Pack Crackin' - June 8th, 2012

I'm normally not one for breaking open boxes of multi-brand packs, the likes of which lurk on the shelves of major retailers such as Meijer and Target. Lately, however, I've been intrigued by a few posts in the card collecting blogosphere touting some decent finds to be had in these types of products. So on my next trip to Meijer I snagged this hefty specimen for the grand sum of $20.

Boasting sixteen packs and two memorabilia cards - guaranteed - it seemed like a decent deal. I figured the "randomly selected" memorabilia inserts would be lame (more on that a little later), but the chances to pull some other inserts from the unopened packs was enticing. As far as the packs go, here's what the box contained:

The quality represented here isn't too shabby, though the duplicate Victory packs and the Power Play pack were somewhat disappointing. At least the variety is relatively contemporary - and there was no Pro Set to stink up the place.

First up from the guaranteed memorabilia cards is this 2006-2007 Joe Nieuwendyk SP Game Used Jersey, number AF-JN. The two-color swatch is actually kind of nice, but there's no place in my collections for this card so off to the trade list it will go.

The other memorabilia grab is this 2005-2006 Sergei Samsonov UD Game Jersey insert, number J2-SV. Less impressive than the Nieuwendyk card, but still avoiding the "plain white" pitfall, this card also does not fit with any of my collections. There appears to be little demand for it on eBay, so in the trade list it will sit.

Alright, on to the packs. To avoid an excessively long post (and to give me fodder to keep the blog active for several days), I'm going to dedicate one post to each pack. Working from left to right starting in the bottom row, first up is the 2006-2007 Upper Deck MVP pack. Of the eight cards in the pack, the only one earning a spot in my personal collection is this #88 Sergei Fedorov:

The card design of this set is quite nice and rather classy, though I never did like the silver signatures emblazoned across the front. Ruins a good TTM opportunity. Anyway, no matter what you may think of Federov, he's one of the very few players that appears in both my Red Wings and Blue Jackets team collections.

The insert card of the pack is this Markus Naslund Gotta Have Heart (HH24) pull. A nice looking card, but once again no place in my collections and practically no eBay value.

The remainder of the pack broke down like this:
116: Jarret Still - Edmonton Oilers
117: Jason Smith - Edmonton Oilers
171: Martin Brodeur - New Jersey Devils
225: Curtis Joseph - Phoenix Coyotes
240: Joe Thornton - San Jose Sharks
292: Alexander Ovechkin - Washington Capitals

So there you have it.  I'll have much more in the coming days, but now it's time to get ready for the short trip to Cincy to watch the Reds take on succumb to my Tigers.