2015 Upper Deck CFL Football Box Break: Part 2

(Part 1)

Here is the pack-by-pack play-by-play Box Break of 2015 Upper Deck CFL Football: Part 2.

Box Break: Opened packs starting form bottom left stack working down top to bottom, then to bottom right stack working down top to bottom, then to top left stack working down top to bottom, and finally to top right stack working down top to bottom.

Pack 1: (7 cards including only box HIT)
156 All-Stars Clarence Denmark West Division Blue Bombers

Game Jersey GJ-CK John Chick Roughriders all-green swatch
63 Matt Nichols Eskimos
31 Terrence Toliver Tiger-Cats
43 Jerome Messam Roughriders
24 Jordan Lynch Eskimos
83 Greg Ellingson Reblacks

Pack 2:
138 Jerald Brown Alouettes
White Blank Decoy
51 Devon Bailey Eskimos
94 Pierre Lavertu Stampeders
O-Pee-Chee Retro 33 Ricky Foley Argonauts
56 Samuel Giguere Alouettes
34 Terrell Sinkfield Jr. Tiger-Cats

Pack 3:
Star Rookies: 189 David Beard Eskimos
White Blank Decoy
18 Chad Owens Argonauts
93 Jeff Keeping Argonauts
3 Weston Dressler Roughriders

29 Brandon Banks Tiger-Cats (Redskins NFL)
15 Fred Stamps Alouettes

Pack 4:
103 Trsitan Jackson Roughriders
74 Danny O'Brien Redblacks
52 Chris Williams Redblacks
O-Pee-Chee Retro 46 J.C. Sherritt Eskimos
44 James Rodgers Alouettes
72 Jeremiah Johnson Redblacks

Pack 5:

Star Rookies: 184 Jeff Mathews Tiger-Cats
White Blank Decoy
10 Anthoney Allen Roughriders
42 Kendial Lawrence Eskimos
14 Vidal Hazelton Argonauts
99 Brendon LaBatte Roughriders
46 Rob Bagg Roughriders

Pack 6:
All-Stars 158 Adam Bighill West Division Lions
White Blank Decoy
77 Brett Smith Roughriders
23 Clarence Denmark Blue Bombers
6 Austin Collie Lions
47 Brad Sinopoli Redblacks
92 Chris Van Zeyl Argonauts

Pack 7:
128 John Bowman Alouettes
White Blank Decoy
67 Chad Simpson Eskimos
28 A.C. Leonard Lions
59 Nick Moore Blue Bombers
38 Johnathan Crompton Alouettes
84 Trevor Harris Argonauts

Pack 8:

All-Stars Brandon Banks East Division Tiger-Cats
White Blank Decoy
57 Kenny Stafford Eskimos
91 Tyler Holmes Argonauts
O-Pee-Chee Retro 21 Chris Williams Redblacks
25 Henry Burris Redblacks
36 Jamel Richardson Roughriders

Pack 9:
146 Greg Jones Argonauts
White Blank Decoy
33 John Beck Lions
89 Tiquan Underwood Tiger-Cats
20 Jeff Fuller Stampeders
64 Cody Hoffman Alouettes
53 Darvin Adams Blue Bombers

Pack 10:
Star Rookies: 199 Kevin Elliott Argonauts
White Blank Decoy
82 Tryell Sutton Alouettes
70 Stefan Logan Alouettes
96 Stanley Bryant Blue Bombers
37 Mossis Madu Tiger-Cats
48 Mike Reilly Eskimos

Pack 11:
124 Swayze Waters Argonauts
White Blank Decoy
61 Wallace Miles Eskimos
95 Jeff Perrett Alouettes

O-Pee-Chee Retro 11 Chris Getzlaf Roughriders
39 Manny Arceneaux Lions
68 Darian Durant Roughriders

Pack 12:
All-Stars 174 Swayze Waters East Division Argonauts
White Blank Decoy
80 Curtis Steele Argonauts
12 Nate Coehoorn Eskimos
22 Brandon Whitaker Argonauts
69 Tim Brown Stampeders
13 Travis Lulay Lions

Pack 13:
Star Rookies: 176 Alex Mateas Redblacks
White Blank Decoy
87 Julian Feoli-Gudino Blue Bombers
5 Bo Levi Mitchell Stampeders
O-Pee-Chee Retro 39 Ted Laurent Tiger-Cats
45 Matt Carter Redblacks
71 Paris Cotton Blue Bombers

