2018 Upper Deck CFL: A Review

[CalgaryBluenote]

Well, this set has been out for a week now and I'm curious to hear what our small group of CFL collectors think about this year's product. Overall, I give it a thumbs up. I think it's a big improvement our last season step backwards!


Pros
Large, 200 card base set: I like a base set that goes beyond the star players.
Four hits per box: 4 autograph/memorabilia per box.
Expanded UD Game Jersey/Game Patch subset: This is a huge improvement over the 20 card subset last year and the one jersey per box in 2017.
Glossy finish on the UD Game Jersey/UD Game Patch cards: The finish and the landscape photos make this set look really sharp.
Good Year to drop the Team Patches: they had run their course over four years.

Cons
Collation: after opening four boxes I am still 26 base cards short of the full base set.
Too many parallels: The only parallel set I've ever liked was Topps Gold hockey where the parallel cards had a different action photo.
Autograph base parallels: I'm not a big fan of the sticker autos, but at least there are two per box this season so completing a team set is not impossible.
Where are the REDBLACKS!!: only one REDBLACKS, Jon Gott, in the 35 card UD Game Jersey subset.
Missing the Subsets: Retros and CFL Scripts/Marks are definitely missed.

 

[g-force]

Here is my take from this year after opening 141 boxes:

Base Set- I think UD did a great job with the base set. The photography is sharp and the design is very clean on the cards. I like the size of the set as it gets a lot of players but still presents a bit of a challenge to complete. Collation on a case basis was very good as I think every 10 box case had four complete base sets.

Parallels- I could do without this many parallels. On the face of it there is some added value to having a hit per pack in some form or another which I imagine is better for people who are buying by the pack. However, as a case breaker there is just way too much clutter from these parallels. I like that they added a parallel but we don't need four different variations.

Jersey/Patch set- I think they did a good job on this but there is room for improvement. First, they need to try to get an equal representation of all the teams. No Eskimos, one Redblack player is not enough. I would like to see a 36 or 45 card set with 4-5 players from each team. Also, try to keep it limited to the better players. Emmanuel Adusei, who played one game for us last year should not be a hit. The patches all seem to be strong swatches with the worst I've seen being 2 color so they did a good job on that.

Autograph set- I think they did a great job with these this year. It was nice to have one SP per team to give some challenge for set builders, both on a complete set and team set basis. The list is deep but strong. There weren't too many players on the list that I was disappointed with when I pulled them. I did like the stand alone auto sets they did in 2015 and 2016 and wish they would go back to that as part of the set but the auto jerseys this year filled that void so I'm okay with that.

Auto jerseys- this was a nice addition and I'll probably put together the set for my PC. Really nice design and a strong player list. However, it would have been nice to see one player for each team.

Team Patches- I know a lot of people really liked these and it would have been nice to see some sort of continuation. I am probably in the minority but I wouldn't mind seeing the old US teams thrown in one year just for completionist sake.

Overall, I think it's a strong product and a definite improvement over last year. 2016 is still my favourite year since UD started but this is a close second place.