mclean_m
Verified Trader,
I think it's awesome and am looking forward to picking up some of the ARP for my collection.
Just wish I could afford to buy a case or two.
Just wish I could afford to buy a case or two.
Am I The Only One Who Doesn't Like The Cup?
- Thread starter marvelman55
- Start date
stankskunk
New Member, Must Send First!
+1
The pure-foil design from last year's Stanley Cup Signatures didn't turn out so well IMO. Was very hard to find one that wasn't scratched/dinged right out of the tin.
I'd also agree that seeing the same players in The Cup's sets is boring, but if I was buying cases/tins myself, I'd be hoping for Gretzky/Crosby/Orr etc. If they started toying with that formula too much they'd have to lower the price quite a bit for people to buy it.
thorn
Registered Trader,
Upper Deck is the best. :goal:
Q
quincy
Guest
The Cup offers some really nice cards, some of which I intend to chase. It also offers me ample support for my decision to abandon checklist-driven collecting. A lot of what's in this product is multiplayer cards with the same combos trotted out yet again. Don't get me wrong - there's good reason to slap Sundin and Sakic on a card and offer it to the collecting public. It's just that I, as a constituent of that group, don't any longer feel the need to chase a new variation on that same theme.
I will collect what I like, as usual. The Cup offers me some of that. And that's all it needs to do. If you don't like the product, then don't chase it - it's that simple.
I will collect what I like, as usual. The Cup offers me some of that. And that's all it needs to do. If you don't like the product, then don't chase it - it's that simple.
hextall27
Verified Trader,
I also don't like the thick card stock for regular autos, the "event" used patches and the recycled designs/themes.
mclean_m
Verified Trader,
I could definitely do without the thick card stock for regular base cards. I find it completely unnecessary. That's my only complaint, and also retired players being part of the main base set.
c_bass22
Verified Trader ,
I'm a ITG guy since I like the vintage GU stuff, but I still think that The Cup have some nice cards to chase.
MMarch
One Man Wolfpack, ,
I haven't been a fan of Cup for awhile, and this years offering is the worst overall in my opinion. Price is through the roof right out of the gate and for what reason? Let's just say on average you can get a 6 tin case at $500 per tin. That's $3000 for 36 total cards, so you are paying $83.33 per card. Add in that for the most part you get 8-10 base cards per case, ouch. There is no reason you should get 2 base cards in a $500 pack like this, let's not forget you might get 2 base cards and a base parallel /25 in some tins, OUCH.
People are on both sides of the fence regarding redemptions, some blame the players, some blame UD for not paying the players, whatever the truth is it doesn't matter to me. I watched a case break last night and 8, yes 8 redemptions came out of a 6 tin case. Think about that for a second, you spent $3000 and basically 25% of your hits are redemptions in a product that came out in September? No way Jose, not acceptable in my opinion. Products like Cup just prove this hobby has turned into nothing more then gambling/addiction aside from the very select few true collectors who remain in the hobby. You can go and check any hobby sites case breaks, and for the most part they all say "Here's my case break, all are available for sale only or on EBAY already". It's a rip and flip mentality, more people are saying things like "I can't get anywhere near my money back out of this case", and I even heard a ripper on a youtube video say something to the effect of "How do I pay for all this? Credit cards, I buy all my wax on credit cards and hope to get my money back so I can pay them off and buy more wax". I went down that same road a number of times until I finally realized that I had turned in to a gambling wax ripping junky and said that's enough. I don't regret getting out and after seeing some of these Cup case breaks, it reinforces I made the right decision.
Forgot one thing, for such a high end product why go with so many players of lesser stature? Adding in guys like Hull, Cujo, Linden, etc are great as they have a loyal following and are still collected. But come on, unless you are a die hard Philly fan, aren't you a little ticked that one of your auto "hits" is Tim Kerr? If you want to add a Philly auto for some reason I could understand Keith Primeau, maybe even Derian Hatcher or one of the other mammoth statues they had on defense all those years, but Tim Kerr? Am I the only person asking WHY Tim Kerr???? Dan Boyle is another one that makes me shake my head in amazment, but whatever...
