2015 UD CFL Box Break and Review

This is the second year of Upper Deck CFL license, and just like last year I picked up a box. (Link the the 2014 box break here). Very similar to last year, the main set is made up of 100 base cards, all offensive players. The next 50 are defensive short prints, last year they were 1 per pack, are now 1:2 packs. The new additions is All-Stars (151-175) at 1:4 packs pushing the rookies back to cards 176-200 at 1:4 packs as well. Relics stay at 2 per box with the patch parallels numbered out of 15. The big jump is in autographs, while 2014 only had 6 autographs in the set, 2015 has 86 in the base autograph variations, and 10 more in the CFL Marks set. OPC retro, Grey Cup moments and Team Logo patches are all back from 2014 as well. The only thing that disappointed me was the the box was $94, while I am sure last year the were $75. $100 after tax is pretty steep for what you are getting here.

August 2015 Sportlots Mailday

 Another card from high on the wantlist to cross off anong with a couple fillers, the reason for the order was a Private Stock Ben Petrick mini. Being a Rockies catcher automatically earns you a spot in my collection. I you are not familiar with the story of Ben Petrick it is worth find out more about. I have gone into it in the past so I will just give a link for the interested.

Emptying the Need to Scan Box

I can't remember who had it first, but it was love at first sight. David Paveloff, cult hero.

Another Subjective Trade

I still have no idea who Kennys Vargas is. After posting my Gypsy Queen box break including an autograph of Mr. Vargas, I noticed a comment by Brian from "Highly Subjective and Completely Arbitrary" saying Vargas was his favorite Twin and he had the power of two regular guys called Kenny and he wanted to trade for the card. Once I realized he was being serious, a trade was born. Starting with some Gypsy Queen for my set, including two short prints and Wilin Rosario that as far as I can tell is the only card in set featuring catcher gear.

Obvious Trade is Obvious

The only thing better than pulling a hit from your team, is pulling a hit of the team from your most frequent trade partner. Buckstore Cards pulled a Roughrider relic, I pulled a Ti-Cat relic. A little help from Canada Post and everyone is happy. An now with the Darian Durant-less Riders packing up their gear and going home, I am jumping on the Hamilton band-wagon behind former Riders Andy Fantuz, Craig Butler, Kent Austin and former Redskin Brandon Banks.

2014 Upper Deck CFL Box Break and Review

It was not big news in the hobby world by any means, but a few us north of the border noticed when Upper Deck secured the rights to make Canadian Football League cards away from long-time CFL partner JOGO. All-World, Extreme and Pacific have all tried their hands at CFL cards, but JOGO has been the only one to stick around, although limiting their products to factory sets recently.

I have always though of Upper Deck as a quality brand and was pretty excited to break some, and with a trip to the big city, I stopped in at the LCS and picked up a box.

The "base set" is broken down into three groups, 1-100 being all offensive players, 101-150 being defensive players shortprinted to one per pack, and 151-180 being Star Rookies falling at 1 every 4 packs. Also included are autographs (1:192 packs), Relics and a few other inserts.

Canadian Trading

It's always nice when a trade doesn't have to to cross international borders, this was the case with the latest Zistle trade with fellow Canuck Olerud363.

 The highlight for me was 3 Gypsy Queen short prints, leaving me 9 short of the 350 card set.

Buckstore Trade with more R's than a Pirate Ship.

Catching up on a trade post with Sportscard From The Dollars Store bringing in the 3 R's, Redskins, Rockies and Roughriders.. His side of the trade already posted here. After pulling a decent Senators card I was hoping it was needed at Buckstorecards, and it was. In return I got a black border Reid Brignac, not only is it a lovely black border parallel, but it catches me up on my Rockies frankenset.

Football Mailday

My football cards to post pile has gotten big enough to go through so it's time to show some off before the Super Bowl weekend.

A card I have always wanted, a 2nd year card of Hall of Famer and NFL record holder for most career interceptions, Paul Krause. I am not a huge graded card guy, so the PSA 6 doesn't bother me, I have just always though this was a good looking card and finding an encapsulated one for a decent price is a nice addition to the Redskins collection.

Buckstore Trade

A trade I thought I had posted, but realized I had totally forgot about until Sportscards From the Dollar Store posted his side of the trade here. He wanted the Chrome Familia auto I pulled and I wanted the Nolan Arenado refractor he pulled and thus a trade was born. He sent along Garrett Atkins relic numbered to 15 along with some random cards.