Product Overview
2023-24 Upper Deck Ice Hockey looks towards the sport’s playing surface for much of its inspiration. For longtime collectors, that means several spots to find cards done on acetate, the plastic-like stock that offers a clear backdrop. The build might be a lot more prevalent than it was when the brand made its debut nearly three decades ago but it’s still distinct enough to stand out on its own.
The checklist has some high-end elements, but it’s not entirely super premium. Hobby boxes have one autograph or memorabilia card plus a variety of inserts and parallels. The cornerstone Ice Premieres highlighting rookies on acetate, are at least two per box.
The base set has 255 total cards, although it’s divided into a few sections. The first 100 are the veterans. They’re followed by a 50-card set of rookies that land one per pack. These 150 cards have the same mix of parallels:
Some cards also have hit-based versions with swatches or signatures. In some rare instances, there are both.
The Ice Premieres subset adds another 100 cards. These are all rookies and come on acetate. These are available in five tiers, numbered to 999, 799, 499, 249 or 99. A good rule of thumb is that the bigger the prospect, the lower the print run.
The tiered structure doesn’t carry over to parallels, though. Ice Premieres have:
Finally, there are five tough Extended Rookies that are 1:60 packs.
The Ice Premieres theme carries over to separate sets of autographs (/199 or fewer) and autograph patch cards (/10). There are also jersey versions that are approximately 1:4 hobby boxes.
