KMC super series are very good sleeves overall, they shuffle smoothly and are durable but after some games,due to the plastic used, if your hands get sweat or you play in places with humidity they stuck like hell make it impossible to shuffle properly or draw cards.
Dragonshields look promising but i ordered a green 100ct pack from the internet once, the sleeves had factory markings all over the seams, different lengths and were dust magnets. Also the inconsistent seams damaged the cards during shuffling.
Solid color Ultra-Pro + KMC perfect size is what i currently use. They don't stuck together and they don't get dirty easy although some colors are of lesser quality than others (i prefer orange/black/white).
Well if you care about the condition of cards and extending the life of your sleeves watch your shuffle method, avoid side/riffle shuffle although i know they are the most effective ways to randomize the cards.
First of all perfect fit sleeves protect your cards from dirt not from damage. Second mtg is a ccg game and many of care for collectors value.
Someone posted that using toploaders destroys your cards from friction. Thats a big lie, your are confusing yourself with normal sleeves. The friction is between the loaders not the actual cards because of the rigid plastic. Unlike normal sleeves that destroy edge of cards by bad design/cut/quality.
Shuffling with loaders is better and quicker than normal sleeves and thats an example: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R0JBxZoJx4g&playnext=1&videos=YwIfR8nCLhM
So enjoy playing with your cards protected and ignore all these people whining for toploaders and play with rat-gotten cards.
If you are like me (means you care about keeping mint condition on your cards) then the only solution is the toploaders. I have tried almost everything including many brands of sleeves, double sleeve, triple sleeve (kmc sleeve protectors) etc.
None of these methods ensure the safety of your cards and thats because of one simple term: friction. As long dirt exists it will catch up your cards and slowly destroy them as you shuffle (toploaders prevent that cause of the rigid plastic so your cards stay intact during shuffling).
If the pilot of the deck is reckless (means he bends cards, scratch his face with sleeves, drops cards off the table, has bad shuffling technic etc) then say goodbye to your precious foils/50$+ cards you spent your money last week.
Although using toploaders you sacrifice one major thing: comfort. Bigger decks (triple the normal size in height) means harder transport and managing. One plus here is that playing with topladers makes tap/untap and moving cards on board more fun and easier cause they slide a lot better.
Its a big dilemma cause if you own 5+ decks its a big issue toploading them cause you need a lot of space (you will watch your friend's deckboxes like holy grail or something).
Also if you play sanctioned events its nearly impossible to use toploaders as you can be accused for marked sleeves very easy (personally i play home magic only so i encourage myself playing with toploaders).
I used to play my zoo deck in orange UP and a few days ago i found out that some foils were crushed at the corners although i shuffle very gently.
Has anyone any similar experience with UP?
Also last week i ordered some KMC super orange sleeves and they were 0.5mm tighter than the old ones i own. Cards need some force to get in plus they dont fit with KMC perfect size, thats weird.
Anyone knows if KMC changed their production or it was just a "bad" pack?
My order arrived today so i got my hands on some KMC matte red and super orange sleeves.
KMC matte red 100pcs : Too short sleeves (only 1mm left to the top which expose your cards to dirt) and also too rough. They don't seal well (that's because of their short length i suppose). Hard to shuffle (tend to split if you don't shuffle gently). Some cards got damaged at the top edge just by shuffling. I don't know why. Hope the 80pcs packs are better than this or maybe i got a bad pack? 1/5
KMC super orange 80pcs : Quality sleeves. The standard 2mm left to the top is there to protect your cards from table garbage. They shuffle great. Great feeling and also they don't split easy. I like how they keep the card inside. Only disadvantage is that they get scratched easy on the back (better playing with a playmat) because they are glossy. 4.5/5
I still swear by Ultra-Pro. Good quality sleeves, reasonable price. The sleeve may get damaged, but never your card.
I have some UP in green and blue from back 2004-2005 (with the UP logo on the left corner). These are indestructible and indeed the cards stay intact. Corners never bent, backs stay clear without scratches. Only problem they have a thick front so your cards appear a little blurry.
I also have 2009 UP in blue,black,red,green and art. They are completely crap... sleeves get damaged along with cards and that's the reason i want to start buying another brand of sleeves.
Basically, I'm good with double-sleeve inside either KMC or Japanese UP sleeves, as almost all of the Japanese sleeves tend to be a little longer on top as well as more durable when it comes to splitting.
