Truth Rob, modern cards are NOT a good way to make money. I still think you can go into buying some cards knowing almost 100% you can turn a profit. Case breakers usually do alright if they get stuff out there quick and flip it but if it stagnates in their inventory for any amount of time the market is gone like that due to additional copies of the same card and/or the next product releasing.
Like I said, certain type cards of certain players will always be in demand, especially significant rookie year issues and the highest of the high end cards of superstars. But that's really it, it's extremely rare as you know and outside of that handful and the occasional anomaly, cards are a bust all around for profitability in this day and age due to over saturation and redundancy.
I personally love new ideas and fresh concepts to chase as well as some of the retro themed stuff brought back from the 90's. Of course there will always be the intermittent high end beast we all desire, but I really dig the nice inserts these days.
But to to stay on topic, again, there is a very small amount of shields that are worth any considerable money long-term or that hold their value. And I don't think more shields is a solution. Less is always more, demand exceeding quantity. Unfortunately Upper Deck has to appease it's customers and shields are a huge component of that, they're still the # 1 hit for 99% of the hobby. If they could ever come up with something that is annually as anticipated and desirable as shield cards it might help to back off the shields a little and balance things out.
Thoughts?