2023-24 Upper Deck Alexis Hockey

This is 2023-24 Upper Deck Series 1 Hockey, the flagship release that kicks off the season with a mix of established stars and promising rookies. Connor McDavid, Connor MacKinnon, and Nathan MacKinnon anchor the base set, but the real story is the rookie class headlined by prospects like Shane Wright and Marek Hrivik. The set runs 200+ cards in the base with photography from the preseason and early regular season action. Upper Deck's standard parallel system includes Canvas cards, which have a textured finish and sit somewhere between common and rare in terms of feel. You also get the usual Retro parallel cards that mimic vintage Upper Deck designs from the 1990s. What separates this release from others in the category are the insert sets tied to specific subsets and parallels. Look for Young Guns cards, which are the rookie designation every collector watches. They come in multiple parallel versions including High Gloss Foil versions that carry serious scarcity compared to base Young Guns. Series 1 hobby boxes typically run 24 packs at five cards per pack, so pulls are deliberate and meaningful. Autograph content exists but is sparse in Series 1, making it more of a base-focused release compared to Upper Deck's later premium products. The retail boxes and blasters offer fewer packs and lower hit rates, so hobby boxes are the better play if you're hunting the tougher parallels and inserts. For most collectors, this is a solid buy if you want a complete base set with attainable rookies rather than chasing high-end hits. The Young Guns parallels are fun to hunt and reasonably priced on the secondary market compared to premium releases. If you're building a core collection around the era's top prospects, buying singles after release often beats the expected value of ripping packs. Hobby boxes appeal to set builders and parallel chasers who enjoy the methodical pace of breaking down a large checklist.