Topic: Double Sleeving: When, and which cards?

So I've recently realized I should start taking better care of my cards, and I was introduced to the idea of double sleeving, which really seems best. Based on reviews I've done, I'm going to go with the KMC Perfect Fits and KMC Hyper Matte sleeves. This is great for decks.... but my questions are:

  • When do you double sleeve? It only seems viable in decks (and binders, which I don't use). How do you keep your other cards properly protected (probably only 10% of my cards are currently in decks)?

  • Which cards do you protect? Do you put all your cards in *at least* penny sleeves, or do you just not worry about commons and only protect higher rarities? Or only cards worth a certain amount or more?

While I can get the KMC products in bulk, it's still going to cost 3.1 cents per sleeve and 7 cents per deck sleeve. At 10.1 cents per card, that's $6.06 per 60 card deck, $7.58 with a 15 card sideboard, and $10.10 per commander deck. As for all my other cards, if I put them all in sleeves, at 3.1 cents and over 10,000 cards (not counting duplicates past 4 and cards in decks)..... $310+. Ha. Yeah.

Note that I am part player, part collector. That is, I'm not a hard-core collector who'll pay $100 for a card just to complete my collection, but I'm also not a hard-core player who only keeps cards for my decks and trades/sells/trhows any other cards. So any suggestion to just cull my collection is not a helpful one, sorry.

I realize this is partly "personal preference", "depends on your budget", and the like. But I'm interested in community opinions and other people's thought processes.

Re: Double Sleeving: When, and which cards?

I double sleeve entire decks (double-sleeving only part of a deck can get you game losses from a judge) that contain high value ($100+) cards and any card worth over $100 that's not in a deck.

Profile  Tradelist

Re: Double Sleeving: When, and which cards?

Kammikaze wrote:

any card worth over $100

So do you just not worry about cheaper cards? Or do you generally not play with decks that *don't* have high-value cards in them?

(I wish I could be that kind of player! But I'm doing well if my entire DECK is worth $100, much less a single card!)

Re: Double Sleeving: When, and which cards?

meldon44 wrote:
Kammikaze wrote:

any card worth over $100

So do you just not worry about cheaper cards? Or do you generally not play with decks that *don't* have high-value cards in them?

(I wish I could be that kind of player! But I'm doing well if my entire DECK is worth $100, much less a single card!)

If a deck doesn't contain any high-value cards I just single sleeve it. I have never had that be an issue.

If the card isn't part of a deck then it's pretty much just sitting in a box or binder and as such won't be susceptible to any damage. In general all of my cards that aren't in a deck that are worth more than a couple dollars are single-sleeved and in a trade binder.

I forgot to respond to your questions about pricing: A 100 pack of Ultra-Pros, at the closest game store to my house, is $8 plus tax which is, obviously, more expensive than the double sleeved 75-card deck you quoted. I'd say <$8 for double sleeved is a pretty good deal especially with KMC sleeves.

Profile  Tradelist

Re: Double Sleeving: When, and which cards?

Thank you for your thoughts!

What about foils? I've read that exposure to the moisture in the air is going to inevitably warp foils. Do most double sleevers always sleeve their foils? Or again, only foils that are worth more than a couple dollars?

Kammikaze wrote:

I'd say <$8 for double sleeved is a pretty good deal especially with KMC sleeves.

I do realize it's not a bad price, but that's only if I buy the sleeves in bulk. I'm trying to decide if I'm going to be sleeving enough of my cards to make bulk worth it.

Re: Double Sleeving: When, and which cards?

What about foils?

Foil warping can be caused by a few different things: moisture, temperature, time, and probably some others. Most of my foils I generally keep in a secure/tight location. For example, my all-foil cube is kept in a pretty snug box so the foils don't have any room to warp. What you said was correct though, foils eventually warp no matter what. The foil layer is made of plastic which responds differently to moisture, temperature etc than the cardstock it is attached to.

bulk

How many sleeves are you talking? It depends on how many cards you decide to double-sleeve. I personally only sleeve a few hundred so buying 1000+ wouldn't make sense.

For cheaper cards I would say it just isn't worth it to double-sleeve. The value difference between a NM and LP $1 or 50c card is negligible. Unless it's in a deck with more expensive cards then it's a good idea to double-sleeve the entire deck.

Last edited by Kammikaze (2015-03-13 00:30:53)

Profile  Tradelist

Re: Double Sleeving: When, and which cards?

I double-sleeve all decks that I play except EDH.  I've invested too much into this hobby not to spend a couple extra bucks to fully protect my investment.  You go though the pain and expense once, but never have to do it again and it makes for very convenient deckbuilding without having to swap sleeves, as long as you pick one brand and one color for everything (yes, I get that teal Dragonshields don't fit the theme or whatever of your black/artifact/Vampires deck, but it's much better on your cards and your wallet at the inconvenience of being a bit less nerdy). 

