Released September 5, 2019 • hobby box includes 18 packs with 10 cards each, 180 cards total • click here for checklist on Trading Card Database
My review:
After 2018-19 O-Pee-Chee blindsided me and got me back into the hobby in a big way, 2019-20 was the first O-Pee-Chee release that I was eagerly anticipating before it was out. On release day, I was so excited that I showed up at a local shop without checking if they had gotten it in yet. Turned out no! So I called back the next day and confirmed it had arrived and headed straight in and got two boxes.
I had high expectations, and 2019-20 delivered. It is my favorite of the Upper Deck-era O-Pee-Chee releases. The base design is solid, the retros are splendid, and the inserts are great. The retros have my favorite design Upper Deck has come up with yet and the inserts overall are also my favorite. The one-two punch of playing cards and minis serves O-Pee-Chee well again, especially since the “caramel minis” are super cool. The blue border base parallels also look good, maybe because they bring to mind the great blue borders from ’79-’80 O-Pee-Chee/Topps.
One thing not so cool about 2019-20 is that the size of a hobby box shrank again, down to just 18 packs with 10 cards each. And after 11 years of hobby boxes containing 30-36 retros each, one hobby box from 2019-20 yields just 18 retros. Prices for hobby boxes generally did get lower with the smaller amount of cards, but you will still probably find yourself having to pay more per card than other years.
That quibble aside, there’s no other product I’ve enjoyed as much as 2019-20 O-Pee-Chee.
My ratings /10:
base design 7.7 retro design 9.5 inserts 8.5 overall 9.1
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Regular Print Base Cards #1-500
Short Prints #501-600 • 2:3 hobby packs
Marquee Rookies #501-550, Team Checklists #551-581, League Leaders #582-590, Season Highlights #591-600
The carry-over rookie crop is unusually strong, with Cale Makar and Quinn Hughes leading the way and Filip Zadina, Ryan Poehling, Taro Hirose, and others making up the supporting cast.
Retro parallels • 1:1 hobby pack
Other Parallels:
retro black border • serial numbered to 100, usually two per hobby box
retro blank backs • odds unknown, estimated print run of 7 – 11
blue border • 1:3 hobby packs
gold border glossy • 1:24 hobby packs
red border • five per wrapper redemption pack
red border blank back • one per wrapper redemption insert
Inserts:
Caramel Minis • regular print, 1:5 hobby packs, short print, 1:44 hobby packs, super short print 1:87 hobby packs
Caramel Minis blank backs • unannounced
Caramel Minis wood border • unannounced
Caramel Minis caramel border • overall 1:7 blaster packs, short print, 1:76 blaster packs, super short print 1:152 blaster packs
Playing Cards • 2-King, 1:5 hobby packs, Aces 1:120 hobby packs
box bottoms • two per blaster box (base design), three per hobby box (retro design)
In Action • 1:1,152 hobby packs
Cup Captain • 1:4,608 hobby packs
Cup Finals Moments • 1:360 hobby packs
Manufactured Patches • 1:72 hobby packs
Platinum Preview • unannounced
base variations—retro logo, third jersey, handshake photo, black & white, reversed image • unannounced
Update Set #601-650
Once again inserted into Upper Deck Series 2, the update set includes rookies for Jack Hughes, Elvis Merzlikins, Dominik Kubalik, and Kaapo Kakko.
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