Release Date: May 3, 2012
Price Point: Approximately $5/pack or $90 box at Blowout Cards.
Product Loadout: 9 cards per pack, 18 packs per box, 20 boxes per case.
Hit Ratios: Each box will contain 2 autographs and 2 game-used relics, as well as 2 non-memorabilia inserts on average.
Product Information:
- 200 card base set
- 10th Anniversary (42 cards)
- Masked Men 4 (50 cards)
Autographs, Relics and Parallels:
- Masked Men 4 Silver (#’d to 90)
- Masked Men 4 Gold (#’d to 10)
- Goaliegraphs (162 cards)
- Goaliegraphs Short Prints (38 cards)
- Masked Men Autographs (19 cards)
- Dual Autographs (17 cards)
- Game Used Jersey Silver (60 cards, #’d to 140)
- Game Used Jersey Gold (#’d to 10)
- Game-Used Jersey Vintage Silver (9 cards, #’d to 9)
- Game-Used Jersey Vintage Gold (1/1)
- Game-Used Patch Silver (60 cards, #’d to 19)
- Game-Used Patch Gold (1/1)
- Game-Used Patch Vintage Silver (9 cards, #’d to 4)
- Game-Used Patch Vintage Gold (1/1)
- Aspire Silver (30 cards, #’d to 140)
- Aspire Gold (#’d to 10)
- Stick and Jersey Silver (21 cards, #’d to 19)
- Stick and Jersey Gold (1/1)
- Journey Jersey Silver (20 cards, #’d to 40)
- Journey Jersey Gold (#’d to 10)
- Journey Jersey Limited Silver (1 card, #’d to 9)
- Journey Jersey Limited Gold (1/1)
- Decades Silver (6 cards, #’d to 50)
- Decades Gold (#’d to 10)
- Decades Limited Silver (6 cards, #’d to 9)
- Decades Limited Gold (1/1)
- Complete Jersey Silver (12 cards, #’d to 9)
- Complete Jersey Gold (1/1)
- Full Gear Silver (6 cards, #’d to 19)
- Full Gear Gold (1/1)
- Cup Tandems Silver (15 cards, #’d to 50)
- Cup Tandems Gold (#’d to 10)
- Shooting Gallery Silver (12 cards, #’d to 9)
- Shooting Gallery Gold (1/1)
- Countrymen Silver (9 cards, #’d to 50)
- Countrymen Gold (#’d to 10)
- Franchise Silver (18 cards, #’d to 50)
- Franchise Gold (#’d to 10)
- Masked Men Memorabilia (48 cards, #’d to 10)
- Anniversary Jumbo Jersey (30 cards, #’d to 10)
- Anniversary Jumbo Glove and Pad (12 cards, #’d to 10)
- Anniversary Jumbo Pad (30 cards, #’d to 10)
- Anniversary Jumbo Glove (30 cards, #’d to 10)
- Anniversary Jumbo Stick (30 cards, #’d to 10)
- Anniversary Jumbo Jersey and Stick (30 cards, #’d to 10)
- Complete Logo (30 cards, 1/1)
- Game-Used Patch Auto (17 cards, #’d to 5)
- Game-Used Jersey Auto (17 cards, #’d to 5)
- Game-Used Glove Auto (18 cards, #’d to 5)
- Game-Used Pad Auto (18 cards, #’d to 5)
- Game-Used Stick Auto (18 cards, #’d to 5)
- Made to Order (3 cards, #’d to 5)
Box Contents:
- 147 total cards
- 136/200 base cards
- 2 10th Anniversary (Semyon Varlamov and Evengi Nabokov
- 2 Masked Men 4 Ruby Die-Cut (Gerry Cheevers and Henrik Lundqvist)
- 1 Masked Men 4 Silver (Grant Fuhr /90)
- 3 Goaliegraphs (Greg Millen, Sean Burke and Antero Niittymaki)
- 1 Cup Tandems Silver (Patrick Roy / Andre Racicot /50)
- 1 Game-Used Jersey Silver (Jonas Gustavsson /140)
- 1 Complete Jersey Silver (James Reimer /9)
While I still don’t follow hockey, I’ve always been impress with what In the Game has been able to do without a major license and with a somewhat-limited print run. This year marks the 10th Anniversary of Between the Pipes and they’re loading this product up with some really interesting ideas.
What I liked: I liked the die-cuts on the Masked Men inserts, although I wish the parallels would also have been die-cuts. Also, I liked that a large number of the game-used items were more limited in scope than last year. All things being equal, I’d rather there be 10 memorabilia sets numbered to 50 than 3 numbered to 200. Hitting an extra autograph and game-used in the box, as well as hitting a multi-swatch card numbered to 9 is definitely a highlight of the box, although you can’t always expect that, with only a 25% chance of getting an extra autograph or memorabilia card.
The designs on the cards really stand out to me here. Each of the subsets has its own design, even if the difference between the Stars and Future Stars is primarily a palette swap. The differences in design really stand out and it makes the set look very sharp and distinctive. In a nutshell, me likey.
What I didn’t: I don’t like how the cards somewhat stick together out of the packs, which makes it hard to sort the cards without fear of damaging them. Also, and it just may be me, but the 10th Anniversary inserts look to suffer from some serious chipping due to the gold borders on the card. They look nice, and the white spots are very noticeable. Now, that being said, this may not be chipping, but it sure looks like it.
Overall Opinion: At $90 a box for between four and six hits, plus the Masked Men inserts (which often sell quite well), this really isn’t a bad product. Sure, it doesn’t have the NHL logos on them, but you’re going to get a shot at autographs and game-used cards of players which can be the next hot rookie in 2013 and beyond. This is definitely an above-average product from a company which has done quite well at producing above-average products in general.
Collation: 4/5
Pizazz: 3/5
Design: 5/5
Total Score: 4/5
