Blog Playing Pokemon The Cheap(er) Way — Tips On Saving Money

[Otaku]

I want to weigh in on something. A LOT of players and collectors try to save money on the ONE thing they shouldn't: sleeves, binder pages, binders and/ or portfolios.

For these products, it's going to hurt you in the long run. Ultra Pro sleeves are a good example; there's still, unlike in Magic: The Gathering, a large subset of players who think Ultra Pro is a good quality brand. Couldn't be further from the truth. In fact some European analogues of the penny sleeve are better quality than the "best" Ultra Pro sleeves.

If you want your collection to retain its value, protect it properly, with sleeves from KMC and/ or Dragon Shield (double-sleeving cards worth more than $5 is also good practice) and using portfolios like the Dex Protection 9 instead of crummy ones from Ultra Pro or franchise/ licensed ones with Pokémon art on them.

And DON'T buy binders in bulk unless you know they have D-rings. Whenever I see someone whip out their Staples binder with an O-ring filled with Ultra Pro binder pages and wants to trade, I almost don't want to waste my time flipping through the thing as I anticipate the binder-bitten cards on the spine side, and the dusty/ greasy cards on the lip and top sides. Seriously! For every 9 cards stored in this way, only 2 (!) are protected!

Tiers: (generally, exceptions apply especially for deck boxes but deck boxes are the least important anyway)

1. KMC (sleeves)
2. Dragon Shield (sleeves)
3. Dex Protection (deck boxes, portfolio)
4. Legion (deck boxes)
-----Big gap in quality below this point-----
5. Ultimate Guard (slightly better than Ultra Pro but even worse value for money - decent portfolios though, notably the Xenoskin one. Sleeves are trash though)
-----IMO unusable-----
6. Penny sleeves
7. Ultra Pro (almost everything they make is bad, with exception to the Satin deckbox and toploaders but seriously - toploaders can't be screwed up so buy whatever)

Two things

1) Consider testing these things in a proper manner, such as with control groups, as well as establishing detailed criteria...
2) ...then write an article about it!

This is the first time I've heard such things but since I had to stop buying product a while ago and now only play on the PTCGO, that would be a large part of it. XD Still when I was buying (early t0 mid '00s) Ultra Pro was usually the go to brand. Not the best, but the best you'd reliably find on store shelves and/or considering the price. I just did a quick google search and at least up to a few years ago, they still seem popular.

That does not mean you are wrong! That is why I would love for this to become an article. Test sleeves as best as you can for durability, gloss, stickiness, coverage, regularity of width, regularity of height, etc. and let us know. I mean, if you think you are up for it.

 

[Fokale]

I want to weigh in on something. A LOT of players and collectors try to save money on the ONE thing they shouldn't: sleeves, binder pages, binders and/ or portfolios.

For these products, it's going to hurt you in the long run. Ultra Pro sleeves are a good example; there's still, unlike in Magic: The Gathering, a large subset of players who think Ultra Pro is a good quality brand. Couldn't be further from the truth. In fact some European analogues of the penny sleeve are better quality than the "best" Ultra Pro sleeves.

If you want your collection to retain its value, protect it properly, with sleeves from KMC and/ or Dragon Shield (double-sleeving cards worth more than $5 is also good practice) and using portfolios like the Dex Protection 9 instead of crummy ones from Ultra Pro or franchise/ licensed ones with Pokémon art on them.

And DON'T buy binders in bulk unless you know they have D-rings. Whenever I see someone whip out their Staples binder with an O-ring filled with Ultra Pro binder pages and wants to trade, I almost don't want to waste my time flipping through the thing as I anticipate the binder-bitten cards on the spine side, and the dusty/ greasy cards on the lip and top sides. Seriously! For every 9 cards stored in this way, only 2 (!) are protected!

Tiers: (generally, exceptions apply especially for deck boxes but deck boxes are the least important anyway)

1. KMC (sleeves)
2. Dragon Shield (sleeves)
3. Dex Protection (deck boxes, portfolio)
4. Legion (deck boxes)
-----Big gap in quality below this point-----
5. Ultimate Guard (slightly better than Ultra Pro but even worse value for money - decent portfolios though, notably the Xenoskin one. Sleeves are trash though)
-----IMO unusable-----
6. Penny sleeves
7. Ultra Pro (almost everything they make is bad, with exception to the Satin deckbox and toploaders but seriously - toploaders can't be screwed up so buy whatever)

Two things

1) Consider testing these things in a proper manner, such as with control groups, as well as establishing detailed criteria...
2) ...then write an article about it!

This is the first time I've heard such things but since I had to stop buying product a while ago and now only play on the PTCGO, that would be a large part of it. XD Still when I was buying (early t0 mid '00s) Ultra Pro was usually the go to brand. Not the best, but the reliable best you'd find on store shelves. I just did a quick google search and at least up to a few years ago, they still seem popular.

That does not mean you are wrong! That is why I would love for this to become an article. Test sleeves as best as you can for durability, gloss, stickiness, coverage, regularity of width, regularity of height, etc. and let us know. I mean, if you think you are up for it.

I never cheap out when it comes to protecting my cards. That said, I thought that Ultra Pro was one of the best brands. It is also the brand that my local game store keeps in stock (almost exclusively). I have heard good things about dragon shield though. I honestly haven't even heard of some of the brands that you mentioned (though I'm going to look them up), and if I haven't then others are probably in the dark as well. An article on this topic would definitely be helpful if you could test these products properly. Also where would you put Monster Protectors on the list?

 

[RedT]

Two things

1) Consider testing these things in a proper manner, such as with control groups, as well as establishing detailed criteria...
2) ...then write an article about it!

This is the first time I've heard such things but since I had to stop buying product a while ago and now only play on the PTCGO, that would be a large part of it. XD Still when I was buying (early t0 mid '00s) Ultra Pro was usually the go to brand. Not the best, but the best you'd reliably find on store shelves and/or considering the price. I just did a quick google search and at least up to a few years ago, they still seem popular.

That does not mean you are wrong! That is why I would love for this to become an article. Test sleeves as best as you can for durability, gloss, stickiness, coverage, regularity of width, regularity of height, etc. and let us know. I mean, if you think you are up for it.

I'll consider it, if I do though it's going to take a while to assemble all the material needed, it's been a long time since I converted all my gear to the "good" products (2014)

I never cheap out when it comes to protecting my cards. That said, I thought that Ultra Pro was one of the best brands. It is also the brand that my local game store keeps in stock (almost exclusively). I have heard good things about dragon shield though. I honestly haven't even heard of some of the brands that you mentioned (though I'm going to look them up), and if I haven't then others are probably in the dark as well. An article on this topic would definitely be helpful if you could test these products properly. Also where would you put Monster Protectors on the list?

The marketing of card protection gear as a product category is driven by word of mouth more than anything. In the Magic: The Gathering community, what I said above is a lot more well known by now, because of the biggest YouTube channel on M:TG being very good at raising awareness of it.

In fact I recommend having a look at Tolarian Community College's videos on this subject. He also demonstrates really well exactly why you should or shouldn't trust your cards to certain brands of protection.

Playlist link (14 videos)
Portfolio/ Binder review playlist link

Monster is covered too (like most sleeves)