Your Opinion On RPA’s

[Therealmahoney]

I’m curious how all of you would rate rookie patch autos in order of demand. Here is how I have it lined up

1. The Cup (Any Variation, limited logos, actual rpa, etc)
2. Ice
3. SP Authentic FWAP
4. Exquisite
5/6. Ultimate/Premier (either/or)
7. Black Diamond
8. SPx
9. Artifacts

i feel like I’m missing some... but what are your thoughts?

[canucksfan007]

I dont think you can group something like Cup Rookie Auto Patch, with Limited Logos or other sub sets from the Cup. I feel True Rookie Auto Patches are the top, but Rookie Auto Patch parallels hold more value than the Rookie Auto Patch Inserts. Premier for some reason doesnt get a lot of hobby love. I put my list in tiers:

Tier 1
- The Cup Rookie Auto Patches /249, /199, /99

Tier 2:
- Ice Premiers Rookie Auto Patch /10
- SP Authentic Future Watch Auto Patch /100

Tier 3:
- The Cup Rookie Auto Patch Golds ( jersey numbered variations, not the /24 or /12 stuff )
- Exquisite Rookie Auto Patches ( only the jersey numbered variations )

Tier 4:
- The Cup Sub Sets ( Limited Logos, Honorable Numbers, Signature Patches, etc etc )
- The Cup Golds ( 15/16 and newer, numbered to /24 or /12 )
- Premier Rookie Auto Patches
- Ultimate Rookie Auto Patches

The Others:
- SPx
- Black Diamond
- Artifacts

Of course players player demand is a thing too, but lets say you had all these cards, and they were all Matthews .... then of course some things could move up like the Cup Gold /12 would go into Tier 3.

A lot of my list has to do with hobby following. Cup, SPA and Ice have been around a long time, and have had collectors for 10+ years. Where as Exquisite and the newer 1 pack products dont really have the same hobby command

[30ranfordfan]

1. The Cup (Any Variation, limited logos, actual rpa, etc)

2. Ice
3. SP Authentic FWAP
4. Exquisite
5/6. Ultimate/Premier (either/or)
7. Black Diamond
8. SPx
9. Artifacts

I can only tell my own tastes. I chase a single rookie card of all new Oilers (bet that actual rookies in a given season, or past players). I prefer "best RC" - and for me, that also means RPA when possible. My budget is not unlimited, so I can't always get the "best one". Cup /99s (other than Gagner, lol) are out of my reach.

Anyway.... for most of the players I'm talking about:

NT RPA /99 (IMO) is so much better than the Cup RPAs /249 from the seasons when they co-existed.
Dominion RPAs I liked much better than any of the next tier of UD stuff
Exquisite / Ultimate / Premier would all be the "next tier" for me - but I'll be honest: What is a RC, and what is not... I have to actually spend time figuring it out with these sets year-over-year.

I have no desire to own parallels of RCs, so things like Ice & SPA don't even make this list for me. I think this kills a lot of the ultimate sets too? Don't remember.

Black Diamond & SPx use sticker autos, so that takes the desirability away quite a bit there. Artifacts, I didn't think the RCs had autos or mem? Just the parallels.

Limited Logos (or something along that line) are totally different. When I see the tag 'RPA' I'm thinking "Rookie-Patch-Auto" mean it's a Rookie Card, has a RC tag from anyone who still uses that sort of thing.

[Therealmahoney]

Ya it def goes by personal preference. I’m the same with the budget thing, so the way I look at it for collecting is this.

1. If possible and in the budget, go with a hard signed, multi colour patch of an actual rookie card.
2. If that doesn’t work out, go for a hard signed, multi colour patch from their rookie year. Doesn’t matter if it’s an actual rookie card or not at this point.

i usually aim for the SPA FWAP’s most of the time, but have aimed at premier recently since like mentioned above, they tend to be priced very decently, are still hard signed, and you can still get some really nice and big patches.

for the top tiered rookies, that is mostly luck of the draw really. If I can pull of a massive trade (not likely), blow my budget, or luck out on a box/ box break. That’s how I got my Mcdavid “RPA”, pulled a multi colour flair showcase /35 from a fleer showcase box. Sticker auto which is unfortunate, but in this case it’s prob the best that I’ll end up with lol, and def not complaining.

[rinkrathobbies]

Great input but canucksfan007 hit the nail on the head IMO

[RGM81]

If we are talking purely about the rookie content, I would agree almost entirely with @canucksfan007 - my only distinction would really be to bump the Premier ARP a notch into the third tier. It is a true RC and you can get some amazing patches on those cards. I've only got a couple in my PC but I love my Domi, which I got for a steal of a price at $25. Plus it's out of the second most expensive product that UD releases as a stand-alone, so that I think gives it a bump up over Ultimate.

That said, they did a great job with the 08-09 retros in Ultimate this year. Those cards look beautiful with the new Adidas jersey patch pieces.

Cup is obviously in a class by itself - no real further explanation needed there.

The Ice ARPs...I have only the one and it's for the Josh PC and I just love it. There's no way I'd be able to get the Carey ever unless I traded like 8-10 of my best other cards in the collection. LOL It's a bit of a disappointment that they went with two small patch windows that year instead of the single larger patch, but it does allow for greater variation.