I use a Worldwake fatpack box, the Admonition Angel 1000-card count box that you could only get from the Worldwake prerelease, and a small binder for my lands.
Play to win. If you don't, you're disrespecting everyone you're playing with by wasting their time. The Douchbag check is at the level of deck construction.
I'd love to use a lower end wood and get rid of the velvet bottoms and keep the rest of the functionality without the absurd price tag.
As a semi-experienced woodworker, these card holders are somewhat labor intensive, especially since the average woodworker wouldn't have the jigs made to mass-produce these. I would estimate 2-3 hours of labor (probably more with making the first one) and $10-15+ in materials. Of course labor may be reduced in subsequent runs.
I finally got around to taking some pictures of my collection. Let's just say that Craigslist is good for some things. I found this a few years back. I basically bought it at first sight. I have been looking for one of these for a long time, as I always thought it would be kind of cool to use for storing cards. Long story short, one popped up on Craigslist and my girlfriend thought it would be nice to have, so we went and bought it that night.
Without further ado:
Turns out, the card catalog had come from a library a few towns over when they were cycling out the entire card catalog. The gentleman I bought it from had bought it at the library sale and had used it for filing business contacts. Once he was fully retired, he decided to retire the catalog as well.
Once I got it home, I worked on how to get as much cardboard crack in there as I could. I came up with a divider that split each drawer into 2 rows that can store ~950-1000 cards each. Extrapolate that out over the 60 drawers, and the total approximate storage capacity is 117,000-120,000 cards. That should last for quite awhile.
Here are some pics of the dividers and a full drawer:
Overall, there is something fitting about using a library card catalog to store a collection of Magic cards. I still have to put dividers in another 30 or so drawers and label each drawer with the expansion symbol. Once that is done, I can move my collection over. Needless to say, it's a beast to move on its own, let alone with 100,000 Magic cards.
As far as the sort is concerned, I have adopted Wizard's method. I sort each set into CWUBRGMHAL order. Each segment is then alphabetically sorted. Finally, each set is ordered chronologically by block. The Core/base sets are stored together as its own "block". The three Portal sets are stored together as well. It is really easy to sort the newer sets based on number. Then I just co-opted the system for use with the older sets so that system is consistent. Makes things really easy to find with the card catalog.
Hi there,
I recently purchased a beautiful card catalog for storing my cards as well. I wanted to ask how you constructed those cardboard dividers. Also, did you remove the brass card holders in the drawers?
Hi there,
I recently purchased a beautiful card catalog for storing my cards as well. I wanted to ask how you constructed those cardboard dividers. Also, did you remove the brass card holders in the drawers?
Thanks!
Lucky you. These are definitely becoming harder to come by in good shape.
I wanted to keep the sliders intact so that each drawer could hold a variable amount of cards. To facilitate that, the dividers had to be able to slip under the slider. This had the drawback of making them more or less permanent, but I have no plans for repurposing anytime soon, so it's not so bad. That is also why the bottom is split into two pieces. I had to remove the rod that was attached to the brass 'bullet' that held the cards in. It just unscrewed, so it was an easy task.
There are two pieces of heavy card stock that line the bottom. The front and back panels are glued to them. The runner across the top is made of two pieces glued together to give it more rigidity. All of the card stock is archival so there shouldn't be any issues with foxing or discoloration. I used regular Elmer's white glue for the construction. Just make sure it doesn't run out of the joints. Take your time with the assembly. Give the glue plenty of time to dry and you will avoid problems with glue overrun. Use clothespins to apply pressure to the glue joints so that you can have multiple drawers going at once.
Before you go down this road, 60 drawers is a lot, make sure that your drawers are at least 127 or so mm wide. If I recall, a Magic card is 63 mm across, so two side-by-side would be 126. My drawers were 128 mm, giving me just enough room for 2 cards and a divider. I was able to get a local paper supply business to supply the card stock and make most of the bulk cuts for me. I just said it was for grad school and they did the cutting for free. Most paper places will have the equipment to do the cuts, but they will usually charge $0.25 or see per cut. They can cut 20 to 30 sheets in a go, so its very manageable.
Also, make you design in some lean for the rows of cards to avoid clipping them when you close a drawer. If your drawers are tall enough,it won't be an issue, otherwise it becomes a constraint. No need to ruin good cards due to an oversight.
It's been awhile, so I hope I answered your questions. If not, ask more.
Has anyone ever framed a full set? If you have, what dimesions did you settle on and what method? I've been considering it with keeping the cards in toploaders so that they can be removed and played with as opposed to ruining the back or whatever you might have to do, but I am being deterred by the amount of wall space if would take.
Does anyone do anything to keep cards displayed in some way, or are binders about the only thing to do for full sets/display options?
Play to win. If you don't, you're disrespecting everyone you're playing with by wasting their time. The Douchbag check is at the level of deck construction.
