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10-13-2017, 09:37 AM #1
Leaf Fans stay far away from centennial from Upper Deck. My Advice and Rant.
Welp. I busted 4 out of the case of 12 tins I ordered on the new Leaf Centennial Upper Deck last night. Boy was it a major major let down.
I was so excited to see UD doing a Leaf only set and pre ordered when I could. Getting closer to the release I started seeing the cards. The design was nice enough and some of autos looked nice.
So fast forward to last night. I ran home with a case of under my arm and plopped down into my couch. Now mind you I have a pre game ritual before opening any cards meaning I must first get a binder and fill it with sleeves to put my cards in as I open them. I know I know it’s my OCD habit of having everything organized…
Anyways. I get setup and make sure my daughter gets ready for bed and I let her bust into 2 tins. Now each tin has a mini banner of each of the Leafs cup wins. Those are cool. I like those. We put those aside and start opening our packs.
The cards themselves feel really cheap. Nothing like UD Series 1 (Which I thought they would be like) but more of an inbetween of OPC and MVP. Ok nothing crazy I think to myself.
Open a couple of packs and the inserts (if you want to call it that) are of Trophy winners/retired numbers/moments. You think there would be something neat looking to set them apart.
Nope. Nothing. Looks like the rest of the set save for the small title change at the bottom of the card.
I continue to go through some more packs and come across the “die cut” version of the base. I pull it out and hold it up into the light and mumble to myself something I shouldn’t have.
These things look like a 4 year old cut out around the card. TERRIBLE. At least TRY to die cut a leaf or SOMETHING cooler than that of a couple of zig zags and lets call it a day. Man it feels like Upper Deck ran out of time and said do something and run with it.
Anyways the die cut is basically the same as the base but with the terrible cut job around the player. Every card in this set looks the same. I don’t think much effort was put into this design.
I did get one auto from the 4 tins I busted (sorry I’m going to butcher Eddie’s last name here ..Olcyck). The good thing with the autos is that is on the card. The marks are perhaps the only thing worth collecting in this botch of a set in my opinion. Anyways I just wanted to share my thoughts on this product and hopefully save some Leaf fans some money.
Looking through the checklist and there is no CUJO, Tie Domi, Palmateer or even MATS SUNDIN. Yes not even the face of the Leafs in the late 90s/2000s. HOW Do you make a set about the Leafs and leave out SUNDIN????????? God I hate you Upper Deck.
If you want a good true Maple Leaf only set I’d suggest looking at the In the Game product. 5000000x better than Upper Decks worthless attempt.
I much prefer the Superlative Set or Forever Rivals set or if you have the money the newer one from Presidents choice. It feels as though Harold Ballard has come back to make this set and sell it to the Leaf Fan base. L
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10-13-2017, 09:54 AM #2
Harold Ballard and Upper Deck, an interesting analogy.
The want list at this link features what I need of Gretzky, Roy, Ottawa Senators, and Miscellaneous sets. I also have a CFL want list on my page and if you have nothing from it I will consider other traders of current Ottawa Senators,Guy Lafleur, + trade bait.
Wants - Hidden Content
Traders - Hidden Content
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10-13-2017, 09:56 AM #3
I was so excited to get a few hobby boxes myself but as I bargain watching the items get listed on eBay Wednesday morning I was also not impressed and have decided not to buy any of this wax. I imagine I will end of picking up the autos of Leafs I do not yet have but I'm no longer interested in assembling this set.
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10-13-2017, 10:29 AM #4
I saw a couple personal hobby boxes broken on facebook. I agree that the cards are nothing exciting to look at, and while ROI should not be something looked at when buying boxes, the autos I saw come out were probably worth a couple bucks each. One box the other thing that saved it was a Matthews /25 green.
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10-13-2017, 10:37 AM #5
I think it was pointed out in another thread - When UD did a similar set for Montreal, the Canadiens were very involved in getting players to sign for the set. I'm guessing the Leafs alumni association did no such thing here.
It's obvious that UD was limited to the guys they already had signing for them (which, I guess, is not longer guys like Sundin, Cujo, Domi, etc) and a few random names they brought in for the first time.
The GU stuff looks much nicer than what they did for the Habs set, but I think that's the only place where the Leafs set wins.
If I were a Leaf fan, I would have been dissapointed with the checklist too. No comment on the base cards & inserts - I have not seen them in person yet.
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10-13-2017, 10:37 AM #6
I wasn't looking for ROI. I love my leafs. I collect and stash away. I feel though this set is nothing special and nothing but a money grab from upper deck with a Leaf logo on it.
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10-13-2017, 01:51 PM #7
Problem with retired players is that the rules for them are different than they are for current players who have to go by PA rules.
It has to be tremendously frustrating to have some of the franchise's key figures conspicuously absent in this release. The lack of Sundin & Cujo hurts. It sucks for the product and it sucks for fans.
But, and this is the political side of hockey cards weighing in, there's nothing that Upper Deck can do in those situations where if you look at the landscape, neither Mats nor Curtis have signed with UD in the past two years. Cujo seems to be signing a lot with Leaf, I don't know if he's exclusive there. But to even get a base card, there has to be a licensing deal between company and player...you can't imagine UD deliberately not reaching out to those players at all in anticipation of a product like this. Heck, they even got Dryden to consent to some cards in Habs Centennial. So there's forces at work that are beyond the collector's pay grade in all of this.Habs fan and collector! Main PC's: Carey Price, Nick Suzuki, Cole Caufield, Juraj Slafkovsky, and of course...
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10-13-2017, 02:15 PM #8
I never thought of it that way I guess. Good point RGM. I think I'll stick to the In the Game stuff as I really enjoy the effort they put into the cards.
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10-13-2017, 04:37 PM #9
It's a lot tougher than many of us know to get a card set made. UD was working on 2017-18 SP Game Used last April...that's the kind of lead time involved with some of these releases. Probably also why this product got bumped back a few times (imagine the insanity if it came out at the end of the regular season as the Leafs were gearing up for playoffs) as they just wanted to try to get as many guys as possible included. Some guys are easy to work with, other have agents who are heavily involved in the process when it comes to likeness usage. And that all adds up to $$$ which ultimately has to get passed along to us.
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10-14-2017, 07:31 AM #10
Poor Leaf fans, another loss with so much hope on the horizon!!! When will they win?
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