Ngl I would love a newer version of this video. It's been like 6-7 years. Would be cool to see how the Professor stores his Pokémon TCG Collection as well.
Please. Card storage based on budget and expectation, like most of your modern stuff is. Haven’t even started playing again yet, and this channel is fun to watch and listen to.
Not a new video, but I'll give my two cents as a decade long player with a large collection: Separate cards into several broad categories: Decks / for specific decks General deck building (cards you want around for decks, for example commander staples) Collection (cards that you want to hold on to and are not for trade) Trades Bulk Basic Lands / Tokens When you obtain any product, be it singles, opening packs, getting a deck, or a secret lair, sort the cards out into these broad categories. Firstly, pull out any cards for decks, then any cards you want for decks in general, then anything you want to hold on to. The remaining rares, mythics, foils, and powerful uncommons/commons can go in trades, with the rest in bulk. As for organizing each section: Decks go in deck boxes. I personally have the plastic 2 piece boxes from ultra pro that are 2 dollars and store 100 sleeved cards. They look nice displayed on a shelf and fit perfectly in an amazon basics DSLR camera backpack, which holds 12 decks + dice and mats. You can also put them in smaller deck boxes in fat packs/bundles, or you can get something such as the ultimate guard box that holds 4-5 commander decks plus dice and mats, for on the go. For general deck building, I used to use fatpacks but found binders are nicer and easier. Same for my collection of stuff to hold on to (for no reason) such as cards I like, secret lair stuff, etc. As for trades, I currently have them in large plastic boxes (to store more cards, since I don't bring them frequently), but for most people I would recommend binders. One thing of note with ring binders, is the rings can indent in the sleeves. That's why I prefer the typical ultra pro / ultimate guard binders, although having modular pages is a million times better imo. You'll want to decide if you want a zipper, also if you want a backing on the pages, and finally the size. Typical sizes are 3x3, 3x4, 4x4, 2x2x2, 3x2, 2x2, 2x1. 3x3 is the most common and a general purpose good size. 3x4 is a bit large but good for specific purposes such as collecting a set or organizing playsets in 4s. 2x2 binders are nice for being portable. My bulk is organized by set and set ONLY. I have large plastic boxes from the container store that work PERFECTLY and are very large and stack well, they also come with dividers and are clear. In my opinion, it's not worth sorting even by color or common/uncommon here. Sorting by set is super easy (nearly instant almost all the time, given that when you get a product it's usually from one set, or a few standard sets), and it works chronologically, so adding new cards is super easy. As for sorting by color, it takes more time and requires that every single time you get a card from anywhere, you actually sort it. This way, if I open 36 packs, I can just throw them all in the set area (after removing rares, foils, tokens, lands). If you're looking for a specific card, searching the set is nearly instant. If you're browsing your collection in general for cards, and you're browsing bulk, and you need specific colors, and this happens frequently, then maybe you have different needs than I do. Personally, my bulk is almost always just going to sit there, and I rarely sift through it, and sifting through a hundred cards from one set to find a card is worth not having to organize every single card by number. If I want a specific card (dissolve from theros for example), then I go to theros and look for maybe 60 seconds max. It doesn't need to be organized even by color. If it was organized by color first, I'd have to search through every single blue card, which would be awful. My basic lands just go in small stackable plastic boxes that are labeled. My tokens go in a fatpack box (they outgrew the stackable boxes) Lastly, I just have a bunch of fat packs. They're very easy to store and fit together nicely, look nice, and are compact. I can hide away some cards in there but mostly just keep them empty. I've used them for trades and bulk in the past, but I think binders are better for premium cards and the container store boxes are best for bulk. I also have gift boxes that I used to use for trades and for modern decks, still have some modern decks in there. The boxes are very useful but I don't find myself using them much personally. Since they're more of a pain than fatpack boxes, I would store bulk or cards that aren't often accessed in there.
Instead of color and rarity, I sort by color and mana cost. Helps me to keep on top of my mana curve when making a new deck. Rarity doesn't necessarily reflect usefulness in combat.
Tolarian Community College banners are just as bad and both cards ruin drafting because by the end you have at least three dead cadrs in your sideboard
Just wanted to say I felt this video was amazing. I've recently attempted to get back into MTG after really sporadic play over the past five years and have a mishmash of a collection I'm trying to get under control. This, as well as your other videos, have been a huge help in sorting, storing, and protecting my collection. Your returning player advice is superb as well--your breakdown of buying a booster box has convinced me to never ever do that again. Even if the singles seem like more of an up-front cost, I think it'll be healthier on my wallet, my sanity, and my willingness to stick with the game. Thank you!
This is the best timing ever. My entire RTR holiday gift box just broke and spilled my entire collection. Thanks for this video. You should try deck techs every once in a while. I so far have enjoyed watching your modern decks.
glad i found this video,i finally decided to short my cards but i have litterally two full trash bags of common and uncommons and i didn't know where to start.I got back in mtg after a few years of absence and i am so excited!!!!
I keep most my commons and uncommons in the theros gift box, my rares, mythics, and non basic lands in my binder, and I sell off most of it when they fill up. As for sorting, I sort by color, then creatures, then all other spells. The thought had never occurred to me to sort by set. Keep up the good work, these videos are very informative and helpful.
Really nice. I have a rather small collection (Alara & Zendikar block stuff, and then things that play in the current standard, since I took a long hiatus) but the bulk of it still occupies quite a few fat pack boxes and a large printed cardboard box I have (it's UltraPro). I really was questioning myself about how to order them propperly and this was a great video to elucidate me on that. I presume there are going to be upcoming videos on this topic, maybe discussing other collection sizes. I look forward to them!
Yes, I want to talk about effective setups for people who primarily draft and maybe have a standard deck from time to time, as well as other types of collections.
@@TolarianCommunityCollege Hey Professor! I would love to know an effective setup for exactly that! Do you have any suggestions? I draft and was planning on having a few deck boxes for standard cards, then the rest of my cards somewhere else. I don't think storing my cards by set would work. I was thinking either a 3200 bcw box or an 800-1000 ct. bcw box for each color.
At 3:55 for the ad card part what I do is I get penny sleeves (if ppl don't know it's literally avg 1 buck for 100 loose sleeves, mainly use to sleeve common/uncommon no to low value foils to keep them in good condition but good to sleeve ads and make as tabs) for them and put between them. Helps a lot for my sorting ways.
magerehenk Well, you can definitely type this omnipresent internet slang term without actually laughing out loud in front of your computer or smartphone - and in fact thousands of people do this every single day - so saying that you literally lol'd actually does convey additional information.
