Saturday, October 11, 2008

Video Box Break and Review: 2008 UD Masterpieces Hobby

By the time this gets published, I'll be in DC watching the US vs. Cuba World Cup Qualifier. America, Fuck Yeah!

One Hobby box of 2008 UD Masterpieces (paid $75)
12 packs per box, six cards per pack.

The Video



The Pulls

Base Set: 58 of 120 (48.33%)
3 doubles
Short Set: 53 of 90 (58.89%)
5 Short Prints (1:2): C. Fisk, J. Bench, D. Mattingly, R. Clemente, A. Pujols
Parallels
4 Black: R. Yount, J-Roll, C. Crawford, L. Brock
1 Blue (numbered to 50): H. Matusi

Inserts: NONE

Mirrors
5 Yankee Tedium Lunacy (1:3): #1625 (J. Gordon), 3742 (R. White), 6122 & 6147 (P. O'Neill), 6197 (R. Clemens)

Autogamers
1 Captured on Canvas (1:12): J. Willingham
1 Autographed Captured on Canvas: M. Cain

The Review

Let me get this out of the way. I love the 2008 UD Masterpieces base set. I loved it last year, and the base set was the sole reason why I spent $75 on this box. With that said, I despise what Upper Deck has done to this product. While I don't normally like short-prints in a base set, I actually thought that adding them wasn't such a bad idea in a product like this. As long as it was still feasible for the collector to build a full set, I had no problem with it. Boy was I wrong.

I guess I'm still bitter over getting only one SP in the Blaster box I ripped a few days ago. But I'm really bitter about getting gypped out of an SP in this Hobby box, and pulling an additional Yankee Tedium Lunacy.

(Are you like me and absolutely dread pulling YTLs from Upper Deck packs? Good.)

And then there's the reason why Hobby packs are $7/pack: the hits. Like I said, I bought this exclusively for the base cards and really could care less about jerseys and autographs. I'm not a (term to describe nitwit collectors that will no longer be used on this site), so allow me to play Devil's Advocate here. If I paid $75 for a waxbox and my two autogamers were Josh Willingham and Matt Cain, I'd be pissed. Seriously UD, Josh Willingham and Matt Cain? Is that the best you could come up with for a $7/pack product? WTF?

The Bottom Line

In addition to receiving one fewer SP and being saddled with one more YTL, I received three base set doubles. ANY doubles in a waxbox this small (72 cards) is inexcusable. Three doubles AND getting shafted out of a short-print should be a felony.

Box Rating: 1 1/2 Gumsticks, a total waste of $75.
Product Rating: 2 1/2 Gumsticks

... and another thing

The two gamers I pulled are so thick, neither one fits into a standard penny-sleeve.

3 comments:

dayf said...

Why is is so goddamn hard for these idiot companies to get the SP distribution right? You have to buy 5 boxes with perfect collation to get all the SPs. Assuming you didn't get gypped like this box. You would have been better off getting 4 blasters with those hits too, blech. This stuff is the exact reason why I didn't bother with Turkey Red last year, and UD goes and swipes that set model. Ugh.

Enjoy the game, you deserve a good time after that.

Chemgod said...

Chris, I'd like the Matt Cain Auto. Let me know what you'd be interested in for a trade. I have tons of autos and relics. -Mike from badwax.net

jackplumstead said...

Wow Chris. Sounds like you're having a bad day!