Category Archives: SPX

SPX Football Gives Upper Deck a Fighting Chance

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SPX is usually one of the first products on the market to couple rookies and their NFL uniform material from the rookie premiere, and this year, it looks to be no different – at least in some aspects. For 2010 SPX, Upper Deck is still giving us the product we all know and collect, but this time there is not a single player in the entire product wearing anything associated with the NFL. Due to a lack of an NFL license, they are being forced to use their NFLPA agreement with their newly acquired license for NCAA logos and likenesses to release their football products for the year. Although its sad that we are going to lack any semblence of what the UD calendar used to look like, at least they are trying to make the most of their lot in the industry.

We have already seen 2010 Sweet Spot NCAA, and it looks to be everything it usually is, something that has a lot of people feeling better about what Upper Deck is capable of bringing to the table. SPX is definitely following in that same vein, and I am actually angry that we don’t get to have these cards in the usual way. The design for the main hits of the product are ridiculously cool, and though the base cards oddly remind me of 2010 Classics from Panini, the set looks to be a great use of everything they are supposed to have in an SPX set. In fact, it actually makes 2009 SPX look like it WAS a Panini product.

See, if Upper Deck had an NFL license right now, and that Spiller from below had him in his Bills uniform, I would be signing up for a case right now instead of just trying for a single or two in the long run. Since I don’t care about college football until draft day, sets like this will never appeal to me, and that is something I am truly disappointed about. Although the design and theme of the set looks SO MUCH better than anything else that has come out this year, I just cant help but feel “meh…” about everything because Toby Gerhart will be a Cardinal and not a Viking.

Ill tell you though, after seeing this preview, and seeing the number of Tebow Gator collectors and McCoy Longhorn collectors out there, they must be salivating at the prospects of this set. Because of this fact, I don’t see that there will be much of a drop in the value of the cards produced under Upper Deck’s CLC license. Who knows, Upper Deck may somehow find a way to bring the NCAA back to the forefront of the collecting world through offering products similar to this.

On another positive note, I also feel THAT much better about SP Authentic, as its become more and more clear that Upper Deck is not going down without a fight. For people like me that look to Upper Deck whenever we want nicely designed cards, questions and feelings of doubt were filling our heads to start the year. Now that we see exactly what they are planning, things may work out after all. It will never be like it was, but at least they arent sleepwalking through a calendar that has them as the underdog for the first time in over a decade.






Favre Has More Than One Vikings SPX Card

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For those of you who read about the the Favre “red jersey” card that was inserted in 2009 SPX, it wasnt the only one that they made. They also made a super short print “press conference” card that has been selling for around 125 dollars on eBay as of late. Even though the card is a presser and not a game shot, collectors have definitely jumped on it.

Kind of slipped under the radar for a while…

Product Review: 2009 SPX Football

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Yesterday I had the chance to spend a few hours with my friends as they broke a case of SPX and a few other things. I was very eager to see the SPX because of the bad taste I had in my mouth after the initial eBay auctions, and im not sure it got all that much better. Sadly, SPX has been a dissappointing experience to me ever since they went to the new format in 2007, and this year I was hoping for more than just a bunch of needless relics.

Design/Creativity

There are two parts of this set I love, one part im good with, and a bunch that I hate. The first of the parts that I love is the Shadow Box cards. They are fucking sweet, and you really have to see one in a non scan format to appreciate it. The cards almost look 3D, and the way they are put together highlights a few different full sized player pictures. My buddy pulled the Peyton Manning, and it was the best looking card he pulled. Its one of those parts that a lot of people will be after, so be ready.

The second part of the set that I love is the autographed version of the Rookie Materials subset. The pics arent my favorite, but the design may have been a better choice for the base rookie autos. They are a balanced card with some cool elements, opting more for simple lines and features rather than filling it with needless paint spills and the like. I would definitely go after a few of them, but helmet off pictures are not my thing.

I also gained a little bit more appreciation for the base rookie autos after seeing them, as the design isnt all THAT bad when you see it in person. The problem is that its still a gaudy example of gold foil, but at least its dulled so that it doesn’t distract from things like the normal Panini fare. I would love to see on card autos on these, but with the time between the premiere and the release, that is just impossible. At least these cards look better than last year, which is a plus, but still not at the standards I expect from Upper Deck.

Outside of those three elements, SPX is just plain boring and poorly designed. If they went back to the format from 2006, it would prevent a lot of mediocrity that has seeped into this set. The jersey cards are horrible looking, like they forgot the autos, and the non-base rookie autos are a snoozefest. I almost tuned out after the main hit was pulled from each box, because of how bad some of the cards are.

I would say that SPX looks rushed at the very best. You can easily tell where the focus is, and the rest is a graveyard of floating swatch windows and Panini-style design elements.

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Autograph Cards

I don’t have many complaints about the autograph cards, because they arent the downfall of this product. They don’t bring this product to another level either, so its pretty much indifference here. The stickers do detract from things, but at least they arent covered up by dark colors either.