Actually, whenever someone types "lol" I assume they are politely saying "That's a joke you made... yeah." When someone says that they actually, literally laughed out loud, I take it to mean that it was something legitimately funny. But then... sometimes people read into what others say/type too much.
Just started getting into magic and starting my collection. Slowly learning to play. This helped my a lot, not just for magic but my other collectible card game cards which is all getting larger and larger. Thanks a lot!
I find color and set to be the most useful for my organization style. But I'm constantly wrestling over what takes precedence. Set first then color. Or color then set. Having colors together is nice because if I was building a deck with only black cards then I only need to look through my black box. But having cards of a set together is nice too because set cards usually synergize well with each other. I basically build my own battle decks. Taking draft themes and expanding them with modern cards.
My girlfriend and brother and I have a shared collection, that I mostly organize... with the help of my girlfriend, she's looking over my shoulder as I type this. We do a lot of similar things. Finding out about the binder pages and moving them with set rotation was clutch. We get one holiday gift box per block since those come with all the tabs and stickers for organizing. Great video, very helpful tips!
This video really helped me, I was really lost when sorting my binder. unfortunately my local gamestore doesn't have that kind of binder in stock yet. Thank you from 7 years in the future!
I love this channel and I don't even play Magic but Pokemon TCG. I know Magic is the most popular of the big 3 but I wish the Professor would cross platform more since his talent/knowledge is applicable to all card collectors/players. Thank you I only just now found your channel through the collaboration with Team APS. Your enthusiasm is infectious and I appreciate all of your devotion to your hobby(life's work)!
Thank you for this. I love collecting and playing, I actually didn't know where to even begin but this gives me a good foundation to stand on. You're the best!
I've got this habit of sorting the cards after i open a booster box. The broad sectioning by color, within this they're sorted by rarity, within the rarity section they're sorted by mana cost and then within the same mana cost they're alphabetized if there's more than one type. Very tedious but it's therapeutic in a way
You have helped me throughout my magic investment and taught me what is worth buying and what is not. Please continue producing these videos because they are a lot of help! Thanks.
Ikea sells a wine rack that fits into the kallax units, and they hold an 800 count bcw box quite well, although not perfectly. You lose vertical storage space, but it makes it easy to pull out any individual box.
+Tolarian Community College I run Kruphix as my main, and favorite commander, something I have NEVER seen before. As someone that really only plays edh and thoroughly enjoys your videos this is something i would LOVE to see happen. Deck reviews of user submitted decks would be something you don't see anywhere.
I absolutely love these videos that you put up. I love seeing all of the organization and reviews. Helps me come up with my own ideas for my own collection and channel. Keep it up!
never forget i had black lotus when i was kid and some older dude from school traded it with me i gave him lotus he gave me 2 random shit cards i hate him and myself :)
that is why we are calling you the professor! you find solutions for everything and most importantly you SHARE the solutions with us to make us organize our cards better! way to go Professor!
Might I suggest a review of the Holiday Gift Boxes that Wizards has put out these past 2 years? I've been using one of them instead of a BCW box and found I can get more cards/square inch in that than in BCW boxes. Not sure if it warrants its own video but it could definitely go in a sequel to this video.
If you drop one of those holiday gift boxes on the ground, you're in trouble. I could roll the BCW down the stairs and not only would it not come open, but my cards would be fine.
Tolarian Community College true, but I think most people who use the Holiday boxes, such as myself, use them with the intent that what's in them probably won't be perused right away, or often, making the idea of the cards falling out, while still possible, something very unlikely to happen. that being said, would you happen to have a po box? I ask because it'd be cool to support the show by sending various products for reviews, fanart, etc.
Tolarian Community College Okay? I don't really see how that's relavent since you said yourself that bulk storage probably isn't going to be gone through that much. And even so, any money cards should be in a safer container than cardboard anyway.
I use them too. It is good for People without a very big collection. I only use them for commons. One box for creatures the other for spells. And I don't see the Problem of letting it fall. In the end they just stay around 97% of the time.
Tolarian Community College Re: Dropping the Holiday Gift Box... I started using it as my primary storage (just started playing again around Khans) and my girlfriend dropped it one day with less than optimal results...much resorting. And in fact that's why I decided to watch this video! Thanks!
Careful when storing your cards in sleeve sheets binders, if you store your binder vertically, the weight of cards will bend the sleeves and also your cards
I sort by color then mana cost. For my Rares I use 10-Compartment Professional Deep Organizer (Home Depot). I have 3. OR the Kobalt 10 Compartment Organizer (lowes). One makes up my trade collection/Rares One makes up 10 EDH Decks Last one makes up my standard/Mordern Decks and future Ideas. They run $15-16, but are hard plastic and its hard for someone to walk away without being seen with a large yellow box.
Professor, I just recently returned to Magic and stumbled across your channel. Thank you for all of the great videos! I have a question though: What is the advantage of storing rares in binders instead of in top loaders inside boxes with the commons and uncommons?
I sort my standard cards, that are playable in constructed, in a gift box. My sorting method is to separate creature spells, non-creatures spells and non-basic lands. Then I further sort them by mana cost and color. I need a second gift box for my modern cards (I will never play legacy), so they are currently not too well organized in a cardboard box. Thanks for the sorting tips! It's interesting to see how other people organize stuff differently than others.
I like cutting up a Land and tip/ad card, taping them together, and using it as dividers. The tip card is sideways with the rest of the cards and the Land is taped upright so the tip card keeps the Land card from moving back and forth in the box. (I use the 800 BCW sideload storage)
I print up clear mailing labels with the name, rarity and number of each card for a set on Avery 88695 labels, then put a label on the bottom center of each pocket in an UltraPro 9 pocket Platinum page. I then put the pages for a set into a good quality binder and adorn the outside of the binder with art from booster boxes. Each pocket holds up to two play sets of each card, and I put tick marks on the labels for rare cards to indicate how many rares I have as the rares tend to live in decks I am playing. In this way, I know if a rare can go into the trade binder or not. My goal is a play set of each card and for Khans, I am within 1 card away from that goal at this moment. When the set rotates out, I have the cards in a binder on the shelf to build whatever deck I want. Excess cards go to my nephews or get sold to a local store.
I basically have a 3 pool system, with the cards sorted by color within those pools: Pauper playables, Commander playables, and all other bulk. A lot of storage solutions depend on your favored formats and other personal needs.
