2015 Upper Deck Dinosaurs Box Break and Review

A while back I heard that Upper Deck was making a Dinosaur set and I got a little excited. However, my LCS didn't happen to pick up any of this product and my early research had it out of my price range a bit so I figured I would maybe try and buy a base set on the secondary market some day.

Well as luck would have it, my BFAM Tom happened to received a box of Dinosaurs in a mailing from Upper Deck and I immediately asked if I could trade him for it. Being the great guy he is, he just wanted to straight up send it to me because he wasn't too interested in Dinosaurs but I wouldn't have any part of that kind of deal so in the end we made a very good swap for both sides and I got myself a box of 2015 Upper Deck Dinosaurs. As luck would have it, I would end up with two more boxes but I'll save that for my next post! Without further ado, here is 2015 Dinosaurs.

Each box contain 20 packs and each pack has 5 cards. On average a box should deliver 1 Artist Sketch card numbered 1/1, 1 Manufactured Patch Card, 6 Stickers, 4 Lenticular 3-D cards, 10 mini's and the rest are base cards with 1-100 being standard, 101-125 being short printed and 126-150 being super short printed. There are other surprises like Roar Cards which are like the Upper Deck The Cup Video Cards, and redemptions for Fossil cards. There are sketch cards that consist of multiple panels and all sorts of other goodies. While the cost for this product is around 100 USD, truth is most of the value is in the art you get in the box. Each box has it's very own sketch card created by an artist and I'm sure that added significantly to Upper Deck's production cost.

Base cards

In sports cards Upper Deck is renowned for their photography but since cameras didn't exist when dinosaurs were around (or people for that matter), the images you see are artist and computer generated. With that being said, the images are still awesome. Some have backgrounds and others are close ups. What I really enjoy about the set is the selection of creatures. Not all are dinosaurs and more importantly there are even ones I haven't heard of before and I am pretty well read in this department. Spinosaurus is one of my favourite dinosaurs (and my oldest son's too) so I am featuring it's base card.

Back side of base card

The back side of the card uses the image from the front and then includes some stats and facts about the creature which help give you some perspective. Upper Deck being an American company means all my facts are in American units (Imperial?) and not metric which may be my only complaint. To date, Spinosaurus is the largest known land carnivore which means it's even bigger than the T-Rex folks!

Base Card

Here is a bonus base card. The Quetzalcoatlus which many may not have heard of before, is one of the largest flying creatures ever on our planet.

Imagine a flying creature with a wing span of 30 feet and was a carnivore. It could nearly gobble an adult human whole!

Minis

 Each box has 10 mini cards and they are in the canvas style which we know from Masterpieces etc and it mirrors the base set completely. There are 150 mini cards you could collect. Given you only get 10 per box this is a tougher set to chase for sure.

Here is the back of the Allosaurus mini. As you can see the mini cards have stats and info on them too and the sunset with a roaring Allosaurus is another example of the great artwork the artists from this set have created.

Patch Cards

Each hobby box has one of these and I lucked into one of the more rare patch cards. There are 60 different patch cards in this insert set and they range in difficulty to hit. This one is a group B patch card and they fall 1:179 packs! The images on the patches are different than those of the base card which is also a nice plus!

Here is the back side and again what I love about this set are all the interesting facts you get on the backs of the cards. You can appreciate the art on front and get educated on the back.

Stickers

Each hobby box should yield 6 of these. This insert set has 30 in it and they are all equally produced so this one might be very doable for the average collector. I went with another one of my favourite prehistoric beasts, Dimetrodon. Which some may not know this but it actually isn't considered a dinosaur and is more closely related to mammals. This synapsid lived millions of years before the emergence of the dinosaurs.

Another neat bonus is the backs of the stickers form a puzzle. I definitely want to try and complete this set to see what the images make on the backside.

3-D Cards

One of my favourite features of this release are the 3-D cards. They don't scan too badly but I assure you they are even cooler in person. This insert set has 42 cards and they fall 4 per box and depending on the type (Herbivores, Predators, Marine or Flying) they could be tough to pull. Much like my patch card, I lucked into the hardest pull and that is the Pterodactyl which is 1:150 packs. Herbivores are the easiest and make up 24 of the 42 cards in this set.  The artwork on these are amazing and in 3-D they are especially enjoyable.

