Last time I opened one of these retail boxes I was really pleased with the results. I was able to get multiple parallel cards as well as a hit. Apparently, others have opened these boxes with less than stellar outcomes. Today I get to see if that last box was an anomaly, or are these boxes really loaded up!
Price -
$6.95
Packs - 10
14/15 Upper Deck Artifacts Retail Packs
The original price of this blaster is a bit higher than the norm. You do get quite a few packs in the box as well as a extra Ice preview card though. I guess that justifies the price jump according to Upper Deck. The Ice preview cards are actually pretty nice as they are acetate. There aren't a whole lot of them, though, so getting an entire set of them is not a difficult task. I doubt these cards will hold much value.
Though getting the Ice Preview is a nice little bonus, my main goal out of these blasters is always to find hits. I'm a big fan of hobby Artifacts as there are a lot of great hits to be found. It would be awesome to get even just a jersey hit in this box today.
I'll go ahead and find out what is in this retail box:
Review -
It turns out that this box wasn't able to top the first one, but I can't say that it was all bad. The box had less parallel cards and no hit, but it did spit out a nice rookie redemption card for me to redeem (thankfully this redemption doesn't expire until September of this year). The redemption card didn't come until the very last pack so I was a bit worried that this break would be a total dud, but that card saved the box for me. Other than that, I was able to get one parallel card as well as an Ice Preview of a nice player.
As for the base cards, there were some pretty decent names in my pile. I got Crosby, Gretzky, Ovi, Yzerman, and others. If I were a new collector purchasing one of these boxes I'd be pretty happy with that group of players in the base card pile.
Here were my three favorites:
As for the base cards, there were some pretty decent names in my pile. I got Crosby, Gretzky, Ovi, Yzerman, and others. If I were a new collector purchasing one of these boxes I'd be pretty happy with that group of players in the base card pile.
Here were my three favorites:
Top 3 Cards
#3 - Larry Murphy Card No. 7
My one parallel card from this break was this red variation of Larry Murphy. It's a little surprising to see Murphy in this set as they could have chosen from a lot of more know veterans, but it's great seeing him here in this set.
#2 - Jonathan Toews Card No. P-5
It's never bad getting Jonathan Toews as he is a clear winner and an awesome hockey player. All this guy does is win.
#1 - Toronto Rookie Redemption Card No. 177
This is the first time I think I've gotten one of these rookie redemptions out of a retail box of Artifacts. I checked and I should be getting a card of Stuart Percy sometime in the future. The redemption card was a nice little surprise at the end of my break today.
Overall Value -
Though this box wasn't as nice as the last one, it turned out pretty decent - certainly better than a standard blaster of Artifacts. The price on these can't be beat, I wonder if dacardworld.com will have more of these in stock the next time I place an order. These might be worth another purchase when I put in my next big order of retail cards. I won't be mad if you choose to buy them out first though, they do seem to be a sweet deal!
Let me know what you thought of my break in the comment section below. Have you ever pulled anything good out of one of these? I'd love to hear about it.
Overall Value Score:
7.5/10
Look for a new episode of Retail Review every Sunday!