Tales from the Expo!

[reoddai]

So my expo weekend is finally finished! For me, it was the best expo int he past 3 years. Mostly because I filled the most wants from my list ever and spent the least amount of money ever as well. And all finished in under 5 hours! I'm certainly going to try to repeat again next year at the Spring Expo.

So, to start the day, I tell my wife. "Wife, I want to be there at 10 am. So, naturally, I arrive at 10:30 am. I've got to meet someone at 11 am to make an in person trade. So I do a quick scurry around the expo to see what I can see for prices and pick up a box of ITG 1972 & Artifacts for 95$ a piece. I later find some lower prices for each (90$ for each), but only much later. In the end, I'm still happy with the purchase.

At 10:45 am, I decide I've got 15 minutes to blow, so I sit next to a guy breaking two boxes of ITG ultimate 9 to bust my measly ITG 1972.

Whil I pay a lot of attention to his break, I think the ITG ultimate redemptions look poor. No photos & only a small sized swatch. The ultimate cards themselves are better.

Anyways, after getting through my packs, I'm pretty happy with the damage. Two goalie blank backs, a pair of Russian autos, one of which I know off hand, one auto I recognize and a Vezina insert. Considering that Team Canada and Team Russia where my favourites in this product full of 1972 people I don't know, I think I came out well ahead.


The hit of the box is an emblem, although of someone I have to check out on Wiki to figure out who they are. I prefer the Ruskie autos to be honest, but its an emblem. Those are rare enough to that its a hit anyways. For the redemption, I pull my prize number and when they come back, I get my SILVER prize (better than black) With two players I actually know. I think its definitely a nice plus. IMO, the only way it could have been better would be if I pulled a Clarke instead. Right behind the ITG booth is the topps both. They're giving away free packs to each person who walks up. I get my pair and I'm off for my only IP trade for the Expo!


So by now, its well into 11:15. The line for the Upper Deck Redemption starts to form and you either line up right at the beginning and wait an hour, or wait an hour in line. The only difference is that there is a slight slight chance they might run out if you wait till later, so I line up right away. While waiting, typically you get something and this year, another free magazine was handed out. Tons or writing and that helped me get through to the waiting time.

AS the line starts to move, You hear people from the booth taking photos "Tavares", "gustavson", "Howe", etc. etc. I finally get to the front and get sent to the place where a Tavares & Gustavson were just pulled. Like I'm really going to get anything good in that area...

Anyways, I bust a box of Artifacts since I'm not doing the UD S1 set this year. Here's the damage:


I pull my redemptions and... well, lets just say its not a highly sought after auto. But if you know the right people, it can be traded. The box wasn't all bad. One patch /5 and one Sakic patch ain't too shabby. Not to mention the wild card redemption. The /5 patch is for buffalo, but again, you have to know the right people


Overall, with both quality of product and what was pulled in comparison to value paid, I'm firmly in the ITG camp this year. Solid break + solid redemption beats okay break + weak redemption.

So, its off to fill my wantlist. On target this year was a secret santa, my old 08-09 Wants and some vintage cards that I thiought would be easy to pick up. The results were no Secret Santa cards (I had enough already anyways). I got within 1 card of killing a set. The OPC Quad materials for my yearly Stanley Cup Winners Cards. Paid a bit more than I wanted for that one, but in the half area of the expo that I searched, I only found on person selling it and we worked out a trade/sale deal. Finally, the last two: My Clarke RC and my Lapointe RC.
MG]

I had planned to spend the whole day at the expo (or at least until 5). The wife said that she would shop while I did that. Of course, around 2:30 pm, I get the call. "Come pick me up, I'm tired! So, I literally dash through the last three rows of vendors looking for my one last PC that I want to fill. A HExtall Press plate. No luck. Sorry folks! Maybe next time!

Well, after the Expo winds down, I think its best to relax with some McD's and to celebrate my restrained budget, I use the left over to buy 25 packs of McD's & pretty well crush the odds. Here's what FT:


And what's NFT:


The rest of the weekend is shopping with the wife (in exchange for the money to buy this stuff). And that is the end.

Well, not really the end. Afterall, I did get those two Topps Attax packs right?

Can't just leave those unopened. NOrmal hits:


And the foil hits:


I'm actually impressed at how current the photos are. I'm half willing to bet that Gomez is still in his former team's jersey in UD's products. I'm undecided if I'll get more of this stuff. The cards look good, but how to store them? I also despise the Attax game play. They might make nice trade bait, but again, you have to know who to trade these too. Hopefully, they're parlay into some nice stuff.

If you want anything, many of it is FT, some of it isn't since its already traded or destined for PC. I'll update my trade list over the next week because there's quite a lot to do!

Thanks for the read!
Cheers,
reoddai

[jmdorsey]

sounds like an awesome time. I might have to make a trip for the next one.

And funny thing about knowing the right people for that STAFFORD / Pominville.................lol

[hippieman556]

that's awesome. sounds like you had a great time. do you trade for common cards

[gretzky99]

wish i knew you had those russian autos - could have used one of those. cool story though.

[RLewisH]

Awesome read! Thanks!

[geschrocks33]

Sounds like a great time. Love the story and that Stafford/Pomers /5 lol

[jpietrzak7862]

Sounds like a nice day. Would love to get that Dornhoeffer off your hands. What are you looking to trade it for?

[BUZZER67]

Thanks for sharing the experience, sounds like a great outling. If the Getzlaf Pride is available, I would be interested, just PM me. Have a great day and look forward to the next big show, John

[mxaxtxtx]

Good play-by-play.

[Coopey]

I've got to make the trip up north for an Expo one of these years. Sounds like heaven.