The Real/Fake Line For Ultimate Baseball is GONE.

The patch cards in Ultimate Baseball are one of the main reasons why the product was so successful. They are also to a point now where the line has been blurred past the point of where one can tell fake or real. Although there are people who have undoubtedly faked these cards, there are also so many real logo patches that its almost impossible to tell.

Check out these cards that have been posted and sold on eBay over the last couple of days. Some I can tell, some are way too hard to determine.

Carlton Fisk - The patch is weird on this, too weird to consider it to be fake. It still makes me uncomfortable.

Paul Konerko - I dont trust this guy at all. There is already speculation around the boards that all are fake, and this card definitely looks that way.

Brandon Webb - A great patch, but it does look real because the window looks good and has non-patch material in the window.

Tom Seaver - 100% fake, this guy has already been covered on this blog before and his cards arent even questionable. UD was meticulous in matching player pics with uni swatches, which disqualifies this card all the way.

Roy Ozwalt - Another questionable patch, but too tough to make a sure determination.

Brandon Phillips - A cool patch with too much detail to seem fake, but again, this is a cheap pickup to fake if needed. Im not sure.

Carlos Beltran - another patch from this seller that is almost 100% fake. Just look at the separation between the swatch and the patch. Like he slipped it in over the crappy swatch.

Basically, Ultimate was the one set that needed a database, and its too bad it wasnt done ahead of time. Its just too easy to fake these cards, and it brings back memories of the faker favorite set of the century - 2005 Donruss Prime Patches. The difference between Prime Patches and this, is that its easy to tell fakes from that set because of card labeling, but Ultimate is ALL patches so its almost impossible.

I would employ a few rules that should start becoming applicable soon:

1. Dont buy Ultimate Patch cards where the logo patch takes up the whole window. Its not worth the risk.

2. Look for window damage. Its tough to get a patch out of the card without nicking the edges of the swatch window.

3. Avoid NEW patches. The jerseys that UD used seem to be at least a few years old, and the new sleeve patches from last season are easy to come by on ebay.

4. Avoid World Series, Commemorative, and All Star Patches. Its too easy for scammers to sell you on your salivation over such a unique patch. Its almost unheard of for any of them to be real.

5. Avoid sellers who have a ton of logo patches for sale. This is pretty much the case for everyone regardless of the patch card, as scammers will sell a never ending stream of crap to make maximum dollars.

Let me know if you have any questions about authenticity and ill do my best to scope it out.

An Ode to My New Favorite Card

It has become exceedingly rare that a card is released and I go fucking nuts trying to get it. Last week, Ultimate Football was released, and I was scrambling to find one of the Peterson Patch autos right off the bat. Because they were only numbered to 10, popular from the past few years, and I had money to spend at that point, I started watching eBay like a hawk.

Each day, I would refresh and refresh, looking for more of the cards to pop up. Although some of the Peterson non-autoed patches were being listed, no one had listed an auto patch. When the first Peterson one made it up on eBay, I freaked out and tried to figure out ways to avoid the 5 day listing that he had put on the auction. It looked like it had a buy it now on it before, but some idiot had bid the minimum and taken that out of the equation. I resolved to offer him some money to end early because I would save him fees and give him more than double the cost of the pack. I carefully worded the email to the seller and sent it off. I waited, and waited, and waited for a response. I never got anything back.

Meanwhile I bought a Harvin rookie auto /399 for a minimal price and was happy to get one for my redemption experiment. The guy responded fast to every email that I sent regarding emailing the code versus shipping the worthless card, which would come in very handy later on. I kept scowering the site for more of the Peterson patches, but eventually settled that I would have to wait for the auction to end in three plus days. The price was creeping up, but still hadnt reached my offer price, so I figured there was still a chance he would contact me.

Then I saw something that shocked me. I saw the guy I just bought the Harvin from had listed another one of the Peterson cards with better patches, a better picture, and a better auto. To avoid the risk of losing another, I offered him more than I did the other seller. Being the quick responding guy that he was, he accepted my offer right away, and I had my card. I was fucking excited to say the least.

On a side note, while waiting for my new favorite card to arrive, I saw the other auction had ended. It ended very much below what I paid for mine, but more importantly, it ended below my offer price as well. Instead of getting my money with no strings attached, he now had to pay seller fees and all sorts of stuff. I may have paid more for mine, but I also had two nice patches, while his had none. In the words of Canadian Nelson, "hoo-hoo!"

Yesterday I got home to my mailbox and got my card via insured mail, which I loved. The card is better in person, I am happier than a pig in shit. I am debating whether or not to go for the set because I think the cards look that good, but the cost far outweighs the benefits of collecting these extremely rare cards.

Regardless of how I feel about my new card, I think my experience speaks to how buying singles can be just as fufilling as buying wax. Rather than spending 300 bucks on boxes with 50 dollars worth of cards, I got one card for much less that I love. Im not saying you should all avoid wax forever, maybe just be a little more conscious of how you spend your money.

