4 Packs of 2010 Upper Deck MLS (Football Hit?!)

I was pretty excited to see these last Tuesday at the local (20 minute drive) Sprawl Mart. I had just deposited my first "summer" paycheck and written another for $130 in student loan repayments, so I felt like a dabble in cards was an excellent reward for myself. I decided that I would throw down $20, and for $19 I was able to purchase 4 packs of 2010 Upper Deck MLS, 3 Packs of 2010 Bowman Baseball, a three-pack of Extra Spearmint gum, Goya seasoning packets and a can of Hormel White Chicken Chili. Needless to say, even before checkout, I was In the Zone.

Once I got out to the Green Beret (Yes, I named my Jeep after the most bad-of-assery branch of the Marines) I couldn't compose myself, and started ripping packs. I ripped Bowman first, but everyone's seen those, so one to the MLS cards.

Yes, this was in the first pack:
With MLS cards still in their infancy, this is one of the best cards you can pull from this set. I was certainly very happy at this point. Immediately I thought of flipping it, but after letting it sink in as my first ever "hit" of any kind in football products, it now recides watching over me as I type. Probably the only cards that would top this one in the set would be some of the autographs or a multi-color piece of Landon's jersey. Apparently multi-colored swatches (not really patches) are short printed and say "Premium" in the white void in the top left.

About all I had hoped for in this pack was some Reds (Toronto FC). I did manage a few, but nothing especially awesome.
The design is ok. I do not believe, in any way, that it is a rip-off of 2010 Topps products. Similar, yes. But can we really call every set with "Player Name/Team" across the bottom a ripoff of 1957 Topps?

There's only a few ways to make a sports card.

The cards have the low-gloss feel of Upper Deck's efforts with the "First Edition" series. It was kind of disappointing, but it keeps a pack of 8 cards at $0.99, where pack prices should be.

The photography in this set, though I will admit my sample size was only 32 cards, is excellent. Check out this Kyle Beckerman:
Awwwwesome. I was pumped when Real Salt Lake won that game. I'm a big fan of anything-but-LA Galaxy.

Next we have a new representative of Team USA for this year's World Cup:
Yes, he is a Galaxy player, but he did some time with Toronto. OK in my book, and a Team USAer to boot.

I guess this would be the equivalent to Upper Deck hockey's Young Guns insert set, but sadly no John Tavares:
Ike was the #3 overall pick in this year's draft by the San Diego Earthquakes. A dreadful teams, let's see if he can help out this season. I pulled two of these, from the top 4 packs in the box, so I am assuming they are not difficult pulls.

Now, I know 90% of the readers of this blog are baseball followers, but I am hoping to spread the word of MLS cards to you. It's good stuff, so check it out for $.98/pack.