Started Magic just earlier this year and I love your videos. Got myself that real nice Ultra Pro Deck-Box (The satin hard plastic one) and it's perfect. Seeing my collection has grown quite a lot and with new sets, it will grow a lot more, I'm having a hard time finding good means of storing and carrying them with me to my friends house for playing, trading, deck building and so forth. Currently I have two fully loaded M14 Deck Builder's Toolkit boxes, but sooner or later they'll fall apart, they are cardboard after all. Any tips on how to store cards for easy access and transportation? (I travel by bike or bus, so they kind of have to fit in a backpack)
You'll probably do well with the BCW boxes I show in the video. They're A LOT tougher than the deckbuilders, but hold cards in a similar manner. They're great for throwing in your backpack before you hop on your bike because they are tough and stay shut. Best of all, you can usually find them for just a couple bucks (if your local card shop doesn't carry them, try Amazon or eBay) so if they do eventually deteriorate (after years) it's not that big a deal to just spend a couple bucks and replace one.
Alright, thanks! I'll take a look around for those. I live in Finland though and I've not seen BCW boxes anywhere. Amazon / eBay will prolly be the way to go.
Ah, that specific brand may not be available in Finland, but show a picture to the salseman at your local card store and see if they have something similar.
For annyone with a collection of say 1000 to about 2000 or even 3000 cards, id recomend a sports card plastic container where there are 4 rows in the front and 2 larger rows in the back, it makes a good common and uncommon storage for the 5 colors and mixed or colorless color cards, as said in the video, put you rares or valuble uncommons in a binder. And for basic lands, i use the MGT DeckBuilders Toolkit box for those or you can use a fat pack box aswell, if you have extra commons and uncommons, just buy annother sport card container. I hope you guys with decent colections of 1 to 3 thousand cards find this useful.
This comment is very late, but I personally havn't touched a magic card in twelve years... Until earlier this week when I cleaned out a storage area and found a giant box of cards dating to my teenage years. This time capsule of MTG immediately set me on a path to once again becoming a casual player. I also quickly found your channel, and have been burning through your video's in an attempt to catch up on formats like Modern and Pauper. But this video specifically is what I needed. Teenage me was not organized. I would often come back from a draft night and add my cards to a random box... twelve years later, I now need to finally sort the 3-4 thousand commons and uncommons; of which I had no idea where to start. Thank you for this video! and your content is exceptional
I'm going to take some tips from this video, I find having my cards divided by color, type and then mana cost is easier and better than rarity (ej: Commons separated from uncommons)
My collection is in dissaray at the moment but generally I have one large ring binder per color for commons and uncommons and then I have portfolios for rares and keep lands in boxes.
I chose to assort the bulk relatively the same way, but with some added extras: Step 1) Sort by color Step 2) Sort by set Step 3) Sort by rarity Step 4) Sort alphabetically Step 5) If there is alternate art: Step 5a) Sort by original first (should be closest to the end of the box depending on where the art faces) Step 5b) Sort by reprint years (The oldest is placed behind the original and the newest should be last)
For those of use who don't live in the best of neighborhoods to invest in to 2 two draw locking filling cabinets. the 800 card boxes fit 3 wide and 3 tall. not as mich room as the ikea cube but a little morw secure.
I do Set --> Color --> Card type (sorted by "speed") --> Converted Mana Cost --> Alphabet Incredibly easy to find anything, but time consuming to add cards to the collection. I mainly play draft so I just sort the cards I get at draft/sealed and then add them to the already sorted box of the set. I don't do rarity. Dollar rares go in the box with the commons. If they are something valuable, they have a different place to be stored. If they are foils that I care about, they are generally double sleeved and stored to avoid the warping that foils love to do on me. If I was constructing decks all the time, I would also likely just sort by rarity and color and say "good enough" but most of my constructed decks stay as they are.
I literally just like to sit on my floor with cards all around me & sort them each multiple times. The first way I sort is by color, the second is by card type, then I sort the creatures from least to greatest toughness, then I sort those from least to greatest power, I store all of the sorted creatures, and then I follow that up by storing every other card type in order systematically. I tend to leave the cards I remove most near the end of the pages as I hate having gaps in my pages as well as having to move all of the other cards around the ones I remove. You could say that I'm a little OCD about sorting my cards. The honest truth is that I wouldn't trust anybody to sort my collection the way I do. Sometimes, if you want something done right, you have to do it yourself.
I'd also like to mention that I don't alphabetize or sort by set as I find it counter-productive. I'd rather just keep two binders like the Prof. One for legacy & another for standard.
I tend to sort by plane, not set, and faction, alongside color, rarity, card type, and creature type. Usually cards from the same plane tend to synergize well is all.
Love the videos! Been playing since Onslaught i don't play tournaments myself so i break my stuff down and little differently. I usually play kitchen table casual with friends and acquaintances by vintage rules. I store all my stuff in binder by color. each color has at least 2 binders one for all creatures one for enchantment, instant, sorcery. Then within that its all broken down by creature type and rarity for creature binders and just rarity for spell binders. Lands, Artifacts(along with artifact creatures) and Multi-colors have there own seprate binder and get the same treatment. Multi's i break down by Guilds (Ravnica, Alara etc) then by creature type and rarity.
When i went to school and came home, my mom had just taken all my cards, and thrown them into a cardbord box, becouse i left them on the floor. They were all ruined.
I am half a collector and a very casual player so I organize my cards by rarity then type->cost->set (creatures vs the rest). I have then a stack of cards I consider for current game ideas. I have also binders with full sets. Old border are also separated from new border since I do not like aesthetics of mixing not borders. This is annoying when building a deck but whatever I have playable cards in mind and I have not that much sets (started in onslaught, quit after first kamigawa set, then Dominaria. Else I buy cards randomly for pleasure) Another best way to « organize » my collection is to give away large chunks of bulky cards, maybe keeping a single copy of each if the set amazes me ((which is not the case for modern sets)
You should try to make a video about BUDGET options for certain staples of eternal format. For example Thoughtseize / Blackmail, duress, inquisition of kozilek. Tarmogoyf / Putrid leech, scavenging ooze, fleecemane lion, loxodon smither... Ect ect ect..
this is the first TCC video i saw a few months ago. at the time i really thought "Tolarian Community College" was an actual school and this was some weird student project or something. i was like "wow im amazed a school decided to make a random video about magic." I also imagined that a place called Tolarian Community College was/would be in arizona or nevada
I sort by rarity (mythics with rares and then uncommons with commons), then color, then type, then subtype, then alphabetical. I don't see much point in keeping them sorted by set after they rotate out of standard. It takes more effort to organize it this way, but there's something cathartic about sorting and it's nice to see old cards again that I might not actually play with.
