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Why Use Sleeves?

Bare card shufflers. We’ve all seen them, crinkling their cards, whitening the corners, bending the rarest and most powerful additions to their collection.

 Take pity, for these youngin’s don’t know any better. Playing competitively, even if it’s on the local level, is a different beast than the sidewalk card slinging most kids start with.

 Whereas playing without sleeves might be the only way to play when it’s you and your friends on the kitchen table, at lunch, or outside, that won’t fly at your Saturday tournament. You’re going to want to sleeve up your cards for a number of very good reasons.

 Protection

For one, sleeves protect your cards. I’ve got Yu-Gi-Oh! cards from the very first set, released all the way back in 2001, that have stayed with me across all these years in pristine condition. How? I made sure to sleeve them up (in Dragon Shield, no less).

 Whether you’re protecting your collection in a binder, or playing regularly, wear and tear is inevitable. Trading cards are made of flimsy material, after all: cardboard and ink. Keep your cards in mint condition through vigorous play by sleeving up. 

What are sleeves?

Sleeves are plastic containers designed to fit trading cards to take the brunt of any surface you might play on. Sticky table? You can replace a sleeve a lot easier than a $50 card. Sleeves come in “standard” size, typical for Magic: the Gathering, Pokémon, and most other cards, and “Japanese” size, perfect for Yu-Gi-Oh!

 New brands of sleeves hit the market every year, from Ultra Pro to Ultimate Guard, Dragon Shield and Max Protection. How do you know which is best? Practice. Trial and error.

 The perfect sleeve comes down to your budget and your experience. Try them all and see what feels best in your hands. What makes you want to play again? That’s the right one for you.

 In my case, Dragon Shield has always been the go-to. I remember saving up to buy my first pack of Dragon Shields back in my days as a card shop squatter (where they eventually put me to work, seeing as how I was there all the time anyway).

 Picking out the color was an all-week decision. I eventually went with black.

 I’ve tried other sleeves over the years, but always end up coming back to Dragon Shield. I still have that deck sleeved up and ready to go, almost fifteen years later. In my experience, Dragon Shield quality can’t be beat.

 Sleeves can come with matte backs and glossy, smooth backs. The fronts are almost always clear.

 Matte sleeves have a slightly duller color without a sheen or shine, but give a more robust shuffling feel. They don’t slip or slide as easily, and are scratch resistant.

 Glossy sleeves are bright and reflective, but take a few games to stop sliding. Long-term use can result in scratching, but many prefer these to mattes.

 Perfect Fit sleeves provide even more protection. Regular sleeves have space between your card and the edge of the sleeve, which still allows for the possibility of damage.

 While you can never totally remove this possibility, Perfect Fit sleeves provide an extra layer of protection by going over your cards and into a regular sleeve. Some call this double sleeving. Perfect Fit come in clear, smoke, top loading and side loading. Smoke sleeves from Dragon Shield, obscure the card backs for honest gaming.

 Cheating

That brings us to the second good reason to sleeve up: cheating. I’m sure you aren’t a cheater, but cheating is indeed an issue in competitive play.

 Sleeving your cards in an opaque color so that you can’t see the card back is usually the recommendation at higher levels of competitive play, but this is at the discretion of the Head Judge. Some players mark their cards with knicks, patterns, or designs to gain extra knowledge of where to cut the deck, or what’s coming up in their draw next turn.

 Don’t be surprised: sleeve up your cards fresh for each major event (for local events, judges usually aren’t anywhere near as strict).

 Personal Expression

The third reason to sleeve up is a bit more superficial, but equally as important: personality. Finding the right sleeve color, pattern, design, and material is part of the fun of card gaming.

 Each Dragon Shield dragon has a name, a backstory, and special abilities that fit into an overall narrative. It’s fun to read the back of the boxes to catch up on the lore and choose based on which characters are coolest.

 Nothing quite beats sleeving up a new deck with a fresh pack of sleeves. In-person card gaming, as opposed to digital card gaming, offers a tactile pleasure. You feel it in your hands. Picking out a new color, finding the right brand… it’s all part of what makes card gaming one of the greatest hobbies ever.

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All You Need To Know About Playmats

Today we’re going to talk about one of the most creative and unique accessories in the trading card game world: playmats.

 Unlike sleeves and deck boxes, which offer a limited amount of customizability, playmats truly know no bounds. I’ve seen players purchase all-white playmats to write notes on to themselves to remember during games: notes like, “Play Slower!” or “Pay Attention!”

 Others spend hundreds of dollars on championship mats, while others still battle it out for the chance to win a unique design. The more artistic amongst us express their artistic spirit by creating their own scenes, or show team pride with a custom mat with their store or team logo.

 Before we go further into the different kinds of playmats available, let’s talk about their purpose.

 Three Functions of Playmats

 Playmats are pragmatic.

Cards are played on all kinds of surfaces, from asphalt to the back seats of cars, to trunk hoods and train tables, to school desks and card shop white tables.

 Playmats provide a safe surface upon which to slide your cards without having to worry about the condition of your make-shift gaming field. Playmats have rubber bottoms to stop sliding and satin tops, designed with sleeves in mind for easy movement. In this way, playmats provide a final layer of protection to your cards.

 Some companies even produce playmats specifically for outdoors and travel use, like the Dragon Shield Nomad.

 Status

The second function of a playmat is to show your status in the gaming community. When I played card games competitively, playmats were only awarded to first and second place of regional tournaments, often with over 500 or 1000 players.

 If you busted out one of those mats at your local shop, your opponent knew you were a serious opponent, and they were likely in deep doo-doo. Winning championship playmats is part of the fun of card gaming. It shows that you are competitive, that you know what you’re doing, and that you’ve proven it on a grand stage.

 Of course, some players purchase playmats they didn’t win; just because your opponent has a rare mat doesn’t mean they won it. But you feel that quickening in your pulse? That’s because he or she might have won it. You’re going to have a tough game ahead!

 Mementos

Thirdly, playmats serve as important mementos from your card gaming trials and tribulations. The rarest playmats have the dates and event name emblazoned on them, serving as a permanent reminder of when and how you won it.

 My favorite playmats are the ones that remind me of a great road trip, an epic game, or a memorable city.

 Until next time, thanks for reading and go out there and find your favorite mat!