The 2008 Cards Are Here! The 2008 Cards Are Here!

Well, my local Wal-Mart (the only place to buy cards that doesn’t involve a 40 mile drive, or ordering via the internet) has finally gotten in the 2008 Topps Series 1 and Upper Deck Series 1 packs in. Our store seems to be going to blister packs instead of loose packs, and I don’t know if that may be industry-wide for retail stores, or if it’s just Wal-Mart. While I can see the reason behind the blister packs, I personally don’t like the amount of trash that creates for me. But, with that in mind, let’s take a look at what I think!

Since pictures of the packs and cards are everywhere, I’m not going to bother to post any here. So, on with the show!

Price: Topps is $1.99 a pack, while Upper Deck is $2.99 a pack. With Wal-Mart being Wal-Mart, that’s $1.97 and $2.97, except our store doesn’t have single packs of Topps, just double-blisters, at $3.97. So far, Upper Deck leads, simply because I can find single packs! As far as Blasters go, Topps seems to have finally done away with smaller blaster packs just for the sake of more packs, but then again, all I can find are 10 pack boxes which I think are $19.97, but I could be wrong, and they could be 10 packs for $9.97 which is the norm. They also come with the standard Wal-Mart special 3-pack bonus of whatever inserts we’re getting this year. Upper Deck, on the other hand, has 10-pack blasters for $19.97 with a guaranteed game-used card. This should be a sign that we’re getting way too involved in the game-used thing here, folks.

Number of Cards Per Pack: Topps has their standard 10, or probably 8 when you pull a relic, while Upper Deck has actually gone quite retro, and has 18 cards in a pack, making them the huge winner here. I dunno about you, but $1.97 for 10 (or $3.97 for 20) cards vs. $2.97 for 18? Easy pick. Now, it’s obvious that the blaster packs for Upper Deck won’t be 18 cards, as it’s 10 packs for $19.97. My guess? Probably 8 or 9 cards a pack in there. Hopefully not 5 or 6, like 2007 was!

Overall Look: We’ve all seen the pictures. I like the photography in the Upper Deck set quite a bit more, but I’m annoyed at the overall laziness in the sets. I’m sorry, when someone was gone from a team in December, you’ve got plenty of time by February to update the picture, even if it’s only an airbrush job! It’s especially inexcusable when we’ll see product come June or August with the same teams from 2007 instead of their updated teams. I mean, I don’t expect, say, Johan Santana to have a Mets uniform, but Tejada came to the Astros in early to mid December. You couldn’t do anything for any of the players in that deal in two months? That’s just sheer laziness, in my opinion. I don’t have a problem with the foil on Upper Deck, but the pictures for Topps just….eh.

Value of Pack: Have to give it to Upper Deck here, since I actually pulled a GU out of one of the packs (of Kenji Johjima), although I’m thinking about shipping it back to them, because I can’t decide if the jersey piece has stitching, or if it’s coming undone inside of the pack. If it’s stitching, that’s great. If not, then I’d rather have one to trade to someone that was in better shape.

Anyway, I’m hoping to complete both sets, but I need to honestly find a good deal online on a hobby box (or jumbo box of Topps) sometime soon. Then again, if I can get a better job soon (which I’m working on), then I can get better stuff!

More to come!

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