2025-26 Upper Deck Stature: Chasing Legend Autos and Rookie Patches
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At a time when collecting higher-end hockey cards has grown more complicated, with endless products hitting the shelves and all kinds of variations, Stature has kept things simple with a clean, familiar look all its own.
Since its debut in 2019, Stature has stuck with thick, premium stock, colorful foil designs, and hard-signed autographs. With a mix of legends and up-and-comers, there’s something for rainbow builders and autograph chasers, not to mention anyone hoping to pull a Rookie Patch Auto of the next big star.
Upper Deck has shuffled the lineup and tweaked the configuration over the years, but that recognizable aesthetic, plus a guaranteed higher-end hit in every box, remain intact for 2025-26.
Stature’s 100-Card Base Set
Stature skips the filler and avoids a long list of random inserts to sort through to toss into a shoebox. Its 100-card base set, with a shimmering foil border framing each player’s image, is divided among established NHL stars (50), legends (15), and rookies (35).
The league’s leading scorer, Connor McDavid, who tacked on five more points since you started reading this, headlines the veteran checklist loaded with star power. Mario Lemieux and Joe Sakic are among the Hall of Famers in the legends group, whose base cards are all numbered to 999.
Islanders defenseman Matthew Schaefer, fresh off a history-making Calder Trophy campaign, and Canadiens winger Ivan Demidov, whose deceptive moves and dazzling passing helped him lead all NHL freshmen with 62 points, headline Stature’s rookie class, whose base cards are also limited to 999.
Few things are more fun (and if we’re being honest, occasionally frustrating) than building a player rainbow. Stature gives collectors seven color parallels to chase, ranging from Green (/349), Red (/249) and Orange (/199) to Blue (/99), Gold (/50), Purple (/25) and Black (/10).
In a five-card box, you could find a Blue parallel of a first-year phenom like Beckett Sennecke or a Black parallel of an all-time great such as Sidney Crosby, numbered to just 10.
Stature's Autograph Rainbow Parallels
Instead of introducing an entirely different look, Stature’s autograph subset adds hard-signed signatures (hooray for no sticker autos!) to base-card designs.
While the standard autographs are unnumbered, the seven colored parallels follow the base rainbow structure, offering low-count signed versions of every player in the set. The numbered versions range from Green (/199) and Red (/99) through Orange (/50), Blue (/25), Gold (/10), and Purple (/5), all the way down to Black (/3).
That means you could pull a McDavid Purple Auto, numbered to just five, or even a Schaefer Black Auto rookie card, limited to only three copies.
Stature’s Game-Used Patch Cards
Stature also offers memorabilia cards featuring game-worn material, even from first-year players. No manufactured patches, no tiny, single-color white napkin swatches, and no replica jerseys pulled from a Dick’s Sporting Goods clearance rack.
The standard patch cards are numbered to 49, with the same color parallels as the autographed patch cards but in more limited quantities: Green (/35), Red (/25), Orange (/15), Blue (/10), Gold (/5), Purple (/3), and Black (1/1).
Some of the product’s biggest potential hits are Autograph Patch parallels, which combine the best of both worlds. Pairing a signature with a multi-color swatch, they’re up there with the most stunning releases of the year.
Imagine pulling a Red Auto Patch of Demidov, numbered to 25, where the parallel's border color is a perfect match to the Canadiens home jersey.
2024 Stature Top Hits
Last year’s Stature set, which combined the 2023 and 2024 rookie classes, yielded a pair of five-figure sales. Lane Hutson’s Black RPA, graded PSA 7, sold for $12,064, while Connor Bedard’s Update RPA fetched $10,370 at auction this spring.
A three-color Red RPA parallel of new Sharks captain Macklin Celebrini, numbered to 25, sold for $7,114 in June, and a Blue version, numbered to 10, came in just behind at $6,962.
In addition to a Base veteran and a numbered Base Rookie or Legends card, each single-pack box includes two numbered parallels and one Autograph, Patch or Patch Auto hit. So even if Schaefer or Demidov don’t pop up in 2025-26 box, you’re not walking away empty-handed.
Stature is set to hit the shelves on Wednesday, October 28, 2026.
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Alex Kramers is a Florida-based sportswriter who has covered the NBA and NFL since 2009. He served as a Sacramento Kings reporter and digital media coordinator from 2012-2014 and has written regular feature stories for the team's website. He has also covered the Miami Dolphins for DolfansNYC, and has produced content for publications including HOOP Magazine and Orangetheory Fitness. An avid sports-card collector since childhood, he has amassed one of the biggest Mitch Richmond collections in the world, and seeks out Florida Panthers cards and memorabilia with his son.