After my Edmonton Oilers Oil and News post about the Rookie Showcase, I wanted to potentially start a new series about some of the hockey card sets I go out and collect.
Starting with the 2014-15 O Pee Chee Platinum
What is O Pee Chee Platinum?
O Pee Chee Platinum is a product aimed for a variety of collectors. First off, it takes the same format from 2014-15 O Pee Chee set where it has the same layout. However, unlike the standard set, it’s a much smaller base set to collect: 200 base cards compared to the 600 set for regular O Pee Chee. It’s less daunting of a task if you’re going out to collect the standard set.
What helps Platinum stand out is that the set is entirely “chrome” meaning that it has a shininess to the cards. Think of Holographic Pokemon Cards: If you were a kid, you LOVED those cards because they just looked cool. Platinum actually copies the standard set here: In the standard set, there would be holographic cards which would be alternate to the regular O Pee Chee card. However, compared to the holographic O Pee Chee Card, Platinum feels heavier.
Within the set, you have the base cards. However, these cards also have many different parallels with special numbering to them (meaning they have different coloured borders/effects.) These include the rainbow (no numbering) the White Ice (/299) Red Prism (/135) Blue Cubes (/65), Seismic Gold (/50), Black Ice (/25) and the incredibly challenging to get, Golden Treasure 1/1. There are also a parallels, not numbered called Rainbow Trax, which are opened about 1 in every 20 packs.
Also within this base set contains ultra rare variation photos of cards. There’s fifty cards which have a variation to it.
Also included are “retro” cards, which have a different border and very little background image. These too have different parallels: having rainbow (1:20 packs), Red Border Rainbow (unnumbered, but only show up in 1:160 packs), black (numbered out of 100) and Retro Autographs (which are also 1:160 packs). There also “die-cut” cards, which are cut different from other cards. They usually feature a top current player or a legend. Very rarely, they contain an autograph that is limited issue with each autographed die cut only having ten cards of the player in circulation.
However, the main calling point are the odds of one Rookie Autograph per box. Unlike other autographs, these cards are hard signed: this means that the card does not have a sticker with the autograph. Some collectors, myself included, prefer hard signed.
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Pros and Cons
Pros: It’s a large set, but not too large. Collecting all the base cards was a fun challenge. I had to scramble for the base Ryan Sproul for months: I could not open a pack with him in it. Turned out, I accidentally gave my extra cards to a friend and he had it the entire time. I’m a big fan of the chrome look and the parallels look awesome. They each have a unique look them that makes them stand out. It’s fun to try to collect the “rainbow” of a certain player. Hard signed autographs are awesome!
Cons: Sometimes, the cards when pulled from packs are curved: you can see a noticeable arch in the card at times. It’s seems to be a manufacturing issue if anything. For “hits” (meaning the big, exciting non base card), there’s not a lot. The one autograph a box is a bit low, especially compared to a similar product last year released by Panini called Prizm, which had 2 autographs per box. Granted, Rookie Autographs are cool, but it’s difficult to get a player autograph. Variation photos are a pain to track: I had to go thru a lot of cards to make sure I didn’t have a variation card or not. Upper deck could make this easier in the future.
Oilers and Big Pulls
I’m currently collecting a Taylor Hall Rainbow. I pulled his Black Ice /25 really early and only need the /50 Seismic gold to complete the rainbow (I’m not even bothering with the 1/1 card. That’s a dream.). I also have a Jordan Eberle Red Retro, Leon Draisaitl rookie autograph.
My biggest pull however is easily my Darnell Nurse Autograph that is numbered out of 25. I pulled that card on the first box.
Verdict
Even though I’m still newish to collecting Hockey Cards, O Pee Chee Platinum was my favorite product of the year. It was simple, but had it’s flair. I think it’s worth a buy to check out. It’s a nice looking set and I really hope that Upper Deck releases it again next year.