As I have just gotten back into MTG I don't have a huge collection (600-700 cards), but I am currently dividing into colors, then sorting by set, then alphabetically, and I store them in the Holiday Bundle box from last year. I find this works for me. If I start to play more tournaments, I will probably start separating out the Standard compliant cards from the others.
In Fat Pack/Deck Builder boxes.... One box per color (WUBRG) - each color subdivided into Creatures (CMC then alphabetical), Instants (alphabetical), Sorceries (alphabetical), Enchantments (alphabetical), and then Enchantments - Auras (alphabetical). One box for multicolor sorted by colors and then alphabetically, and one box for Artifacts (alphabetical) and non-basic lands (alphabetically). I will probably subdivide the multicolor cards into Creatures/Instants/Enchantments/Enchantment Auras later on when I get in the mood to do it as well as work on the Artifacts and non-basic lands.
Not sure if this the right thread to post in, but it seems like the best fit. I normally set in collector number order. I would prefer to sort the old sets the same way. Are there any simple text type lists that have them in that order? Or at least some simple text list that I can easily reorganize? I know there are lists out there, but they are not in a simple list. I know I can download funkier html lists and convert them into a simple list, but it takes forever. Didn't know if anyone else had done it already, or knew of the best resource for lists of sets. Any help would be appreciated.
Mary
I like the 5k boxes myself, they seem to work the easiest of the many jury-rigged methods I have used over the years.
I'm sitting at a little over 25k cards, so I'm split one box per color, one box for multi-colored (different rows for hybrid & gold), and one box for lands & artifacts (different rows for creature & non).
Each of those is split into sorcery, instant, enchantment, creature... and each of those are alphabetical (loose - A, B, C, etc., not Aa, Ab, etc.).
Not too long ago I cataloged the entire thing into a app (Decked Builder - if I can say, if not mods please remove). I like it because now I build purely from that and just pull the cards when I need to sleeve a deck (you really have to keep on top of it tho', as when you take apart decks if you don't put them away asap, you get piles of a few hundred random cards sitting around).
I though about buying penny sleeves for the whole thing one time, then I did the math and that idea went away quickly (the one I was looking at were the KDM perfect fit - at about $5.25 CAN / 100, it was cost restrictive - unless there is a better option out there?).
Not sure what I will do when the current 5k boxes fill. I haven't collected much since Llorwyn (mostly between Odyssey - Llorwyn), only picking up sets of good cards every now and then since. I do plan to get back into the game again so I can see the current boxes maxing out over the next few sets.
Different cards I sort differently. Like if i Have atleast 100+ of the same set they are sorted by set, color, then aphabetically. If its just singles from a variety if sets it is sorted by color then alphabetically. Value cards are in a binder in KMC Perfect Fits.
Not sure if this the right thread to post in, but it seems like the best fit. I normally set in collector number order. I would prefer to sort the old sets the same way. Are there any simple text type lists that have them in that order? Or at least some simple text list that I can easily reorganize? I know there are lists out there, but they are not in a simple list. I know I can download funkier html lists and convert them into a simple list, but it takes forever. Didn't know if anyone else had done it already, or knew of the best resource for lists of sets. Any help would be appreciated.
Mary
I have all my cards sorted by set, by collector number.
I used MagicCards.info to make a list in Excel for all the sets that didn't have collector numbers. I should have the spreadsheets on my home computer somewhere. If you want them, I can try to find them for you.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"The Ancients teach us that if we can but last, we shall prevail."
—Kaysa, Elder Druid of the Juniper Order
Use the info from Gatherer and sort by Collector number. Then dump the output into whatever format you prefer.
However, the info from older sets is off (inconsistent with newer sets) so I do some of those manually...
If anybody is interested, I have a thread in the digital section where I am posting my inventory sheet that I am updating. If anyone is interested, let me know:
How do you guys store cards in binders? I mean should I use perfect-size sleeves or cards are sufficiently protected in pockets? (3x3 Ultra Pro PRO-BINDER)
I started with ultra pro soft boxes that I put in fat packs and carried them in my backpack.
As my decks got more expensive I put the soft boxes into a briefcase, but that unfortunatly broke.
I wanted to get away from those soft boxes and put my decks in dragon shield boxes. They are great, but not perfect.
So to replace my briefcase I took a heavy duty case from work and put my deck in there.
The best thing ever. Enough space, best protection possible, water and shockproof (water doesn't get in, but neither out, therefor I put desiccant in), able to lock it, easy to carry.
I was looking for deck boxes in a identical style to my case, but I wasn't lucky.
So for my foiled reanimator deck I used a UK 406 box, put some shock absorber and a sock full of desiccant in there. Its not perfect, too big for my taste, but for now it gets the job done.