Looking at Ultimate From Different Perspectives

First off, Im sure you are all expecting me to rant and rave about how awesome Ultimate is, but I am not going to do it in the way you expect. Ultimate has some ridiculously great elements to it, but there are parts that need to be examined from a perspective outside of my usual way. Its rare that a product like this comes out, where some of the cards can be as awesome as they are, and other can be as problematic. Although they all look good, some spell disaster for some while being great for others.

The first perspective is from me, the singles buyer, rather than someone who buys wax. Right now, there are no less than 10 cards I would purchase in a heartbeat if I didn’t have a baby on the way. These cards are easily the coolest ones of the year in some cases, and in others they go far above my expectations. I think Ultimate's good cards are borderline what some were getting in baseball, which says a lot about the effort that was put into this product.

Much like last year, the Ultimate Patch autos are the best of the set. These cards just look cooler than anything that has been released this year. I like these ones better than a lot of the ones from the Exquisite previews, so that says something. I also like all the inscriptions that have made their way into the product, as they add a lot to a normal auto card that cant be duplicated by stickers. Im not going to go buy any of the Personal Touch ones, but I would definitely buy some of the others that relate to the player's accomplishments.

I am also a huge fan of the duals, triples and quads, as it looks like they really got their shit right on these. The dual jersey autos are just amazing, and I could understand if someone wants to do a victory lap if they pulled some of the ones that have been posted.

Lastly, the UD Legends cards are always a treat. They definitely added some great players to the growing set, and though they may not always recoup a box price, the cards look as great as they did back in 1997. Its too bad we cant do a similar product with a new design and similar focus.

Moving on to the second perspective of me, the wax breaker, Ultimate takes on a very different feel than someone who buys singles. Most importantly, if you are busting a case of this, expect a lot of non-auto jersey cards. Too many for most people to justify busting this product. Although the jerseys are six piece, eight piece, or jumbo patches, its not going to be enough to make anyone crazy like they did in baseball. At 80+ per box, to pull one of these cards is pretty much a death sentence to the box with very few exceptions, which is why I can understand the feelings of some of the people who were buying and complaining.

Its pretty much impossible to put out a product where every pack is a winner, that’s obvious. But, to include half a case worth of junk in a product that costs as much as Ultimate does, people are going to be pissed. Limited faced some of this criticism as well because of its dud boxes, but Limited does offer more hits. Those extra hits are usually poop, but for the general public who likes both quantity and quality at the same time, its not going to be as much of a problem.

Basically, when busting Ultimate you are either going to win big, come out of it with cool cards that arent worth a lot, or get some jerseys that you can sell for 10 bucks. I think this structure of returns is what makes Ultimate such a love it/hate it product. I think its cool that some of the duds can be as cool as they are,but I also get that people want to get their money's worth. Im saying its probably a good idea to buy singles on this one, but if you must bust, buy more than one box to protect yourself from the dud.

Overall, I really like the look of this set, as I really didn’t think I would. When the preview came out, I was pretty disappointed, yet now my tune has changed thanks to the un-previewed part of the set. Despite the fact that it wont live up to baseball, I think its definitely a great product to have fun with if you have the money.

2009 Ultimate Football Is Live, Looks Good And Bad (UPDATED)

2009 Ultimate Collection is up on eBay, or at least a few cards are. Im not sure what to think yet, as we havent seen what a normal case holds or what the general feel of the set is. As I said yesterday, it has some very big shoes to fill, and that is where things could get ugly. People have been wondering if this will be a more rookie focused product or veteran focused product, to which I remind you that the NFLPA license requires companies to have a good part of the set be rookies. This will not have the same feel as Ultimate Baseball, but it should be pretty cool.

Now that we have a little more ammo to go off of, I think its pretty easy to see what the motto for ultimate is going to be. If you get an auto card, things are looking good, if you get a jersey card, you are pretty much out 100 bucks. Too bad, as the jersey cards look to be at least 4 per case, if not more.

Here is what we have so far (UPDATED):

McCoy, Wells, Brown, Moreno Quad Auto

Sanchez 2 Sided Patch/Jersey

Crabtree 2 Sided Patch/Jersey

Aaron Curry 2 Sided Patch/Jersey

Shonn Greene Rookie Auto - I really like these, even though the lines are odd.

Six Piece Jersey Card Like Baseball

Rookie Six Piece Jersey

Mark Sanchez/Shonn Greene Dual Jersey Auto - Awesome
Kenny Britt Ult Shout Out Rutgers - Very cool, colors clash though
Aaron Curry Dual Jersey Auto - Another awesome one

A Good Auction With Pics Of Lots of Cards - Check out that inscription!
Stafford Ult RC Auto SP /99 - Good players to 99? Wow.

Lance Briggs Inscription - these look great
Tomlinson Auto - this is just too good for recent news

Many more will be posted today, and these may be taken down if UD continues with their terrible policy about posting cards early. Either way, ill add to this as the day goes on.

EDIT - Legends are back (from Blowout):

NOTE: Something got messed up with the original post, so I had to repost it. If you had comments, please repost them too. Thanks!