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2002-03 Upper Deck Series 1

Packs per Box: 24
Cards per Pack: 8
Cards per Box: 192
Base Set Completion: 81.1% (146 of 180)
SPs in box: 13
RCs in box: 2
Duplicates: 25

The exact contents of the pack scanned in and used to find insert odds:

1. Bill Guerin #55
2. Stephane Yelle #41
3. Rostislav Klesla #49
4. Sean Burke Memorable Seasons SP #241
5. Sean Burke #133
6. Patrick Lalime #121
7. Marian Hossa #122
8. Petr Nedved #114

First Pack Comments: Again, not a ton here, although there was that Sean Burke Memorable Seasons SP. That is the one people were going crazy for, although it looks like it's dying down a bit (naturally, they stop buying it when I pull it!).
First Pack Rating: 5 / 10

Total: 21
Young Guns (1:4) -- 8: Pasi Nurminen, Sean Avery, Stephen Weiss, Sylvain Blouin, Ray Schultz, Martin Prusek, Chris Bala, Evgeni Konstantinov
Memorable Seasons (1:6) -- 5: Steve Yzerman, Gordie Howe, Jaromir Jagr, Teemu Selanne, Sean Burke

Sizziling Scorers (1:12) -- 2: Joe Sakic, Jeremy Roenick
Super Savers (1:12) -- 2: Evgeni Nabokov, Brent Johnson
Gifted Greats (1:12) -- 2: Mike Modano, Steve Yzerman
On the Rise Jersey (1:96 hobby) -- 0
Good ol' Days Jersey (1:96) -- 0
Saviors Jersey (1:96) -- 0
CHL Graduates Jersey (1:96 hobby) -- 0
CHL Graduates Jersey Gold (#'d to 25) -- 0
Letters of Note Jersey (1:144) -- 1: Jarome Iginla
Letters of Note Jersey Gold (#'d to 50) -- 0
UD First Class Jersey (1:288) -- 0
UD First Class Jersey Gold (#'d to 75) -- 0
Specialists Jersey (1:96 hobby) -- 0
NHL All-Star Jerseys (1:96 hobby) -- 0
New NHL Hot Spots (1:96 hobby) -- 1: Daniel Briere
UD Patchwork (1:2500) -- 0
UD Playbooks Jerseys (200 total produced) -- 0

Box Rating: 6.5 / 10
Product Rating: 6.0 / 10

I really wished I had figured out UDs evil rookie production system about two hours ago instead of just a few minutes ago ...

This product was a pretty nice one, with one glaring exception: rookies. UD advertises Young Guns at 1:4, and doesn't that sound great? I mean, that's basically a 1:4 shot at RCs of Nash, Bouwmeester, Zetterberg etc, right? Who can go wrong?

But a closer look shows something much different and much less pleasing. The Young Guns that come out 1:4 are those numbered from 196-225, and all but 5 of them are fake RCs. Yep, that means that the odds of pulling a Young Guns RC shoot up to about 1:24 ... and when you do get a Young Guns RC, it will be one of: Mikki Dupont, Ray Schultz, Sylvain Blouin, Adam Hall, or Greg Koehler. Thrilling, I know.

So where are Nash, Zetterberg and Bouwmeester? Well, there is a second block of SPs, numbered from 226-246 that contains the top 10 RCs of 02-03 as well as 10 Memorable Seasons SPs that seem to have no significance other than being super-SPd. Cards from this bunch fall about 1 per box. So you get one super-SPd card per box, but only half the super-SPs are Young Guns, thus your real chance of pulling those rookies you've actually heard of? 1:48. You thought Pacific's one per box was harsh.

Now, I spent a lot of time on the rookie issue because it was a MAJOR dissapointment to me. I got this box for the jerseys and rookies. The jerseys do not dissapoint, they are all very nice, quality cards that you will enjoy pulling. The rookies though are pathetic. 1:48 to get a RC of somebody who actually might become decent one day. That's sickening. That blows half of my expectations away, and really leaves me sour.

It's too bad that UD had to let short printing kill them here. I really liked the rest of the product. The photography is top notch, the card backs are great, the Memorable Seasons subset is a brilliant idea and I love it, the jerseys are innovative and very good looking. But fake RCs are the one thing I hate more than all, and super-SPing the stuff people really want isn't very far behind. And UD1 does them both.

I guess my box is considered a successful failure. First, my super SP was a Sean Burke Memorable Seasons. I'm pretty sure any Memorable Seasons super SP is a failure, but Sean Burke? He's just not a huge hobby force, and I don't think his season depicted on the card was that great. Good yes, but worthy of taking the spot of a Nash or Zetterberg or even Ales Hemsky RC? Not a chance.

I did get an extra Memorable Seasons, and given my enjoyment of that set I liked that. I also got 2 extra Young Guns, but I really didn't care one bit about them, like I've said, I HATE fake RCs. I guess I hit the Young Guns jackpot though, I got two of the real non-super-SP RCs, Blouin and Schultz. Whoopie.

The jerseys were very nice, Iginla jerseys are always good, and Briere is a great up and coming player with a ton of potential, so a jersey of him is nice as well. The inserts were OK, but so little went into their design that they look just like base cards ... rather uninspired and normal, so pulling them wasn't a ton of fun. I enjoyed pulling the Memorable Seasons a lot more than any of the 3 inserts.

But again, the rookies do this in. 1:48 chances to get an RC of someone you've heard of before. With those kind of odds there is no way anyone's rookie base can be covered ... heck half the people won't even a notable RC. And don't those half deserve at least one recognizable RC for their money?

I don't think I'd purchase another box again simply because of the super-SPing that UD does to make the rookies very difficult. To put it into perspective: if you bought a 12-box case, you'd only pull on average SIX notable RCs. No rookie coverage at all, and that is a huge reason why I purchased this box. The jerseys are nice, but without the rookies to complement them, I am just left feeling empty.

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