Young Guns vs Victory Black

As a hockey card collector I find it sometimes difficult to be able to go and build every set there is. In fact, I find it difficult to justify building sets that include ALL SP's. So when I buy boxes of products like UD, I tend to just focus on building the base set and what ever Young Guns I get are bonuses. I hope each season to land the big fish and it happens sometimes (Price, Kane and Stamkos) and other times I don't (Tavares and Hall) and I can either give up, or go and buy that card as a single if I want it. But really in the end, I don't feel a desire to try and get all 50 young guns for each series which is good in some respects because then I can trade my YG's for other YG's I do want or at the very least for other cards I would prefer.

So with the season almost in the books and my card buying is pretty much planned for the next couple of months, I am faced with the task of trying to gather up the remaining Devils rookies I didn't pull from packs. My goal is usually to have one copy of each Devils Rookie. I don't need all the Devils rookies from all the sets, but I try and get one or two versions of each player.

On Ebay, I found many different auctions for a Stephen Gionta rookie card. One in particular was for a Victory Black and the other for a Young Gun version. So my question is, not being interested in anything more than the single card, which do you choose? Keep in mind, in the case of Mr. Gionta, the Victory Black and Young Gun ended up being the same price.

Do you go for the better looking card?

Do you go for the better product?

Do you go for the rarer of the two?

I decided to go with the Victory Black. I put a bid in for 3 bucks including shipping and sure enough it was a winner.

Here is what the Young Gun Version.

Here is the Victory Black card I won.

-the card is in amazing shape and I am very happy with it, what you see on the top is a little tape residue on the top loader.

I decided to go with the rarer of the two. The production numbers are significantly different. I estimate there are anywhere from 50-80 times as many Young Guns as there are Victory Blacks. I like the idea that the card is a little more scarce and being able to get it for the same price as a young gun made me feel like I got a good deal. But now your turn, which would you have chosen?

Even looking at a card like a John Tavares RC. The Young Gun cards go on eBay for prices between 40 and 70 bucks, while Victory Black versions can be had for about 80-100 bucks. So again, you aren't paying a huge premium for a much more scarce card.