What Is an Upper Deck Artifacts Card?

Upper Deck Artifactsis a hobby-only NHL hockey release that launched in the 2005-06 season — the same rookie class that introduced Sidney Crosby and Alexander Ovechkin to the hobby — built around guaranteed memorabilia (jersey/relic) content in every box at a price point well below Upper Deck's ultra-premium products. It has also appeared as a basketball release in past years, but in its modern run Artifacts is a hockey-only annual set with a standard color-coded serial-numbered parallel ladder rather than a gimmick card stock or structure.

• Memorabilia content as the headline, not the chase. Unlike products where relic cards are a rare insert pull, Artifacts is built so that jersey and swatch cards are a guaranteed, expected part of the box — most notably through the Frozen Artifacts memorabilia insert, which runs in a base version plus scarcer Premium and Premium Materials tiers numbered down into the single digits.
• A conventional numbered parallel ladder. Artifacts parallels run through a straightforward stack of named colors — historically including versions like Ruby, Copper, Royal Blue, Emerald, and rarer short-printed colors down to single-digit and 1-of-1 runs — each tied to a fixed print run printed on the card, unlike Black Diamond's quadrant-based system.
• Accessible mid-tier price point.Artifacts sits below Upper Deck's ultra-premium hockey products in cost per box, trading some of their scarcity and autograph density for more consistent relic-card odds at a lower buy-in.
• Rookie-class driven.As with most hobby-only hockey releases, demand concentrates around each year's top rookie class, with parallel color and print run separating a common rookie card from a genuinely scarce one of the same player.

• Artifacts vs. Black Diamond.Black Diamond's identity is its triangle-faceted card stock and quadrant parallel system; Artifacts uses standard flat card stock and a conventional color-coded numbered ladder, leaning on guaranteed memorabilia content instead of a physical gimmick.
• Artifacts vs. The Cup.The Cup is Upper Deck's ultra-premium hockey flagship — one pack per box, base cards numbered to 249, and the Exquisite Collection RPA subset. Artifacts runs at a fraction of the price with more cards per box, trading The Cup's extreme scarcity and autograph guarantee for accessible, relic-driven packs.
• Artifacts vs. Young Guns.Young Guns is the rookie insert inside Upper Deck's mass-market flagship Series 1 and Series 2 sets — high print runs, no guaranteed relic content, sold at retail as well as hobby. Artifacts is a separate, standalone hobby-only product built specifically around memorabilia cards and parallels.
• Artifacts vs. SP Authentic.SP Authentic centers on its Future Watch rookie autograph subset with a Limited Red/Gold/Black ladder. Artifacts doesn't guarantee an autograph in every box the way SP Authentic's Future Watch does — its guarantee is memorabilia content via Frozen Artifacts.

• Parallel color and print run. The specific named color and the serial number printed on the card set the price tier — a base rookie and a short-printed low-numbered parallel of the same player can be worlds apart in value. See how to read print runs before comparing two listings.
• Autographed vs. relic-only vs. base. Signed Frozen Artifacts cards and autograph parallels command the biggest premiums; unsigned relic and base rookie cards of the same player trade for a fraction of the price.
• Rookie-year status.A star's rookie-season Artifacts card, especially from a historically strong draft class, carries a real premium over the same player's later Artifacts cards.
• Relic patch quality. On memorabilia cards, multi-color patch swatches typically outsell single-color jersey swatches of the same player and parallel.

• Confirm the exact parallel name and print run printed on the card against the listing photo — color names and print runs change from year to year within the brand.
• Verify autographed vs. relic-only in the listing photos; the two can look similar at a glance but sell for very different prices.
• Price off comps for that exact card, not just the player name — see How Much Are My Sports Cards Worth? for pulling accurate comps.
• Check the year matches the rookie class you want, since Artifacts runs annually and reprints the same design language across many different rookie seasons.

Confirm the exact card with Identify & Research — free-path first (on-device OCR, catalog match, and fingerprints). For Upper Deck's other hockey products, see What Is an Upper Deck Black Diamond Card? and What Is an Upper Deck The Cup Card?. For the other mid-tier, rookie-driven hobby release built around a ticket theme instead of memorabilia, see What Is an Upper Deck Credentials Card?, or open the full guides library.