2009-10 Black Diamond three-pack blister

A few days back, I purchased some hockey cards at Target. Like DFG, I too have been trying to swear off the retail packs this year. And I remember Card on Ice, saying the product wasn't all that. But I had a 10% coupon on Target, and I was deeply intrigued by this 3-pack blister pack of 2009-10 Black Diamond Hockey cards. 

Three-pack blister? That's a pack of packs! Just the sheer novelty of that would be hard for me to pass up.

Including sales tax--but minus my discount at Target--it came out to $10--a cool $3.33 per pack. Worth it? Probably not. But then again, Jonathan Toews of my Chicago Blackhawks is on the card wrapper. Would "Tazer" steer me wrong?

These shiny, foil-y cards never look good when scanned, so I only scanned what I deemed the "best" card from each pack:

Pack 1

• #1 - Jonas Hiller, Ducks
• #2 - Sean Avery, Rangers
• #49 - Jussi Jokinen, Hurricanes
• #52 - Pekka Rinne, Predators
• #81 - David Krejci, Bruins

Krejci gets "best card status" from this pack because I know some guy who blogs about him.

Pack 2

• #13 - Evgeni Nabokov, Sharks
• #26 - Nik Antropov, Rangers
• #35 - Patrik Elias, Devils
• #42 - Jack Johnson, Kings
• #136 - Dale Hawerchuk, Jets

A Triple Diamond card seeded 1 in every 4 packs, I beat the odds by getting one in the 3 packs I purchased. Plus, it is always great to get a card of a retired great like "Ducky."

Pack 3

• #3 - Peter Mueller, Coyotes
• #8 - Justin Abdelkader, Red Wings
• #14 - Joe Pavelski, Sharks
• #37 - Scott Hartnell, Flyers
• #72 - Erik Cole, Hurricanes

Hmmmm....none of these guys really stand out to me, so I'll arbitrarily pick Abdelkader as the best card in the pack because it is colorful.

The backs of each card are actually pretty well laid-out. I guess I'm a sucker for symmetry.

 

What I like is that the team logo is on one side of the player's head shot, while the vitals (position, height, weight, shoots and  DOB) are on the right. 

 

The back accommodates up to 5 lines of stats. As much as I prefer complete statistics, I almost expect these kinds of sets to only show a few years.

I don't know if this is a set that I will collect. Retail packs suck, and a hobby box goes for $90 to $100--but their only upside seems to be jersey cards or parallels, neither of which I am particularly fond of.