Does Leaf get a raw deal?

BenDMitchell

BenDMitchell

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Is anyone paying attention to these latest Leaf releases? They just released In The Game Used sports and EVERY card in the product is game used. That is something that Upper Deck can't say even in a product called SP Game Used. Now, I am well aware of the licensing issue and the sticker autos but do those things really matter that much if you are getting really good autos and all game used patches? They are able to produce multiple sport cards which other manufactures are unable to do. I don't know but I sure like their product and I can look past the licensing and stickers. They have great memorabilia in their products as well. And besides Pearl, are very fairly priced. After looking at some breaks of 7,000 dollar cases of The Cup, I will take Leaf anyday. Anyway, just writing some of my thoughts and am looking forward to hear some other viewpoints.
 
The license seems like a big deal, and yes, because UD has/had a lot of $$$ to give, they got the license. Product wise, leaf has a very decent product that wasn’t present when it was UD & Panini. ITG was solid and gave some great products during their run but lost out to the $$$ that UD could toss around.

Leaf, has been able to put out some very quality products to the niche market. They are definitely targeting the deeper pockets of the older collectors and with game worn stock of some of the all-time greats, and excellent talent pool of stars from yesteryears, they hit that niche. You definitely miss the new up and coming players, new prospects, and current stars, but that is where UD is betting their money as they haven’t had great luck in the past with legendary sets, since it is a niche that is a lesser of the overall market. The SP Legends set coming up will test the waters as they have seen some of that niche market see resurgence and greater interest, which definitely was assisted by Chronology.
 
IMHO this, as just about all else in life, just comes down to preference.

The licensing and sticker autos are gating issues for some collectors - including me among (I think) lots of others - but that shouldn't have any bearing on whether you enjoy it!

I wouldn't let anyone "yuck your yum" or otherwise invalidate something that you really enjoy.

If you're really enjoying the Leaf products, that's awesome - we should all, with luck, be able to find products which provide us joy and if Leaf is where you're finding it, no reason to not pursue more of it.

Cause without it, what's the point?
 
I am not sure if it is a raw deal, but their inability to use logos and some player images does hurt the overall appeal of the cards to a larger market.

Some of their designs are very nice, especially with their limitations.
 
SNobles said:
I am not sure if it is a raw deal, but their inability to use logos and some player images does hurt the overall appeal of the cards to a larger market.

Some of their designs are very nice, especially with their limitations.
Click to expand...

Those brushed logo cards and multiplayer cards where some (not all) are featured by a jersey are an abomination.

How come Panini is so good (or perhaps they're not, but if I didn't know they were unlicensed I probably wouldn't notice) with unlicensed baseball cards? Could somebody explain to me?
 
They work reasonably well within the limitations that they have regarding licensing. However I find very little appealing in their card design outside a few subsets, and as such I have no interest in their cards, which is the same as I feel about Presidents Choice. However, both companies have their fans, and I hope they stick around to continue to appease that section of the marketplace.
 
I am not a huge fan of most of their designs and I just am not a sticker auto guy at all.

What really does it for me is their email distributions. I find they are poorly written, always some crazy font, etc. To me it just looks unprofessional.

I do have Leaf cards in my collection, but I am very very selective when adding them.
 
Kharlamov17 said:
Those brushed logo cards and multiplayer cards where some (not all) are featured by a jersey are an abomination.

How come Panini is so good (or perhaps they're not, but if I didn't know they were unlicensed I probably wouldn't notice) with unlicensed baseball cards? Could somebody explain to me?
Click to expand...

The difference is Panini won't do jersey only cards, they only do cards of players they have deals with. We choose to do the jersey images because we have amazing memorabilia and it would be a shame not to use them. I think "abomination" is a bit strong :)

We also do player licensed baseball, same as panini.

Hockey is just a different animal, much harder to feature a brushed image as logos dominate the jerseys in hockey, so they will be more noticed missing the logo.

Having said all that, while "player licensed" isn't for everyone and we get that, I will put our design, content, creativity and value at or above the level of anyone.

We have LUMBER Hockey out in 3 weeks, Art of Hockey and ITGU Hockey after that then Ultimate Hockey one the horizon. We teased out some inscriptions for Ultimate on Twitter this week
 
ITG had the same constraints leaf has but they were able to still make great designs and collectable cards. I cant get behind anything leaf has done.

Leaf needs to fire their graphic design team and hire some fresh creative talent.

Just my opinion.
 
Overall, no eye appeal.

I was a huge fan of ITG before Leaf took over and the lack of eye appeal is what kills it for me. This can range from the overall card designs, some very uncollectible themed cards, jersey backs, jersey backs and head shot theme cards, the use of full body pics with no logo( why use it???) and some of those shield cards are not nice!


It could have been done so much better.....it's all in the details!!!Don't get me wrong, a couple of releases were nice but overall...can't justify buying a box, let alone buying singles in the aftermarket


Hope there is change for the future
 
As far as the designs go, I think Leaf has done a great job at listening to collectors and making strides on the designs of their products. I see improvment in every release (the upcoming Lumber product, for example, looks sharp IMO). While they are handcuffed due to a lack of license, with time I beleive they can only keep getting better.

