2017 Upper Deck Goodwin Champions arrives Wednesday at Sports Cards Plus with something sure to satisfy the collecting palate of everyone. In addition to a variety of sports, big and small, various aspects in the product travel the world, explore space and even The Wonderful World Of Oz.
Just like the themes it covers, the types of cards in 2017 Upper Deck Goodwin Champions are just as eclectic. Proof of that can be found in the hobby box hits. Each has three total from a list that includes autographs, memorabilia cards, art cards, relics, 3D cards and embroidered patch cards.
BASE SET
The 2017 Upper Deck Goodwin Champions base set features 150 cards. The first 100 are regular cards covering athletes from many sports. While many will be household names with sports fans, traditionally some come from fringe sports as well.
The final 50 cards are Black and White short prints.
Parallels are done in a variety of minis. Basic Mini cards land every four hobby packs. Numbered minis include Canvas (/99), Cloth Lady Luck (/25), Black Metal Magician (/17), Wood Lumberjack (/8) and Gold Presidential (1/1).
AUTOGRAPHS
Like the base set, autographs come from a wide range of athletes. Of the signed cards, Goodwin Autographs are the most common at 1:67 packs. These have Black and White (1:1,440) and hand-numbered Inscription versions to go with the regular ones.
Goudey Autographs are 1:640 hobby packs while Goudey Sport Royalty Autographs are 1:3,200.
Museum Collection World War II Signatures (1:244) honor veterans from the war.
One-of-one Goodwin Cut Signatures are also randomly inserted.
MEMORABILIA CARDS
Goodwin Memorabilia (1:36) are the banner in which a lot of the gear cards fall. Besides the regular versions there are Dual Swatch (1:240) and Black and White (1:375) cards. Each of these have numbered Premium Series versions with upscale swatches.
The Goudey name has a few relic levels, too. These include Goudey Memorabilia (1:150), Goudey Sport Royalty Memorabilia (1:1,600) and Goudey Sport Royalty Memorabilia Dual Swatch (1:3,200). These each have numbered Premium parallels as well.
RELIC CARDS
Relic cards take 2017 Upper Deck Goodwin Champions in some of its wildest directions.
For starters, there’s a new batch of manufactured patch cards. Canine Companions delve into various breeds. A standard for the brand for years, patch cards have a tiered structure that make for a major set-building challenge. Canine Companions has five levels: Sporting (1:90), Working (1:271), Hearding (1:451), Hounds (1:752) and Toy (1:1,353).
After delving into Alice in Wonderland in the 2016 set, this time The Wonderful World of Oz is featured in a couple of premium inserts. Goodwin Masterpieces are hand-painted booklet cards. The full set has 21 different cards, each limited to ten copies. Like sketch cards, the art is done directly on each card. Only these aren’t sketches. They’re full-on paintings created for the trading card medium.
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz Illustration Relics take early copies of the classic novel and embed pages into the cards. They’re like jersey cards but for books. A first edition copy of the book is one of those being used to create these relics.
Museum Collection Relics come with World War II memorabilia embedded in them. Basic Museum Collection Relics land 1:240 hobby packs while Jumbo Relics are 1:974. Booklet versions come with the form of Global Impact (1:974) and Legacy (1:3,247).
Ancient Currency Relics come with really old coin cards in them. Pieces come from authentic pirate treasure, Ancient Greece, the Roman Empire and the Ottoman Empire.
It’s safe to say that 2017 Upper Deck Goodwin Champions is all over the map. World Traveler Map relics (1:53) highlight different parts of world with a piece of a map embedded in them.
Vintage map relic cards from various National Parks are also included in the product: Yosemite (/90), Yellowstone (/72), Smoky Mountains (/34) and Rocky Mountains (/15).
INSERTS
The Goudey name isn’t limited to autographs and memorabilia cards. It’s also included on a trio of regular inserts: Goudey (1:8), Goudey Animals (1:13) and Goudey Presidents (1:22).
3D Wonders of the Universe (1:32) are done in lenticular and go into deep space. Using artwork, cards include scientific looks at the galaxy and imagings that go beyond. A total of 42 cards make up the premium insert set.