My collection is getting on for 20,000 cards, and I'm organising it like this. It's truly taking ages though and by the end of it, I might realise I don't have enough storage and then I'll cry
A method I like to use to organize my bcw boxes is to put an ad card in a spare/damaged sleeve to separate colors. I think it just looks a bit nicer, even though it might take me a bit longer to realize what I'm looking at.
I also just use a small binder for 'personal' collections. Gifts from friends, my vorthos love of certain art series cards (even if they're pennies), my saga collection, etc. Got a carpet of flowers, arcane denial, mystic remora, and nature's lore from a friend that just had old cards he let me sort through. Just said I could have them just cus. I'll never trade em, so they go into my personal binder.
What do you do with your foils? do you place them along with your non-foils? What do you do with tokens and those cards that you write on for double faced cards? would you like to make an updated version of this video? that would be awesome! (:
Hey, while I disagree with some of your advice, the Ikea 2x2 shelf will surely score points with the GF. Nothing pushes her buttons more than pizza boxes on our work table. Personally I wouldn't use a O or D ring binder because it will bend the innermost cards over time. This is most noticeable when flipping 20+ pages at once, or when someone is flipping carelessly through your binder. Next, I usually keep one binder for rares ~5$ and + (legacy + modern, in order of price range) one for the 1-5 range and as you mentioned, one with all the standard playables (regardless of rarity). I found sorting by color and by card type was the best when i came to trading (these *are* trade binders, after all) since not only could the other person find the card the quickest and browse with the most success, but they would know right away what kind of value they were dealing with. Playable un/coms are in a box of their own by color and set, and I try to get rid of the rest. I had tons of bulk lying around for a decade and I decided if I really wanted a 10c card I would just get them as singles. Cheers!
I have a collection of over 30k cards, where almost nothing is more than 4 copies of a given card. (believe me, your collection gets a LOT smaller when you pare it down like that)... With a collection this large it takes like 35x of those 800 count boxes to hold all the cards. The collection has gotten so large that I HAD to get really really organized or I could not quickly get to any cards I needed, or even worse I could not keep track of what cards I needed to trade for or buy. After paring down the collection to playsets... I then entered the entire collection into software. At first, Magic Workstation. Now it's MTG Studio/Echo MTG. So every time I get new cards I have to take those new cards and first check if I already have copies of that card from previous sets or the same set. If not, I add them to the electronic database and then physically put them into the collection. YES it's a LOT of work... but - I know exactly what I have - I know exactly what the value is of my collection and cards - I can build a deck in a few minutes - I don't trade for or buy cards that I already have (makes me efficient) - If I want to make a trade I can immediate know if I need the card being offered or tell my trade partner if I have the card(s) he's going for. - If I ever wanted to insure my collection I have the data required to do so. - The automated tools inform me on price movements. After playsets of cards I don't use move up I trade/sell them for cards I need and do use. So yes, it's a huge time investment. But after doing this for 20 years I can tell you it's worth the effort. After posting this, I'll try to attach pictures of my cards in drawers (before I 3D printed dividers) and a picture of the dividers I 3D printed. (Edit: tried to attach pictures, didn't work. Sorry.)
I sort by set and collector's number, since the collector's numbers are already sorted by color. Plus I like it, specifically for BFZ and OGW, because it separates my colorless Eldrazi cards from my artifacts.
I have my collection in BCW boxes, organized in colors and sets. How ever, I took the time to create a database in MS Access. I went on to mtgprice.com, copy the tables to import them into my database and just had columns with the following: Name, Setcode (example BFZ = battle for zendikar), card color (your typical W B G R U), the quantity of the cards, how many foils of X card do I have, and finally the current price of the cards. Another thing I do is print out the tables and put them in my binder/portfolio, and if some one is looking for something, I'll simply show them a list of what I have, or if they want, they can browse through the box(es) instead. And if I get new cards or sell/trade other cards, I write it down on a notepad, once I'm home, I'll simply edit the data base. It sure seems like a lot of work, but trust me, it helps you stay organized and it saves not only you, but other peoples time when they are in a hurry looking for something specific.
I sort my cards by color and function. Each color has around eight groups. So blue for example has counter spells, unsummons, flying, draw, etc. This isn't,t the best as far as keeping sets separate, but can help when you have a certain type of deck you want to make.
Late to the party but holy cow was this useful. My house just doesn't let me be disorganized with my cards anymore. The shelf and binders are a good idea. Any idea how many cards a large binder will hold if you put 18 to 27 cards per page?
I have a video suggestion for a video: Dealing with Friends who like to make frustrating rule changes for casual play (ie. no such thing as max hand size or having 5+ Gates in a Return to Ravnica built deck).
I sort my Pokemon cards by type, and alphabetize, and also keep the evolution cards with each other. This has proven challenging since some sets have a Pokemon as one type but another type in another set. And some Pokemon evolve into multiple different Pokemon of different types. It's a constant and neverending effort of moving a card from one place to another.
I split everything into colors. Green, red, black, blue, white, artifact, colorless, lands Then rarity. Mythic and rares usually go into binders. Then alphabetically. When i make decks i come up with the idea, and then usually already have some cards in mind, and go searching around usually online in search engines to add similar cards etc, then look them up, or buy them online. This way makes it the easiest for me to find certain cards and how many i have if any. I don't work with sets. I don't play blocks or sets or whatever. We play casual, all but everything goes. You know when something is a bit OP. If you have a good idea that isn't necessarily too OP, but very very annoying, you will soon see you have a target on your head in games, which are usually multiplayer 3-4 players. So you either fuck around for fun as long as you can survive, or tone them down. I had a nice black discard deck, 1v1 style, it worked great, but as said, we usually play multiplayer, so i changed it to that. People tend to ignore me for a small bit, then when i start i get real annoying, and only have cards that basically screw all players, so yeah, discarding and losing lifeper discarded card sucks, so i have a massive target on my head, but it's fun while it lasts and does major damage to all for a bit. Other than that i am horny for elves, i think i have 4 decks, all token decks with different twists. One pumps them out fast and sacrifices to make more. One makes token with most spells i cast. One has mostly mana elves and lots of wee ones to cast, running on 14 lands, and not needing that, and crippling oponent lands to basically only 1, which is not a problem for me. Elf-beats deck is fun. Simple jungle deck, which is red white green, stompy, nothign special, but fun. Whooly Thoctar is great. Dimir Zombie milling deck is fun. All that said, i buitl about 12 decks, then sold the rest, for a few thousand. So i don't do much of it anymore. Selling 3 of my 4 Gaea's Cradles was painful, but gave some nice dough. Plus i had some cheap replacements.
