What You Need To Know About 2024-25 Upper Deck Allure Hockey

Remember when you were young, and your mother would say, “There’s food at home” instead of pulling you into a fast-food place?

Well, that’s what Allure Hockey is to The Cup. And you know what? The food at home is pretty darn good, and your mom is right. You didn’t get childhood diabetes, and she could afford to buy you clothes.

Sorry, I am ranting. And, of course, Allure’s advantage over most hockey products is the pretty colors. And we all love that, right?

So, how does the new release in this colorful yet unglamorous line look? Find out in our 2024-25 Upper Deck Allure Hockey review.

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The History of Upper Deck Allure Hockey

Allure Hockey was created in the 2019-20 season—yes, right before the world took an unexpected timeout and civilization came crashing down. It was to be Upper Deck’s answer to the question nobody asked.

We were all too busy foraging for toilet paper. Still, everyone seems glad they answered the fateful question: “What if we made a product that doesn’t require a second mortgage and it had very pretty colors?”

The first release hit with 1 Autograph card,  1 Rookie Jersey, and 1 Jersey Card or Rare Parallel, 8 Inserts, and 5 Parallels on average. The set was an immediate hit.

Collectors were surprised to find such nice-looking cards at a reasonable price. Who knew that was a thing? There were minor changes in the second year, with each hobby box still containing one autograph but two cards that can be either rare parallels and/or relics.

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Did you know? The first release coincided with the NHL bubble season, which meant that some of the first Allure cards were produced while players were living their best hotel-quarantine lives. Can you imagine the kind of offbeat fun that is now part of any Allure card conversation?

2024-25 Upper Deck Allure Hockey release date and timing

February 12, 2025, marks the date when our wallets will get lighter, and our card storage needs will get heavier. The timing is perfect this time, dropping right in the heart of the NHL season when hockey fever is at its peak.

That is very good news because this release has always had issues with the release date. For example, the 2020-21 box dropped on September 15, 2021, when the hockey season ended on July 7. Meanwhile, in 2023-24, the release was about a month after the end of the season.

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2024-25 Upper Deck Allure Hockey release formats

Much like the collection of teeth that a hockey player has, this assemblage consists of pieces in various dimensions:

Hobby Box

• 8 cards per pack.
• 8 packs per box.
  • Look for 1 Autograph or Doubloons Card, 8 Base Set Rookies, 8 Parallels (Black Rainbow, Red Rainbow, and/or Orange Slice), 13 Color Flow, Across the Pond, Colorful Futures or Protectors of the Ice Cards, and 2 Printing Plates, Serially-#’d Cards and/or Ratio’d Short Print Cards per box
• Sells for $114.95
• A 9-box case sells for $1,024.95
• A 18 box case sells for $2,049

Blaster

• 5 cards per pack.
• 4 packs per box
• Look for 2 Black Rainbow, Red Rainbow, or Orange Slice Veteran or Rookie Parallels, 1 Color Flow, and 2 Blaster Exclusive Glitter Bomb Parallels per box on average
• Sells for $29.95

The pros: Where Allure shines

What makes 2024-25 Allure Hockey the Toyota Camry of card products (and I mean that in the best way possible)? First, the Upper Deck design team deserves a stick tap.

Collectors on Reddit say this is “the best-looking Allure we’ve had and seems to be the best product of the year so far.” The cards pop without looking like they got into a fight with a glitter factory.

The other positive aspect is the rookie content. You get, on average, one rookie per pack, which means by the time you are done with a hobby box, you have enough rookies to stack an all-rookie fantasy squad. And with Connor Bedard currently being the hottest player in the hobby, that’s a good situation.

The parallel game is where Allure shows off its strength. Rather than inundating collectors with 47 different iterations that all resemble each other (we’re looking at you, every other product), Allure has a thoughtful range of parallels that make fiscal and aesthetic sense.

From the attainable Black Rainbow parallels to the chase-you’ll-never-find-it 1/1 Golden Treasures, there’s a little something for every budget and collector’s style.

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The cons: Keep expectations in check

Now, let’s talk about the giant issue we’re not mentioning—the lack of a giant.

Every hobby box promises at least one “hit.” But if you’re expecting to pull a Connor McDavid auto from every box, you’ll be let down. The autograph checklist is solid, but you’re not exactly hitting the jackpot if you pull a card of any random dude.

Some parallels, especially in lower print runs, might make you raise an eyebrow. Pulling numbered parallels from 199 makes them feel less “parallel” and more “slightly different version of the same card you already have.”

