UD Ultimate vs UD Ice Rookies /99

[juliangen]

Theres a couple reasons
One being the fact that theres a million different "rookie autos" in ultimate and many other products Ice rcs are acetate and more unique.
Also set collectors collect the ice rcs more then the ultimate rcs

[RGM81]

All this being said, I would still love to have both in my Price collection. They are two outstanding needs.

[SkyFire47]

1. Ice RCs are harder to pull compared to the amount of Ultimate you have to open.
2. Ice RCs being made of the acetate differentiates them from the normal rookie card.
3. SP Authentic RCs are also hard signed, more widely set collected, and a cheaper alternative to the Ultimate RCs.
4. people simply break Ice (when they had it) and SP Authentic (mid end products) more than Ultimate.

[30ranfordfan]

Once again, Richard has already written was I was going to :)

Ice is out much earlier in the season, when collectors don't already have 5-10 different cards of each rookie.

Ice is also very unique (acetate) compared to Ultimate, or or continue his other example - SPGU.

If I want a hard signed RC (no memoribilia) of any RC, I can get one from SPA. If I want an acetate one, there is only Ice.

I agree with the sentiment that it dates back to 05-06 Ice - IIRC someone once did the math and it's stupid hard to pull an /99 RC. Something like 1:9 or even 1:17 cases. People spent a lot of money going after the Crosby or Ovechkin RCs and came up with a lot of cases where the best they did was a couple /499'ers.

In recent years Ice RC's /99 have got a bit easier to pull, but even then how does that explain the popularity of a non-auto, non-memorabilia RC over a high-end hard-signed RC?

I simply chalk it up to Ultimate Collection being something akin to SP Game Used in terms of its rookies: it's a high-priced product where getting a rookie card isn't the main attraction. There's nothing unique about the RC in Ultimate - you can get hard-signed RC's in numerous other products, albeit not ones where you get 4 cards for $120. Sure, they're /99 but if you had the ability to only get one /99 RC a year, it ain't gonna be Ultimate, not when The Cup and Dominion are around. Ultimate is the warm-up product to The Cup and is treated as such.

Why Ice, then? They're cool-looking cards, they grade very well, and they're the first SSP RCs to show up during the release calendar. They strike while the iron is hot. The only thing hot when Ultimate comes out to market is the weather.

[nhanna68]

I think its because there are like 100 million different hard signed cards of players in their rookie years now. 3 out of every 5 sets has auto's of rookies and their are so many so it drives the prices down of even /99 auto's. I'd just say the ice rookies are pretty sweet and unique. I collect Nick Leddy and I have about 10 different auto's from him this year and there are still a few I don't have. Thats insane.

[mugmasher]

i would without a doubt take the ice rookies over ultimate...i love the ice rookies for a couple of reasons..low numbered..but the biggest reason is how they hold so much value without anything but a picture, stats, and 99 copies...it reminds me of vards when i started collecting back in 1997...

[kapital]

I love ice rookies /99 they are very hard to pull... And they come with a product where there is not a lot of high end hits besides the ice rookie /99 its more high risk chasing those... in ultimate you can get so many other hits besides the /99 rookie...

[braden]

The last thing I think of when it comes to Ultimate is the /99's. As someone else said, the shields are where it's at.

Too many RC variations in Ultimate for my liking. Debut patch, debut jersey, debut auto/jersey, debut auto/patch. You also have the redemption issues (Seguin). Too many RC spin-offs that IMO take away from a /99.

With Ice there's just the one and that's it.

[go_leafs_go]

The last thing I think of when it comes to Ultimate is the /99's. As someone else said, the shields are where it's at.

Too many RC variations in Ultimate for my liking. Debut patch, debut jersey, debut auto/jersey, debut auto/patch. You also have the redemption issues (Seguin). Too many RC spin-offs that IMO take away from a /99.

With Ice there's just the one and that's it.

not true, Debut patches/jerseys/ auto jersey and patches, those are NOT rc variations, those are just rookies INSERT sets, the main rookie sets only have 2 variations, Rookie patch auto /35 + Rookie auto shield 1/1, which Ice ALSO had these rc variation, with its Ice Premieres auto patch /10

I think Ice is a product for set collectors, and rookies collectors, for Ultimate, rookies are more like an "add on" to the product

but for this year, Crown Royale Rookie Silhouettes auto rc /99 takes the cake

[Dr Kicker]

More people put together the Ice rookie set then Ultimate, bigger demand, bigger value.