I have to be honest, last night I received a binder and some KMC perfect sleeves to put my raw 1st ed base (no holos yet) in. I will admit, unless you “hit it” just right, there were times where it was uncomfortably difficult get put the cards in. I will continue to do so, but, just be very careful.
Also, regular penny DO fit, but do wrinkle with insertion and do not look as nice.
Overall I’m really happy with how it looks and had so much fun doing it.
I double sleeve for binders usually. Lately I’ve been thinking about giving the Dragon Shield sealable inner sleeves a try. That way you get the protection on all sides but don’t have the thickeness of a double sleeve. I’ve heard great things about these for double sleeving decks but has anyone tried them for storage?
Edit: for clarification I mean using only the sealable inner sleeves, with no outer sleeve.
When you refer to Ultra Pro deck protectors, I’m assuming you’re refering to these?
Are these basically like thicker versions of penny sleeves? What I’m using currently is the Ultra Pro premium card sleeves, which are a very slightly heavier gauge than their normal penny sleeves (can barely tell the difference). Do you (or others) have experience with the three different sorts of Ultra Pro sleeves mentioned (the normal penny sleeves, the premium card sleeves, and the deck protectors)? I’m interested in trying the deck protectors out, but they are 4x more expensive than the premium card sleeves (where are $2 per 100), so I’d be curious about peoples’ input before buying (not trying to hijack the thread, but figured this was on-topic enough).
I honestly can’t remember what I used exactly as it was a long time ago when I tested those But I think I did try using tweezers to hold the sleeve while I tugged the card out of its “Perfect fit” death grip.
In order to push the card out I had to apply a lot of pressure to the bottom edge (more than I was comfortable with). I also remember trying to sleeve a Charizard and getting it stuck in the sleeve, and then regretting the attempt In the end it just wasn’t worth the trouble. There’s also no need for perfect fits, because you can easily & neatly double sleeve with deck protectors & pennys.
I’ve used the sealable Dragon Shields and I think they are a poor option for storage. The main issue I have with them is that they make trying to remove cards a much more elaborate process. Whereas with a normal perfect fit I just have to tap the top of the sleeve and pull the card out, the sealable ones require first putting your finger under the card and removing the sealing extension. It’s just a whole other step that makes it much more time-consuming to desleeve and so you have an increased risk of damaging the card in the process.
It’s also just unnecessary. A card in a perfect fit and an outer sleeve is already protected on all four sides. The only benefit I can think of is maybe it makes the card safer if it were submerged in water? lol
Yeah I was mostly considering it as a substitute to double sleeving. Meaning just using the sealable inner and nothing else to then put into a binder. That way it’s protected on all 4 sides and you don’t have multiple layers of sleeve or air trapped making the binders thick. That’s good to know though, I have heard they’re a pain to put on/take off.
There is a huge difference between these and penny and perfect fit sleeves. I’m not experienced with anything in-between these and the penny sleeves in the ultra pro lineup
Gotcha. The only issue I have with those is the circle hologram sticker. I don’t like having it on the front, and I worry about having it on the back of the card because it’s slightly elevated so it seems like there’s a risk of it making an imprint on the card. The one I linked doesn’t have the hologram sticker, so I might try those.
Those sleeves have worked well for me, the only thing I can say is I’ve had some pretty bad QC with them. I’ve had a batch where they were so off on the measurements that if I left cards in them for a day I’d come back and the top border of my card would be sticking out of the sleeve. Almost like the bottom of the sleeve was tighter than usual and it gradually squeezed the card out of the sleeve. Another batch I’ve gotten would not fit perfect fit sleeves into them, they were too small.
They’re relatively inexpensive though and I’ve been happy with them when they don’t do that. It’s mostly just a quality control/consistency issue I think.
Regular penny sleeves are nice when storing cards or shipping cards out as they are very cheap but do the job just fine.
Premium sleeves I use in my binders. Like you said, they are slightly more durable and I find that their size fits perfectly into Dex, Zipfolios, and Dragon Hide binders, which I like the most. The fit is similar to the penny sleeves but a little snugger.
Deck sleeves originally were my favorite, but it seems Ultra Pro changed the formula on these recently and the new batches I’ve received I haven’t liked as much. They are also the smallest fit of all, but not too snug. These sleeves are really durable, thick gauge plastic. Another downside of these is that they can slide around a bit in a binder page and aren’t totally opaque. If you’re going to be handing the cards a lot and like to see both sides of the card then this may be the option for you.
Regular Penny sleeves - good for storage
Premium - good for binders
Deck - good for handling
Awesome – thank you for the input! I do like the premium sleeves, but I was expecting them to be a bit more different from the penny sleeves given that they cost twice as much. Personally, I can barely tell the difference. Though, under very close examination, they do appear to be ever-so-slightly thicker. The significant extra thickness of the deck protectors is appealing since I imagine that it reduces the potential for dust/particulate matter to indent the cards if it gets between the pages.
Have you or anyone else tried the clear Dragon Shield sleeves? I’ve used Dragon Shields for MTG and they are incredibly well-made and durable – more so than the Ultra Pro sleeves I’ve tried, IMO. I would be curious if these are potentially a better option than the Ultra Pro deck protectors. Note that I’m specifically referring to the Dragon Shield clear classic sleeves rather than the matte ones because the matte back obscures the view of the card.
The key is NOT taking your cards out of the binder every chance you have. Damage comes from handling cards, putting them in a penny sleeve into a Ultra Pro Pro Binder and let them be there.
I recently stopped using binders all together.
The main problem, even if you’re single sleeving, you’ll notice the cards towards to back start to bend as you flip through the pages.
As others said, penny sleeves and semi rigids are the way to go.
Buy your cards, sleeve them, binder them. Only handle your binder if you’re adding cards to it. Never hold just a corner, always support the whole page with your fore arm when flipping pages. And best; do not store binders laying down (or stacking them). Always have them standing up right. The best way is to store them with the spin up wards, so there is absolute no stress on any pages and only on the binder itself. But that’s some next level storing
I use KMC perfect fits and then a nice ultra pro sleeve for “nice” binder cards. Works fine for me and I enjoy the extra protection. Using a single sleeve is fine as well, but I like an ultra pro sleeve since it is a bit more rigid than a penny sleeve.
They are very good quality sleeves but for the fact of just storing I don’t think it’s necessary since they are so expensive. If you’re looking for an alternative heavy gauge then I know Quiver makes a solid one at a fraction of the cost. Similar to the ultra pro deck sleeves.
But I think I did try using tweezers to hold the sleeve while I tugged the card out of its “Perfect fit” death grip.