Card Sleeve Discussion

Dragonite★

Aspiring Trainer
Member
I'm just trying to figure out which one would be best. Also, I'm planning to put them in a 9 slot side loading Ultra Pro sheet too, so would they both fit?
 

signofzeta

Aspiring Trainer
Member
RE: Difference between Ultra Pro Matte Sleeves and Ultra Pro sleeves?

The regular ultra pros has a glossy finish on the clear side, while the pro-mattes have a matte finish, and also looks darker, on the clear side. I used to think that the difference between regular ultra pros and pro-mattes had something to do with the colored side, but I was wrong.

If you want to not be labeled a cheater by some people who are too hard on the rules, then I'd suggest pro-matte. The clear side doesn't reflect as much light.

If you want the best clarity and color for your cards, while they are sleeved, use the regular ultra pros.

I am unsure if these sleeves would fit anyway. I guess they wouldn't.
 

ashtavakra

Overlord
Member
RE: Difference between Ultra Pro Matte Sleeves and Ultra Pro sleeves?

Ultra pro sleeves rip easier than wet toilet paper. Don't waste your money on any ultra pro sleeves unless they are the penny sleeves. Fact.
 

omahanime

Come and visit me.
Elite Member
Advanced Member
Member
RE: Difference between Ultra Pro Matte Sleeves and Ultra Pro sleeves?

ashtavakra said:
Ultra pro sleeves rip easier than wet toilet paper. Don't waste your money on any ultra pro sleeves unless they are the penny sleeves. Fact.

That is strange. None of mine have torn. I buy them in lots of 10,000.
 

DrunkSpinda

Awakening!
Member
RE: Difference between Ultra Pro Matte Sleeves and Ultra Pro sleeves?

Ultra Pro Sleeves used to be good, back in 1998/1999, I still have a set of blood red ultra pro sleeves from back. Nowadays they are crappy, and you are better off with Dragon Shield Sleeves
 

signofzeta

Aspiring Trainer
Member
RE: Difference between Ultra Pro Matte Sleeves and Ultra Pro sleeves?

DrunkSpinda said:
Ultra Pro Sleeves used to be good, back in 1998/1999, I still have a set of blood red ultra pro sleeves from back. Nowadays they are crappy, and you are better off with Dragon Shield Sleeves

You do get what you pay for though.

Dragon shields are notorious for having uneven cut sleeves.
 

ashtavakra

Overlord
Member
RE: Difference between Ultra Pro Matte Sleeves and Ultra Pro sleeves?

omahanime said:
ashtavakra said:
Ultra pro sleeves rip easier than wet toilet paper. Don't waste your money on any ultra pro sleeves unless they are the penny sleeves. Fact.

That is strange. None of mine have torn. I buy them in lots of 10,000.

is that some kind of sick joke?
 

omahanime

Come and visit me.
Elite Member
Advanced Member
Member
RE: Difference between Ultra Pro Matte Sleeves and Ultra Pro sleeves?

ashtavakra said:
omahanime said:
That is strange. None of mine have torn. I buy them in lots of 10,000.

is that some kind of sick joke?

No
I buy my Ultra.PRO sleeves by the case. 100 packs of 100 sleeves.
 

DrunkSpinda

Awakening!
Member
RE: Difference between Ultra Pro Matte Sleeves and Ultra Pro sleeves?

signofzeta said:
DrunkSpinda said:
Ultra Pro Sleeves used to be good, back in 1998/1999, I still have a set of blood red ultra pro sleeves from back. Nowadays they are crappy, and you are better off with Dragon Shield Sleeves

You do get what you pay for though.

Dragon shields are notorious for having uneven cut sleeves.

The old ones, yes, but the newer ones don't. The way to distinguish between them is that the newer ones have The Spoils advertising on the back of the box
 

signofzeta

Aspiring Trainer
Member
RE: Difference between Ultra Pro Matte Sleeves and Ultra Pro sleeves?

DrunkSpinda said:
signofzeta said:
You do get what you pay for though.

Dragon shields are notorious for having uneven cut sleeves.

The old ones, yes, but the newer ones don't. The way to distinguish between them is that the newer ones have The Spoils advertising on the back of the box

Bought some, but a new problem arises. I sort of like my sleeves to be the same distance on all 4 sides between the card edge and the sleeve edge. 100 of my black dragon shields has the distance between the sleeve and the card, at the top edge, a little longer than the other 3 sides. The other blacks I bought don't have this problem. This is very bad if you have to mix sleeves from different boxes of Dragon Shield of the same color, especially if you want to save money, and use the remaining 40 sleeves.

Bad thing about Dragon shields are still uneven cuts, but they are indestructible.

Ultra pros do have some uneven cuts, from different packs of sleeves, are more see through, and are the easiest to rip of the 3. Speaking of inconsistency, I bought 2 packs of ultra pro whites, and one was more whiter than the other. Pretty dumb. Also remember that a 100 pack of ultra pro is not 1x100, but 2x50. All ultra pro solid color sleeves comes in packs of 50. The 100 pack just have a larger outer packaging that holds 2 packs of 50, rather than 1 pack of 100, so each half could look different.

