want". I can't achieve 100%... I can't even achieve 95% when you consider there shear volume of 1/1 (or at least extremely limited) cards out there. I'm not going to let that fact take away from my enjoyment of the hobby.

As for the designs: This is kind of an extension of what I was saying about the number of parallels. Chase what you like. The last set that came along for me with a lot of variety was also Leaf Masked Men. My PC player (Bill Ranford) had cards in the following subsets:

Decade of Dominance (multi-player GU, 6 versions)
Goalie Gear (gu, 6 versions)
Goalie Graphs (auto, 6 versions, 4x plates exist)
Signature Goalies (auto / gu, 6 versions, 4x plates exist)
Masked Men Base (Inserts?): I think between the "base" version, and the more refactory "Wave" versions: There are 19 different variations (10 "base" and 9 "wave").

So what I did:

The Decade of Dominance: I picked up a single copy. Didn't care about the serial number, but wanted nice patches... and didn't want to pay a lot. That meant I couldn't hit a BIN on anything when the set was new... I had to wait for a bunch of stuff to go through auctions.

Goalie Gear: I really liked the designs, and chased them all. I've got 5 of the 6 versions.

Signature Goalies: The designs were okay, didn't care all that much. Made sure I got one copy. I've picked up a couple more variations... because I won auctions for under $10, despite "BINs" be out there for over $60. I've got 3 of the 6, doubt I'll end up with anymore.

Signature Goalies: I realliy liked the design, and have all 6 variations.

Masked Men Inserts: I love these things... and I've got most of the 19.. and paid through the nose (on auction) for a couple of them.


I guess all I really want to point out: The Decade of Dominance cards... not having 5 of the 6 variations, I just don't let that effect my enjoyment of chasing after the other cards that I do want.

There's been other Leaf releases over the last year+ I did the same thing with (by same thing, I mean "don't care enough to chase all of these"). The most recent ITGU had a 6 player jersey card that I simply picked up 1 copy of (7 variations).... a dual auto that I have 1 of 7 variations.... and a quad jersey card that has 7 variations, plus a "patch" version that has another 6. I got a jersey and patch version. 27 cards total, I looked at the checklist and said "four will be enough".


I look at that Irbe in your post, the patch is incredible. Is it the best looking design I've ever seen around it? No... but I don't think I would care that much. Just to keep reiterating what I'm saying: Collect what you like, don't collect what you don't like and don't let too much of one take away your enjoyment of the other.

Great post, very well said. Couldn't have said it any better.