Product Review: 2013-14 Upper Deck Artifacts Hockey Hobby Box

Hockey is in full swing and great to have the 2013-14 edition of Artifacts hitting the streets at the same time. Artifacts has been a consistent love for collectors year in and out. It might have to do with the setup of the base set that challenges collectors to hunt down those hard to find serial numbered cards. 100 cards make up the main base set with 25 Goalies numbered /999, 25 Team Canada Players /999, and 50 Rookies /999 round out the 200 card full set. Each base card have four parallels to also find with Ruby /299, Emerald /99, Sapphire /85 and Spectrum /25. Rookies have been the prominent ones that collectors like to grab when they see them.

There are a number of Relic cards to collect from Single, Double Triple and up to six player relic cards to find within the Hobby boxes. Artifacts is known for their Patch Relics with multiple colors. Great for secondary value and traders really score with fellow collectors with these as well.

Autographs are also found and are mostly sticker autographs. Autofacts are the most common to find but if lucky enough you'll find Relic Autographs which are of mostly stars within the game.

Redemption's have been a pain this year with companies, but with the Rookie Redemption's found in Artifacts they are a great find. The checklist for these will be provided later in the year or early next year with the players selected for each redemption. Typically all the rookies that will make an appearance on-ice this season will be represented.

Hobby Boxes are the way to go with Artifacts but the Blaster retail packs are not bad either. In each hobby box you'll find 1 Autograph or Autograph Relic, 1 Multi-player Relic, 2 Single Player Relics, 1 Numbered Parallel, 4 Numbered Base cards and 1 Rookie Redemption.

So without further delay here is how we did:

Base Cards: 29 (0 doubles)
Base Rookie: 1 - Scott Laughton 364/999

Base Goalie: 1 - Tuukka Rask 222/999

Base Team Canada: 1 - Chet Pickard 375/999

Base Blue Parallel: 1 - Zach Parise 02/85

Base Red Parallel Rookie: 1 - Petr Mrazek 014/299

Rookie Redemption: 1 - Colorado Avalanche
Autofacts: 1 - Brendan Mikkelson
Treasured Swatches: 1 - Mike Richards Dual Relic
Tundra Tandems: 1 - Ray Bourque & Brad Park Dual Relic
Treasured Swatches Red Parallel: 1 - Martin Brodeur Stick & Tape 09/12


Always been fond of the base cards and this year is no difference. Really like the design with the silver corners and the black tint of the background of the photo. Really nice looking base card set. The Base card Parallels are really extra nice with the colors. We pulled Sapphire and Ruby and the designs really standout a little extra with the colors. Really great work by Upper Deck on theses.

The Base card Serial Numbered cards are again. Love the Team Canada cards living in Canada. The goalies having their own semi-set is pretty cool. The Rookie cards also have the same design and with the wording Rookie out in front. 

Up next we pulled the Colorado Avalanche Rookie Redemption which we really hope is Nathan MacKinnon, but again we'll have to wait and see who this might be later on. Brendan Mikkelson was our Autofacts. Not much about it other than a sticker autograph of an average player.

Two of our three relics were a Dual relic of retired Bruins Bourque and Park. Mike Richards was the other relic with a nice two color dual. Both are not numbered and basically normal swatch relics. 

Our third relic was a big one. Numbered 9 of 12, we pulled a Brodeur Dual Relic Stick and Tape. Very cool card of a future hall of fame player. The stick piece is rounded near the bottom of it which is hard to see on the scan. Tape is something we've never pulled before and is an odd relic piece. It's pretty much just a piece of the stick tape cut and stuck on the card. It's a very flat piece compared to anything else relic wise. It was interesting to pull one of these cards to see how they did the tape relic.

Overall we love Artifacts. That has not changed with the 2013-14 edition either. Great base card designs and parallels lead the way of this product. Pulling three relics per box is great and when you pull a nice relic like we did it becomes a great box pull. Really happy with the rookie redemption also since it could be MacKinnon. With the price around $100 it is a definite buy for any hockey collector. We'll be looking at collecting the set this year and buying a few more boxes to enjoy busting.

Most cards/hits pulled in our breaks end up on our site storefront www.packgambler.com, or our COMC account ThePackGambler. If you are interested in any of the cards we have mentioned please send us an e-mail at packgamblersales@gmail.com

Gambler Overall Rating: 4.6 out of 5
Cost: 5/5
Autographs: 3.5/5
Relics: 4.5/5
Parallels: 5/5
Concept: 5/5
Fun Aspect: 5/5