I have a hotel box that can fit 12 boxes that hold about 1000 cards each. I separate them in set. They range from Alpha to Dragons. I do not store sets like from duel decks, commander or MM in the hotel box I have separate boxes for that.
I will eventually get around to sorting them by color and rarity. All my rares/mythic rares/foils are in binders. Even if they are foil commons. I have one binder of commander/MM15 rares. One binder is legacy/modern and the other is standard. I have two full boxes of basic lands and I also have almost a full box of nonbasic lands from all sets. I don't separate the nonbasic lands into sets, though I should, mainly cause I'll only go in there to search for lands for my EDH decks.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Be sure to check out my podcast, Magic with Zuby! Your resource for all things Magic the Gathering!
I use the large 5000ct boxes sorted by set, all core sets are in one box, and I go by expansion chronologically from there. I stack the boxes oldest (bottom) to newest (top). In each box, I have a plastic seperator for sets - some of the sets I have more cards for I sorted by color, but most are mixed. I only keep commons and uncommons in these boxes. I have a seperate box for lands and tokens, and another for special collections (duel decks, commander decks, those sorts of products) - which are sorted by release.
I keep all my bulk(ish) rares in one large binder, all my foils in a smaller binder, good trades in a binder I take to fnm, and my deckbuilding sets (fetches, modern and legacy staples) in another binder. All binders are sorted by colors, but not by sets.
I keep all my modern/legacy decks in individual deckboxes on a shelf with my other gaming supplies (dice, mats, etc...) and keep all my commander (and variant) decks in a Holiday box (kahns one).
This filing system took a long time to set up - approximately 18 hours in all the first round of sorting after I picked up a collection and sorted it with all my old cards. I did this about 3 years ago one weekend and it has been working well for me ever since. Now, as I acquire cards or pull them out of decks, I compile them in a "limbo box" where they stay until I feel like taking a half hour or so to file them away.
The only downside is all my friends ask me to check for commons and uncommons before they hunt stores or go online to build their decks. Of course when I need crap, their stuff is not sorted lol... so it's "i think I have one, but no clue where it is!" lol - but I don't mind...
It is worth the huge initial time investment to do this imo - so much better, cards aren't all over my house all the time anymore.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Legacy:B The Gate // B Pox Modern:RGB Dredge // RBG Goblins // B The Gate // UBR Tezz AoB Control // RBG Prison Pox EDH:RBU Thraximundar // R Norin the Wary // RWB Kaalia of the Vast // BUR Grixis Combos // BU Gisa and Geralf Tribal Tiny Leaders:BUW Sydri, Galvanic Genius // R Feldon of the Third Path
http://www.geekchichq.com/deck-carrier.html
I'd love to use a lower end wood and get rid of the velvet bottoms and keep the rest of the functionality without the absurd price tag.
Omnath: he's on PCP
RW Redirection
My 360 Pauper Cube
As a semi-experienced woodworker, these card holders are somewhat labor intensive, especially since the average woodworker wouldn't have the jigs made to mass-produce these. I would estimate 2-3 hours of labor (probably more with making the first one) and $10-15+ in materials. Of course labor may be reduced in subsequent runs.
Hi there,
I recently purchased a beautiful card catalog for storing my cards as well. I wanted to ask how you constructed those cardboard dividers. Also, did you remove the brass card holders in the drawers?
Thanks!
Lucky you. These are definitely becoming harder to come by in good shape.
I wanted to keep the sliders intact so that each drawer could hold a variable amount of cards. To facilitate that, the dividers had to be able to slip under the slider. This had the drawback of making them more or less permanent, but I have no plans for repurposing anytime soon, so it's not so bad. That is also why the bottom is split into two pieces. I had to remove the rod that was attached to the brass 'bullet' that held the cards in. It just unscrewed, so it was an easy task.
There are two pieces of heavy card stock that line the bottom. The front and back panels are glued to them. The runner across the top is made of two pieces glued together to give it more rigidity. All of the card stock is archival so there shouldn't be any issues with foxing or discoloration. I used regular Elmer's white glue for the construction. Just make sure it doesn't run out of the joints. Take your time with the assembly. Give the glue plenty of time to dry and you will avoid problems with glue overrun. Use clothespins to apply pressure to the glue joints so that you can have multiple drawers going at once.
Before you go down this road, 60 drawers is a lot, make sure that your drawers are at least 127 or so mm wide. If I recall, a Magic card is 63 mm across, so two side-by-side would be 126. My drawers were 128 mm, giving me just enough room for 2 cards and a divider. I was able to get a local paper supply business to supply the card stock and make most of the bulk cuts for me. I just said it was for grad school and they did the cutting for free. Most paper places will have the equipment to do the cuts, but they will usually charge $0.25 or see per cut. They can cut 20 to 30 sheets in a go, so its very manageable.
Also, make you design in some lean for the rows of cards to avoid clipping them when you close a drawer. If your drawers are tall enough,it won't be an issue, otherwise it becomes a constraint. No need to ruin good cards due to an oversight.
It's been awhile, so I hope I answered your questions. If not, ask more.
Does anyone do anything to keep cards displayed in some way, or are binders about the only thing to do for full sets/display options?
Omnath: he's on PCP
RW Redirection
My 360 Pauper Cube
Mary
I'm sitting at a little over 25k cards, so I'm split one box per color, one box for multi-colored (different rows for hybrid & gold), and one box for lands & artifacts (different rows for creature & non).
Each of those is split into sorcery, instant, enchantment, creature... and each of those are alphabetical (loose - A, B, C, etc., not Aa, Ab, etc.).
Not too long ago I cataloged the entire thing into a app (Decked Builder - if I can say, if not mods please remove). I like it because now I build purely from that and just pull the cards when I need to sleeve a deck (you really have to keep on top of it tho', as when you take apart decks if you don't put them away asap, you get piles of a few hundred random cards sitting around).
I though about buying penny sleeves for the whole thing one time, then I did the math and that idea went away quickly (the one I was looking at were the KDM perfect fit - at about $5.25 CAN / 100, it was cost restrictive - unless there is a better option out there?).
Not sure what I will do when the current 5k boxes fill. I haven't collected much since Llorwyn (mostly between Odyssey - Llorwyn), only picking up sets of good cards every now and then since. I do plan to get back into the game again so I can see the current boxes maxing out over the next few sets.
http://www.cubetutor.com/visualspoiler/20765
I have all my cards sorted by set, by collector number.
I used MagicCards.info to make a list in Excel for all the sets that didn't have collector numbers. I should have the spreadsheets on my home computer somewhere. If you want them, I can try to find them for you.
—Kaysa, Elder Druid of the Juniper Order
However, the info from older sets is off (inconsistent with newer sets) so I do some of those manually...
If you have any comments, or notice any mistakes, please let me know.
As my decks got more expensive I put the soft boxes into a briefcase, but that unfortunatly broke.
I wanted to get away from those soft boxes and put my decks in dragon shield boxes. They are great, but not perfect.
So to replace my briefcase I took a heavy duty case from work and put my deck in there.
The best thing ever. Enough space, best protection possible, water and shockproof (water doesn't get in, but neither out, therefor I put desiccant in), able to lock it, easy to carry.
I was looking for deck boxes in a identical style to my case, but I wasn't lucky.
So for my foiled reanimator deck I used a UK 406 box, put some shock absorber and a sock full of desiccant in there. Its not perfect, too big for my taste, but for now it gets the job done.
I will eventually get around to sorting them by color and rarity. All my rares/mythic rares/foils are in binders. Even if they are foil commons. I have one binder of commander/MM15 rares. One binder is legacy/modern and the other is standard. I have two full boxes of basic lands and I also have almost a full box of nonbasic lands from all sets. I don't separate the nonbasic lands into sets, though I should, mainly cause I'll only go in there to search for lands for my EDH decks.
Podcast
I keep all my bulk(ish) rares in one large binder, all my foils in a smaller binder, good trades in a binder I take to fnm, and my deckbuilding sets (fetches, modern and legacy staples) in another binder. All binders are sorted by colors, but not by sets.
I keep all my modern/legacy decks in individual deckboxes on a shelf with my other gaming supplies (dice, mats, etc...) and keep all my commander (and variant) decks in a Holiday box (kahns one).
This filing system took a long time to set up - approximately 18 hours in all the first round of sorting after I picked up a collection and sorted it with all my old cards. I did this about 3 years ago one weekend and it has been working well for me ever since. Now, as I acquire cards or pull them out of decks, I compile them in a "limbo box" where they stay until I feel like taking a half hour or so to file them away.
The only downside is all my friends ask me to check for commons and uncommons before they hunt stores or go online to build their decks. Of course when I need crap, their stuff is not sorted lol... so it's "i think I have one, but no clue where it is!" lol - but I don't mind...
It is worth the huge initial time investment to do this imo - so much better, cards aren't all over my house all the time anymore.
Modern: RGB Dredge // RBG Goblins // B The Gate // UBR Tezz AoB Control // RBG Prison Pox
EDH: RBU Thraximundar // R Norin the Wary // RWB Kaalia of the Vast // BUR Grixis Combos // BU Gisa and Geralf Tribal
Tiny Leaders: BUW Sydri, Galvanic Genius // R Feldon of the Third Path
Projects:
Gisa and Geralf Extreme-Tribal EDH
Esper Eldrazi Processor Control
Brewing with Kuldotha Forgemaster
Primer: "The Gate" - Mono Black in Modern
Modern Prison Pox - building a better plague