So you say that perfect fits with Japanese sleeves work fine and don't wipe your cards while shuffling?
Have you checked your card's condition after sleeving with perfect fits?
As i said in my previous post, i used perfect fits with UP (both textured and standard) and my cards got wiped at the edges.
Don't use Perfect size sleeves with UP, they are complete disaster.
I used them to sleeve 2 decks and several cards were wiped at the top/bottom edges because of friction or something.
Normal UP are too thin so the Perfect size sleeves outline the edges of your card damaging it by just shuffling. In the other hand the art ones are too rough.
Looking forward for my KMC sleeve order to arrive so i can test them.
Which sleeves are best for protection of your cards?
You all said that the sleeves are durable/don't split but what about keeping the card in good condition?
-I have used Blue/Red/Green Ultra Pro but they all got marked too quickly (they are too soft). Also several cards got scratched/warped at the edges (even i shuffle very gently and using a playmat). The only good point about these is that they shuffle good even after heavy play but that is because of their softness i guess. I am buying these for about 5$ per pack of 50pcs in my country.
-Then i noticed the texture back UPro sleeves. They are sold for about 14$ here so i thought they will be some kind of elite sleeves for being so overpriced. I bought 1 pack of 80pcs and sleeved up my Jund deck. At the beginning the sleeves shuffled smooth and had a great feeling, with no air pockets displaying the card very well. After some plays they got hard to shuffle as hell sticking to each other. Not only that but they were so rough that the corner edges of my cards started to wipe off with time. I disleeved after 2-3 weeks to find out that my cards were scratched more heavily than using simple UP and some of them got warped at the corner edges as well.
-As a third attempt to protect my cards i ordered KMC perfect size sleeves. I sleeved 2 decks with these and then put them back in texture UP. Then i noticed that some of the cards wiped off at the top and bottom edges. The only explanation i can give to this is friction between the sleeves. I then put them in normal UPs but the same thing happened (normal UPs are a bit tighter from the textured ones which they have like a 1mm more width).
Conclusion - Don't use UP if you care about collector's value, these things leech your cards like no tomorrow (at least the series i mentioned). Also don't use KMC perfect sleeves with UP, they damage your cards instead of protecting them. I assume they work better with KMC sleeves or else they are crap.
I placed an order with KMC matte-red and super orange sleeves today. Hope i get my hands on them soon to start testing :).
Dragonshields look promising but i ordered a green 100ct pack from the internet once, the sleeves had factory markings all over the seams, different lengths and were dust magnets. Also the inconsistent seams damaged the cards during shuffling.
Solid color Ultra-Pro + KMC perfect size is what i currently use. They don't stuck together and they don't get dirty easy although some colors are of lesser quality than others (i prefer orange/black/white).
Well if you care about the condition of cards and extending the life of your sleeves watch your shuffle method, avoid side/riffle shuffle although i know they are the most effective ways to randomize the cards.
Someone posted that using toploaders destroys your cards from friction. Thats a big lie, your are confusing yourself with normal sleeves. The friction is between the loaders not the actual cards because of the rigid plastic. Unlike normal sleeves that destroy edge of cards by bad design/cut/quality.
Shuffling with loaders is better and quicker than normal sleeves and thats an example:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R0JBxZoJx4g&playnext=1&videos=YwIfR8nCLhM
So enjoy playing with your cards protected and ignore all these people whining for toploaders and play with rat-gotten cards.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R0JBxZoJx4g&playnext=1&videos=ngEd0Dhrhn0
None of these methods ensure the safety of your cards and thats because of one simple term: friction. As long dirt exists it will catch up your cards and slowly destroy them as you shuffle (toploaders prevent that cause of the rigid plastic so your cards stay intact during shuffling).
If the pilot of the deck is reckless (means he bends cards, scratch his face with sleeves, drops cards off the table, has bad shuffling technic etc) then say goodbye to your precious foils/50$+ cards you spent your money last week.
Although using toploaders you sacrifice one major thing: comfort. Bigger decks (triple the normal size in height) means harder transport and managing. One plus here is that playing with topladers makes tap/untap and moving cards on board more fun and easier cause they slide a lot better.
Its a big dilemma cause if you own 5+ decks its a big issue toploading them cause you need a lot of space (you will watch your friend's deckboxes like holy grail or something).
