Upper Deck has an exciting opportunity for me!!

So I get this email from Upper Deck the other day. I apologize for the gray that's the way the email came to me and it's kinda hard to read.

Upper Deck is pleased to introduce a new way for you to earn exclusive Upper Deck trading cards. Email not displaying correctly? Click here to view online.

Exclusive Introducing The Dynamics ePlate™ , Upper Deck is pleased to introduce a new way for you to earn exclusive Upper Deck trading cards. The Dynamics ePlate™ credit card device is the next generation of credit card that offers a revolutionary new platform, where you can choose your bonus experience right at the time of purchase. Upper Deck’s experience™ application offers virtual trading cards sent instantly to your phone, tablet, or PC every time you make a purchase. Virtual cards can also be purchased or traded with your friends, and once a virtual card set is completed an exclusive UD Infinite card pack corresponding to your completed digital sport card set will be mailed to you. UD Infinite trading cards will only be available to ePlate™ credit card device users, and will include exciting randomly inserted autograph cards of sports legends such as: LeBron James, Tiger Woods and Joe Namath. For the first time ever, Upper Deck is giving collectors the chance to collect every time they go shopping with both digital and physical trading cards. With the opportunity to pull autographed cards of some of the greatest athletes of all-time, this is a credit card every sports fan will want to make sure they are carrying! The ePlate™ credit card device offers the freedom to select your choice of 2 bonus experiences at any given time, just by pushing one of the two battery powered buttons that light up your card. You can learn more about the Dynamics ePlate™ credit card device or apply online at:http://www.dynamicsinc.com/upperdeckcards2. Upper Deck is excited to share the news of this revolutionary new partnership with our collectors. Look for additional news about the Dynamics ePlate™ credit card device and exclusive cards in the near future. Sincerely, Upper Deck Introducing UD Infinite Base Cards Earn digital and physical trading cards with Dynamics ePlate Rewards. Introducing UD Infinite Signature Cards Earn exclusive signature cards from the greatest athletes of all-time.

It's nice to see Upper Deck hasn't quite given up the ghost just yet.  I keep waiting to hear that Upper Deck has sued itself out of existence.  Anyways, I got this email in one of my junk accounts I have specifically to use when I sign up for stuff  I don't want to use my regular email for.  A was about to quickly press the delete button since I need another credit card like, well lets just say I don't need another credit card, but then curiosity got the better of me and I wanted to see exactly how big of gimmick this really is....or lets see if the ePlate Upper Deck credit card is right for you!

First off for the right to use this credit card that has not one, but two LED lights, the annual fee is $99.  Still there?  OK second the Dynamics, Inc ePlate credit card has lots of different experiences you can use with it for various rewards, but we are going to concentrate on the Upper Deck angle.

So the basic premise is you set up you account with experiences corresponding to the two buttons on the card.  When you make a purchase you choose which experience you would like your purchase to contribute to.  For the Upper Deck experience you get a digital trading card, Topps Town anyone?, for every $10 you spend.  You choose your sport. You can get digital trading cards from Football, Basketball, or Golf.  If you collect all 250 cards in your sport you get a redemption for a foil pack of exclusive infinite trading cards.  What you don't want to have to spend $2500 for 250 cards? Which it never says you won't get the same card twice. You can opt to add a $1.50 to any purchase and you get 7 digital, ie not real, trading cards added to your account.  There are some big names in the Infinite set and possibly you might even get an autograph card, but don't hold your breath.

I'm still wondering who would want this card really.  Maybe I have too much common sense.  I mean yes I have an airlines credit card that I pay an annual fee for, but I get airline miles that I get to buy airplane tickets with.  But a few things bother me with this credit card.  First the rewards.  Digital cards aren't worth anything. They never state how many cards you get in this exclusive foil pack and they don't have odds for getting an autograph either.  Second,  if you use this card exclusively as your primary credit card hitting that $2500 mark probably wouldn't be too hard, but who knows if you'll get all 250 different cards.  UD says there will be a trading forum where you can trade for the cards you need too. Third the $1.50 add on seems like such an obvious money grab, plus to get all 250 cards would require at least 36 seven card digital packs or about $53 bucks.  Too me this just seems like a joke of a rewards program and really just a gimmick.  If Upper Deck really wanted to do a credit card it would have been better to have no annual fee, get that sweet kick back for sponsoring the credit card and offer rewards points that could be redeemed at on online store for lots of stuff, like cards or memorabilia, instead of some silly digital card collecting scheme.

Just my two cents.

cb out