The "Universe" has spoken to me........well.....it kind of gave me a gift actually......No really....It gave me a gift....LOOK!

So things been a little crazy lately to say the least in my end of the world especially with working 6 and/or 7 days a week which is very time consuming so I'm very thankful that I am able to receive vacation days from my employer because I took a personal holiday yesterday to use for an appointment and for a mental health day for myself. I needed to take a break and relax my mind by opening up some hockey cards..... 3 boxes of 2021-22 Skybox metal universe, 2 boxes of 2020-21 Upper Deck Clear cut hockey, and 1 box of 2022-23 Upper Deck Artifacts to be specific.

The first box that I opened was the Artifacts box. It's been a few years since I opened a box of Artifacts and since the price was decent I figured why not. 

I was surprised that I did not pull any other rookie cards other than the Jack Quinn clear cut rookie card. Some of the boxes I've seen opened had at least one or two other rookie cards. However my box only had Jack in it. I did receive my 4 serially numbered cards but they were all of base cards. The autograph was a nice surprise considering Quinn's autograph is listed as a "B" group auto 1:994. Overall I was pleased with what the box provided. 

Moving on to the 3 boxes of skybox metal universe.............

The 2020-21 edition of Skybox metal universe provided one autograph per box where as the 2021-22 edition does not guarantee one auto per box.

Per cardboard connections: "Although the 2020-21 product specifically mentions one autograph per Hobby box, the '21-22 box hit can be an autograph, PMG, Jambalaya, or "other coveted cards."

so basically this is what the odds are for hitting an auto even from these 2021-22 boxes:

Base Silver Autographs Set Checklist

54 cards.

Overall odds - 1:100 Hobby/ePack. Specific group odds noted.

1 Connor McDavid - Oilers - A 1:6,959
2 Jonathan Marchessault - Golden Knights - E 1:143
3 Miro Heiskanen - Stars - E 1:143
4 John Gibson - Ducks - D 1:514
5 Mitch Marner - Maple Leafs - B 1:3,085

etc.etc. Your Matthews, Crosby, John Tavares, and other stars like that are all part of group A. You have a chance of hitting one of their autos but the odds are so far up there that you would have better odds of fighting a rabid wolverine naked inside of a telephone booth with aliens cheering you on and Joe Rogan calling the play by play action. 

 

 

So I opened the first box and nothing earth shattering came out of the box but I am a fan of these cards and I really enjoy anything that shows images of the universe on it (real or artist drawn). The quality control with these cards spoke volumes with decent cuts and no damaged cards at all through the first box. I felt that Upper Deck did deliver on a good box of cards.

I moved onto the second box of Skybox metal universe and that's when while moving onto the last stack of packs (the middle stack) the thing I call "last stack magic" occurred and the universe spoke to me in the next to last pack:

Skybox Metal Box (Universe actually speaking through the box): How ya doing today Tim?

Big Kahuna: Just having some fun ripping some packs and trying to make a set. Why....what's up?

SMB: I feel like blessing you today with something. Allow me to ask you a question my child....Have you found McJesus?

BK: Um.....do you mean Jesus? 

SMB: I'm referring to Connor McJesus.

BK: Why yes...I have some his regular cards and I just pulled a Connor Mcdavid planet metal insert in the previous pack.

SMB: That's great my child......however I'd like to bless you with a special card today. This special card is one that can be hard to find and will make you feel excited and overcome with Joy.

BK: Oh.....so you're blessing me with a Connor McDavid serially numbered card. That's cool!

SMB: No my child......while that would be "cool" I really want to bless you with something wonderful.

BK: Well then......I look forward to whatever you may want to share with me.

SMB: Allow me to bless you with this

 

SMB: I present to you and bless you with his HOLY CHICKEN SCRATCH

 

 

All I could think of in the moment was Han Solo saying, "Never tell me the odds."

In my 30+ years of collecting Hockey cards I have never pulled such a star quality autograph that made me go : OMG OMG OMG so many times (the video of it will be posted on the Youtube channel soon). The funny thing is I need the 2020-21 edition of this card for the set I'm building.......and with my luck.....I pulled the 2021-22 edition of this card....LOL. Even funnier, I was just talking with a fellow collector last week about building the 2020-21 skybox metal universe entire set and I said to him, "watch with my luck I'll pull the card from the 2021/22 set and it won't have an auto on it. I may not even try to build the 2021-22 set at all." I guess spoke it into existence and the Universe said, "here ya go buddy.....you willed it into existence and this one has his autograph on it."

I'm still in shock over pulling this card and while it may not seem like much to some people, it's truly an awesome feeling to me and it's one of the many fun things about this hobby. It was something that completely caught me by surprise and totally off guard when I was opening the packs. Ok universe......ok........thank you for making a rough couple of weeks being forgotten about entirely for a few hours.