Pack 14:

119 Kyries Hebert Alouettes
White Blank Decoy
98 Josh Bourke Alouettes
85 James Franklin Eskimos
41 Taj Smith Roughriders
100 Checklist cards 1-100 Zac Collaros Tiger-Cats and Jon Cornish Stampeders
19 Chevon Walker Redblacks

Pack 15:
132 Shea Emry Roughriders
White Blank Decoy
35 Cameron Marshall Blue Bombers
90 Peter Dyakowski Tiger-Cats
54 Ernest Jackson Redblacks
16 Drew Tate Stampeders
27 Andre Durie Argonauts

Pack 16:
114 Keon Raymond Stampeders
White Blank Decoy
Three miscut cards don't know card # (guessed using checklist)
?75? Anthony Parker Stampeders
?62? Rob Cote Stampeders
?9? Brian Brohm Blue Bombers
100 Checklist cards 1-100 Zac Collaros Tiger-Cats and Jon Cornish Stampeders (dupe)
19 Chevon Walker Redblacks

Pack 17:
All-Stars 162 Rob Maver West Division Stampeders
White Blank Decoy
Two Miscut cards
?78? Drew Willy Blue Bombers Miscut card
?32? Anthony Coombs Argonauts Miscut card

O-Pee-Chee Retro 2 Luke Tasker Tiger-Cats
76 Andy Fantuz Tiger-Cats
7 Adarius Bowman Eskimos

Pack 18:
140 Khalil Bass Blue Bombers
White Blank Decoy
55 Maurice Price Redblacks
88 Cory Watson Eskimos
Miscut Card
?1? Ricky Ray Argonauts Miscut card
60 Joe West Stampeders
26 Ryan Smith Roughriders

Pack 19:
Star Rookies: 193 Brendon Morgan Blue Bombers
White Blank Decoy
Two Micut Cards
90 Peter Dyakowski Tiger-Cats miscut card (dupe)
54 Ernest Jackson Redblacks miscut card

O-Pee-Chee Retro 9 Bear Woods Alouettes
99 Brendon LaBatte Roughriders (dupe)
46 Rob Bagg Roughriders

Pack 20:
134 Bryant Turner Jr. Blue Bombers
2 more miscut cards
?65? Nik Lewis Alouettes miscut card
?66? C.J. Gable Tiger-Cats miscut card
O-Pee-Chee Retro 20 Tim O'Neill Tiger-Cats
16 Drew Tate Stampeders
27 Andre Durie Argonauts

Pack 21:
Star Rookies: 187 Brandon Bridge Alouettes
White Blank Decoy
?73? Rory Kohlert Blue Bombers miscut card
?97? Jovan Olafioye Lions miscut card

?81? Eric Rogers Stampeders miscut card no number can't even see first name
45 Matt Carter Redblacks
71 Paris Cotton Blue Bombers

Pack 22:
136 Chip Cox Alouettes
White Blank Decoy
11 S.J. Green Alouettes
40 Shakir Bell Eskimos

Grey Cup Moments: GCM3 Brandon Banks Tiger-Cats
21 Zach Collaros Tiger-Cats
50 Bakari Grant Tiger-Cats

Pack 23:
Star Rookies: 181 Rakeem Cato Alouettes (right bottom corner a bit nicked)
White Blank Decoy
49 Marquay McDaniel Stampeders
2 Jon Cornish Stampeders
O-Pee-Chee Retro 6 Zach Collaros Tiger-Cats
79 Courtney Taylor Lions
8 Luke Tasker Tiger-Cats

Pack 24:
113 J.C. Sherrit Eskimos
White Blank Decoy
58 Shawn Gore Lions
4 Chris Getzlaf Roughriders
17 Andrew Harris Lions
30 Kevin Glenn Roughriders
86 Marco Iannuzzi Lions

Totals:
23 White Blank Decoys: So one in each pack without a hit.

