Countdown Continues: Another Dominion Preview Gallery

[Habitforming]

I have been a huge backer of Panini since Day 1 and if you read through you'll see that my comments pertinent to the Dominion product are calling for them to bring their "A" game.

http://paniniamerica.wordpress.com/2...ckey/#comments

I have said to everyone, I will give Panini through early 2012 to really step up, I know this an evolving process for them and they are relatively new to the market so they deserve an acclimation period.

Lest we forget, just a few short years ago wait time on a lot of UD redemptions was still in the 2-3 YEAR range. People are now ™™™™™ing about that with Panini if it is in the 4-5 MONTH range. Gotta give them some time to get their feet wet.

That all said, I have to hold Panini to a higher standard on their year end product. You have to finish strong and I expect Dominion to be outstanding and nothing less. If it is, you'll hear it from me.

I did ask Tracy to make sure we see the big guns cards (Crosby, Ovechkin, Hall, Subban, Roy, etc) as they come in to ease people's concerns that there are not only stars in this product, but that the redemptions are light as well.

As far as all the auto parallels, I would much rather have those then UD's base card memorabilia parallels. Autographs are much more desirable than memorabilia.

All in all I think Dominion may lag a tad behind The Cup in design but the content and depth of players in the product will crush The Cup.

You just stated what is wrong with the product as a positive.

[Yipper]

The one thing I realized over the years is that UD with their hockey products vs the other sports is create or try to create a difference in design. Yes, a few products are very very similar to their other sports but I do see a significant difference in design for most of their hockey products.

Panini however at this stage in the game doesn't do that. They take football, hockey, baseball, basketball and use the same design for the entire year.

Just look at certified, crown, zenith... etc. The took the same design and put another sport on it.

Hockey collectors seem to have a slightly unique taste than other sports and seeing the likeness in design makes me sigh.

And to add insult to injury, they produce Dominion just like any other product.

First release of pictures: nice rookies, a different set of cards, pretty unique looks like it is competitive

Next release: same as the first, but now you can see the parallels piling up

This release: now it just seems like they are adding cards like crazy to fill it

I already lost count to the number of different cards in such a high-end product. I appreciate different card designs but not 3-4 cards that are just auto-ed of the same player. Different names for the cards and add a minimum requirement of theirs of 2-3 extra parrallels to the card. I don't want:

Name: X
Auto
Person A
(Parallel Blue, Green, Gold, Red, Black)

Name: Y
Auto
Person A
(Parallel Blue, Green, Gold, Red, Black)

Name: W
Auto
Person A
(Parallel Blue, Green, Gold, Red, Black)

And looking closely, Panini took the design-lines from their Plates and Patches set of football. Changed the logo on their box, and moved card images around.

The font style, foil style are Plates and Patches with a hint of National Treasures. I don't want Plates and Patches of Hockey for product that is suppose to compete against the Cup. I don't even want their National Treasures product to compete against the Cup.

Sure they add random stick pieces, pucks..., but as far as I remember these aren't really collected or UD would have jumped on them a while ago (YES, I do they have things such as "Property of" in the Cup but the is different). Panini is putting all their eggs in one basket.

The regular products are arguably competitve against anything UD puts out.

This particular High-End is a step below the Cup. I get their uniques of adding different things but man oh man, it is not comparable to the Cup and image it creates.

...

I equally collect UD and Panini prooducts, I collect cards as a hobby and enjoy whatever each company puts out.

But like anyone collecting, I have design options and product feedback.

I don't take sides and judge them accordingly. What Panini has done recently is not something I like. I understand why they have what they have in all their low-mid end products, but for something High-End... they are doing the same thing but just scaling them upwards and charging a higher price. I don't hate them nor am I a UD supporter.

[bruinsfan12]

geez they better stop showing there cards because at first couple previews i was really interested in buying a bunch of cases but now the cards are looking more and more like garbage lol

100% agree

[mugmasher]

Im really not very impressed with Dominion.

