W
e’d like to
continue
discuss-
ing extending
your collecting
online. Last issue
we talked about
Quidd. This time
we’ll discuss Upper
Deck’s e-Pack.
S imply put,
e-Pack is an online
trading card plat-
form with a physical
card aspect. It is a
real boon to those
who do not have a
hobby shop nearby
or perhaps have one
that only carries a single non-sport card line
or two. It also brings the notion of “trading”
back to trading cards.
There’s a number of facets to e-Pack,
perhaps more than can be explained on
a single page, but here are some basics.
e-Pack has more traditional trading card
aspects to it than some of the other online
trading cards apps and destinations. The
big one is e-Pack products are much more
the digital equivalent of the card/pack/box/
case scenario which collectors are used to.
Other platforms are more akin to collecting
images. In fact, Upper Deck says for every
product it makes which has an e-Pack ele-
ment, a certain portion of the production
run is reserved for e-Pack digital cards.
Collectors can create an e-Pack
account free at UpperDeckePack.com.
You’ll receive a free pack of digital cards
every day when you log in. You can also
purchase packs, boxes, and cases, most
of which have physical card equivalents
which can be shipped to your door. Your
whole collection is viewable online and
wherever you are via Upper Deck’s website
(which works great via mobile as well).
S ounds similar to traditional card col-
lecting so far, right? Upper Deck
extends the experience online by offering
you the chance to trade and chat with
others in the community and complete
tasks to obtain exclusive achievements and
achievement cards. Got too many of a cer-
tain card? You can combine duplicates for
a rarer parallel version. This all happens in
online time, right through Upper Deck’s
platform, so there’s no waiting for the
postman to ring. There’s also the opportu-
nity to have your collection transferred to
Check Out My Cards (COMC.com).
P ricing for online packs vary quite
a bit. Upper Deck has some high end
offerings as well as more easily affordable
series, just like they do with the various
lines you’ll find at your local retail or
hobby shop. Prices per pack can range
from $.99 to $249.99! The platform has
been around over a year and has quite a
lot to offer sports fans with subjects like
hockey and USA Football while offering
non-sport collectors products like Dino-
saurs, Alien, and Marvel.
I n non-sports, Marvel is Upper Deck’s
biggest offering. Joe Jusko’s incredible Mar-
vel Masterpieces was one of the very first
non-sport e-Pack offerings. Subsequent
Marvel series include
Doctor Strange, Captain
America 75th, 2016 Mar-
vel Annual, and Guard-
ians of the Galaxy Vol.
- Later this year, Upper
Deck will release Thor:
Ragnarok but ahead of
that is Spider-Man Home-
coming.
Spider-Man Homecom-
ing should be in stores as
you read this. Homecom-
ing’s base card series will
include 100 cards (
base cards and 10 “Spider
Friends.”) Inserts cards
focus on the following
themes: Behind the Lens,
Friend or Foe, Spider-Man Decathlon,
Spider-Tech, and Spider-Men. Packs will
also contain Memorabilia Cards (two per
box); Parallel cards (one per pack) found in
silver, red, blue, and black foil, and one auto-
graph or sketch card per box. Autographs
come in single actor and dual actor varieties
while single piece, dual piece, triple piece,
and quad piece memorabilia cards can be
found. There will also be single memorabilia
and autograph combo cards as well as dual
piece memorabilia and autograph combo
cards. Finally, there will be single and dual
autograph booklets. There will be eight cards
per pack and 10 packs per box.
e-Pack buyers who amass 10 copies of
any non-foil parallel base card can com-
bine those to receive a green foil parallel
card. Combine 10 copies of any green foil
parallel card to receive a gold foil parallel
of that card. There will also be achieve-
ments for completing specific insert sets.
There’s more to the e-Pack platform
then we’ve discussed here and, as noted, it
would be a bit beyond the scope to explain
it all so you really ought to check things
out at UpperDeckePack.com, even if it’s
just to receive your daily free pack. NSU
12 Non-Sport Update
E-PACK EXPLAINED
CARDS ONLINE
By Harris Toser