Released August 6, 2013 • hobby box includes 32 packs with 8 cards each, 256 cards total • click here for checklist on Trading Card Database
My review:
After O-Pee-Chee made massive improvements in 2012-13, Upper Deck carried most of that momentum into the next year, and they put out what I think is still the single best Upper Deck-era O-Pee-Chee base design. There’s just something about it…maybe it is the combination of loud colors and restrained but interesting borders. There are five different border color schemes throughout the set which keeps things fresh.
The retro parallels stick with bright color combos, but throw any design restraint out the window! Polka dots swirl, curved lines radiate, each letter in the name alternates colors…they are about as loud as a card could be! And I love it. Many of the color combos clash terrifically with uniform colors in player photos, and the cards cross over into “so ugly they’re pretty” territory. As much as I like the retros, this is the second and last year (so far) for which I rate the base design higher than the retros.
Upper Deck again looked to O-Pee-Chee’s past for inspiration for some new inserts, this time a set of rings which can be punched out of the card and shaped to form an actual ring (which I imagine approximately zero collectors have actually done). These were a call back to a similar rings insert from 1973-74 O-Pee-Chee. Stickers inserts were back for a second year in a row. The rings and stickers are only OKish in my book, so the inserts aren’t a big draw for me in 13-14 (other than the retros).
My ratings /10:
base design 9.5 retro design 8.2 inserts 4.0 overall 7.7
Affiliate Links:
eBay: click here to shop 2013-14 O-Pee-Chee
SportLots:
 |
The Largest Online Trading Card Marketplace |
Regular Print Base Cards #1-500
For the first and (so far) last time, retired legends were featured in the regular print base set. These cards were not in any way distinguished from the current players in the set and feel a little out of place to me.
Short Prints #501-600 • 1:2 hobby packs
Marquee Rookies #501-599, Checklist #600
Thanks to the lockout-shortened 2012-13 season, all rookies that debuted in 2012-13 became “carry-over” rookies to 2013-14 sets, which gave O-Pee-Chee the chance to have an unusually strong crop of rookies. It was at least a very large crop of rookies, and 99 rookies were crammed into the set! Despite all that quantity, there are no huge names to chase, and the amount of rookies ends up feeling bloated. The headliners are Jonathan Huberdeau and Vladimir Tarasenko. The supporting cast includes Brendan Gallagher, Filip Forsberg, Dougie Hamilton, Petr Mrazek, Phillip Grubauer, and Jonathan Marchessault.
Retro parallels • 1:1 hobby pack
Other Parallels:
rainbow • 1:4 hobby packs
black rainbow • serial numbered to 100
retro blank backs • odds unknown, estimated print run of 5-20
red border • wrapper redemption packs
Inserts:
Rings • 1:16 hobby packs
box bottoms • two per blaster box (base design), four per hobby box (retro design)
Stickers • 1:4 hobby packs
Signatures • 1:192 hobby packs
Buyback autographs • odds unknown to me
Team Canada Signatures • 1:384 hobby packs
Glossy • unannounced, very rare
Sport Royalty autographs • odds unknown to me
Marquee Legends • 1 per hanger pack I believe?
League Leaders • 1 per certain blaster boxes that are marked “exclusive insert card inside”
Team Logo Patches • 1 per 96 hobby packs
Stamps • wrapper redemption packs
Update Set #601-642
42 update cards were inserted into Upper Deck Series 2 later in the season. Nathan MacKinnon and Aleksander Barkov rookies feature.
Leave a Reply