Tuesday, March 23, 2021

Box Break: 1999-00 MVP Stanley Cup Edition

Its been over 20 years now since Upper Deck's 1999-00 MVP Stanley Cup Edition set was released and this will only be the fourth full box I've opened. I've probably said this on here before, but I consider this to be my favorite hockey card set. In all my years of collecting, I believe this is the only product that I've ever bought more than one or two boxes of.

There main reason I like the set so much is the parallels. I know there were two previous MVP releases with the same parallels, but this set was my first exposure to them back when I was lucky enough to pull my Dominik Hasek and Alexei Kovalev Super Scripts. Those two got me hooked on this particular set and I've been after them ever since.

Of the four Stanley Cup Edition boxes I've opened, three of them have only happened because of this blog. It wasn't until I started it up that I really dove into looking for Super Scripts to add to ones I already had. From there I expanded to the Gold and Silver Scripts and even all of the insert sets at one point.

I know it would be much easier and cheaper to build these sets through purchasing singles and lots, but box breaking has always seemed like more fun to me. For each of these boxes I've known there was little to no chance of pulling Super Scripts, but there's always that slight possibility so I figured why not give it a shot each time.

Before I dive into the details of my latest break, here are the links to my previous breaks:

        - Previous Box Break #1: October 6, 2010
        - Previous Box Break #2: January 20, 2012

A quick note on that first one from 2010: I realize now that it was actually a retail box and I never even had a chance at the Super or Gold Scripts as they were hobby exclusives. The dead giveaway is the "Retail Exclusive" written right on the wrapper. I'm not sure how I screwed that up, but it's kind of funny looking back on it now.

Back to the reason for this post, here are some quick details about my newest box:

        - Purchased on eBay for $45 plus shipping
        - From original sealed case the seller bought at release
        - Hobby version (28 Packs, 10 Cards per Pack)

I found the listing for this box a few months ago and it had been sitting in my watchlist ever since. It was originally listed for $50, but I after some back and forth offers with the seller I was able to grab it for $45. A little more than I was hoping to spend based on the ones I've bought in the past, but I decided to go for it anyway just for the fun of it.

Here is a summary of what is available in these boxes and what I actually ended up with.

        - 220 Base --> 238
        - 220 Silver Script (1:2) --> 14
        -
220 Gold Script (#/100) --> 0
        - 220 Super Script (#/25) --> 0
        - 20 Stanley Cup Talent (1:5) --> 7
        - 10 Cup Contenders (1:9) --> 3
        - 10 Playoff Heroes (1:84) --> 0
        - 12 Second Season Snipers (1:28) --> 1    
        - 10
Golden Memories (1:14) --> 2
        - 10 Clutch Performers (1:28) --> 1
        - Great Combinations (1:196) --> 0
        - Game Used Souvenirs (1:130) --> 0
        -
500 Goal Club (1:3995) --> 0

Overall this was not too bad all things considered. While I didn't get any of the Golds or Supers I was hoping for, it was still fun to sort cards from my favorite set. The players in this set are the ones I grew up watching on TV so its always nice to see them on cardboard.

A couple of general notes before I get into the details:

        - No serial numbered cards pulled
        - No autographs or memorabilia pulled

        - 7 packs did not have all 10 cards
        - 2 packs had more than 10 cards
        - 1 damaged card
        -
92% base set completion
        
- 35 base duplicates

In the interest of trying to do something different for a box break post, I was crazy enough to keep track of which cards came from every pack of the box in a spreadsheet. I basically created a box break matrix and thought it would be fun to share on here.

The first column on the left is the pack # as I pulled them from the box. The top row is the card # in the order I pulled them from each individual pack. The cells contain the actual card numbers. The (S) notation is for Silver Scripts and the (D) is for damaged cards.

