State of the Set: 2008 Upper Deck X Xponential

I feel that there are too many sets on my wantlist that have been sitting there for years while I slowly chip away at them. This year I noticed that a lot of those sets are well within striking distance this year, so I've tried to swing some trades for set needs while focusing my recent Sportlots purchase on sets as well. We'll see how many sets I can kill before the year is out.

For the past few years, I have written a post that summarizes my set completion quests for the year. I still plan to do that for 2020, but I also decided to give a progress report for sets that I'm actively acquiring cards for along the way. I thought this might be more interesting than writing one giant post that tries to tie all the different cards from a trade or a purchase together.

I wanted to write about football, since it is football season right now. But my fantasy team wasn't kind to me this weekend, even if the Packers did win, so I'm not a football mood at the moment. So let's take a look at a baseball insert that I've been working on for a while now: 2008 Upper Deck X Xponential.

Why I'm collecting this set: When I first got back into collecting, I found a discounted box (maybe 2?) of Upper Deck X. I had never seen the product before, but I remember cracking the box open and seeing the holographic wrappers. I immediately got an idea in my mind of what this set would look like. And let's just say that the base set then turned out to be disappointing. But there was one actual holographic card in each pack: the Xponential series. These were the types of cards that I expected, and I thought they were great.

How long has it been on my wantlist (roughly)?: I didn't put them on my wantlist immediately, mostly because I didn't have interest in building sets then. It would be a few years before I that endeavor attracted me. I would say I decided to put together this set 2-3 years ago. It's a rather large insert set (90 cards), so it has been a bit of a long build.


Current state of set completion: The cards above, from a Sportslot order, finished the Xponential set. It is done. So there's some bonus material in
this post: I'm also collecting the the slightly harder to find Xponential2 set.

Whereas I like Xponential, X2 is an even better looking card. Xponential has a little too much red, but the black on these cards helps the holographic foil stand out more. I have 90/90 of the original Xponential cards, but my completion for the X2 is 60/75 (80%).

Current needs: The 15 cards I need or Xponential2. X2-CP (Carlos Pena), X2-DJ, X2-EB (Erik Bedard), X2-GM (Greg Maddux), X2-GS (Grady Sizemore, X2-HM (Hideki Matsui), X2-JR (Jimmy Rollins), X2-MC (Miguel Cabrera), X2-MO (Magglio Ordonez), X2-MR (Mariano Rivera), X2-PE (Jake Peavy), X2-RA (Rick Ankiel), X2-RH (Ryan Howard), X2-RO (Alex Rodriguez), X2-TT (Troy Tulowitzki)

 

Prognosis: Obviously, one set here is done. With 15 cards to go and a little more than a month before year's end, I don't think I'll get to finish X2 in 2020. It will probably be a trading/Sportslot priority for next year, though, and I hope to find the final 20% by next December 31.