2013-14 SPX Box Break

While Upper Deck, the NHL, and the NHLPA were getting ready to announce their exclusive licensing agreement last Thursday, I was at my LCS picking up Upper Deck's latest hockey product, SPX. I had picked up two boxes in 2011-12, but took a break last season, when it became one of the products Upper Deck scrapped due to lockout-based limitations. Anyway, the product has made its triumphant return in 2013-14, with each box containing 12 packs of four cards. There are also four promised hits, including one rookie autographed dual-jersey card. Shadow Box cards also make their return and fall at a rate of one every two boxes. Each box also contains a five-card pack of Ice, which will give collectors one Ice Premieres rookie card.

Here's the video of my box break, with scans to follow:

Upper Deck Ice Bonus Pack: Jonathan Toews, Joe Thornton, Eric Staal, Andrew Ladd, Eric Gryba Ice Premieres 32/999

Base Penguins: Evgeni Malkin, Pascal Dupuis
I got two Penguins, which is nice, but I will say, it is nice to finally see Pascal Dupuis get some cardboard outside of the basic low-end sets. Hopefully soon, we'll finally get some autos or jersey cards of him as a Penguin.

Rookies: Vladimir Terasenko, Alex Chiasson, Radko Gudas, Tyler Toffoli, Nathan Beaulieu, Jon Merrill
The Rookies in SPX are actually done in a two-tiered system. Cards 101-140 are inserted at a rate of 1:2.5 packs, and cards 141-16 are the SPs and are inserted at a rate of 1:10 packs. The Terasenko was my SP and the rest are the base rookies. 

96-97 SPX Retro: Pavel Bure, Mike Bossy
These cards are inserted into every eight packs and pay tribute to a popular design of the mid-90s. The tribute set features a mix of current and retired stars, and there is also a rookie version of these that are inserted 1:30 packs.

Jeff Carter Winning Materials Dual Jersey
This is the base jersey hit of SPX, and featured two swatches of fabric. This one, in particular features two white swatches, which is a bit boring, but there are also plenty out there which actually have the two different colors, which is the way it should be. There are also Winning Combos cards which feature a similar design, but with two players who are teammates.

Tomas Hertl Rookie Materials
Inserted at a rate of 1:12 are Rookie Materials cards, which features one player from the 2013-14 double rookie class, along with a piece of jersey used in a "rookie photo shoot." With Hertl, I got a really good pull, but time will have to tell. He came out of the gate on fire this season, and was able to keep up the momentum, but has been out with an injury for quite some time. Hopefully he cam return to action and pick things up right where he left off.

Drew Doughty Shadow Box
So, now I'm 2-for-3 on pulling Shadow Box cards out of SPX, after the Sidney Crosby I pulled from 2011-12.  There are three layers to each of the cards. The bottom layer just contains the background, while the middle layer is a black-and-white close-up image of the player. The top layer features the cards border, as well as the full-colored player image on the bottom. These are the big cards to pull out of SPX every year, and despite not containing any autographs or jersey pieces, are some of the best-looking cards Upper Deck puts out every year.

Seth Jones Autographed Rookie Dual Jersey 147/249
I was very happy to pull this card. Jones could have easily been  the first overall draft pick this past year, but Colorado decided to go with Nathan MacKinnon. Jones then fell down to the fourth overall pick, held by Nashville Predators, but his cards still hold a significant value. The funny thing is, before opening this box I was thinking to myself how despite a loaded rookie class, I still had yet to pull a hit from one of the major rookies of either year. Well, now I have.

I'm starting to get myself ready for an Upper Deck-exclusive hockey market, meaning that I am havign to pay closer attention to the brand's releases, to know what I need to wait for and what I should pass up in the 2014-15 season. Either way, SPX is a keeper this year, and is one I will definitely be picking up a box or two every year for the near future.