You can get an inset for those ikea cabinets that have two drawers wich can hold four rows of upright cards, i store my commons in there a playset per penny sleeve.
I sink way too much time into my organizing, I use the five row BCW then go by color (w/u/b/r/g, multi colored, artifact, non basic lands, tokens) then organize by card type (creature, enchantment, sorcery, instant) then I sort by converted mana cost (smallest to largest) THEN alphabetically.
Ask and you shall receive! How To Double Sleeve: ruclips.net/video/FZ2tMSQcBr0/видео.html I now recommend the new KMC HYPER MATS for double sleeving. They are the absolute best as outer sleeves.
Ngl I would love a newer version of this video. It's been like 6-7 years. Would be cool to see how the Professor stores his Pokémon TCG Collection as well.
@Professor Make it happen :) this is a great idea.
Please. Card storage based on budget and expectation, like most of your modern stuff is.
Haven’t even started playing again yet, and this channel is fun to watch and listen to.
Not a new video, but I'll give my two cents as a decade long player with a large collection:
Separate cards into several broad categories:
Decks / for specific decks
General deck building (cards you want around for decks, for example commander staples)
Collection (cards that you want to hold on to and are not for trade)
Trades
Bulk
Basic Lands / Tokens
When you obtain any product, be it singles, opening packs, getting a deck, or a secret lair, sort the cards out into these broad categories. Firstly, pull out any cards for decks, then any cards you want for decks in general, then anything you want to hold on to. The remaining rares, mythics, foils, and powerful uncommons/commons can go in trades, with the rest in bulk.
As for organizing each section:
Decks go in deck boxes. I personally have the plastic 2 piece boxes from ultra pro that are 2 dollars and store 100 sleeved cards. They look nice displayed on a shelf and fit perfectly in an amazon basics DSLR camera backpack, which holds 12 decks + dice and mats. You can also put them in smaller deck boxes in fat packs/bundles, or you can get something such as the ultimate guard box that holds 4-5 commander decks plus dice and mats, for on the go.
For general deck building, I used to use fatpacks but found binders are nicer and easier. Same for my collection of stuff to hold on to (for no reason) such as cards I like, secret lair stuff, etc.
As for trades, I currently have them in large plastic boxes (to store more cards, since I don't bring them frequently), but for most people I would recommend binders.
One thing of note with ring binders, is the rings can indent in the sleeves. That's why I prefer the typical ultra pro / ultimate guard binders, although having modular pages is a million times better imo. You'll want to decide if you want a zipper, also if you want a backing on the pages, and finally the size. Typical sizes are 3x3, 3x4, 4x4, 2x2x2, 3x2, 2x2, 2x1. 3x3 is the most common and a general purpose good size. 3x4 is a bit large but good for specific purposes such as collecting a set or organizing playsets in 4s. 2x2 binders are nice for being portable.
My bulk is organized by set and set ONLY. I have large plastic boxes from the container store that work PERFECTLY and are very large and stack well, they also come with dividers and are clear. In my opinion, it's not worth sorting even by color or common/uncommon here. Sorting by set is super easy (nearly instant almost all the time, given that when you get a product it's usually from one set, or a few standard sets), and it works chronologically, so adding new cards is super easy. As for sorting by color, it takes more time and requires that every single time you get a card from anywhere, you actually sort it. This way, if I open 36 packs, I can just throw them all in the set area (after removing rares, foils, tokens, lands). If you're looking for a specific card, searching the set is nearly instant. If you're browsing your collection in general for cards, and you're browsing bulk, and you need specific colors, and this happens frequently, then maybe you have different needs than I do. Personally, my bulk is almost always just going to sit there, and I rarely sift through it, and sifting through a hundred cards from one set to find a card is worth not having to organize every single card by number. If I want a specific card (dissolve from theros for example), then I go to theros and look for maybe 60 seconds max. It doesn't need to be organized even by color. If it was organized by color first, I'd have to search through every single blue card, which would be awful.
My basic lands just go in small stackable plastic boxes that are labeled. My tokens go in a fatpack box (they outgrew the stackable boxes)
Lastly, I just have a bunch of fat packs. They're very easy to store and fit together nicely, look nice, and are compact. I can hide away some cards in there but mostly just keep them empty. I've used them for trades and bulk in the past, but I think binders are better for premium cards and the container store boxes are best for bulk.
I also have gift boxes that I used to use for trades and for modern decks, still have some modern decks in there. The boxes are very useful but I don't find myself using them much personally. Since they're more of a pain than fatpack boxes, I would store bulk or cards that aren't often accessed in there.
@@justingolden21 thank you so much for this post. It should be a blog post. Good read.
This ^
Instead of color and rarity, I sort by color and mana cost. Helps me to keep on top of my mana curve when making a new deck. Rarity doesn't necessarily reflect usefulness in combat.
Same here it helps a lot
Aye
Same
Same too
All who think this is great say aye,
Aye
"If you don't feel comfortable cutting up Ad Cards you can always cut up something less valuable, like cluestones instead"
lol killed me
FuckYoCouchFish Those cluestones really ticked me off. I wrapped a friend's Christmas gift in them. Still have far too many.
Tolarian Community College banners are just as bad and both cards ruin drafting because by the end you have at least three dead cadrs in your sideboard
FuckYoCouchFish RIP
Death by cluestone
I fucking died when he said this.
Heard the prof saying that 2 min. ago, ... still laughing tears. :-)
This video should have been called "How To Gather Your Magic: The Gathering Card Collection", well it would have amused me at least.
"Collecting and Gathering the Magic: Magic the Gathering and Collecting"
Magic: The Gathering : The Gathering
The Magic of Gathering Magic the Gathering
Honestly even though no one will see this I just wanted to say that watching old mtg youtubers and their old videos give me such nostalgia
Ye
I agree
I miss the old gift boxes (like from Kaladesh) that doubled as storage boxes. I'm using one for my medium-sized collection and it's working perfectly.
Just wanted to say I felt this video was amazing. I've recently attempted to get back into MTG after really sporadic play over the past five years and have a mishmash of a collection I'm trying to get under control. This, as well as your other videos, have been a huge help in sorting, storing, and protecting my collection.
Your returning player advice is superb as well--your breakdown of buying a booster box has convinced me to never ever do that again. Even if the singles seem like more of an up-front cost, I think it'll be healthier on my wallet, my sanity, and my willingness to stick with the game. Thank you!