There are too many players I dont want to get in my high end products ..... odd ballish items like Hartford Whalers and Colorado Rockies players are fine in mid range products ... not in your best stuff tho.

Do they really show off 4 Lanny McDonald and 4 Gerry Cheevers autos?

Yuck

i agree!!!!!!!!

[mugmasher]

Maybe I'm missing something, but honestly - a zillion Lanny sigs, Ray Ferraro, Darryl Reaugh and Jim O'Brien?! Isn't this supposed to be their answer to The Cup? If I got any of those autos out of any product that was more than a buck a pack, I would not be happy at all. Sure, the tape signatures are cool but for the most part, the designs are not taking Panini in any new directions, all the same squared-off blockiness and now that I've seen this new preview and have a better sense of the types of filler I can expect, I can be quite comfortable knowing that I just allocated my questionable Dominion budget to a confirmed, and now larger, Cup budget. These cards are horrid in my view and I can't imagine anyone cracking any and not wondering where their money went. Lots of fun new pieces for PC guys, I'll grant you - but this is NOT a high-end set to give Upper Deck even a moment of pause as to who is the dominant player in the hockey card industry. I've disliked virtually everything Panini has done this year and thought maybe, just maybe, Dominion would turn me around. It didn't, and failed miserably in the attempt.

Sorry to the Panini fans out there, and I know they do have them. This is my opinion only.

WELL PUT!!!!! VERY WELL PUT!!!!! i am calling my friend at the lcs and getting 2 cases of the cup instead of one..maybe a few tins of dominion but no cases...

[RGM81]

The one thing I realized over the years is that UD with their hockey products vs the other sports is create or try to create a difference in design. Yes, a few products are very very similar to their other sports but I do see a significant difference in design for most of their hockey products.

Panini however at this stage in the game doesn't do that. They take football, hockey, baseball, basketball and use the same design for the entire year.

.

UD 2009 Baseball


UD 2009-10 Basketball


UD 2009-10 Hockey


UD 2010 Baseball


UD 2010-11 Hockey


Doesn't really look like too much variation there.

I know, I know, you said that a few are very similar but the staple sets look exactly the same.

We're not even into year 2 of Panini yet, so it's premature to say what they'll do with the hockey brand next year.
-------------------

Now, back on topic - remember that this is just a very small portion of what to expect in the product, much like the previous preview galleries were just a very small portion of what to expect in the product. It's funny, people see one or two players that they're afraid to pull and they start saying that it's a product to avoid.

[canucksfan007]

Does people realize that ITG's best stuff is also loaded of those names... so I don't see why it would be wrong with Panini.

This is why I only bust BTP and H&P. Sure I might get a McDonald auto or jersey in a H&P "Heroes" set, or a Cheevers in a similar set for BTP ... but I know my case wont be loaded with the 2. With Panini's quality control not quite up to speed yet, can you imagine opening a case and pulling multiple autos of either ..... and no real stars.

As for the higher end ITG stuff, I dont bust it

Superlative = pick up singles
ITG Ultimate = not a fan of slabbed cards unless rookies
Enshrined = does not appeal to me

Ive also said many times, that because I never got to see any of the older players play, I do not appreciate them like some do. Because I feel that way, there are products made by ITG / UD that I wont buy.

[KangoBass]

The other previews made this look great... This slideshow should have been saved after release....

[Joncamburn]

Is there an official release date for this yet? Or are they still saying the end of August?

[mjohansson90]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't Dominion guarantee 6 hits per pack, while The Cup guarantees 3. They may be competing in price and release date, but the value in Dominion will be spread out over twice as many hits than The Cup, so it's easy to see why you would find some of the cards pictured in their gallery in the product.

Perhaps Upper Deck can show us cards of the weak player selection many of us will find in our breaks too. It won't all be Crosby's, Gretzky's, and Ovechkin's.

Derek