2017 Upper Deck CFL - A Review

[CalgaryBluenote]

Now that this product has been out for a few days I am curious to hear what everyone thinks about this year's CFL card set. I think we all agree that we are disappointed with the changes/deletions in the final checklist relative to their sales sheet and the previous year's products.

Here are my thoughts:

Positives:
1. As with Upper Deck Series 1 hockey overall the game action photography is top notch.
2. The horizontal design of the Game Jersey/Patches looks really sharp and a number of the patches I've seen so far are multi-coloured and not simply single coloured.
3. The four boxes I've opened have beaten the stated odds on the box. In the four boxes I opened I received six game jerseys, one game patch, one Helmet Logo Patch and two autographs.

Negatives:
1. The posed photography for the players that changed teams over the off-season are way too dark. It's particularly difficult to make out who the player is if they are wearing their helmet.
2. I don't like the Retro design, particularly the glossy finish. Retro cards should have a matte finish. It's too bad they couldn't use some of the 1950's/60's OPC/Topps designs like Topps does in Topps Heritage baseball.
3. Dropping the rookie redemption card is a big mistake. Rookie cards drive all sports-card products and I assume the CFL product is no different.

Finally, I'm not sure what to think about the auto parallel cards. Would collectors prefer this type of autograph set or a stand alone autograph insert set like CFL Script/Marks?

 

[g-force]

I will say it is better than what I first thought when I saw the checklist. The content has dropped off from past years without a stand alone autograph set, the smaller jersey/patch checklist and reduction from 2 per box to 1 per box. The jersey/patch checklist is weak. I would prefer to keep it around 40 cards. Also, having no rookies I think hurts compared to past years.

Positives: the autograph checklist is really strong and probably the strongest they've put out yet. The Team patches are easily obtainable but still hold strong value at 3 per case. I still think it's strong value for the price of the boxes but compared to 2015 or 2016 this years product is the weak link.

 

[frankiefives]

I will say it is better than what I first thought when I saw the checklist. The content has dropped off from past years without a stand alone autograph set, the smaller jersey/patch checklist and reduction from 2 per box to 1 per box. The jersey/patch checklist is weak. I would prefer to keep it around 40 cards. Also, having no rookies I think hurts compared to past years.

Positives: the autograph checklist is really strong and probably the strongest they've put out yet. The Team patches are easily obtainable but still hold strong value at 3 per case. I still think it's strong value for the price of the boxes but compared to 2015 or 2016 this years product is the weak link.

While I agree the auto content is better, the product is much weaker this year. I returned 2 of my 5 cases because of this. After opening 3 cases, I had way too many duplicate hits. The jersey set needs to be expanded and they need to return to the 2015 and 2016 versions next year or I will not bust any. UD CFL was one of the rare products where you basically couldn't lose. This year, not so much.