Also if you play sanctioned events its nearly impossible to use toploaders as you can be accused for marked sleeves very easy (personally i play home magic only so i encourage myself playing with toploaders).
I have found some videos with guys playing in toploders and there is one where a guy riffle shuffles them: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R0JBxZoJx4g&playnext=1&videos=ngEd0Dhrhn0
Hope i helped you. Enjoy your card life!
Has anyone any similar experience with UP?
Also last week i ordered some KMC super orange sleeves and they were 0.5mm tighter than the old ones i own. Cards need some force to get in
Anyone knows if KMC changed their production or it was just a "bad" pack?
(both KMC packs are 80pc ones)
KMC matte red 100pcs : Too short sleeves (only 1mm left to the top which expose your cards to dirt) and also too rough. They don't seal well (that's because of their short length i suppose). Hard to shuffle (tend to split if you don't shuffle gently). Some cards got damaged at the top edge just by shuffling. I don't know why. Hope the 80pcs packs are better than this or maybe i got a bad pack? 1/5
KMC super orange 80pcs : Quality sleeves. The standard 2mm left to the top is there to protect your cards from table garbage. They shuffle great. Great feeling and also they don't split easy. I like how they keep the card inside. Only disadvantage is that they get scratched easy on the back (better playing with a playmat) because they are glossy. 4.5/5
I had used perfect fits with some red UP. They were very tight so when i was pushing the card in, it was getting off the fits.
Try to push the card in by attaching your finger to the front, not to the top of the card. I did this and it was fine.
Although if your sleeves are very tight i recommend not to use perfect fits. Your cards may get serious damage at the edges by friction.
Hope i have helped you.
I have some UP in green and blue from back 2004-2005 (with the UP logo on the left corner). These are indestructible and indeed the cards stay intact. Corners never bent, backs stay clear without scratches. Only problem they have a thick front so your cards appear a little blurry.
I also have 2009 UP in blue,black,red,green and art. They are completely crap... sleeves get damaged along with cards and that's the reason i want to start buying another brand of sleeves.
So you say that perfect fits with Japanese sleeves work fine and don't wipe your cards while shuffling?
Have you checked your card's condition after sleeving with perfect fits?
As i said in my previous post, i used perfect fits with UP (both textured and standard) and my cards got wiped at the edges.
Please let me know.
I used them to sleeve 2 decks and several cards were wiped at the top/bottom edges because of friction or something.
Normal UP are too thin so the Perfect size sleeves outline the edges of your card damaging it by just shuffling. In the other hand the art ones are too rough.
Looking forward for my KMC sleeve order to arrive so i can test them.
You all said that the sleeves are durable/don't split but what about keeping the card in good condition?
-I have used Blue/Red/Green Ultra Pro but they all got marked too quickly (they are too soft). Also several cards got scratched/warped at the edges (even i shuffle very gently and using a playmat). The only good point about these is that they shuffle good even after heavy play but that is because of their softness i guess. I am buying these for about 5$ per pack of 50pcs in my country.
-Then i noticed the texture back UPro sleeves. They are sold for about 14$ here so i thought they will be some kind of elite sleeves for being so overpriced. I bought 1 pack of 80pcs and sleeved up my Jund deck. At the beginning the sleeves shuffled smooth and had a great feeling, with no air pockets displaying the card very well. After some plays they got hard to shuffle as hell sticking to each other. Not only that but they were so rough that the corner edges of my cards started to wipe off with time. I disleeved after 2-3 weeks to find out that my cards were scratched more heavily than using simple UP and some of them got warped at the corner edges as well.
-As a third attempt to protect my cards i ordered KMC perfect size sleeves. I sleeved 2 decks with these and then put them back in texture UP. Then i noticed that some of the cards wiped off at the top and bottom edges. The only explanation i can give to this is friction between the sleeves. I then put them in normal UPs but the same thing happened (normal UPs are a bit tighter from the textured ones which they have like a 1mm more width).
Conclusion - Don't use UP if you care about collector's value, these things leech your cards like no tomorrow (at least the series i mentioned). Also don't use KMC perfect sleeves with UP, they damage your cards instead of protecting them. I assume they work better with KMC sleeves or else they are crap.
I placed an order with KMC matte-red and super orange sleeves today. Hope i get my hands on them soon to start testing :).