People are on both sides of the fence regarding redemptions, some blame the players, some blame UD for not paying the players, whatever the truth is it doesn't matter to me. I watched a case break last night and 8, yes 8 redemptions came out of a 6 tin case. Think about that for a second, you spent $3000 and basically 25% of your hits are redemptions in a product that came out in September? No way Jose, not acceptable in my opinion. Products like Cup just prove this hobby has turned into nothing more then gambling/addiction aside from the very select few true collectors who remain in the hobby. You can go and check any hobby sites case breaks, and for the most part they all say "Here's my case break, all are available for sale only or on EBAY already". It's a rip and flip mentality, more people are saying things like "I can't get anywhere near my money back out of this case", and I even heard a ripper on a youtube video say something to the effect of "How do I pay for all this? Credit cards, I buy all my wax on credit cards and hope to get my money back so I can pay them off and buy more wax". I went down that same road a number of times until I finally realized that I had turned in to a gambling wax ripping junky and said that's enough. I don't regret getting out and after seeing some of these Cup case breaks, it reinforces I made the right decision.
Forgot one thing, for such a high end product why go with so many players of lesser stature? Adding in guys like Hull, Cujo, Linden, etc are great as they have a loyal following and are still collected. But come on, unless you are a die hard Philly fan, aren't you a little ticked that one of your auto "hits" is Tim Kerr? If you want to add a Philly auto for some reason I could understand Keith Primeau, maybe even Derian Hatcher or one of the other mammoth statues they had on defense all those years, but Tim Kerr? Am I the only person asking WHY Tim Kerr???? Dan Boyle is another one that makes me shake my head in amazment, but whatever...
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FrozenInferno
Resident Bluenoser, Verified Trader,
My personal pros and cons to The Cup:
PROS:
- Despite complaints about the same old players every year the UD stable is gradually improving and they have been bringing on fan favourites over the past couple of releases that haven't signed for them in quite some time. Guys like Sakic, Lindros, Francis, Larionov last year, Brett Hull, CuJo, Belfour, Linden this year. Makes me wonder if they'll coax Bure into signing again next year since he's going to he a HOF'er.
- Limited Logos. I will always love this set and in my opinion the last two years have looked awesome. I wish I had the money to put a set together one of these years.
- Thick card stock, I like it. I think it really gives the cards a premium feel and something so high-end should feel that way.
- Plenty of Team Canada content this year including what look to me like 2010 Olympics jerseys being used for many of the players. UD has a powerful license there and it's good to see them doing more nice things with it.
CONS:
- Dealer/distributor/whoever pricing games which are getting worse and worse all the time. I have never opened the Cup and at this rate it looks like I never will.
- Photoshoot memorabilia being used in sets like Limited Logos, I'd rather is was strictly game-worn but I probably hold that set to a higher regard than most people. Then again I guess we don't really know what's game-worn and what isn't when it comes to UD.
- Less and less pre-release information year after year. Even the Facebook pack-out photos were lacking this year. I don't like waiting until release day to see what my player has in the product, and I'm just a singles collector. I'd never want to preorder a case of something so expensive without knowing what I'm in for.
- Redemptions. Holy crap there are a lot of them this year, no wonder it doesn't come out until September.
- It is kind of the same year after year but I don't think there's much left for UD to try. Panini beat them to a great concept (Prime Ties) and I'm sure we'll see a UD take on it this time next year.
PROS:
- Despite complaints about the same old players every year the UD stable is gradually improving and they have been bringing on fan favourites over the past couple of releases that haven't signed for them in quite some time. Guys like Sakic, Lindros, Francis, Larionov last year, Brett Hull, CuJo, Belfour, Linden this year. Makes me wonder if they'll coax Bure into signing again next year since he's going to he a HOF'er.
- Limited Logos. I will always love this set and in my opinion the last two years have looked awesome. I wish I had the money to put a set together one of these years.
- Thick card stock, I like it. I think it really gives the cards a premium feel and something so high-end should feel that way.
