Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Box Break Reports On UD Black Are Grim

I have gotten a few emails from different readers, including AR Platinum of youtube fame, who have busted their boxes of Black with very unfortunate results. I could have told you up front that the Black box breaks were not going to be a money making venture, as they never are, but I will stand by the box breakers who look to be getting hosed on their breaks. For a product like this, there really needs to be some value in breaking boxes.


Those awesome memorabilia cards seem to be seeded at less than one per case, and the rookie autos have some questionable people on the checklist. I think collectors are going to quickly learn their lesson regarding pre-ordering products like this, especially at 100 per pack with a hit or miss type of configuration.

However, I will say this, for those of us who stick to buying singles, I think there are a lot of really amazing cards. Yet, those singles will never see the light of day if more than the fair share of boxes contains nothing but crap. People will avoid buying the boxes until prices drop, and at that point, the singles drop too. Black Baseball from a few years back was a huge casualty of that reality, now selling at a 50% clip from its MSRP.

Although I think there is enough cards to keep the box price above that level, its going to be a rough go at it if a lot of the preliminary breaks turn out like AR's.

8 comments:

  1. Too bad that UD completely botched the checklist and seeding of Black. The cards are absolutely gorgeous, but I just watched AR's break, and...wow. If I was involved in that break, I would be MAJORLY pissed.

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  2. Just watched a 5 box break, didnt really seem THAT bad. 2 Flag autos, harvin, tate rookie autos and a lustrous dual patch Peyton Manning auto.

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  3. For any guarantees you have to pay Exquisite prices. Beyond design, this is why I think Topps is so bad at high end--pricing between 125-250 is considered expensive and high end yet to expect a minimum amount of awesome in a high end format, it's got to cost more. I think Black falls into this trap, even though it has great designs.

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  4. I think you hit it right on the head.

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  5. Ugh, I wasn't going to buy this stuff months ago when I found out UD was going to do Black for football. This only confirms that fact.

    I hate college uniforms on a product this late and I hate the manufactured patch cards, and for the price point, this is a typical Upper Deck rip-off.

    I will save my money for some cool singles on the bay.

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  6. Broke a box of this and got a Greg Jennings lustrous card and an Aaron Curry rookie auto. Not the worst box I've seen, but I definitely won't be back for more.

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  7. Gellman:
    If you had to pick (and I think I know the answer here, but just want to be sure), which would you choose:
    Rookies in pro uniforms with sticker autos?
    or
    Rookies in college uniforms with hard-signed autos?

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  8. I think thats a toss up for me, and it would be based on the product design and prestige itself.

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