The rookie auto jerseys arent as horrible as I thought, but they arent that great either, a running theme for this year. Thank god the windows look like footballs instead of spelling out SPX like they have for the last 2 years, one of the main welcome changes for the set.

The base scrub autos arent horrible either, they just look like the filler they are. They fit in with everything in the product, and they really arent something you are going to have as that one memorable card from your box. Most of them suffer from the Brady effect, or getting every rookie to sign some cards just so you can have a card of the one guy like Brady or Romo who breaks out from the later rounds.

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Relic Cards

Man, Im wondering if someone from Panini designed the relic cards from this set. They are the worst I have seen out of a UD product in a LONG time. Floating swatches, backwardly designed cards, and boring concepts litter the product to the point of nauseum. At least they are better than the weird die cut numbers and shapes of the last few years, but not on the level they should be at all.

When many of the relic only cards look like you forgot to add the autos, there are major problems. Panini does this on a regular basis, but we have yet to see UD break the golden rule of designing the relics as stand alones and finding a place for autos later. Otherwise they end up like crap when you have 10 parallels to fill the set.

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Value to the Collector

SPX as singles will actually hold value pretty well, especially the rookie autos and the shadow boxes. These are the first cards that really will hold through the year, even with other releases, and its not a bad idea to buy now on the cards you like. The parallels that are created on the rookie autos are always collected by a lot of people, so if you pull one, consider yourself VERY lucky.

The Shadow Boxes, especially the auto’ed versions will sell well because of the way they look and because of the rarity. I would think this type of idea will be repeated in other ways, and that its pretty cool to think how it can be used. Black already somewhat uses it with the Lustrous cards, but now it may be taken in another direction. I really like that, and so will the people who will chase these cards.

Outside of the rookie autos and the rare case hits, there isnt much value. The jersey cards are throwaways and the other stuff is junk. It’s the reason you should stick to singles over buying a box. The fact that this product is carrying a 150 dollar price tag is borderline Triple Threads territory.

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Overall impressi
ons

This set was held back by the non auto jersey cards, plain and simple. Without the relics and with a cheaper price tag, this could have been a great product a la 2006. I think things are definitely better than 2008, but not to the point where it deserves any praise. SPX needs a major redesign, as it does in baseball, hopefully with figuring out ways to get rid of the swatch cards that are completely worthless.

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2009 Product Leaderboard (SO FAR)

1. Topps Chrome (4/5 GELLMANS)
2(t). Upper Deck Football (3/5 GELLMANS)
2(t). UD Philadelphia (3/5 GELLMANS)
2(t). Topps Football (3/5 GELLMANS)
2(t). UD Icons (3/5 GELLMANS)
2(t). UD Heroes (3/5 GELLMANS)
2(t). UD Draft Edition (3/5 GELLMANS)
8(t). Upper Deck SPX (2/5 GELLMANS)
8(t). Playoff Absolute Memorabilia (2/5 GELLMANS)
8(t). Bowman Sterling Football (2/5 GELLMANS)
8(t). Donruss Threads (2/5 GELLMANS)
8(t). Donruss Classics (2/5 GELLMANS)
8(t). Donruss Elite (2/5 GELLMANS)
8(t). Playoff Prestige (2/5 GELLMANS)
8(t). Bowman Draft Picks (2/5 GELLMANS)
16. Score Inscriptions (1/5 GELLMANS)
17. Leaf Rookies and Stars (0/5 GELLMANS – NR)

2009 SPX Football Is Live!

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2009 SPX is live, and they have already eclipsed last year’s horribly conceived neon foil cards in my opinion. Of course, they are still produced on gold foil this year, and im not quite sure how I feel about the final product quite yet. These cards notoriously scan very badly, so I may have to wait to see a few more examples in person.
All I have to say is that the Rookie Materials autos (like the Maclin below) look amazing. I commented that these would be the best back when the previews were released, and so far it looks like I was right. I dont really consider myself an SPX fan usually because of the cost and the design, though the cards do look better than they normally do. Lastly, I would have liked on card sigs for this product, but I know that isnt possible with a pro-uni product this early.

EDIT: Cards like this just look awful, and there may be a lot of them in the set from what are popping on Ebay. I have no idea why anyone would produced a card like this, let alone buy it. Not a good start.

SPX 2009: The Shadow Box Cards Explained

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After months of trying to get an idea as to what these cards are actually going to be, here is an explanation from Chris Carlin:

The card is five layers so it’s a little thicker. Three of the layers have images, two of the layers are filler to add depth. The images and scans we show don’t speak to the three-dimensional look of the cards so it’s hard to understand fully how unique these cards are unless you have one in front of you.

Im guessing this means that two of the three image layers will have acetate as the stock they are printed on, with a very, very thick result. For the third Image layer, its probably a solid cardstock background slide or another acetate style design background. It should be amazingly cool, especially when they have the signed versions.

They are going to serve as case hits for the upcoming SPX release, and you can bet that they are going to be pretty valuable as well. Hopefully they arent too much to buy, as I know I wont be lucky enough to pull one.

Here is Mario’s take on it, he should have a sample to show everyone next week sometime.