- Plenty of Team Canada content this year including what look to me like 2010 Olympics jerseys being used for many of the players. UD has a powerful license there and it's good to see them doing more nice things with it.
CONS:
- Dealer/distributor/whoever pricing games which are getting worse and worse all the time. I have never opened the Cup and at this rate it looks like I never will.
- Photoshoot memorabilia being used in sets like Limited Logos, I'd rather is was strictly game-worn but I probably hold that set to a higher regard than most people. Then again I guess we don't really know what's game-worn and what isn't when it comes to UD.
- Less and less pre-release information year after year. Even the Facebook pack-out photos were lacking this year. I don't like waiting until release day to see what my player has in the product, and I'm just a singles collector. I'd never want to preorder a case of something so expensive without knowing what I'm in for.
- Redemptions. Holy crap there are a lot of them this year, no wonder it doesn't come out until September.
- It is kind of the same year after year but I don't think there's much left for UD to try. Panini beat them to a great concept (Prime Ties) and I'm sure we'll see a UD take on it this time next year.
cards-gotta-go
Banned User
As an additional con... are the swatch sizes getting progressively smaller, or am I just getting old?
11-12 seems OK... the designs look a little tired and repetitive... the eVolution seems to be the only really "NEW" thing this year.
But the redemption levels look staggeringly high this year... even in spite of the Landeskog (as in UD Ult), and the usual redemptions you can expect (shields, Crosby stuff, some duals, etc)...
... unless I'm looking at too small a sample size.
11-12 seems OK... the designs look a little tired and repetitive... the eVolution seems to be the only really "NEW" thing this year.
But the redemption levels look staggeringly high this year... even in spite of the Landeskog (as in UD Ult), and the usual redemptions you can expect (shields, Crosby stuff, some duals, etc)...
... unless I'm looking at too small a sample size.
mortuus
New Member, Must Send First!
The first 2 cup were amazing and offered something new and fresh, then each year design just got worse and worse on some sets and the price just seems to increase for each year and i still think its outrageous how a tin with 5,6 cards they can ask almost 600$ for that, thanks for that distributors no way its even fun to buy one for the thrills..
cheeseheadman
Verified Trader
How long until The Cup singles (less a few such as the Crosby RC) drop in price like a stone. The product makes me think of the old Titanium and SP Game Used that sold for $25 or so a pack and you got a jersey card. Most of those sell for under $5.
There are only a few players you can keep producing cards of all the time and have them be worth anything.
There are only a few players you can keep producing cards of all the time and have them be worth anything.
S4Kh4r0v
Verified Trader,
Hahaha, that would be the comment I made on one of my Prime breaks videos. I'm sorry that you didn't get the sarcasm in my comment though...
I simply hate when people ask me "Man how can you pay for all those boxes you break?!?" I don't make videos to share my whole personal life, but to share my passion. Yes, I sell most of what I open. But I never thought I would make money out of it. What I love the most about this hobby is opening boxes. I love chasing PC cards, but you don't get the rush from opening a 400$ pack of cards. The only moment where I'll complain about "not making my money back" is when I feel like the product is terribly overpriced, like what we saw from last year's Luxury Suite for instance... Which brings us back on topic...
Quite honestly, I like this year's Cup. My main complaint would be that prices skyrocketed, for pretty much the same product as last year. Light improvements, but much higher prices. As usual, The Cup is, and has always been, a hit or miss product. But at 500+$ per tin right from release date, you'll most likely lose A LOT from it. Believe it or not, but without the case breakers that sell their hits, the collectors who only buy singles won't have much to buy.
I pulled a Sidney Crosby Signature Patches /35 and a Mike Gartner Limited Logos /50 for my two tins, amongst a few other solid cards (a 1/1 printing plate, Lundqvist patch /10, Brett Hull Enshrinements to name a few). Are those nice looking and desirable cards? Absolutely. Are those tins worth the 500+$ price mark? I don't think so. I honestly had much stronger reactions while opening Prime, that was less than half the price of Cup.