145 cards (1 extra)
Base: 134: A full set is 200 cards so you need at least 2 boxes to maybe get a full set. Due to the randomness there is no guarantee of that even.
Protrait/Vertical: 120
Landscape/Horizontal: 14
5 All Stars: Average 6 per box
7 Star Rookies: Average 6 per box
10 Duplicates

Inserts:
9 O-Pee-Chee Retro inserts: Average 8 per box.
1 Grey Cup Moments
1 “Hit" Game Jersey: Average is 2 per box but not guaranteed

13 Miscut cards - That is way too many. They fell mostly in the second half of the box 8 in 4 consecutive packs and then later 5 more in 2 consecutive packs.

2015 Upper Deck CFL Football Box Break: Part 1

My last post was a little cryptic. I have done my box break and started to sort the cards, posted a little late and well now the cat is out of the bag.

OK where to begin?

The Beginning why not?

“A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away…” OK Wrong beginning.

Some weeks ago I got a surprise email from one of Upper Deck’s Marketing people. It began with a short introduction and then the attention grabbing “I wanted to reach out to you because I love what you do regarding your Upper Deck card set.” I’m not sure exactly which set is being referenced or what special thing I did to get on the marketing department’s RADAR. I just hope I stay there so I can get more goodies. (Topps, Rittenhouse and Panini would be Super as well)

Anyway continuing…

“We would love to connect with you regarding some other sets including 2015 Upper Deck Canadian Football League, 2015 UD Turkish Airlines Euroleague Basketball, and 2015 UD USA Football...I have a couple extra media review copies and wanted to see if you would be interested in receiving one each as long as you would write something up on the product to share with your audience.”

I replied positively to the email and included my mailing address. A few weeks later, on Wednesday 23 December 2015 the Eve before Christmas Eve I got my package from Upper Deck. In a sea of pale pink packing peanuts was this fine hobby box of 2015 Upper Deck Canadian Football League cards 24 packs with 6 cards per pack. Those other products would be fun to bust as well, but Oh well.

Since there are 24 packs I will have to post the pack-by-pack listing separately to keep this from being too long a post.

First off I really enjoy this product mostly for its simplicity. My box breaking experience has some positives and negatives that I will cover with this post.

The base set consists of 200 cards. Inserts include retro O-Pee-Chee cards (50 card set), autograph cards, game used jersey cards, #d GU patch cards, and team logo patch cards. Cardboard Connection has the full checklist and basic product details at this link http://www.cardboardconnection.com/2015-upper-deck-football-cards (you will have to click between product details and the checklist)

I like the plain simple design with the bottom corner framing and the opposite corner flush with the edge. I am glad there is no annoying silver or gold foil that is impossible to read. Sadly there is some white lettering on silver background where the player’s position is listed. 

The front of the base cards has a large picture of the player mostly in-game action shots. The Upper Deck logo is in the upper left corner and the top and left sides of the card the picture hits flush on the edge for the “full picture” feel. The Right hand border is a white background with some light gray/silver shadowing and some team color hashlines top and bottom with the player’s position in white lettering (hard to read and gets lost) in both English and French. The bottom edge has a border that matches the teams main color with the Player’s name in white letters (the name could be a bit bigger) under the player name is his team name in gray/silver, very tiny a bit harder to read than the player’s name. And in the right hand corner of the colored border is the team logo.

The back is pretty standard they repeat the head/bust part from the front picture. There is some matching of team colors with the general design.

Most of the base card fronts are regular portrait (vertical) orientation, but there are a few landscape (horizontal) oriented card fronts, the backs are all portrait. The Checklists have two players on the front in the landscaped orientation, with the checklist on the back in regular portrait orientation. I am glad there are no multi-parallels, and that the number of insert sets, are kept to a minimum.

The inserts sadly don’t list the team names, but do have the team logos on the fronts. There are two main insert sub-sets “All-Stars” and “Star Rookies”. Oops those are also base cards. Well they have a slightly different look so I mistook them for inserts they are actually two “sub-sets” within the main base set numbering.

The All-Star Cards divided in their coloring by East (red border) and West (blue border) Divisions. The color border runs along the top, left and bottom edges with the right side having the player’s picture flush against the card edge. Again the Upper Deck logo is in upper left corner. Top right of the card kind of hard to read is the Division (East or West). Left side again in tiny lettering is the player’s position. On the bottom is a gray/silver banner with All-Stars in black lettering with the player’s name in white lettering underneath, and team logo on left hand side. Oh and I just noticed the player’s number in the bottom right corner how nice, didn’t see it before.