Pack
#
Card
#1
Card
#2
Card
#3
Card
#4
Card
#5
Card
#6
Card
#7
Card
#8
Card
#9
Card
#10
Card #11 Card #12
1 57 84 111 61 89 113 118 142 166 192 201(D)
2 85 112 139 6 21 49 206 3(S)



3 79 105 18 149 36 57 84




4 70 96 100 77







5 127 155 182 208 122 150 106 133 40(S)


6 1 55 80 SC14 25 172 197




7 67 93 120 45 217 76 80 126(S) 207


8 167 15 62 90 SC5 163 190 179 5 28

9 43 91 114 214 143 CP8 135 12(S) 205 65

10 100 96 208 81 107 134 191 9 198 77

11 183 39 144 170 204 CC9 181 143(S) 194 13

12 127 155 182 122 150 172 GM4 162 214(S) 35

13 72 98 125 137 164 212 21 49 151 192(S)

14 153 11 187 30 71 97 200 178 8 CC3

15 147 175 103 129 SC2 123 161 109 136 159

16 37 58 185 124 97 71 102 128 152 SS10

17 1 25 197 7 SC18 189 23 69 95 211

18 53 78 104 34 68 94 51 73 99(S) 121

19 131 156 210 115 99 126 154 145 171 63

20 173 24 52 12 40 70 SC9 56 73(S) 165

21 50 199 110 135 163 190 215 101 123 22

22 86 116 82 108 148 176 176 220 42 209

23 140 168 10 130 216 158 SC20 148 195(S) 75

24 17 48 193 19 3 31 55 26 47 83

25 132 160 184 27 60 88 SC11 111 154(S) 74

26 177 38 59 20 46 203 GM6 124 181(S) 213 186 14
27 173 24 52 195 12 40 CC5 31(S)



28 2 29 54 157 196 180 188 219 166(S) 202


While that may not be interesting to anyone else, I thought it was a neat exercise to run through. This is a hobby after all and I'm just trying to find some new ways to enjoy it.

Since I've already completed the Silver Script set and posted most of it on here, I thought I would choose a random base card to show off first. Here is card #8 featuring Ray Ferraro of the Atlanta Thrashers and one of my all time favorite NHL jerseys.

As far as the inserts go, I did actually get a few new ones. While I'm not actively pursuing the full master set of inserts, it was still cool to add some to get me a little closer to finishing them. These are from back when people seemed to actually care about basic inserts so the designs are quite nice all things considered. 

We'll start off the run of inserts with Second Season Snipers. These are printed on a nice rainbow foil board and look great in person. This one is card #SS10 and features Jaromir Jagr of the Pittsburgh Penguins. I always liked those jerseys for some reason.


The Golden Memories were printed on a similar foil board and look just as good in person. I really like the old fashioned looking font on on the set name and player name. This one is card #GM6 and features Martin Brodeur of the New Jersey Devils.


Clutch Performers is another nice looking insert set with a really cool double image effect. I will say these were a bit harder to scan and it took some editing to make it look this good. This one is card #CP8 and featured John LeClair of the Philadelphia Flyers.

Cup Contenders was printed on a silver foil board and is one of those sets that just does not scan very well. I did what I could to make this one look ok. This is card #CC3 and features Milan Hejduk of the Colorado Avalanche.


Stanley Cup Talent was the most common insert and I'm pretty sure between all the boxes I've opened I have them all. These are another example of the silver foil board that does not want to scan. This one is card #SC5 and features Patrick Roy of the Colorado Avalanche.



Overall this was a really fun experience. I got to bust some packs for the first time in quite a while and they were from my favorite set. While I didn't hit any of the big cards I was hoping for, it was still neat to sort through them all and sort them so I could place them in a binder. I guess its back to eBay for the Supers and Golds.

Unless I come across a great deal on one, I don't see myself opening any more boxes of this stuff. I know I'm better off just buying the singles, but there is just something about busting boxes and hoping to hit something cool that keeps me going back to it. In this case though I'm over it and just want to focus on singles to help finish my parallel sets.

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