I feel like Upper Deck think they can up their prices as much as they want, and we'll keep buying, since it's THE CUP. However, with what Panini recently started to offer, and if Dominion is as amazing as we all expect (even more after we saw what they could do with Prime), that might mark an important moment in our hobby. IF Dominion delivers, while staying cheaper than The Cup, the customers might realize that we don't need to pay ridiculous prices to have a quality product.
Stadium Sports
Verified Trader,
It will always have a following. I am more suprised at the success of PRIME as (IMO) it is Panini's OPCP (which was a dog).
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Rockets Sports Cards
Verified Trader,
I'll tell you one thing about The Cup....
for the low-mid end collectors that cant afford it, it's the one product that they aspire to have just one nice card from and that card would be the pinnacle of their collections.
I sell a lot of low-end cup singles to people that buy boxes of products such as Black Diamond, SPA, BTP, UD1 and UD2. theyre just thrilled to own a Cup card.
Ive never opened a tin personally, now that I own the shop it just doesnt make sense.
I can see the appeal for the highend collector with money to spend.
It just has a very limited market in my opinion. Still nice stuff though.
for the low-mid end collectors that cant afford it, it's the one product that they aspire to have just one nice card from and that card would be the pinnacle of their collections.
I sell a lot of low-end cup singles to people that buy boxes of products such as Black Diamond, SPA, BTP, UD1 and UD2. theyre just thrilled to own a Cup card.
Ive never opened a tin personally, now that I own the shop it just doesnt make sense.
I can see the appeal for the highend collector with money to spend.
It just has a very limited market in my opinion. Still nice stuff though.
sdpdesign
Registered Trader ,
I have seen some nice breaks on here of the product but am glad that I am not a plyer collector & it is way out of my price range for the amount of cards you end up getting...it is a house payment or more!
The designs are eh, and have been for the last few years. Not the best this year! Provide bigger patches too! I have to work for over a week to afford a pack! I want a patch that is bigger than what I can get in all of the other products.
And Irbefan had it right, damaged out of packs? Put them in plastic like ITG Ultimate...reduce the chance of damage. If a company w/o a NHL license can do it, the company that had exclusivity should be able to do it!
Again. Sorry for rant.
The designs are eh, and have been for the last few years. Not the best this year! Provide bigger patches too! I have to work for over a week to afford a pack! I want a patch that is bigger than what I can get in all of the other products.
And Irbefan had it right, damaged out of packs? Put them in plastic like ITG Ultimate...reduce the chance of damage. If a company w/o a NHL license can do it, the company that had exclusivity should be able to do it!
Again. Sorry for rant.
guy3050
New Member, Must Send First,
For me The Cup release is like Christmas in July.... I mean September.
troyjk
Registered Trader
I like to see everyone else bust open those tins. I will never ever be able to spend $500 for a pack of cards. When packs become more than a car payment, it is hard to justify the purchase lol.
The newer version of The Cup are not really interesting to me, I love collecting some 05/06 The Cup singles that Marian Hossa is in. I have tried to get all of those. I would love a shield from that year but I just can't afford those. THe 11/12 design looks way too similar to the 10/11 design so I won't go out of my way to collect any new singles...I am a fan of The Cup but it looks like they already need to shake things up on the next release.
The newer version of The Cup are not really interesting to me, I love collecting some 05/06 The Cup singles that Marian Hossa is in. I have tried to get all of those. I would love a shield from that year but I just can't afford those. THe 11/12 design looks way too similar to the 10/11 design so I won't go out of my way to collect any new singles...I am a fan of The Cup but it looks like they already need to shake things up on the next release.
Me too. I always look forward to watching the breaks and seeing the new singles listed on eBay with every refresh.
Are the Emblems of Endorsement patches bigger this year? They look to be from what I've seen so far.
gobuffalo2331
Verified Trader,
That Jonathan Toews on ebay with the two logo patches from the Hawk is a beautiful looking card. I was interested in that dual auto logo shield of Cujo when I first saw it, but go figure neither of the shields are centered which drives me crazy :curse:
