Upper Deck’s new 2015-16 NHL® Fusion trading card release on the e-Pack platform is already getting rave reviews from fans for the set’s beauty and for the low $0.79 price point per pack!

If you’ve been thinking of trying Upper Deck e-Pack™, especially during this incredible rookie season, 2015-16 NHL® Fusion is the perfect release to try. Five-card packs are only 79 cents, 24-pack boxes are just $17.99 and a full 12-box case for $214.99. What makes the set compelling for collectors and fans is that there are variety of options for fans in terms of what to collect and how to collect. Here are some of the key things you will need to know.

What Are Parallel Cards?

Parallel cards are almost exact copies of the regular base version, but they are more limited and rare. Also, they usually have some unique attributes that make them slightly different. For 2015-16 NHL® Fusion set there are two levels of parallels for the base set and the Fission F/X insert set. The Fusion Gold set is considered rare and the Fusion Black set is considered super rare. Likewise, the Fission F/X Blue set is considered rare and the Fission F/X Green set is considered super rare.

Which Cards Are Digital and Which Cards Are Physical?

You can only acquire digital cards from packs of 2015-16 NHL® Fusion packs. The set is primarily designed for a digital experience, but there are certainly ways to acquire physical cards. The 200-card base set for Fusion along with the Gold and Black parallel versions of those sets will only exist on the digital e-Pack platform. Additionally, the 45-card Fission F/X insert set (1:2 packs) along with the Blue and Green parallel versions of those sets will only exist on digital as well.

The physical cards in the set can be acquired through achievements by completing the sets above and combining them together (fusing them together if you will). There are six different sets of physical cards that can be achieved by basically trading in your complete digital card sets or leveling up to sets that are rarer. These cards are physical achievement cards that can be sent directly to you for nominal handling fees to take ownership. Here’s a look at those:

Fusion Rookie Achievement – 10 card set (Can be obtained when you combine the 200-card base Fusion set)

Fusion Rookie Achievement Gold & Black Parallels – For fans looking for a more difficult challenge, you can chase the rare Gold and Black parallel versions of the base set to acquire rare Rookie Achievement parallels.

Fission F/X Achievement – 6-card set (Can be obtained when you combine the 45-card base Fission F/X set)

Fission F/X Achievement Blue & Green Parallels – If you want to have rare versions of these incredible hockey stars, you’ll need to be patient and keep leveling up to get to the Blue and Green parallel levels to score Fission F/X Achievement parallels.

How To Combine Cards?

That’s where “fusion” comes into play and that’s really where things get fun. If you can acquire five copies of any individual Fusion digital base card, you can combine them for a digital Gold parallel of that card. If you combine five copies of any individual Fusion digital Gold parallel card, you can combine them for a digital Black parallel of that card. Once you collect a complete base, Gold or Black digital set (cards 1-200), you can combine them for the Fusion Rookie Achievement cards highlighted above.

Leveling up with the Fission F/X set works almost exactly the same. If you can score five copies of any individual Fission F/X base insert card, you can combine them for a digital Blue parallel insert of that card. If you combine five copies of any individual Fission F/X digital Blue parallel insert card, you can combine them for a digital Green parallel of that card. Once you complete a Fission F/X base, Blue or Green digital insert set (cards F-1 through F-45), you can combine them for a Fission F/X Achievement set highlighted above.

Watch one fan combine their Fission F/X cards on Twitter by clicking HERE!

Once you combine individual cards for the rare parallel version, or a complete digital set for theses physical sets, the digital cards used for combining are no longer in your collection.

Can You Trade Fusion Cards?

Trading is probably the most exciting aspect of Upper Deck e-Pack™! Fans can trade their Fusion cards for cards from any of the other current releases in the e-Pack environment like 2015-16 NHL Upper Deck Series One (Now Sold Out), 2015-16 NHL Upper Deck Series Two and 2015-16 NHL MVP. Likewise, fans can use their cards (digital or physical) from any of these releases to acquire more Fusion cards of their liking.

Show Them Off!

Fans have been sharing how much they like the look of these new cards, especially the achievement sets! If you are lucky enough to score one and have it sent to you, make sure to show them off online and tag @UpperDeckSports on Twitter or Instagram. The Fission F/X achievement cards in particular feature stunning light F/X technology that you will definitely appreciate when you have these cards in hand!