Tax Return Box Break

I got my tax return last week and budgeted for my next box break.  Most of the money went to my Visa balance, and to pay off various bills.  Whatever was left, I spent on Cards.  This is what I settled on:

2017-18 AHL

Cost: $70
Cards per Pack: 8
Packs per Box: 20

Base Set SP #101-150 (1:2) : 10

Base Set Autographs (1:10), (1:20 SP): 3

Mike McKenna
Kyle Rau
Kevin Porter

Silver Parallel (1:10), (1:20 SP): 3

Cameron Shilling
Nicolas Aube-Kubel
Timothy Liljegren (SP)

Team Standouts (1:5): 4

Ty Rattie
Nick Lappin
Emil Petterson
Klim Kosten

Team Logo Mini Poster (1 per Box): 1

Cleveland Monsters

Thoughts:  Good on Upper Deck to increase the number of cards per pack from 5 to 8.  The removal of the patches is disappointing.  A lot of doubles as well, though it comes in handy for hounding.  The decreased odds of the SPs from 1 per pack to 1 per 2 packs makes this a tougher set to build than it should be.  If you're an autograph hound, just pick up singles second hand.

2017-18 CHL


Cost: $60
Cards per Pack:12
Packs per Box:16

Star Rookies SPs (2:3): 10

Autographs (1:13): 1

Givani Smith

Exclusive #/100: 1

Ethan Kempen

Promising Futures (1:7): 3

Vitalii Abramov
Jordan Kyrou
Ty Smith

Top Prospects Game (1:5): 3

Nick Suzuki
Ian Scott
Maxime Comtois

Thoughts: Finally!  An affordable Juniors product!  With no gloss on the cards yet!  This is a definite must for people who hound the Junior teams or want a challenge building a set that shouldn't burn too much.  I likely won't bother buying another box because I'm not a huge junior collector.

2017-18 Parkhurst (2 Boxes)


Cost: $30 (per box)
Cards per Pack: 10 (per box)
Packs per Box:12 (per box)

Red Border (1:3): 8

Rickard Rakell
Patrice Bergeron
Robin Lehner
Artemi Panarin
Keith Yandle
Cory Schneider
Alexander Steen
Checklist #300

Black Border (1:12): 2

Thomas Greiss
Jonathan Marchessault

Blow the Horn (1:10): 2

Brad Marchand
Vladimir Tarasenko

East vs. West (1:6 E, 1:6 W): 4

Erik Karlsson
Alex Ovechkin
Brent Burns
Drew Doughty

Parkhurst International (1:4): 6

Patrick Kane
Pavel Bure
Teemu Selanne
Dominik Hasek
Dennis Seidenberg
Nino Neiderreiter

Prominent Prospects (1:12): 2

Alexander Nylander
Owen Tippett

Thoughts:  Despite shrinking the base set, this product once again impresses me.  It comes out early enough, with updated rookies and rosters.  The rookies aren't short printed so the base set is pretty easy to build.  A definite breath of  fresh air, for those sick of the high end $500 packs that contain 1 or 2 cards.  The only downside is that you have to buy them at Wal-Mart.

2017-18 Upper Deck Series 1 (Retail)

Cost: $65
Cards per Pack: 8
Packs per Box: 24


Young Guns (1:4): 6

Josh Ho-Sang
Adrian Kempe
C.J. Smith
Vladislav Kamenev
Tyson Jost
Will Butcher

Canvas (1:7): 4

Jaccob Slavin
Frans Neilsen
Alexandre Burrows
Brayden Point

Canvas Young Guns (1:48): 1

Jack Roslovic

Shining Stars: 3

Auston Mathews C (1:16)
Craig Anderson G (1:48)
Johnny Gaudreau LW (1:24)

Shining Stars Red: 1

Viktor Arvidsson LW (1:72)

Portraits (1:6): 4

Jack Eichel
Filip Forsberg
Sean Couturier
Alex Ovechkin

Game Jersey (1:36 Overall): 1

Adam Larsson Group F

Thoughts:  I decided to switch to Retail since it's cheaper.  The only real differences are that there are no chances at getting some rarer subsets and Exclusives (most of the time which are commons).  This is most recommended for people collecting Young Guns and the base set.  I have actually done pretty well with the two retail boxes I bought this year.

Overall:  Not a bad day.  The only box I was really disappointed in was the AHL.  Parkhurst was kind of a pleasant surprise, despite getting mostly the same base cards in both boxes.