Losing the passion for modern

[Stryfex]

I really just wish Upper Deck would consolidate their line and release WAY less products. My strategy personally is to do my damnest to ignore most of them and to pick 2 sets per season and build those sets. I find collecting to be alot of fun still that way, but the cost of wax is just absolutely insane and it makes it hard. I mean, I have enough money to afford lots of boxes all the time but I just can't bring myself to waste it when I feel like the "value" of a box's contents rarely breaches 30%. It's not about selling cards, it's about the evaluation of whether I'd rather spend $150 for a roll of the dice or just spend the same amount to come pretty near to building the entire set because people basically give away anything that's not a top-3 rookie.

[Gallinator]

I think it is a natural progression (but not the only one) to move from the new to the old in a lot of collectible fields. Certainly I've gone that way in comics and am leaning towards that in cards. I loved Panini and now they are gone, with UD doing little to actually improve things for the everyday collector. The whole fiasco with ITG print runs ripped my heart out after putting thousands of $$ into ITG cards. I still love ripping wax but am almost exclusively buying cheap 2-5 year old boxes, with a few group break buy-ins.

[canucksfan007]

I really just wish Upper Deck would consolidate their line and release WAY less products. My strategy personally is to do my damnest to ignore most of them and to pick 2 sets per season and build those sets. I find collecting to be alot of fun still that way, but the cost of wax is just absolutely insane and it makes it hard. I mean, I have enough money to afford lots of boxes all the time but I just can't bring myself to waste it when I feel like the "value" of a box's contents rarely breaches 30%. It's not about selling cards, it's about the evaluation of whether I'd rather spend $150 for a roll of the dice or just spend the same amount to come pretty near to building the entire set because people basically give away anything that's not a top-3 rookie.

UD will not cut down the amount of products they put out. Each product is a license to print money.

Lets say UD wants to make $100,000,000 this year.

- 10 products - price point $10,000,000 for each product
- 20 products - price point $5,000,000 for each product

Products go down, price of products go up .... or vice versa.

Theres no way the prices are coming down unless they are by UD standards ... like SPA this year.


And for the thread topic ....... wax has been dead to me for 3 years now. The amount of garbage that's in there is just too much. If im bored I will sometimes do a pack war with a buddy at the monthlies ..... we usually pick boxes no more than $60 ( so $30 each ) and its really just to pass the time.

[creasecollector]

More Licensed competition (even more un-licensed manufacturers, anything else really) needs to happen to fire things up again. I know some collectors had negative stuff to say when Panini was around, but man that stuff was in a lot of ways fresh (card innovation, designs, deep checklists, price points for their different products, etc). They brought it up a notch IMO, and UD definitely took notice when looking at their competition.

When there is something for everyone, that can spark passion. Maybe not in every corner inch of the hobby, but those little areas here and there you can find something for one collector here, and another something for a collector there when you expand the market. Sure, that may make it more niche in someways because of the deeper avenues in card collecting, but hey, we are card collectors after all. Niche is our thing.

[BeLeafer]

As a Leafs fan this is the first time in years I'm excited about all the new cards. Finally I can collect current Leafs instead of past Leafs. I was getting bored of seeing the same older Leafs yr after yr. With the crop of rookies this year I can look ahead and see a team that should be very good for years to come.

[ronfir]

This is my take, I have been collecting for longer than most board members have been alive. I used to build set after set but then you run into where do I store all these sets? So that is a problem and then it gets to the cost. Prices continue to raise while for the most part salaries in my area have remained the same so if you continue to bust at the levels before you know where that leads you.

Then you get to the "value of a break" I never expect to make money when I bust wax because when I hit a "great card" I keep it for my collection. Yes, I should sell but for some reason normally I don't.

I like to bust packs for the fun and thrill and with all these "one pack/box " products coming out the thrill is gone in two minutes so for 2017, I will not be breaking wax like I have done in the past.

On top of all these, at least for me Upper Deck has really put out some ugly products this year. I normally busted at least two cases of Ultimate and this year I broke one pack and said that is the ugliest product I have ever seen. No more.

That's my thoughts.

[TRDouble]

By 2013-14, I was almost all ITG and Panini, and almost no Upper Deck.

Then UD got the exclusive license and ITG sold to Leaf. I did find some good product last year and it was the year of McDavid (and Eichel for me), so UD got my money for a few products, but I focused on those few, not the whole product line.

This year, I bought one physical box of Series One with no desire to complete the base set. I loved Fleer Ultra last year, so I will try that again, along with my regular box of SPA.

I keep an eye on Leaf and may splurge for Masked Men next week. And I still enjoy the UD e-cards environment enough to buy a box of MVP and probably Series One. I trade for my Sabres, combine a few cards and I am happy.

Oh, and retail Pankhurst has been a lot of fun to break!

It works out for me, my waning desire, since most of my money is tied up in my daughter's college tuition fees.

[wvu_class_of_2001]

I feel the same way. I'm not buying as much current product as I used to. When I do, it's only product that I want to collect a set of (Parkhurst and flagship are the only two). I enjoy ePack and the fact that we can trade on there, where it's all but non-existent elsewhere.

Other than that, I prefer to pick up vintage when I can. I don't look at it just as collecting cards, but also as preserving history.