Hope to see Jhonas Enroth make an appearance in their products one day so I can add some Leafs cards to my collection. I know they still have some of his jersey memorabilia kicking around.
 
I used to love ITG back when it was licensed. Great card designs. I agree with Dean here, there just isn't any eye appeal. Sometimes less is more as well, and the multiple jersey swatches with every color of the rainbow as a parallel? It's the reason I do not include any of their Luongo's on my checklist. I'm not sure what the answer is, but I do feel like there is something that can be done with the detail to make it more desirable.

I feel the same way about presidents choice, but they did a fantastic job with the "In The Crease" set.

I wish there were other companies in the hobby, but without an actual picture of a player, or a team logo, what's the point?
 
Going to echo a lot of the sentiment here about the lack of appeal on the design. It's not that it looks cheap, I just personally don't like a lot of it.

With that said, I think Leaf has improved with design in leaps and bounds in recent years. The recent Expo and Signature Series sets are very eye appealing, in my opinion, especially if you get a good color match for your player. Pro Set Memories was also a slam dunk, even if it was just repurposing those old designs.

I'm also thankful to Leaf for consistently making affordable autos of HHOF legends, including Mogilny and players who didn't sign in forever, and finally reeling in Sergei Makarov to sign some cards. Now, please do Fetisov and Angela Ruggiero!

The memorabilia is incredible too. I don't really snag many Leaf cards outside of of a few cuts and the occasional player I need, but I do like breaking them a few times a year.

Also, I feel like some recent UD designs, especially in The Cup that just released, seem similar to Leaf's style.
 
The only Leaf set I PC is 2015 Superlative, since it has HARD-SIGNED autos, a checklist with lots of legends (several of whom have since passed-away), some great memorabilia, and they did a good job of concealing logos without air-brushing on about 75% of the cards.

I also have to commend them for honouring redemption cards in a timely manner — even those that had been expired for more than five years. Leaf is head and shoulders above other companies in that regard.

I fully understand that hard-signed autos won’t return, but I think they can improve their offerings by:

1. Making a better effort to conceal logos without air-brushing — use more head or profile shots of players. And stop replacing Gretzky’s head with a hockey puck.

2. If combining multiple players on a card, ensure they have something in common (e.g. played for the same team, are all 500-goal scorers, are all goalies from the same era, etc.)

3. Attempting to match memorabilia to the team pictured on the card. For example, it drives me crazy if I see Gordie Howe pictured in a Wings jersey, but the memorabilia piece is green and yellow.

4. Following President’s Choice lead and identifying the memorabilia on the card. If there’s a piece of leather on a card, is it a glove? Skate? Pad? Blocker?

5. Improving fact-checking in hockey. For example, the sell sheet for the new Lumber Hockey shows Richard scoring his 50th goal in 1954 — when it should be 1945. If I have confirmation that this error was fixed before the product was shipped, then I might actually pick-up a box of Lumber.
 
Glenfiddich said:
The only Leaf set I PC is 2015 Superlative, since it has HARD-SIGNED autos, a checklist with lots of legends (several of whom have since passed-away), some great memorabilia, and they did a good job of concealing logos without air-brushing on about 75% of the cards.

I also have to commend them for honouring redemption cards in a timely manner — even those that had been expired for more than five years. Leaf is head and shoulders above other companies in that regard.

I fully understand that hard-signed autos won’t return, but I think they can improve their offerings by:

1. Making a better effort to conceal logos without air-brushing — use more head or profile shots of players. And stop replacing Gretzky’s head with a hockey puck.

2. If combining multiple players on a card, ensure they have something in common (e.g. played for the same team, are all 500-goal scorers, are all goalies from the same era, etc.)

3. Attempting to match memorabilia to the team pictured on the card. For example, it drives me crazy if I see Gordie Howe pictured in a Wings jersey, but the memorabilia piece is green and yellow.

4. Following President’s Choice lead and identifying the memorabilia on the card. If there’s a piece of leather on a card, is it a glove? Skate? Pad? Blocker?

5. Improving fact-checking in hockey. For example, the sell sheet for the new Lumber Hockey shows Richard scoring his 50th goal in 1954 — when it should be 1945. If I have confirmation that this error was fixed before the product was shipped, then I might actually pick-up a box of Lumber.
Click to expand...


Ill answer these items as they are fair questions, but probably need to be fleshed out a bit

1. We have begun with the last 4-5 releases to make an effort to conceal the lack of logos better. This isn't always easy and can tend to make designs difficult and repetitive. We are conscious of the logo issue.

2. While there are some cards that have 6 or 8 players that may not have a direct connection, I promise we do more themed multi player inserts, by fay, then any other company. 500 goals, 300 wins, last season, 1st season, HOF class, by team, by country, by title, you stat, you name it

3. agree, we can do better at matching image to swatch

4. We also can do better, however, if we, by mistake, put the wrong item used or we run short after cutting and have to remove the card. That gives and anxiety!

5. This Richard 50 in 50 was fixed right after there sell sheet went out, if you want proof email me I have the cards in hand :)
 

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