Once again top marks to Upper Deck for the backsides of these. Lots of get stats and info about the different animals.

Here is my rare Pterodactyl.

You might be surprised at how small they actually were. When I was really young I always pictured them being much larger but obviously that isn't the case with them being much smaller than an albatross.

Here is an example of the great selection by Upper Deck. Prior to pulling this card I never heard of a Minmi.

A very cool battle scene between two Triceratops'.

As you can see the colour scheme is different on the back between Herbivore, Predator and Flying. I didn't pull a marine one in this box which have the odds of 1:50.

1/1 Sketch Card

In my opinion what really makes or breaks a box of this is the Sketch Card. Don't get me wrong, I am a very very poor artist and all the cards that I have seen are very nice. However, I've seen some sketch cards that look pretty juvenile and others that look amazing. I would definitely classify my pull as amazing. My Plesiosaurus is a creature that I really like in the first place and the way it was drawn by Eric Van Elslande is fantastic.  This piece of art is one that I truly love and makes my box a home run for me. On the secondary market the prices of these 1/1 sketch cards are all over the map because it is a one of a kind. In some cases many can appreciate the subject and the creation and they sell for lots and others less so. I definitely plan on keeping this beauty in my collection for the boys and I to enjoy for as long as possible.

Here is the backside of the sketch card which is signed by the artist.

Artist Signature Card

My box had a little bonus, an artist signatures card. These are not in every box so I was super excited to pull it and the fact that it's a Velociraptor is even cooler. The image is one created by Benito Gallego and was used to make the 3-D Velociraptor and is signed by him and numbered to 49.

Here is the backside information which again supports what you can guess is on the front.


So there you have it, my first box of 2015 Upper Deck Dinosaurs. I want to begin by saying that I loved this product and when I compare it to other Upper Deck products I am going to go out on a limb and say it is nearly as perfect as they come. Good creature selection, enough rareness to card to make them more coveted and I love the sketch card idea. I do wish I hit a fossil card of course but at 1:1000 which means 1 per 50 boxes, hitting one is pretty unlikely but that's ok, half the fun is the chance to do so.

One thing I really enjoyed about this break was there was no interest in money. When I break hockey and stuff like that, since the beckett has been around during my entire time of collecting, one factor that always comes up is...what are these cards worth? Did I get my money's worth? What could I sell this card for? In the case of these cards, that never occurred to me. I opened this box with my boys and we just enjoyed the cards for what they were. My oldest son who's 5 and can't really read could still name many of the dinosaurs thanks to the many BBC movies he's seen and that's another testamate to how well these cards are made. If you are a dinosaur fan or just want to bust something different, I complete recommend this product!!

At the end, I was about 37 cards short of a 1-100 set so I definitely plan on finishing that off and perhaps I will go after the 1-150 set and maybe even some of the insert sets like the 3-D or Stickers. I completely enjoyed this break and as far as the product goes I give it a 5/5. Well done Upper Deck and thank you Tom for the fantastic trade which I believe worked out well for both of us! 

13-14 Select Box Break - Panini Contest Win

Before you read this post, I need to clarify two things. First off, I am not trying to be whiny or ungrateful. Secondly, chromium cards do not scan well especially when in a screw-down or top loader.

So just before the holidays, I entered my 700th Panini contest and patiently waited to find out I lost. However, something strange happened and that was I WON! I received my email stating I won and they asked for my address. I thanked them profusely and gave them my address. 3 weeks later just before Christmas my box arrived and I was stoked. I put the kids to bed, sat down and busted 12 packs hoping for MacKinnons, Yakupovs or anything cool and fun. Each box has two mini boxes and each mini box has 6 packs, promising two hits. That is where my problem happened.

I busted my first mini box and only had one hit. I wasn't disappointed because I saw someone online actually pull two hits from a single pack so maybe my other mini box would have three hits and it would all average out. Sadly, it didn't. So my free box was a defective box with only three hits. If I had paid for this box I would have been pretty bummed out. So just in case, I contacted Panini to see if they could do anything about this situation. They kindly told me since it was free, NO.

So there you have it, even when I am lucky, I am unlucky. I have since entered other Panini contests and....lost.

Well here is the box in case you are interested.

Base and Prizm cards.

The cards are pretty nice looking, very shiny and thick. Here is one of my Prizm cards I landed. Nicely enough, I also got an Elias Prizm card too. They are extra shiny and un-numbered.

Hits

Each pack has something fun so for the 11-13 bucks you pay you should get something. I got a few inserts but nothing worth really showing, so here are my three hits.

13-14 Select Nick Petrecki Auto Rookie /399

Nick Petrecki, don't know him. Research shows me he was a former first round pick, plays defense and likes PIMs. He is a beast at 6'3" and 230 lbs. He also have played 1 NHL game in his career.

13-14 Select Jarred Tinordi Auto Rookie /199

My Montreal curse continues...except they are Habs I am really not dying the have. Jarred is someone I had heard of and being another defenseman this card isn't going to be putting my children through University. However, I do plan on keeping this one as he could be a pretty decent defensive star someday.

13-14 Select Danny DeKeyser Auto Rookie /399

Having hit his Young Gun in a box I broke earlier I had at least heard of Danny. Danny is a rookie defenseman off to a pretty decent start and like many late maturing defenseman that are making it big these days he was a free agent signing out of college. Not a super exciting pull but I guess it is better than Petrecki!

So there you have it, my free box. Like I said before, if I had paid 130 bucks for it I would have felt seriously bummed out and avoided any future packs and boxes like the plague. However, there is always that chance that had I paid for the box, Panini would have sent along a 4th hit and who knows what could have been in that. So do I recommend this product? Only if you have 130 bucks burning a hole in your pocked and you don't want to save another 70 and buy a Dominion box.

With all that being said, I went on eBay a few weeks back and started selling off some inserts and cards I really didn't have much use for but had some value. My hard work paid off as I have replaced them with a fourth hit I bought for myself....


13-14 Select Nathan MacKinnon Auto Rookie /399

Being a MacKinnon fan and liking what the Select rookies looked like I went on the prowl for a decent deal. Many of these rookies were selling well in auctions online (65-85 dollar range) so I decided to see if I could find a BIN/OBO below that range and sure enough I was able to use my PayPal dollars and get one for a very fair price.(again excuse the scan, Select rookies in screw-downs really really don't scan well)

So not only do I get myself a MacKinnon rookie at long last, I use some of my unwanted cards to help fix my box injustice and land a hit that stands proud in my collection.

11-12 UD Tin Break

Just before Christmas, I was shopping for others and buying for myself which included an 11-12 UD tin. Each tin had 12 packs so 3 Young Guns were possible along other wonderful inserts. Truth be told, I am starting to hate all the inserts like EA Sports Dream Team or Ambassadors or whatever they are throwing in these days. I do like the Canvas parallels but apart from that unless it is signed or game-used, I just have no interest in plain insert cards. So, here are the hits straight up...

11-12 UD Sean Couturier Young Gun

Sean Couturier was the biggest hit of the box. Sean was the 8th overall pick in 2011 and as been in the NHL since day 1. He has yet to find his offensive stride but as long as Philly is patient with this kid I think they will have a winner on their hands soon.

11-12 UD Teemu Hartikainen Young Gun

Wow an Oiler.....hard to believe I am disappointed getting an Oiler Young Gun but I am. Teemu will unfortunately be making another appearance on here in the near future.

11-12 UD Erik Gudbranson Young Gun

Chris Pronger without the offensive skill? A much more offensive Brad Marsh? Yep that is Erik Gudbranson, he is stay at home perfection. A player you would want on your team hands down but not want to ever pull from a pack of cards....ok maybe not that bad, I am actually happy pulling this as he is a former Canadian World Junior and I respect a good stay at home man.

11-12 UD Game Jersey Tuukka Rask

So despite Toronto giving up on him and sending him to Boston for Andrew Raycroft, Rask didn't exactly get revenge in this past round of the playoffs. Boston did win, but Rask was pretty shaky and unless Boston starts to tighten up defensively I suspect Rask and the boys will be out on the course before long.

Well there you have it, a tin which was the equivalent of half a retail box. I did reasonably well for 25 dollars which was the sale price down from 40. I also have a load of base cards which means I likely buy a hobby box some day and chase the base set of Series 1. Also in the box was an oversized Winter Classic card but I assure you, you aren't interested in seeing that :)

12-13 Artifacts Box Break - UD made me nearly the perfect box!

I can honestly say when it comes to boxes, I love opening them. It really doesn't matter what the product is, or if there are hits or not. However, a rare thing happened to me a little while ago and that was I think I found the "perfect" box just for me. Of course, beauty is in the eye of the beholder and nothing is truly perfect, but this box that I opened I think was one of the best I could ever realistically hope for and though not everyone would think the box is amazing, I certainly did and do. I want to warn you that there are no hits here that will have collectors bidding 100's of dollars on or anything like that. Instead, it is a box when the sum of the parts are added, I feel like I had a huge success. So here we go...

This is a bit of a review at the same time so here is what the 12-13 Artifacts base cards look like:

The front

I am a huge fan of these cards. I love the ice surface background, the silver foil and the crisp player action shots. Definitely a set I want to complete, even if it means buying the whole base, non-sp set.

The back side

Love the design on the back too. The horizontal layout, a second photo, partial stats and a little write-up. Upper Deck, this is what Artifacts should look like, well done. 

Now time for the hits...

Hit 1: Jordan Eberle Gold Parallel /25

What a start. A low number parallel hit of one of my favourite players in the NHL and  is players I collect. 

Hit 2: Team Canada Dustin Tokarski /999

I love that UD included Team Canada players and once again I landed another PC guy! Tokarski numbered to /999 isn't overly exciting to some, but I love this kid and hopefully he will get to the NHL a little faster now that he is in Montreal. I would never buy this card, but getting it in a pack is fun and I will of course be keeping it.

Hit 3: Chay Genoway Rookie /999

I think this hit belongs to someone else. This is the only hit in the box that doesn't belong, but then again it is a rookie and I LOVE rookies so at the very least I have a card I don't mind keeping. Truth is, there won't be many more cards made of this guy between now and his retirement so maybe I should enjoy his moment in the sun......maybe.

Hit 4: Frozen Artifacts Claude Giroux

Many many years ago, I saw Claude play hockey several times. He was actually in NOVICE and ATOM  and I was the timekeeper for the games he would play in our town. I know this because I do remember him and back then he was a pretty solid player so I thought he might go somewhere.

Hit 5: Johnny Bower /999

Cool insert idea focusing entirely on goalies. There is certainly a lot of fans of goalies and goalie subsets. I am not one of them, but Mr. Bower is a class act and he gave me more than I bargained for with my TTM request so getting this card was loads of fun.

Hit 6: Tyson Barrie Rookie /999

Here is my second guaranteed rookie and I am very pleased with this one. Tyson was a former Team Canada World Junior and is a pretty solid prospect with the Avalanche. People might think I am crazy, I would take this over a Chris Kreider any day :)

Hit 7: Autographed Rookie Redemption IV /99

The hit of the box (and a case hit) in terms of value and potential. I like extended rookie cards and I love autographed extended rookie cards. I really can't wait to find out which guy I am going to get. It will be numbered to 99 which is awesome and I am going to find out who it is before I redeem as it might be more advantageous to move the card rather than keep it.

Hit 8: Tundra Tandems Jordan Staal and Eric Staal

Ahhh the Staal boys. We were all born in the same city and as a result I do like the two of them a great deal. I am still in need of an Eric Staal auto to go with my Jordan and Marc.

Hit 9: Anze Kopitar Game Jersey Parallel /125

Yet another player I really like. Numbered to /125 it isn't exceptionally rare, but I love the purple and black swatches and I really like the design of these cards.

Hit 10: Chicago Blackhawks Rookie Redemption

For those of you that don't know me, the Blackhawks have always been my "second" team. If the Devils are out or it is a Western Conference matchup, the Hawks are my team. It began with Belfour and ever since I just have always liked the team. Currently, Toews and Kane are the two guys I like the most and I will share more on that in another post, but this redemption again it tailor made for me as I certainly don't mind getting this card either. One thing worth noting though, we are through the midpoint of the season and there have been no new Hawks to enter the NHL who don't already have a rookie card so this card could end up being a wild-card. So with that being said, I am also waiting to redeem this one as well since it might be advantageous to move it as well.

So there you go, my box broken. I loved every moment of the break and all the hits were very welcomed. There wasn't any card in this break that really is going to make me rich, but at the same time I could very easily keep every card and be extremely happy with the overall break. I hope to buy another box or two of this stuff, but I have a feeling that will need to wait until the summer when I may convince my wife it would be a good birthday gift! Well thanks for reading, I also have an awesome pack break coming in the next few posts too.

Box Break Loot from Cardboard Conundrum

As I get through my posts, I need to share some fun loot from a box break a while ago with Matt from Cardboard Conundrum. Initially I had signed up for the Devils, but then my secondary team wasn't terribly interesting to me, but Matt was kind enough to trade me for the Islanders so here we go, three boxes (10-11 Luxury, 11-12 Anthology and 11-12 Enforcers)

I will kill all suspense and say that I hit nothing of note on the Anthology box except a Pinnacle rookie of Anders Nilsson.

The Luxury Suite box was my best success with three cards:

Gotta love J-T, he is showing why he was the first overall pick in 09 as he sits 5th in goals with 16 at the moment. Boring swatch, but a nice hit regardless.

 My favourite hit of the lot and not just because it is a rookie auto. I think this kid is a good defenseman and he has potential to be very good offensively. Overall, the best card in terms of my "value" I place on each card.

I really felt this kid could have been a good offensive defenseman. I am not wrong about that at the AHL level, but it looks like I may have over-estimated his NHL potential.

Is it me, or does that auto look wrong? I actually had to look online to see if there was a mistake with the stickers on this one....Turns out there wasn't and Gillies starts with an M.

There you go, another great Conundrum break. I think I ended up ahead on this break even if all my good hits were Islanders. 

11-12 Rookie Anthology Box Break 2 and an Oversize Crosby

So box two started with a great deal of hype considering how much luck and success I had with my first box. However, there is something to be said about all good luck must come to an end. Here is my less than stellar second box.

11/12 Jason Spezza Luxury Suite

The bonus pack yielded a Luxury Suite card which is pretty cool if you ask me, however it is Jason Spezza who I have a serious surplus of! This one is up for trade!

11/12 Limited Brendan Smith Phenoms Silver /50

Likely the hit of the box is this card. Brendan Smith is a pretty decent prospect for the Red Wings, he had 7 points in 14 games on the Detroit blue-line and will have some pretty good ice time once this lockout is sorted out. 

11/12 Rookie Anthology Rookie Treasures Blake Geoffrion /499

My Montreal curse continues in this box as well, after landing Diaz and Palushaj, here is another Hab! Another one up for trade!

11/12 Rookie Anthology Rookie Rivalry x 2

 My box yielded two rookie rivalries instead of a Certified or other game used card. I am a little sad at this because of the fact the combos really mean nothing to me at all and I was really hopeful of another Certified rookie. These are both up for trade too!

In all, I still enjoyed opening the box and it gave me a few more base cards closer to the set, but as far as ratings go, this box was a failure compared to my first one which was tailor made for me. BTW, I just used my digital camera to scan these in because I really didn't feel like lugging them to my computer which has a scanner on it. Sorry for the glare :)

Around the time I busted this box, I opened my Toys R Us repack and here is the Crosby Gem I landed!

Nothing too special about it except that it books for more than any of the other cards listed above! I guess I wasn't so much unlucky as my luck was just in a different box than I hoped!