KMC and Player's choice has the best cut, that is every single black sleeve you find will have the same cut, but they have the problem of dirt. Once these sleeves get dirty, the sleeves seem all loose, and the clear part becomes all weird, and for some reason, when you cut the deck, it always "cuts" so that the bottom card would be the card with the dirtiest sleeve.
 

Wilderness

Aspiring Trainer
Member
RE: Difference between Ultra Pro Matte Sleeves and Ultra Pro sleeves?

On the topic of card sleeves, I've always put cards in so the open slip is at the top. I've seen many people on YouTube doing it the other way, so that the card is upside down. Is there any rhyme or reason behind this or is it just out of personal preference?
 

Daelum

Climbing the stairs to the top
Member
RE: Difference between Ultra Pro Matte Sleeves and Ultra Pro sleeves?

Wilderness said:
On the topic of card sleeves, I've always put cards in so the open slip is at the top. I've seen many people on YouTube doing it the other way, so that the card is upside down. Is there any rhyme or reason behind this or is it just out of personal preference?


People will put the top of the card in a sleeve first so that they can put the card into a binder page with the sleeve opening at the bottom of the binder slot. (Don't know if that made any sense :p).

The point is to prevent dust and stuff from entering the sleeve and scratching the card whilst in storage.
 

r3skyline

UAV MECHANIC
Member
RE: Difference between Ultra Pro Matte Sleeves and Ultra Pro sleeves?

Players choice or KMC or bust in my opinion.
 

PokePalsVideos

Aspiring Trainer
Member
Which Sleeves to Use?

So lately I have been looking online for good card sleeves, and I was wondering witch one would be best used in a competitive deck.
Please tell me witch card sleeves in your opinion aren't
. Slippery
. are easy to shuffle
.Keeps cards clean and protected from minor scratches

I have heard that the dragon shield and POP sleeves are good.
-Ryan
 

Athena

The Cooler Danchou
Advanced Member
Member
RE: Which sleeves to use?

We've had a few different sleeve discussions that you might find interesting. You can look through some of the talk here, here, and also in our Merchandise Help thread.

Personally, I'm not a really competitive player, but I like using the Japanese Pokémon sleeves for my decks the best. The quality is good, I've never had a single one tear, they look sharp, and they're not hard to shuffle. The best part, though, is that you get 32 sleeves in a pack, or 64 for 2 packs, enough for a deck with a few leftover. If you buy any sleeves in sets of 60 (such as the POP sleeves) and one breaks, you're screwed, especially if it happens in the middle of a tournament. Always good to have spares handy.

I have a few sets of the POP sleeves, and while I've never had a problem with them, I haven't really used them for much playing either. People have reported inconsistencies in the quality, so I'd be careful. I've received a few dragon shield sleeves in trades and they seem good quality, but I've never bought any myself. I can't help it; I just like the Pokémon artwork of the official sleeves best. :D
 

Teal

黄前さん らしい ね
Member
RE: Which sleeves to use?

Here are my experiences so far with those sleeves:
- Giratina: perfect
- Dusknoir: extremely slippery, but otherwise ok
- Regigigas: One got an extremely big scratch, dunno how, maybe it was my friend who played a few games with it...

POP sleeves are different quality, even those with the same pictures are different. It's a gamböe to get POP sleeves, so if you want the best sleeves you should probably pass on them. (I want pretty sleeves so POP is good for me.)
 

Blui

lv85 paladin
Member
RE: Which sleeves to use?

All sleeves will be slippery at first, they'll get better as you go on. (I've had a lot of new sleeves, pretty much everything other than KMC). And no, POP sleeves aren't generally good, but I've heard the Dusknoir ones and Celebi ones are great. On top of that, like Artemis said Japanese sleeves are the best and are really conveniently packaged with 2/4 more extras. Plus they look awesome.
 

raymond25962

Aspiring Trainer
Member
RE: Which sleeves to use?

I use Ultra Pro sleeves. Buy 2 100 packs. Thats enough for 3 decks, and 20 extra ones left over in case it breaks.
 

Blah

DBT
Member
RE: Which sleeves to use?

Dragon Shields are nice and aren't too slippery, and they're virtually indestructible. Only complaint is that they can get very dirty very quickly, which causes cards to clump.

Ultra Pro's are very good also, not quite as durable though. The regular deck protectors are VERY slippery when you first take them out but get much better over time, and the Pro Mattes are not slippery at all but they look uglier in my opinion.
 

GlassesAndPokemon

Aspiring Trainer
Member
Sleeves for competitive play

I've used Ultra Pro for a while now, and honestly I'm getting tired of them breaking every game. I'm thinking of trying dragon shields, what do you guys use/prefer?
 
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