I have a friend that double-sleeves every card he owns not in his trade binder.  I think that's unnecessarily time-consuming and expensive, but he never has to sleeve or desleeve cards when swapping cards between decks and he never has to buy more than 4 of any card that way.

Re: Double Sleeving: When, and which cards?

After I damaged the top of an archangel of thune I decided to double sleeve my main deck. Since then I have had zero problems with damaging cards and I play with that deck daily. Also have to be careful with regular binders, Ive recently had a foil ashen rider get pressed too hard against a binder ring and it damaged the back of that card. So now I will either use a cover page in my binder so that might not happen or get a binder with no rings, aka a binder specifically for cards. everything uncommon and common I just pack in fat packs or boxes.

Re: Double Sleeving: When, and which cards?

I double sleeve all my decks, KMC Perfect Fits + Ultra Pro Matt, I don't care about the overall cost of the deck because like mentioned earlier its an all or none approach when sleeving a deck. 

I perfect fit all cards that I keep in each of my block binders (stored vertically in a bookcase).  Of course you end up with cards that are worth less than the sleeves they are in but I am primarily a collector and also have a (un)healthy dose of OCD....so it keeps me happy.

High value surplus cards are double sleeved in perfect fits + penny sleeves and surplus bulk cards are just stored in cardboard card boxes.

Overall the amount I spend on sleeving supplies pails in comparison to what is spent on cardboard so in my mind it really isn't a big deal and feels like I'm doing all that I practically can to protect my investment long term.

Last edited by postal (2015-09-03 01:38:07)

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Re: Double Sleeving: When, and which cards?

I perfect fitted my entire collection.  This however was after 3 or 4 passes to weed out cards that just were not worth keeping.  Now every deck I play is double sleeved, and I never have to worry about finding an inner to add a card to a deck.  My collection is just under 6000 cards.  I had already sleeved anything I played in a deck and just didn't unsleeve them after changing decks, so I needed about 4000 Perfect Fits.  I bought in bulk from a Japanese store, took about a month to get to me, but I paid for 6000 sleeves less than I would have paid to get 3000 from a US distributor, and significantly less than buying packs individually from my LGS or even an online store.

Sleeving everything did take some time, but my wife offered to help, so it wasn't that bad.  Overall I would recommend making sure your collection is as small as you are comfortable with before embarking on something like I did.  I am still actively culling cards, and thinking of dropping all non Modern cards from my collection.  Needless to say this is going to result in a large number of Perfect Fits just floating around my house.

Re: Double Sleeving: When, and which cards?

For me I dbl sleeve every foil, rare and mythic I play with, all my lands (which are all full art or specialty), all the tokens I use or emblems, and just misc rares or cards I come across when I have a perfect fit handy.  I exclusively use KMC and have for about 4-5 years now.  I play all formats including vintage and have never had an issue.  I also sleeve my cards upside down . . . or they get dirty from shuffling and the like.  My collection is probably around 50,000 cards and for the most part I don't often need a card out of a box that isn't already sleeved in a KMC.  From playing the cards when Standard, years later for Modern or Legacy they will already be sleeved.  So far no worries . . . but I heard something about the new Expedition Lands having issues in perfect fits???

Re: Double Sleeving: When, and which cards?

With my cards not currently in a deck I put them all in money bags you can get from a bank, like, small plastic bags. Shops also use them when they put change in the tills. They are a pretty good fit. The worst thing that could happen would be the front of a card getting scratched from the back of another, which I've never experienced or heard of. It keeps the cards rigid and together nicely. I also bought storage boxes from amazon. Just small ones. I think it was a pack of 5 which hold "1000" cards cost £12 ($20, €17 roughly). They actually hold closer to 1200.

The bags idea is also good for sorting cards. I have my white creatures in one package, other whites in another, etc. It's easy to find the card I want

Re: Double Sleeving: When, and which cards?

Double sleeves on all my non-trade stuff and on all trade stuff above 5$.

Usually I keep binders for the two formats I play with everything sleeved the same way - easy deckbuilding and cards are always protected. As I mainly play oldschool nowaways, it is obvious I want the best protection for my cards, many of them are pretty old and rare.

Spending a hundred dollars to conveniently sleeve everything you play is absolutely worth it - you'd spend the same on a pair of shoes for running or whatever sports equipment. Sometimes we Magic players are obsessed with the thought that we don't actually "spend" money on Magic, but sometimes you should just do it ;-)

Of course you should fight fire with fire. You should fight everything with fire.
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