This is the best timing ever. My entire RTR holiday gift box just broke and spilled my entire collection. Thanks for this video. You should try deck techs every once in a while. I so far have enjoyed watching your modern decks.
I would love to see this updated!
glad i found this video,i finally decided to short my cards but i have litterally two full trash bags of common and uncommons and i didn't know where to start.I got back in mtg after a few years of absence and i am so excited!!!!
I keep most my commons and uncommons in the theros gift box, my rares, mythics, and non basic lands in my binder, and I sell off most of it when they fill up. As for sorting, I sort by color, then creatures, then all other spells. The thought had never occurred to me to sort by set. Keep up the good work, these videos are very informative and helpful.
Indeed
"If you don't feel comfortable cutting up ad cards, you can always cut up something less valuable like cluestones instead."
You are the best.
Really nice. I have a rather small collection (Alara & Zendikar block stuff, and then things that play in the current standard, since I took a long hiatus) but the bulk of it still occupies quite a few fat pack boxes and a large printed cardboard box I have (it's UltraPro). I really was questioning myself about how to order them propperly and this was a great video to elucidate me on that. I presume there are going to be upcoming videos on this topic, maybe discussing other collection sizes. I look forward to them!
Yes, I want to talk about effective setups for people who primarily draft and maybe have a standard deck from time to time, as well as other types of collections.
@@TolarianCommunityCollege Hey Professor! I would love to know an effective setup for exactly that! Do you have any suggestions? I draft and was planning on having a few deck boxes for standard cards, then the rest of my cards somewhere else. I don't think storing my cards by set would work. I was thinking either a 3200 bcw box or an 800-1000 ct. bcw box for each color.
My collection is unorganized. This video helps a ton, as I never really had a guideline for organization. Great vid!
At 3:55 for the ad card part what I do is I get penny sleeves (if ppl don't know it's literally avg 1 buck for 100 loose sleeves, mainly use to sleeve common/uncommon no to low value foils to keep them in good condition but good to sleeve ads and make as tabs) for them and put between them. Helps a lot for my sorting ways.
That Cluestone joke though...
Did you also literally LOL?
yerfdog1935 can you figuratively lol?
magerehenk Well, you can definitely type this omnipresent internet slang term without actually laughing out loud in front of your computer or smartphone - and in fact thousands of people do this every single day - so saying that you literally lol'd actually does convey additional information.
Actually, whenever someone types "lol" I assume they are politely saying "That's a joke you made... yeah." When someone says that they actually, literally laughed out loud, I take it to mean that it was something legitimately funny. But then... sometimes people read into what others say/type too much.
Ppr
novido. Thé
Been playing for about 10 months now - wish I found this video 9 months ago. Love it! Thanks.
My wife and I adopted this exact sorting method, and it has been a huge time saver. Thanks!
Just started getting into magic and starting my collection. Slowly learning to play. This helped my a lot, not just for magic but my other collectible card game cards which is all getting larger and larger. Thanks a lot!
I find color and set to be the most useful for my organization style. But I'm constantly wrestling over what takes precedence. Set first then color. Or color then set. Having colors together is nice because if I was building a deck with only black cards then I only need to look through my black box. But having cards of a set together is nice too because set cards usually synergize well with each other. I basically build my own battle decks. Taking draft themes and expanding them with modern cards.
Please more of these magic merch and protection videos!
My girlfriend and brother and I have a shared collection, that I mostly organize... with the help of my girlfriend, she's looking over my shoulder as I type this. We do a lot of similar things. Finding out about the binder pages and moving them with set rotation was clutch. We get one holiday gift box per block since those come with all the tabs and stickers for organizing. Great video, very helpful tips!
This video really helped me, I was really lost when sorting my binder. unfortunately my local gamestore doesn't have that kind of binder in stock yet. Thank you from 7 years in the future!
Proff - Even 4 years later videos like this are helping players! Thank you. I'm excited to organize my collection.
I love this channel and I don't even play Magic but Pokemon TCG. I know Magic is the most popular of the big 3 but I wish the Professor would cross platform more since his talent/knowledge is applicable to all card collectors/players. Thank you I only just now found your channel through the collaboration with Team APS. Your enthusiasm is infectious and I appreciate all of your devotion to your hobby(life's work)!
Thank you for this. I love collecting and playing, I actually didn't know where to even begin but this gives me a good foundation to stand on. You're the best!
I'm pretty sure I saw a playset of Endless Ranks of The Dead in there. I knew there was a reason I liked this channel.
I've got this habit of sorting the cards after i open a booster box. The broad sectioning by color, within this they're sorted by rarity, within the rarity section they're sorted by mana cost and then within the same mana cost they're alphabetized if there's more than one type. Very tedious but it's therapeutic in a way
You have helped me throughout my magic investment and taught me what is worth buying and what is not. Please continue producing these videos because they are a lot of help! Thanks.
Ikea sells a wine rack that fits into the kallax units, and they hold an 800 count bcw box quite well, although not perfectly. You lose vertical storage space, but it makes it easy to pull out any individual box.
+Tolarian Community College I run Kruphix as my main, and favorite commander, something I have NEVER seen before. As someone that really only plays edh and thoroughly enjoys your videos this is something i would LOVE to see happen. Deck reviews of user submitted decks would be something you don't see anywhere.
This has been a big help. I've got a lot of cards and am having trouble sorting them. I'll probably invest in those BCW boxes.
~TSM
I absolutely love these videos that you put up. I love seeing all of the organization and reviews. Helps me come up with my own ideas for my own collection and channel. Keep it up!
OMG silversnorlax likes toleration to yay
Never a bad idea to support a member of a TCG community. Despite us all playing different card games, I find we all enjoy doing what we do together.
Absolutely
never forget i had black lotus when i was kid and some older dude from school traded it with me i gave him lotus he gave me 2 random shit cards
i hate him and myself :)
:(
that is why we are calling you the professor! you find solutions for everything and most importantly you SHARE the solutions with us to make us organize our cards better! way to go Professor!
thank you so much! i am new to magic but already collected a rather big sized collection. this was exactly what i needed to know how to store it
Might I suggest a review of the Holiday Gift Boxes that Wizards has put out these past 2 years? I've been using one of them instead of a BCW box and found I can get more cards/square inch in that than in BCW boxes. Not sure if it warrants its own video but it could definitely go in a sequel to this video.
If you drop one of those holiday gift boxes on the ground, you're in trouble. I could roll the BCW down the stairs and not only would it not come open, but my cards would be fine.