It’s like when your friend tells you they have a “rare” Wayne Gretzky card from 1990 – we all know there are probably enough of those to wallpaper the Hockey Hall of Fame.

Another issue is value retention. One collector stated that anything above $100 per box might be “overpaying for it.” Woefully thin after-market sales coupled with a “new car smell” shelf life that seems to be getting shorter and shorter suggests that perhaps cardboard long-term investing isn’t all that it used to be.

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2024-25 Upper Deck Allure Hockey checklist

The base set features 150 cards and features NHL veteran standouts and top rookies. However, there’s a twist this year—some key rookies, such as Celebrini, Michkov, and Smith, aren’t in the base set but are XRC/SSP cards, adding an extra layer of chase to the product.

The Color Flow insert returns with a stellar new design and an expanded checklist full of star players (including several future legends!), with a couple of rookies mixed in.

The rare 16-Bit set will feature a mix of active stars (none of which have been in the set previously) and rookies, whereas the Doubloons set will feature a mix of active stars, top rookies, and legends of the sport.

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Base Parallels (from most common to rarest):

• Black Rainbow, Red Rainbow, and Orange Slice (one per pack on average)
• Gold Glitter Bomb (/199)
• Blue Line (/35)
• Purple Diamond (/10)
• Golden Treasures (1/1)
• Printing Plates (4 Versions – 1/1)

2024-25 Upper Deck Allure Hockey Autos

The 2023-24 Allure autograph lineup is more interesting than you might expect. Each hobby box has approximately an 8/9 chance of containing an autograph, with the rest of the boxes hitting either a 16-bit or a Doubloons insert.

The auto checklist has a nice mix of veterans and rookies, with some impressive parallel versions numbered as low as /10.

Inserts

The Color Flow insert returns with a stellar new design and an expanded 60-card checklist featuring star players (including several future legends!) and rookies. These come with 5 Spectrum parallels to chase.

This year’s insert lineup includes:

• Across the Pond: 10-card set featuring European NHL stars
• Colorful Futures: Highlighting tomorrow’s NHL stars
• Protectors of the Ice
• 6-Bit: Featuring a mix of active stars (none of which have been in the set previously) and rookies. These are super rare, falling 1:720 packs
• Doubloons: Mix of active stars, top rookies, and legends of the sport, falling 1:72 packs
• Impressions: The rarest insert at 1:1,440 packs

Upper Deck Allure Hockey value

At around $115 per hobby box, Allure remains one of the more affordable Upper Deck hockey products.

While you might not get the exact guaranteed massive hits as more expensive products, the combination of attractive base cards, colorful parallels, and the chance at those sought-after 16-Bit and Doubloons cards makes this a compelling rip for collectors at various budget levels.

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Sealed wax value

No one thinks of Allure as a product you stash away for years to pay your kids’ college fund. But sometimes, that creates scarcity, which raises prices. Is that the case with Allure? Let’s take a look.

If there is a good enough rookie, there is a chance of profiting from these boxes. The 2023-24 release had Connor Bedard, so it is worth more than the price. But usually, it is significantly less. There is no reason to believe that this crop of rookies will do much for this box. It is not a hold.

Singles Market

So, is it a rip? Let’s look at some of the best singles sales in the last three months.

The 16-bit cards are very popular and fetch nice prices. It’s easy to see why: They are truly cool, especially if you still play old Monkey Island games like me because you still live in 1993.

There is a decent chance of hitting a card worth several times the box. Nothing is life-changing, but it is a good chance for a relatively inexpensive release like this.

Final word on 2024-25 Upper Deck Allure Hockey Review

2023-24 Upper Deck Allure Hockey is the reliable, well-constructed Toyota Camry of hockey cards, and you won’t weep over your credit card statement after purchasing a box of it. Will it win any car shows (hockey card shows) for its styling? No. But as a player in the game, it’ll do just fine.

If you’re keeping track at home, that amounts to:

• A price point that’s not unreasonable ✓
• Rookies that have something of a shot to be good ✓
• Parallels that look pretty nice ✓
• Pulling something that could be worthwhile ✓
• Not starving after buying some boxes ✓

Should you desire a product—and what hobbyist doesn’t?—that allows for slighting the matrimonial budget in favor of jewelry; Allure could be the answer to your financial prayers. It’s not your star player, but it’s not an enforcer on the fourth line, either. It gets you the goals—when you play the right way.

And look, if things go south, you can always say you’re “investing in alternative assets” while you rip packs. That sounds way better than “I like shiny cardboard,” right?

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