Pokémon TCG: Sword and Shield—Brilliant Stars

"Proper" way to store cards? How do you do it?

J

Jazzbie

New Member
Just wondering how everyone else stores their cards and if there was a "proper" way for longevity.

The way I do it:
I have 4 4-pocket portfolio books that I stick my rares in. I've recently started putting the rarer cards in penny sleeves before putting them in there. If I have a lot of doubles per sleeve I'll tape the top.

Then I have a large yu-gi-oh binder for my complete sets. I'm not into yugioh but the binder is amazing, has a hard case, protects from light, and the sleeves don't slosh around.

Finally I have stacks of commons/uncommons/non-holo rare doubles that I place together by set with some hair ties holding them. They're organized in plastic drawers but are not protected from light/dust so I've been hoping for new ideas.

(oh god am I starting to sound OCD? I swear it's not like that. ._. I just spend a lot of money on cards and want them to stay pristine.)


So how do you do it?
 
I run a card shop, so I have access to alot of storage supplies. And I'm also very very specific about how my cards are sorted. Here's how I do it.

I use Ultra Pro Platinum pages in a normal 3" three ring binder, with standard printable label dividers. I have them placed in the binder organized by set, earliest to newest. Then inside the set they are organized by Collector Number. I keep my best condition cards in the binders, and try to have a playset of each card (4 of each). So the hierarchy of my binder sorting is as follows:

Set (Earliest to Newest)
Collector Number
Condition
Quantity

Any extras beyond my playset go into my trade boxes. I use the standard white 3200 count card storage boxes you can pick up at most Hobby Stores. The different sets are divided using UltraPro card dividers, set name labeled with Sharpie on the divider. Then to fill in the extra space I use something called a Monster Pad. Basically it's a small rectangle piece of foam sized to fit in the card boxes. These keep the cards from falling over and getting bent. Inside the card boxes the hierarchy is the same as the binders.

How long did it take me to do my initial sort. Weeks. Why do it this way?

All my cards are protected. When a set rotates out, I don't have to reorganize, I just skip that section. It's easy to find a specific card just by knowing what set it is from. And the boxes are stackable for easy storage.

Like I said, I have access to alot of storage products. This is how we sort Magic cards and Yu Gi Oh cards in the store as well.

This is just how I do things, but like I said. I'm specific.
 
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Commons and Uncommons go in boxes. I have binders for trade as well.

My especially rare personal collection cards go in soft sleeves and hard sleeves. Old holos, promos, and that sort of thing, I sleeve and then place into 9-pocket-pages in 3-ring-binders.
 
I'm probably the only one around here who puts all of his cards in sleeves.
(like Jazzbie, i spend my money on cards and I like to keep them in the best condition possible)

I put all my rare cards in my binder, its a normal three ring binder with ultrapro pages.
I have some cardboxes as well, I put my uncommons in one, my commons in the other.

more information about my sleeving:

I keep my uncommons and higher rarities in ultrapro sleeves, I keep all my common cards in pennysleeves.

I put all of my cards (except the binder) in a bigger cardboard box, which means the cards are first protected by the sleeves, then by the box, then by the bigger box.

and that's how i store my cards
 
I'm a newer player, so I have less cards.

I put most of my cards (except some basics) in a binder with normal ultrapro sleeves. I put my X's/Legends/EXs/Primes in a smaller binder that is protected more. I keep cards that I have in my main binder but have more than two of in a small box (the cards past two I put in there). I keep a bunch of random commons/uncommons in a tin, and a ton of energies in a tin. I sort my binder by type, and inside that by set, inside that by rarity.

I may put only rares in my main binder tho,as I don't have any more binder sleeves.
 
I'm a pretty new player as well but here's what I do -

When I open a box/pack I sleeve all holo or reverse holo cards in KMC sleeves (they tend to fit the cards much better and slide into pocket pages easier - and they look nicer).

I keep 1 card of each set, including reverse holo, in a binder. I used to use Ultra pro platinum pages in a regular 3 ring binder but then recently switched over to Monster binders. The Monster binders are more expensive but leaps above in quality. The larger sets go in their own binder but I can fit 2 of the smaller sets in a single binder.

I put all the remaining rares, holos, reverse holos, playable TSS into a trade binder. The holo and reverse holo are also sleeved (in used sleeves) before going into the trade binder.

The remaining commons and uncommons go into a card storage box by set. They tend to stay in very good condition in the box.
 
I keep them in penny sleeves and in 9 card pages in binders by set and number. The plastic in ultra pro sleeves is harder than the plastic used to make holos and therefor scratches them. Bad idea i.m.o.
 
This is my current set-up...

I have 2, 3-row boxes (3k count) cardboard storage boxes that I keep Common and Uncommon Pokemon in. I don't sleeve any of them except for the reverse foils. They're in order by set number and such. I wanna get around to sleeving all of them, but I can't bring myself to do it, haha. I only keep legal stuff in here, and I'm probably going to start running out of space soon, so I'm trying to keep 2x playsets of everything (and obviously more than that if it's a good card like Sableye, etc.) and then getting rid of the rest, just to save room.

I then keep jank rares in a 2k count box. They're all sleeved just because their rares and such, and they're ordered by set and number and the like, just like the C/UCs. I keep infinite amounts of these just because, as rares, they could possibly be both good and worth something someday.

I keep all trainers, sleeved, in another 2k count box, in set order, etc.

I keep all special/foil energies in another 2k count box, all sleeved. I only use foil energy, and I have quite a bit of like, Special Metal, Call, etc. so I try and keep it all together and nice. I don't even keep regular energy on hand most of the time, I just grab it from my local shop when I need it.

I keep all my good rares in a monster binder, each in their own separate pocket, each in a KMC perfect fit sleeve. I order them by set number etccc.

Then I keep all my super rares (Lv. Xs, Primes, Legends, Promos, etc.) in another monster binder with KMC sleeves, just like the rares.

OCD is fun!
 
Yep. The perfect fit sleeves are designed to fit over a card snugly so you can fit the sleeved card into a normal card sleeve.

For the most part, I keep my playable cards (and holo binder candy) in a binder with the nine-pocket Ultra Pro sleeves, with the perfect-fit sleeves over my RH cards. I have a separate binder with all my Lv.X's/LEGENDS/Primes/other super-rares. Each one is in a perfect-fit sleeve inside another sleeve, usually the Pokemon prerelease sleeves. (What else are they good for?)

All the rest of my cards are in one of those card boxes. I keep the RH's/rares in a separate box with penny sleeves over the RH cards.
 
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