Tolarian Community College true, but I think most people who use the Holiday boxes, such as myself, use them with the intent that what's in them probably won't be perused right away, or often, making the idea of the cards falling out, while still possible, something very unlikely to happen.
that being said, would you happen to have a po box? I ask because it'd be cool to support the show by sending various products for reviews, fanart, etc.
Tolarian Community College
Okay? I don't really see how that's relavent since you said yourself that bulk storage probably isn't going to be gone through that much. And even so, any money cards should be in a safer container than cardboard anyway.
I use them too. It is good for People without a very big collection. I only use them for commons. One box for creatures the other for spells. And I don't see the Problem of letting it fall. In the end they just stay around 97% of the time.
Tolarian Community College Re: Dropping the Holiday Gift Box... I started using it as my primary storage (just started playing again around Khans) and my girlfriend dropped it one day with less than optimal results...much resorting. And in fact that's why I decided to watch this video! Thanks!
Careful when storing your cards in sleeve sheets binders, if you store your binder vertically, the weight of cards will bend the sleeves and also your cards
I sort by color then mana cost.
For my Rares I use 10-Compartment Professional Deep Organizer (Home Depot). I have 3. OR the Kobalt 10 Compartment Organizer (lowes).
One makes up my trade collection/Rares
One makes up 10 EDH Decks
Last one makes up my standard/Mordern Decks and future Ideas.
They run $15-16, but are hard plastic and its hard for someone to walk away without being seen with a large yellow box.
I would love to see videos on EDH! I'm an avid Commander player and always love seeing new content.
Cool, because I have several EDH/Commander videos I'd like to do.
I would really appreciate a video on organizing and storing a smaller collection.
Watching this video for tips on making it easier to get rid of my collection, and it's just making me want to pick up playing again.
Professor, I just recently returned to Magic and stumbled across your channel. Thank you for all of the great videos! I have a question though: What is the advantage of storing rares in binders instead of in top loaders inside boxes with the commons and uncommons?
I sort my standard cards, that are playable in constructed, in a gift box. My sorting method is to separate creature spells, non-creatures spells and non-basic lands. Then I further sort them by mana cost and color. I need a second gift box for my modern cards (I will never play legacy), so they are currently not too well organized in a cardboard box.
Thanks for the sorting tips! It's interesting to see how other people organize stuff differently than others.
I like cutting up a Land and tip/ad card, taping them together, and using it as dividers. The tip card is sideways with the rest of the cards and the Land is taped upright so the tip card keeps the Land card from moving back and forth in the box. (I use the 800 BCW sideload storage)
"You can always cut up something less valuable, like Clue Stones."
Oh you!
Would love to see an update to this subject. I’m sure you collection has doubled-even tripled-since this was made.
After all these years, still a great help.
I print up clear mailing labels with the name, rarity and number of each card for a set on Avery 88695 labels, then put a label on the bottom center of each pocket in an UltraPro 9 pocket Platinum page. I then put the pages for a set into a good quality binder and adorn the outside of the binder with art from booster boxes. Each pocket holds up to two play sets of each card, and I put tick marks on the labels for rare cards to indicate how many rares I have as the rares tend to live in decks I am playing. In this way, I know if a rare can go into the trade binder or not. My goal is a play set of each card and for Khans, I am within 1 card away from that goal at this moment. When the set rotates out, I have the cards in a binder on the shelf to build whatever deck I want. Excess cards go to my nephews or get sold to a local store.
Awesome advice that can be carried over to any TCG. I really should be doing this better.
lol that jab at clue stones xD
This video is just so useful. Even freakin' 7 years later. It's like it hasn't aged a bit.
Absolutely amazing. Could you do a video on how you came to own so many mythics and rares please.
I basically have a 3 pool system, with the cards sorted by color within those pools: Pauper playables, Commander playables, and all other bulk. A lot of storage solutions depend on your favored formats and other personal needs.
Started Magic just earlier this year and I love your videos. Got myself that real nice Ultra Pro Deck-Box (The satin hard plastic one) and it's perfect. Seeing my collection has grown quite a lot and with new sets, it will grow a lot more, I'm having a hard time finding good means of storing and carrying them with me to my friends house for playing, trading, deck building and so forth. Currently I have two fully loaded M14 Deck Builder's Toolkit boxes, but sooner or later they'll fall apart, they are cardboard after all. Any tips on how to store cards for easy access and transportation? (I travel by bike or bus, so they kind of have to fit in a backpack)
You'll probably do well with the BCW boxes I show in the video. They're A LOT tougher than the deckbuilders, but hold cards in a similar manner. They're great for throwing in your backpack before you hop on your bike because they are tough and stay shut.
Best of all, you can usually find them for just a couple bucks (if your local card shop doesn't carry them, try Amazon or eBay) so if they do eventually deteriorate (after years) it's not that big a deal to just spend a couple bucks and replace one.
Alright, thanks! I'll take a look around for those. I live in Finland though and I've not seen BCW boxes anywhere. Amazon / eBay will prolly be the way to go.
Ah, that specific brand may not be available in Finland, but show a picture to the salseman at your local card store and see if they have something similar.
Okay, will do. Thanks for the tips!
This helped a lot! My collection is starting to getting out of hand. This video gave me ideas.
For annyone with a collection of say 1000 to about 2000 or even 3000 cards, id recomend a sports card plastic container where there are 4 rows in the front and 2 larger rows in the back, it makes a good common and uncommon storage for the 5 colors and mixed or colorless color cards, as said in the video, put you rares or valuble uncommons in a binder. And for basic lands, i use the MGT DeckBuilders Toolkit box for those or you can use a fat pack box aswell, if you have extra commons and uncommons, just buy annother sport card container. I hope you guys with decent colections of 1 to 3 thousand cards find this useful.
This comment is very late, but I personally havn't touched a magic card in twelve years... Until earlier this week when I cleaned out a storage area and found a giant box of cards dating to my teenage years.
This time capsule of MTG immediately set me on a path to once again becoming a casual player. I also quickly found your channel, and have been burning through your video's in an attempt to catch up on formats like Modern and Pauper.
But this video specifically is what I needed. Teenage me was not organized. I would often come back from a draft night and add my cards to a random box... twelve years later, I now need to finally sort the 3-4 thousand commons and uncommons; of which I had no idea where to start. Thank you for this video! and your content is exceptional
GREAT video man you make the best videos I have seen. This video helped me out drastically and I wanted to say how happy I was
I love your channel. Recently started playing again and I find all your videos helpful, fun and engaging. Thank you!
