About a week ago I got a hobby box of 2009 – 2010 ITG Heroes and Prospects to review. This happens to be my favorite hockey set to chase every year. So needless to say as soon as I saw the box I just wanted to rip it open. Too bad I had a homeowners association meeting I had to go to before I got to tear into the new box. Unfortunately the meeting left me very pissed off and I felt in order to give it a good review I should at least wait until my fuming subsided.
Mrs. Chemgod and I started a ripping party the next day. We played pack wars and she kicked my butt. Out of the 9 packs she opened, 6 of them had autographs or game used jerseys. My feelings on this product was mixed. What I liked most about previous releases of Heroes and Prospects was that the two were clearly delineated with different base designs. This set lacked that delineation, and we had to (gasp) think as to whether the player was a hero or a prospect. As dumb as that seems as a knock on the product, it bothered me and I figured that others would feel the same.
With that objection out of the way, I liked the overall design of the set and the amount of inserts that a typical hobby box produces. The inserts, as always, are colorful swatches often not found in regular releases. Also the pieces of jerseys are substantially larger than your typical game used card. The autograph cards have a sharp design and even though they are sticker autographs, I just like how they sit on the logo of the team.
The configuration is 18 packs of cards with 9 cards per pack. With 150 cards in the set, it is possible to complete it with one box. You won’t be able to do it, but theoretically it’s possible. A typical box will yield two autographs and two game used cards. At 1:8 odds for either an autograph or a game used card, you could see a third (as you will see from this box). Overall I like the product, I am going to give it 4 stars.
The Stats:
Base Cards: 156 cards (two of which have blank backs, not sure what that is about)
Real Heroes: 1 – Sid Abel
2009 Calder Cup Winner: 1 – Keith Aucoin
Autographs: 2 – Zach Kassian and Andrej Hestrasil
Game Used: 3 – Chris Stewart (Jumbo Jersey), Kari Lehtonen (AHL Grad), Carter Ashton (Emblem Patch)
The Good:
- Autographed cards have a great design
- Big swatches of jerseys
- Love the Emblem cards
- Packs come with 9 cards (a large amount for a newer product)
- The Lehtonen jersey is so big that it actually pops out of the card
- He Shoots He Scores Promotion is back
- Hobby Boxes are running about $70 – $75 on eBay
The Bad:
- No delineation between heroes and prospects on the base cards
- Only 18 packs in the box
- Some retail only cards
Nice looking cards, I am glad to see the finally gave the base cards a make-over. I felt the design they had used before was getting a little tired. I may have to check out a few packs.
[...] between heroes and prospects on the base cards Only 18 packs in the box Some retail only cards Product Review – 2009 – 2010 ITG Heroes and Prospects Bad Wax __________________ Shop for Sports Cards and Trading [...]
Oh wow, they really switched it up this year. I like it! May have to get some packs as well…
Not a terrible break, I like the cards a lot more this year than in the past. Do you trade these or are they giveaways? I’d love to trade you for that Carter Ashton. He’s one of my favorite players and I’ve been following him for a while now.
Alex, give me a trade proposal.
Who do you like? I dunno even where to begin lol.
That is a great break, two jersey cards out of 30 and a Emblem out of 6. You can tell the difference between the Heroes and the Prospects by the color of the lines on the front of the card. The heroes are the brown/black color, while the prospects are the team colors.