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Product Review: 2019-2020 Upper Deck Hockey Allure

March 15, 2020, 9:25 AM ET [8 Comments]
Karine Hains
Montreal Canadiens Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
We’re used to Upper Deck releasing its usual line-up; Series 1, Series 2, Artifacts, SP Game Used, OPC, OPC Platinum and SP Authentic to name a few but there’s a new product to try this year, Allure. This new addition to the library will set you back about $105 plus tax for a hobby box comprising 8 packs of 6 cards and each break should yield the following:

-1 Autograph
-1 Rookie Jersey and 1 Jersey Card or Rare Parallel
-8 Inserts
-5 Parallels (White Rainbow/Red Rainbow/Orange Slice)

While this is a brand new product it is quite reminiscent of one of UD’s recent opus: O-Pee-Chee Platinum. The card design is quite similar and the foil finish is just as shinny. Furthermore, the base set includes numerous parallel versions (Yellow Taxi (Blaster) - 1:2 ,White Rainbow - 1:3, Red Rainbow - 1:6, Pewter - 1:80, Orange Slice - #/199, Green Quartz - #/99, Steel - #/50, Blue Line - #/25, Purple Diamond - #/10, Golden Treasure - 1/1, Printing Plates - 1/1 (Hobby exclusive)). If you count them, that’s 11 parallel versions, while OPC Platinum features 10. Allure is a fun break discovering all those parallels (especially if you are the kind of collector who likes to build rainbows and all the insert sets. Because of course, Upper Deck has come up with a slew of new insert sets for this release:

-For the Record (set of 10 cards - 1 per 40 packs);
-Iced Out (set of 25 cards - 1 per 16 packs);
-Open Ice (set of 20 cards - 1 per 20 packs);
-Top 50 Prospects (set of 50 cards - 1 per 2 packs);
-Winter Storm Warning (set of 20 cards - 1 per 10 packs)

All these inserts combine to give you one per pack on average in an hobby box. Of course, the insert sets also have parallels and the base and rookie cards offer autographed and relics parallel versions:

Base:
-Red Rainbow Jersey - 1:25
-Red Rainbow Auto - 1:80
-Blue Line Auto - #/35
-Golden Treasure Auto - 1/1
-Blue Line Auto Jersey - #/25
-Purple Diamond Auto Patch - #/10
-Golden Treasure Auto Tag - 1/1

Rookies:
-Red Rainbow Jersey - 1:16
-Red Rainbow Auto - #/349 or #/249
-Blue Line Auto Jersey - #/25
-Purple Diamond Auto Patch - #/10
-Golden Treasure Auto Tag - 1/1

On top of that, the Top 50 set also has autographed and relics parallels to offer. So here’s the breakdown of what we got in the box provided by Upper Deck:

-14 standard rookies and 2 Parallels: Suzuki, Fleury, Hughes, Farabee (2) (one parallel), Fox, Brannstrom, Bastian, Myers, Kuhlman, Dach, Zadina, L’Esperance, Frederic, Mikheyev, Fabbro (parallel).



-6 die-cut parallels: MacKinnon, Seguin, Stamkos, Seguin, Murray, Gibson



-1 Autographed rookie: Rem Pitlick, 1 Winter Storm Warning: Laine, 1 Rookie jersey parallel: Jimmy Schuldt, 1 Open Ice: Blake Wheeler
-4 Top 50: Elvis Merzlikins, Cody Glass, Joel Farabee, Teddy Blueger



The box delivered the amount of hits promises and made for an enjoyable break. However, some numbering on the parallels wouldn’t go amiss as it’s a challenge to tell which is which sometimes. Aside from that, I think it’s a solid product considering its price point and the selection of inserts on offer.

Grades
Design: 4.5/5
Value: 4/5
Resale value: 3.5/5
Variety: 5/5
Break enjoyment:5/5
Final grade: 86%

Once again, thanks to Upper Deck for providing me with this box to review and if something catches your eye, give me a shout on HockeyBuzz, Twitter or Sportscardforum.
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