Ed The Collector

The Rundown:
Packs per Box: 1
Cards per Pack: 5
Guaranteed Hits per Box: 3 autograph or memorabilia cards
Price: FREE (raffle win at PlatinumCardBreaks.com)

​​The Hits:
Base Card:
1 - Josh Richardson RC /80

Spotlight Parallel:
1 - Sam Dekker RC /49

All-Star Patches:
1 - Paul Millsap /25

Decade Dominance Jerseys:
1 - Dennis Rodman /149

Rookie Jersey Autograph:
1 - Chris McCullough RC /99

The Wrap-Up:
A free box is a free box. I don't follow basketball with the same fervor that I used to, so maybe I'm wrong, but this seems pretty weak to me; especially for a product that was around $100 per box at release (they've slipped considerably since).  I don't know much about the rookies I got, so maybe one of them will pan out; but I don't think any of these would command much value anyway. The All-Star Patches are especially weak since Brooklyn's color scheme is a boring black and white. The Rodman was the nicest card of the bunch -- the jersey swatch was from the Bull's black jerseys with red pinstripes and it's #149/149.

The Rundown:
Packs per Box: 3 assorted packs plus UltraPro supplies and candy
Cards per Pack: varies
Guaranteed Hits per Box: none
Price: $25.00 shipped (TheLootLocker.com)

​The Packs:

2016 Topps Gypsy Queen:
Base: 8 - Carlos Carrasco, Freddie Freeman, Michael Brantley, Dallas Keuchel, Jacob deGrom, Christian Colon, Hunter Pence, Lorenzo Cain
Mini: 1 - Migeul Almonte
Purple Mini (1:9): - 1 - Jason Kipnis /250
Power Alley: 1 - Carlos Delgado

2015 Topps Finest:
Base: 3 - Bryce Harper, Daniel Norris RC, Joe Panik
Refractors: 1 - Josh Reddick
'94 Finest: 1 - Jose Bautista

2016 Panini Diamond Kings:
Base: 7 - Max Scherzer, Xander Bogaerts, Joey Gallo, Josh Donaldson, Adrian Gonzalez, Luke Jackson RC, Miguel Almonte RC
Studio Portraits Autographed Dual Jersey: Trea Turner /99

The Wrap-Up:
As always, the day my Loot Locker comes is one of my favorite days of mail all month. For roughly the same price as a blaster box, you get a handful of hobby packs (which have been pretty consistent in delivering nice hits for me), some supplies and a fun little candy pack.  I can't complain about the three premium packs in this month's box, and once again another hit. It's hard to have this kind of luck with blasters, so I'd much rather get one of these for about the same price.

The Rundown:
Packs per Box: 20
Cards per Pack: 5
Guaranteed Hits per Box: 1 autographed Future Watch rookie card & 2 additional autographs
Price: $120 (A&S Sports)

​​The Hits:
SP Authentic Base Subset Cards:
Legends (1:5) - 4 - Pierre Turgeon, Steve Yzerman, Bobby Clarke, Borje Salming
All-Time Moments (1:13) - 1 - Felix Potvin
Authentic Moments (1:13) - 2 - Aaron Ekblad, Connor McDavid
Multi-Player Authentic Moments (1:50) - 1 - Jonathan Toews & Patrick Sharp

Future Watch Rookie Cards (1:20):
1 - Joseph Blandisi (/999)

Future Watch Autographed Rookie Cards:
2 - Emile Poirier (/999), Mikko Ratanen EXCH (/949)

Sign of the Times Autograph:
1 - Tyler Johnson

2014-15 Sign of the Times Autograph:
1 - Philipp Grubauer

'95-96 SP Retro Cards:
Veterans (1:10) - 2 - Corey Perry, Jamie Benn
Premier Prospects (1:12) - 2 - Mike Condon, Sergei Plotnikov

Upper Deck Updates:
Veterans (1:7) - 3 - Seth Ones, Landon Ferraro, Eric Staal
Young Guns (1:25) - 1 - Phil DiGiuseppe

The Wrap-Up:
Yes, I got an extra autograph and yes one of the SP's was a Connor McDavid; but I was still completely underwhelmed by this box of what I usually consider a solid product. I feel like UD's mid-range products all suffer from the same problem lately -- not enough bang for your buck. There has to be a way to spruce things up, by either changing it to a one-pack format with better hits; or maybe by combining a couple of these mid-tier releases into a Rookie Update product like they did in the past. Now I know that's a longshot with SPA, in particular, because it's considered one of the UD keystone brands; but I think something has to change to make it a more interesting break in the future.

The Rundown:
Packs per Box: 10
Cards per Pack: 4
Guaranteed Hits per Box: 1 autographed rookie jersey & 2 additional autos/memorabilia/premium inserts
Price: $90 (A&S Sports)

​​The Hits:
SPx Base Subset Cards:
Shift Change - 2 - Nathan MacKinnon, Sam Bennett
Stick Wizards - 2 - Evgeni Malkin, Jaromir Jagr
Name on the Front - 1 - Jonathan Toews

SPx Base Rookie Cards:
2 - Linus Ullmark, Brendan Gaunce

SPx Rookie Auto Jersey:
1 - Jordan Weal (/499)

Monochromatics Jersey:
1 - Carey Price

X-Patch Dual Gold:
1 - Ryan Getzlaf/Ryan Kelsler (/10)

The Wrap-Up:
It's been a while since I broke a hockey box, and I was looking forward to this one. After opening it, however, I'm not really sure why.  From a recouping what I spent perspective, this box was pretty brutal. The dual patch sells for $15-20, and that's the best card pulled. I do really like Upper Deck's card designs better than their former competitors; but I wish they provided a little more value on a per-box basis. I'm also not a fan of the printed numbering on the back of the rookie auto jersey card, would it really cost that much more to foil stamp them on the front? And for that matter, why not number the base rookies too?

The Rundown:
Packs per Box: 20
Cards per Pack: 5
Guaranteed Hits per Box: 6 autographs & 1 Team USA jersey card
Price: $55 (PackRip.com)

​​The Hits:
Red Inspirations Die-Cut:
1 - Mitch Keller (/200)

Blue Status Die-Cut:
2 - Rusney Castillo, Mark Zagunis (/100)

Green Status Die-Cut:
1 - Rusney Castillo (/25)

Red Signature:
1 - Shane Zeile (/599)

Red Franchise Future Signature:
3 -  Austin Fisher, Jared Walker, Brandon Downes (/799)

Green Franchise Future Signature:
2 - Brian Schales, Max George (/25)

Elite Expectations:
1 - Cole Tucker

Elite Series:
3 - Luis Severino, Max Pentecost, Luke Weaver

Elite Status Dual Signature:
1 - Trea Turner/Brett Austin (/25)

Historic Picks:
1 - Johnny Bench

Team USA Jersey:
1 - Steven Williams

The Wrap-Up:
I took advantage of PackRip's offer of $10 extra with a deposit, so this box only really cost me $45. I know EEE isn't everyone's cup of tea, but I think it's a solid product for its price point. I hit an extra autograph in the box, which I'm assuming is the Elite Status Dual, as it's an auto variation on the insert.  From my past posts, you may remember that I think pretty highly of Trea Turner, who looks like he will turn out to be pretty good (too bad he's now in the Mets' division); so I was pretty happy with that hit.