Two of everything this year?

[blacksheep]

Hey guys,

So I was thinking about the card products that are out now and that are coming out later this year. It seems that there are 2 equivalent products for just about everything.

I'm wondering if this is a good thing or not... last year we had Champs, UD Black, Ice (as a full release), OPC Premier, Ultra, and MVP. These products are gone. And last year there was a definite curve in terms of products and how much they cost from high to low... like... Victory... OPC... MVP... Ultra... etc. etc.. ... Ultimate... OPC Premier... The Cup.

This year with Panini in the mix, there seems to be 2 equivalent products competing at the same price slot. I think that competition is good and it forces companies to do better... but there are a two things that come to mind...

1. Collecting is more expensive - Instead of avoiding lower end products and just getting select player PC cards from them, there are now more mid to high end products to buy. As for highest end products, I can only afford 1, maybe 2 of the Cup every year on my budget... now I have to choose (well, not choose, cuz I probably will buy it) to get Panini's highest end super expensive product. And for my PC, there will be some very difficult acquisitions.

2. 'Creative' product sets are kind of out the door this year. There are definitely cool insert sets out there now, but I'm talking about sets like UD Black and Champs. I know a lot of people didn't like Champs... but it was a really fun product with unique cards that reached beyond hockey. And UD Black was cool in that it had a super slick design and some really creative inserts. My favorite was the Pride of the Nation flag patches.

Any thoughts?!

Victory/OPC = Score
Artifacts = Certified
UD Series 1/2 = Donruss
Limited = Ultimate
SPGU = Crown Royal w/Cheese (stolen from chris on yt)
The Cup = National Treasures (???)

SPA = ?
BD = ?
SPx = ?

[PattyLafontaine]

well let's see

Pinnacle will be released in March

and I think everyone knows that Panini will do national treasures

so the remaining products will come from ...

Panini Threads

Panini Rookies and Stars

Panini Rookies and Stars Longevity

Panini Prestiege

Panini Epix

Panini Rink Wear (not sure of the title of this one)

Panini Classics

Panini Absolute Memorbilia

Donruss Elite

[centrehice]

I'm looking forward to the re-realease of one of the nicest products ever....

Crown Royale

Hopefully (fingers crossed) that Panini keeps up the quality like Pacific did. Pacific slipped a bit with their very last Crown Royale, it was a bit cheap looking in the insert department.

The end of Ultra? Couldn't be happier. Means I won't be stuck for years with a bunch of garbage that nobody wants. I was idiotic to purchase some in 07-08, can't give the stuff away.

I still firmly believe in lower-entry products, as I'm all for the kids. Hopefully Donruss will improve, it's not that impressive this year, looks cheap and has Hollywood people in it (no thanks). I buy Hockey Cards for Hockey Players, not Justin Bieber.

It's nice to see some competition for Upper Deck, they certainly need it. That is the main thing I see as a positive.

[ziadefan]

I still firmly believe in lower-entry products, as I'm all for the kids. Hopefully Donruss will improve, it's not that impressive this year, looks cheap and has Hollywood people in it (no thanks). I buy Hockey Cards for Hockey Players, not Justin Bieber.

I don't mind the "Fans of the Game" too much, because at least there's a connection to hockey. Still better than all the weird Champs inserts, or The Champions autos.

[centrehice]

I don't mind the "Fans of the Game" too much, because at least there's a connection to hockey. Still better than all the weird Champs inserts, or The Champions autos.

.................................................. ............................................

I'm too Old School for any of it. Just give me a 5 cent pack of OPC Cards and a stick of gum and I'm happy.

[blacksheep]

I don't mind the "Fans of the Game" too much, because at least there's a connection to hockey. Still better than all the weird Champs inserts, or The Champions autos.

Well, I don't mind one product having this kind of stuff in it (like Champs). I just thought Champs was really unique for they hockey card hobby.

The Champions might have been ok if they didn't replace a hockey auto with it. I'd rather have an Olympians Auto than a regular base card.

[comfortably9numb]

i hope that they bring back Pacific Private Stock personally...i think it is a forgotten classic personally...i LOVED this set, im assume they can right? im happy they are bringing back crown royale but i really hope for private stock