Christmas McDavid!

Merry Christmas everyone!  I hope you all had some time to relax with friends and family today.  My wife is laid up sick, but I was able to spend the first half of my day with family at least, which was great.  Most importantly, everyone was happy and healthy (except my wife!) and able to gather in one place, which I'm very grateful for.  Second to that though, I sure did get to give and receive some awesome presents!

I even received some cards, which I'll get to later, but tonight's post is all about a small Christmas present I got myself...

I had to work Christmas Eve, and on my way into the office I stopped to pick up the couple of last minute gift cards that I needed to complete my Christmas shopping.  While headed for the checkout line, I couldn't resist the temptation to grab one of these 2015-16 Upper Deck tins.  Other than a pair of base cards I got in a recent PWE, and a single Canvas insert I picked up at a card show, I have zero exposure to this product so far.

The tins are a little more expensive than a blaster at $29.99, but they do come with a dozen packs.  You also get a single jumbo card, which you can see here.  Also, I guess if you're a Canadiens fan the tin itself isn't half bad either.

Once you remove the jumbo card, you've got your packs, safely and securely stored in two groups of six.  The packaging does a very good job of protecting the cards from damage, which is nice.

I grabbed the first pack from the stack on the left, and tore it open to see which eight cards awaited me...

First impression?  The cards are a bit dull for me.  I don't so much mind that they got away from the full-bleed photography with the design this year, but I'm not sure it's my favorite layout.  I think my real problem is the photographs themselves though, seems like a lot of close-ups compared to the creative stuff I'm used to in Upper Deck flagship.

See what I mean?

To me, these look like the kind of shots I expect to see in O-Pee-Chee, or in Fleer Ultra sets back in the day.  Not necessarily bad, just a tad uninspired.

That's okay though, because at this point the pack took a real upturn!

WHOA!  Not a joke, I swear.  I pulled a Connor McDavid Young Guns RC in the very first pack of Upper Deck that I've opened all year.  I had to do a triple take, and I'm pretty sure my jaw dropped in amazement.  After I scanned this puppy in it went straight into a one-touch magnetic holder.  I knew right away that this was quite a pull, but I didn't realize just how significant.  Looking at eBay they're regularly selling for between $130 and $160!

I'm certainly glad I just aimlessly grabbed the tin that was right in front on the shelf, and didn't put any more thought into it than that, because there's no way I could have done better than this.  Unreal.  The crazy part is the same thing happened to me five years ago when PK Subban was the hot rookie card.

It seems very anti-climactic to even bother showing the rest of the pack at this point, but here they are for the sake of completeness...

A little better here with the photography...

That's the pack.  I haven't even touched the other eleven, they're just sitting there in the tin on my pack shelf for a time when I'm bored or need a quick post in the future.  Pulling that McDavid gave me a feeling much like Ralphie finding the Red Ryder behind the tree on Christmas morning, and was the icing on the cake of what was an already awesome Christmas.

Again, I hope you all found some time to relax and be with your loved ones this holiday season, and I hope all of you in Canada have a Happy Boxing Day tomorrow!