It's been quiet here, between some increased work activity, the holiday(s), birthday(s), and some other things, but yesterday I was able to saunter on out through the writing hoards of half-dead Black Friday shoppers to finally get my hands on some 2017-2018 Upper Deck Series 1. While never a cheap product, it's always damn near the top of hockey releases - featuring excellent photography, plenty of nice base cards, limited parallels, and some decent, 90s-esque inserts and of course: Young Guns.
This year's cover boy is none other than Toronto Maple Leaf Auston Matthews:
Matthews isn't a guy I collect with much vigor, as his huge breakout rookie season in 2016-2017 has inflated his value among collectors, pushing us hobbyists out of the picture. Your basic foil pack is found 12 times in each $20 blaster, with just five cards in each pack. Cartes par paquet.
With Upper Deck, you come and stay for the unique photography. Here we have Marc-Andre Fleury, fresh off his drafting by the 17-18 expansion franchise Vegas Golden Knights on draft night in a new, well-selling jersey.
From new to old, we see Oliver Ekman-Larsson, featured in the best sports uniform, period. Just fantastic.
I'm always amazed at how much product NHLers use in their hair before they cram it under a helmet for the next two and a half hours.
Patrik Laine, AKA Diet Auston Matthews, models our card backs. Laine has just one year of service, showing off the Winnipeg Jets logo in the background of the ice-cool card. Upper Deck hasn't changed much over the years, and I take comfort in that.
Portraits fall 1:14 and I was lucky enough to land this Vladimir Tarasenko, the Russian Tank. I'm not sure lucky is the best word, though, as this season's version of the Portraits insert is black-and-white and could not be more uninteresting.
The Canvas "parallels" are 1:14 and the highlight of the inserts, using a canvas-like feature on a light cardboard stock with an alternate photo choice, usually one of the players in a rare pose or from a different angle, such as this one that looks like it was shot from ice-level in an ensuing scrum. Brodie wouldn't be my top choice of players to receive here, but I am appreciative of the Canvas inserts as always, regardless of the player pulled.
The Shining Stars (Defenseman in Series 1) looks straight out of 1998 or so Upper Deck, featuring an impossible to scan foil board with stamped, gold-foil logos. While very nice in-hand, they're a nightmare to scan. Here we have Seth Jones in the awesome Columbus Blue Jackets third jersey, featuring the cannon logo.
And here they are, the Young Guns. Falling 1:6, I grabbed the guaranteed two per blaster. Pierre-Luc Dubois was one of the better ones in the 2017-2018 set, but we're not even close to the class of 2016-2017.
The Sharks' Marcus Sorensen was pulled as well. This year's cards are very blue in design and look great with the teal Sharks jersey.
Now on to the Leafs.
Here's a great shot of Uncle Leo playing in the outdoor game. Komorov has only played in two outdoor games, the 2014 Winter Classic in Ann Arbor and the 2017 Centennial Classic at BMO Field. This one is from the latter.
Mitch! makes an appearance. Marner, like Matthews and William Nylander, is also a tough guy to collect right now.
Nazem Kadri - not so much. With so many Maple Leafs collectors losing their minds over Auston Matthews, Kadri has fallen behind, even though 2016-2017 was his best season and 2017-2018 might shape up to be just as good. Its another one of those alternate photo type UD cards, featuring Kadri in a
As much as I complain about the secondary market on Auston Matthews cards, I can manage to pull him once a blaster on a good day. Aside from an action shot, Upper Deck couldn't have made a better card than this one, featuring a very old school Toronto St. Pats uniform. Just awesome.
So there you have it. UDS1 has been found, and it's beautiful. The End.
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