Backs are nicely done, except nowhere is the team name actually written out, just the team logo on front. After opening a few packs I got used to the various teams. I don’t follow CFL as closely as I do the NFL so I am not as familiar with the 9 teams in the league. I really wish they would do some expanding and have 12 teams to make things a little more exciting.

The Star Rookies cards again follow the regular base card team colors design. The front player picture is flush with the top, bottom and right edges the left edge has a color bar that matches the player’s team colors. The usual Upper Deck logo in left corner Star Rookies reading bottom to top vertically along the bar and team logo bottom corner. Player’s position reads “under” the Star Rookies “banner” along with a series of stars. The player’s name is in silver across the bottom. Team name not listed just team logo in corner.

Back looks like the regular base backs.

The Retro O-Pee-Chee cards remind me of a cross between the 2009 Philadelphia retro cards and 1960s cards. They have an all white border, the upper left corner has a retro looking OPC logo, The player’s photo outlined in white against a solid color background. The player’s name is in white letters on a black bar above a white bar with the player’s position in black. The team logo is in the bottom right corner. The team name is not mentioned.

The back is raw cardboard brown with black lettering. I really like this insert set and plan on building it.

Here are my basic totals from the box:

Totals:

23 White Blank Decoys: So one in each pack without a hit.

145 cards (1 extra)

Base: 134: A full set is 200 cards so you need at least 2 boxes to maybe get a full set. Due to the randomness there is no guarantee of that even.

Protrait/Vertical: 120

Landscape/Horizontal: 14

5 All Stars: Average 6 per box

7 Star Rookies: Average 6 per box

10 Duplicates

Inserts:

9 O-Pee-Chee Retro inserts: Average 8 per box.

1 Grey Cup Moments

1 “Hit" Game Jersey: Average is 2 per box but not guaranteed

13 Miscut cards - That is way too many. They fell mostly in the second half of the box 8 in 4 consecutive packs and then later 5 more in 2 consecutive packs.

(Miscut cards Shown here fronts and backs)

All-in-all I liked breaking this box. It is a fun product. Being a football fan that is more NFL than CFL it did teach me a few things, or reminded me of a few things. Like a fave homie player that I had forgotten plays in Canada now. Let’s see the positive:

• Nice design. Not to busy or complicated. Some little reading problems but not like the years when silver or gold leaf/foil is used
• Bright colors in design. Very few variants in design features
• Inserts fun and also bright colorful designs
• OK correlation, low percentage of duplicates

Now the negative:

• Player position very difficult to read with color design
• Insert cards don’t mention team name, only show team logo
• My box had a very high percentage of miscut cards. 13 total from 6 packs
• Player vitals read vertically
• Back picture takes almost the full top half of back and is duplicate of front picture (I don’t mind that too much but some people do)

I will keep a handful of the base cards, the Brandon Banks cards because he was a Redskin, and one of the best punt returners they ever had. They never should have gotten rid of him. I am also keeping the OPC Retro cards I plan on building that 50 card set. I will be trading or giving away most of the remaining cards.

My next post will have the pack-by-pack play-by-play and will show some of the cards I didn’t show here.

Card Of The Whenever: Luis Matos Play Ball

2004 Upper Deck Play Ball: 101 Luis Matos Orioles

Have I said I love retro cards? I think it is because I love vintage. I didn't use to love retro cards. I recall the first time I saw the Bowman/Topps Heritage series (I think I saw the Football first at a 7-Eleven) I hated it. I thought a modern reproduction of a vintage design was unoriginal. Well now I love the Heritage series, even if they are not original. 

This card is a modern retro shout out to the 1940s Play Ball sets of cards. I don't have any original Play Ball cards, most of them are too expensive even the very poor conditioned ones. I like them now, but at one time I wasn't too keen on their plain looks. Odd because I normally like the plain and simple looks for cards.

So here is the modern 2004 Upper Deck Play Ball card for Luis Matos of the Orioles.

2004 Upper Deck Play Ball Baseball: 101 Luis Matos Orioles

(Front and Back)

I am going to need to start building this set of cards. BTW this is one of the cards I got from 2x3 Heroes Jeff, in a PWE six-pack. I told you I'd probably show some of them off individually.

