Known for its autographed jersey rookie cards and futuristic card designs, SPx is a popular brand across all sports. Upper Deck isn't tampering with its winning formula too much for SPx Hockey this season, meaning the chase will be on for top tier rookies like Evgeni Malkin and Phil Kessel.
Boxes of 2006-07 SPx Hockey contain 18 packs of four cards each, and each box should contain one rookie jersey card, one autographed rookie jersey card, one dual memorabilia card and two numbered insert cards on average.Base Set
A large stylized black 'X' is the design element that runs through SPx's entire base set. The 100 common cards also have gold and rainbow foil accents, with a gold foil team logo in the middle of it all. My review box turned up 64 of the 100 commons with no duplicates.
SPx rookie cards come in three varieties: regular cards numbered to 1999, jersey cards numbered to 1999 and autographed jersey cards in two tiers. My box yielded the expected numbered rookie (Alexei Mikhnov 0819/1999) and jersey rookie (Konstantin Pushkarev 1483/1999).
The most desirable rookies from this season are in the top tier of six autographed jersey cards, numbered to 799. I pulled one from the second tier of 27 rookies numbered to 1299, Nashville defenseman Shea Weber. Upper Deck usually does a good job putting some color in its SPx autographed jersey rookies, and my Weber card was no exception, sporting yellow and blue swatches.
Two game-worn jersey subsets, Flashback Fabrics and Autographed Flashback Fabrics, are also numbered along with the base set. They don't appear in every box on average, making this year's master set a real challenge for anyone trying to put it together.
Memorabilia Cards
The dual memorabilia piece insert Winning Materials is back for another run, and my review box beat the odds with two: a Joe Sakic and a two-color Dany Heatley. A lineup of 100 different players for this insert means there should be something for just about every collector.
There are also autographed versions of 62 of the Winning Materials cards, but they're tough pulls with print runs of just 10 cards each.
Insert Cards
SPXcitement showcases 100 exciting NHL players on cards numbered to 999, and I pulled three from my review box. This year there's also an autographed partial parallel numbered to 10.
The Last Word
Upper Deck didn't try to reinvent the wheel with the latest edition of SPx Hockey, serving up a similar mix of rookies and memorabilia inserts as in years past. The autographed jersey rookies are obviously the big draw, and they should be among the most popular hockey rookies of the season.
While your satisfaction is going to be highest if you pull one of the big names, SPx has enough to offer to be a solid purchase even if you don't.
