One raises the bar when the word “Ultimate” is used for a product. Top shelf. Top of the line. Incomparable.
Upper Deck’s 2019-2020 Ultimate Collection hockey will try to achieve those high accolades with high-end memorabilia and on-card autographs when it arrives August 19.
A hobby box will consist of one pack, with four cards to a pack. Upper Deck is promising one rookie autograph or rookie memorabilia card, two autograph, memorabilia or autograph memorabilia cards, and either a base card, parallel card or one of the Ultimate Introductions insert cards. Expect boxes to land at about $130.
The base card veterans will be numbered to 149, while Legends cards will be numbered to 99. Onyx Black parallels for the base cards will be numbered to 10 and 5. Ultimate Introductions, meanwhile, will appear once in every four hobby boxes, offering 90 rookies. The unsigned cards will be numbered to 299 and 99, respectively.
Ultimate Introductions Showcase cards will be even harder to find, appearing once every 120 boxes. Inserts for the Introductions parallels will have Onyx Black parallels, numbered to 25 and 15; and Purple parallels, numbered to 9 and 1/1.
Ultimate Introductions will have autograph parallels including Gold versions, falling every four boxes; and Showcase Gold, appearing every 136 boxes on average. Onyx Black Autographs will be numbered to 10, while Showcase Onyx Black Autograph cards will be numbered to 5.
Ultimate Rookies feature the top players from the NHL’s 2019-2020 class. Ultimate Rookie Autograph cards will be offered in three tiers, numbered at 299 for the first two tiers and 99 for Tier 3. Collectors could also pull Ultimate rookie Auto Patch cards numbered as low as 49, and 1/1 Ultimate Rookies Auto Shield Patch cards. These cards will feature an NHL shield patch.
The bonus for collectors is that all of these autographs are on-card signatures.
Autographs are what drives the 2019-2020 Ultimate Collection, and Ultimate offers quite a few possibilities.
Base Set Legends Autos fall every 30 boxes, while Base Set Veterans Autos can be found in every 10 boxes, on average. Both the Legends and Veterans cards will have Onyx Black parallels. Some of the Veterans cards also will be found in 1/1 Shield patches.
Rookie Accents is a new subset in the Ultimate Collection. These cards will show first-year players in action photography and will include on-card autographs.
The Ultimate Access subset returns with on-card signatures and high-end memorabilia. Ultimate Access Jersey cards come in two tiers, with Tier 1 cards falling every 12 boxes on average, while Tier 2 cards will be found once in every 72 boxes. Copper Patch parallels are numbered to 10 and fewer, and Gold Patch cards are numbered to 3. Copper Patch Autographs will be numbered to 25, while Gold Patch Autographs will be numbered to 6.
The Ultimate Materials subset consists of 40 subjects with on-card signatures and a jersey swatch from rookies, active stars or retired legends.
The Pro Threads insert will include up to 40 current stars in the NHL. These players are split into three tiers. On-card autographs on these memorabilia cards are numbered to 49 (Tier 1), 25 (Tier 2) or 10 (Tier 3).
Finally, the All-Star Skills Auto Shield Patch cards subset is limited to 15 subjects and features a 1/1 NHL shield patch next to an autograph by an NHL All-Star.
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