2004 Upper Deck Power UP Baseball 9 pack

A while Back  (WOW back on 20 May) I had gotten some packs of cards from Target that I mentioned in this post Target Fairfield Value Pack Box This package consisted of 4 packs of baseball cards, 100 random baseball cards and a bonus of an additional pack of cards. I already mentioned the cards I got, but I decided I would show some of them. The few from the packs anyway, the 100 card deck I might only show a few choice ones. I haven't decided on that yet. I like getting these boxes/packages from time to time but I had forgotten that they "super" glue (it's not really the super-glue brand but the glue is really tough) the packs on the box supporting cardboard, making it nearly impossible to pull the packs off totally intact for those collectors who like to keep the pack wrappers.

2004 Upper Deck Power Up Baseball

(9 card pack)

This interesting series I didn't see until a couple of years ago when I got some Orioles cards from a trade or a box break, or team traders group. I got the Jay Gibbons card, and it seems I keep getting this card. I have at least 4 maybe 5 of this card now. Anyway these Power Up cards are part of some kind of online contest or game each card has a code on it and each card has some points that you get while playing this game or entering the contest. The player's heads are big out-of-proportion like the old Goudey "Heads Up" cards At first I thought these cards were stupid, but the big head caricatures of the players are fun. I'm not sure about the lime green color theme though.

The backs have a disembodied headshot and a few personal stats, plus points for the game, contest whatever the thing is. The font used for the card number and the player's name is too unusual. The numbers are sometimes a little hard to figure out, it took me some studying to figure out the 3 (was it a "3" or an "8"?) The chrome Shinning Through insert card(s) give more points and the backs look more like a standard card with the player's stats.

2004 Upper Deck Power Up - Sample Back

2004 Upper Deck Power Up Shining Through -
 Sample Insert Back

2 Rafael Furcal - Braves

3 Larry Walker - Rockies

15 Hank Blalock - Rangers

18 Garret Anderson - Angels

23 Orlando Cabrera - Expos

38 Jay Gibbons - Orioles

15 Phil Nevin - Padres

61 Sammy Sosa - Cubs

ST-66 Daren Erstad - Angels

2004 Upper Deck Power Up
Game Instructions - Front

2004 Upper Deck Power Up
Game Instructions - Back

2007 Goudey Baseball 8 pack

A while Back  (WOW back on 20 May) I had gotten some packs of cards from Target that I mentioned in this post Target Fairfield Value Pack Box This package consisted of 4 packs of baseball cards, 100 random baseball cards and a bonus of an additional pack of cards. I already mentioned the cards I got, but I decided I would show some of them. The few from the packs anyway, the 100 card deck I might only show a few choice ones. I haven't decided on that yet. I like getting these boxes/packages from time to time but I had forgotten that they "super" glue (it's not really the super-glue brand but the glue is really tough) the packs on the box supporting cardboard, making it nearly impossible to pull the packs off totally intact for those collectors who like to keep the pack wrappers.

2007 UD Goudey Baseball

(8 card pack)

2007 Goudey Baseball pack break contents

2007 Goudey: I really like these retro vintage cards. Mostly since I'm a huge fan of vintage stuff. I have always liked the Goudey cards, but I don't think I have any original Goudey vintage, partly because when I was a kid they were too expensive at the time. As an adult they are not too expensive for me, well some of the common ones maybe. When these retro cards first hit the market I saw them but didn't get any because the hobby boxes were too expensive and at the time (and I think even the packs seemed a bit expensive at the time) I didn't want to get into the pack busting of these since I knew I'd have to get a bunch everytime I wanted to bust packs. These cards follow the original design and format idea the cards are smaller than the standard modern size of 2.5" by 3.5".

The card backs have either red or green printing. I think they printed an equal amount of each back, not 100% sure on that though sometimes card manufacturers like to make a short print of one of the styles just to tick off collectors who want to go for a complete set.

2007 Goudey - Sample Green Back

2007 Goudey - Sample Red Back

2007 Goudey - Sample Heads Up Green Back

61 Jimmy Rollins Phillies redback

75 Mark Mulder Cards redback

77 Mark Teixeira Rangers greenback

84 Prince Fielder Brewers greenback

121 Brad Penny Dodgers redback

152 Adam LaRoche Pirates greenback

176 Magglio Ordeonez Tigers greenback

255 Mike Schmidt Phillies HeadsUp greenback