INSIDER EXCLUSIVE!

We asked Billy Celio, Upper Deck Product Manager, to share some exclusive insight into this year’s release. What’s new in this year’s release? “We’ve added a number of new inserts this year to go along with many of the staples expected from The Cup. Rookie Class of 2019 offers a new autograph card that includes an inscribed parallel. The Hall of Fame 25th/75th Anniversary cards look really nice, commemorating a number of the top players to ever play the game. The Trilateral and Rookie Trilateral multi-photo cards offer a cool looking design with Auto/Patch parallels. A new addition this year has a familiar face … with the return of Splendor. We’ve included the next edition of high-end Splendor cards to The Cup featuring Patch, Auto and Auto/Patch cards of the biggest stars the game has to offer.” After putting in countless hours into the creation and execution of The Cup, what are you most excited about unveiling? “The unannounced content/Easter Eggs that will deliver in this release. The past couple of years we’ve been very innovative with our surprises. Last year, we created our Fine Silver cards which were made out of .999 percent fine silver. They were a huge hit. The year before that we made Ticket Booklet cards featuring actual game tickets where the players inscribed their own stats from the game on the cards. I can honestly say we’ve taken it to a whole new level this year with one of our biggest Easter Eggs ever … and there’s more than one! “Aside from the Easter Eggs, I’m really excited about the work of our design team this year. We asked them to pay a little tribute to our 2005-06 design, and you can see it throughout the product. I think they came out great.” We know how much effort Upper Deck puts in to ensure every autograph card is live in the product. Can you tell us if this will be a no-redemptions release? “We can’t confirm that just yet. With so much hard-signed and multisigned cards, it is very hard to make this product totally redemption free, but all the big names and key rookies will have live autograph content in the set.” The Cup has been a groundbreaking product for more than a decade now. What’s the greatest challenge you faced with this year’s edition? “Creating new concepts that resonate with the consumers while still giving them the traditional content they are looking for.We think we delivered this year, however!”