SPX the latest product to be converted to an all-hit release

[Stryfex]

So, can we even call high-end products "high-end products" anymore when, every year, we're one step closer to them ALL being all-hit super-expensive products?

Just quickly listing the ones I remember we have...

SP Game Used
Black Diamond
Premier
Black
Ultimate
Cup
SPX
Buybacks (kinda)

I just feel like that is beyond too much. I know people are buying them (i.e. group breakers are buying them and people are buying into group breaks), so that is why UD is making them..I'm not lost on the Business 101 aspect of it.

However, I will forever think of the hobby as a hobby and thus I think of the products and customers and not the manufacturer...and honestly with that many super high-end products it just feels like every one of them except for the cup has kind of lost it's shine as a high-end product. People are scooping up cards from Ultimate/SPGU/etc for like $2 on ebay (obviously not major hits, but when you pay $100-300 for 4-5 cards and then any one of them holds value at around $2...that is just not right to me.)

I know to really dedicated hobbyists, the concept of spending $100s of dollars on 5 cards has become normal, and I just sound like a whiner, but if you were to ask someone outside of the hobby about it, they would think it's some kind of joke you were trying to make. I'm not entirely crapping on the concept of a high-end product like that, but I feel like 1-2 such products is enough, and more than that just basically defines them as a mid-end product spread across several "releases" with big-time price tags (since I imagine the theoretical concept of a high-end product is low supply with high price creating a high value....but 7-8 high end products means the supply is vast vs demand and thus values plummet)

[geschrocks33]

http://www.cardboardconnection.com/2...x-hockey-cards

[mingus_md]

I always liked SPx and I'm not a big fan of "hit-only" sets, because I am a team base collector, so this is a little disappointing to me, but not at all surprising.

[theboxbreaker96]

In what sets do you/collectors actually try for a complete set with base? UD 1/2, OPC, OPC Platinum, Full Force, MVP, SPA are the main ones. How often is SPX collected for base? No often. Printing base is expensive.

I agree for the most part though the one pack crap is getting overdone and I'm not seeing a price drop for not printing base anyways so.....

[Sharky94]

I'm not seeing a price drop for not printing base anyways so.....

Exactly! They are still basically putting in the same number of hits per box. All they do is take away the base, call it an "all-hits" release, and jack up the price. Less cost and more profit for them. And as long as people keep buying it, and losing money, they will keep doing it. I think it is just the road to UD's ultimate business plan: Get down to where they only have to produce 10 cases a year, every card is a 1-of-1, charge a million dollars per case, and call it a day. They only have to work for 2 months a year, and they'll make more money than ever...

I just don't get the appeal of buying into breaks as much as others do. Its just another way of gambling and hoping to get that big card without forking out all the money. Works about as well as the lottery. I just can't justify paying $100 for the chance of winning absolutely nothing. And I sure as hell don't want to pay $100 and get a bunch of Penguins or Ducks cards -- that would be even worse!

[odjickfan]

Not many people were collecting the base sets from SPx. I know I won't get boxes by myself, but if I can get decent deals on Habs spots in group breaks, it will be fun. SPx needed something new.

[Goose97]

This is something that has been coming for quite some time, and it seems like it's the way it will be. I can see where it's heading to where the only sets that will carry base will be UD 1/2, SPA, OPC, and MVP. Basically the will of the market dictates what gets produced, and I have witnessed people that open boxes just simply dump base, and keep the hits. Upper Deck sees this(in group breaks), and is gearing their products to it. With very few set collector's left that even try making a mid to high end set. What's the point of UD even printing base cards for them? They see this. They know how much it costs them to print them off on something very few people want anyway. Collector's that chase ultra high-end stuff is the norm in the hobby. The rest is(almost as if advertised) no fun, and it would seem that's the direction we're headed. With the exception of the sets I listed there is a really good chance all other sets will be hit only or sets like Ultimate Collection, Trilogy, and The Cup will have very limited print runs of base. As it should be.

It's the way of the future people. It's the way we made it by our buying habits, and how we advertise what we have for our want lists. I'm sure someone from Upper Deck is checking out the forums as part of customer research.

[Cunnuc]

All those base cards sucked anyways. I don't understand the need for 15 base set products to depict an outline of a player with a bunch of zigzag lines in the background. It's hard for me to buy a box of a product if I don't have a use for the majority of the cards. I do like collecting base sets but only if there is actual photography or limited sets like ITG's specialized releases (motown, 90s, captain, etc)

So yes, you could see this happening as part of the hobby's evolution. Now that UD is saving a ton of money by not producing base when and how will we see that reflect into the price of a box and the quality of the 'hits'? I just don't see it. The market is over-saturated. The only thing that has grabbed my attention as of late is the vintage memorabilia and wider selection of players produced by Leaf and using memorabilia acquired through ITG. A few years from now the market could be over-saturated with vintage Leaf cards as well. I just don't see where the hobby goes from here.

I love busting boxes but as Red Wings make up 90% of my collection and the price point of every product it's becoming harder for me to enjoy the hobby as much as I used to. Took the summer off completely (sold a collection to fund my business that made me almost cry) but with the start of the next season approaching I am just too excited to not buy cards again :)

[Sharky94]

It's the way we made it by our buying habits,

No, it's the way THEY made it our buying habits. By making ALL rookie cards SPs and not part of the base set, they killed the set building market. Nobody wants base sets if there are no rookies in them -- plain and simple. If there is no reason to build sets, nobody is going to do it. The card companies brought this on themselves.

[Stryfex]

I think part of the appeal of base/insert/etc cards for me is that there's some FUN in it.

When I buy a box of cards for $100 (to use an example round number)...I'm not just spending $100 on X cards..I'm buying myself some entertainment in sleeving the cards, sorting them into order, putting together a spreadsheet of the ones I have, ones I don't, and enjoying the photography and trying to then work towards putting the set together.

If I were to take away all the fluff and just receive the 5 or so hits from that $100 box and just bought the 5 cards on their own, there would be almost no fun at all in it beyond the quick gambling aspect of "will my 5 hits be worth more or less than the $100" which, if that is what the hobby became, would just for me push me right out of it, as gambling for value is not why I'm here, that's a neat side-game I like to play sometimes with group breaks or a few mid-end packs at the shop.

I'm in the hobby for the enjoyment of collecting stuff and all the little mini-OCD tendencies like sorting/accumulating and caring for them properly