I'm going to take some tips from this video, I find having my cards divided by color, type and then mana cost is easier and better than rarity (ej: Commons separated from uncommons)
I organize my mtg cards by colour regardless if they are from different sets or formats
Same, brother
Ok.
My collection is in dissaray at the moment but generally I have one large ring binder per color for commons and uncommons and then I have portfolios for rares and keep lands in boxes.
Don't get me wrong I already loved your videos, but this seriously made you my favorite MTG RUclipsr haha.
That's really nice to hear, thanks! :)
This was very helpful. I am just starting out and my collection is starting to grow.
I chose to assort the bulk relatively the same way, but with some added extras:
Step 1) Sort by color
Step 2) Sort by set
Step 3) Sort by rarity
Step 4) Sort alphabetically
Step 5) If there is alternate art:
Step 5a) Sort by original first (should be closest to the end of the box depending on where the art faces)
Step 5b) Sort by reprint years
(The oldest is placed behind the original and the newest should be last)
Is this needlessly detailed? Yes.
Izzet worth it? Yes.
For those of use who don't live in the best of neighborhoods to invest in to 2 two draw locking filling cabinets. the 800 card boxes fit 3 wide and 3 tall. not as mich room as the ikea cube but a little morw secure.
also the haning file system usually built in is great for your binders. Remember to keep a piece of cedar 3"×3" or 4"×4" to keep good humidity.
I do Set --> Color --> Card type (sorted by "speed") --> Converted Mana Cost --> Alphabet
Incredibly easy to find anything, but time consuming to add cards to the collection.
I mainly play draft so I just sort the cards I get at draft/sealed and then add them to the already sorted box of the set.
I don't do rarity. Dollar rares go in the box with the commons. If they are something valuable, they have a different place to be stored. If they are foils that I care about, they are generally double sleeved and stored to avoid the warping that foils love to do on me.
If I was constructing decks all the time, I would also likely just sort by rarity and color and say "good enough" but most of my constructed decks stay as they are.
This is cool LOL. I like how systematic and serious the voice/method is.
I literally just like to sit on my floor with cards all around me & sort them each multiple times. The first way I sort is by color, the second is by card type, then I sort the creatures from least to greatest toughness, then I sort those from least to greatest power, I store all of the sorted creatures, and then I follow that up by storing every other card type in order systematically. I tend to leave the cards I remove most near the end of the pages as I hate having gaps in my pages as well as having to move all of the other cards around the ones I remove. You could say that I'm a little OCD about sorting my cards. The honest truth is that I wouldn't trust anybody to sort my collection the way I do. Sometimes, if you want something done right, you have to do it yourself.
I'd also like to mention that I don't alphabetize or sort by set as I find it counter-productive. I'd rather just keep two binders like the Prof. One for legacy & another for standard.
I tend to sort by plane, not set, and faction, alongside color, rarity, card type, and creature type. Usually cards from the same plane tend to synergize well is all.
Love the videos! Been playing since Onslaught i don't play tournaments myself so i break my stuff down and little differently. I usually play kitchen table casual with friends and acquaintances by vintage rules. I store all my stuff in binder by color. each color has at least 2 binders one for all creatures one for enchantment, instant, sorcery. Then within that its all broken down by creature type and rarity for creature binders and just rarity for spell binders. Lands, Artifacts(along with artifact creatures) and Multi-colors have there own seprate binder and get the same treatment. Multi's i break down by Guilds (Ravnica, Alara etc) then by creature type and rarity.
When i went to school and came home, my mom had just taken all my cards, and thrown them into a cardbord box, becouse i left them on the floor.
They were all ruined.
Thanks so much for your help! There are a lot of suggestions online but this was some of the best advice for my needs at least.
Hey guy, honestly, you make an amazing videos: good sound, excelent quality videos. You should have 100k subscriber at least
100k? I'd be happy with 10k at the moment. Ha! Glad you enjoy the videos and find them helpful! :)
I am half a collector and a very casual player so I organize my cards by rarity then type->cost->set (creatures vs the rest). I have then a stack of cards I consider for current game ideas. I have also binders with full sets. Old border are also separated from new border since I do not like aesthetics of mixing not borders. This is annoying when building a deck but whatever I have playable cards in mind and I have not that much sets (started in onslaught, quit after first kamigawa set, then Dominaria. Else I buy cards randomly for pleasure)
Another best way to « organize » my collection is to give away large chunks of bulky cards, maybe keeping a single copy of each if the set amazes me ((which is not the case for modern sets)
You should try to make a video about BUDGET options for certain staples of eternal format.
For example
Thoughtseize / Blackmail, duress, inquisition of kozilek.
Tarmogoyf / Putrid leech, scavenging ooze, fleecemane lion, loxodon smither...
Ect ect ect..
This was useful! Thanks!
I just got a large box of magic cards from amazon, and I need a good storage solution. :)
Professor! Update this video! I’m about to start collecting and I’d love to know if your methods have changed!
this is the first TCC video i saw a few months ago. at the time i really thought "Tolarian Community College" was an actual school and this was some weird student project or something. i was like "wow im amazed a school decided to make a random video about magic."
I also imagined that a place called Tolarian Community College was/would be in arizona or nevada
I sort by rarity (mythics with rares and then uncommons with commons), then color, then type, then subtype, then alphabetical. I don't see much point in keeping them sorted by set after they rotate out of standard.
It takes more effort to organize it this way, but there's something cathartic about sorting and it's nice to see old cards again that I might not actually play with.
My collection is getting on for 20,000 cards, and I'm organising it like this. It's truly taking ages though and by the end of it, I might realise I don't have enough storage and then I'll cry
Good God, Adam. I envy you lol. I'm at 5,500 right now, I can't imagine trying to sort as many as you lol
Jesus you must have every card ever printed ? Or is a lot of it multiples ?
@@LouisKing995 lots of multiples. I don't own power, for example
A method I like to use to organize my bcw boxes is to put an ad card in a spare/damaged sleeve to separate colors. I think it just looks a bit nicer, even though it might take me a bit longer to realize what I'm looking at.
I sort mine by Set, Color, and mana cost. It makes it really easy once you know the set and the mana cost of each card.
A video suggestion: an overview on some of the most and least (aka homelands) popular mtg sets.
I also just use a small binder for 'personal' collections.
Gifts from friends, my vorthos love of certain art series cards (even if they're pennies), my saga collection, etc.
Got a carpet of flowers, arcane denial, mystic remora, and nature's lore from a friend that just had old cards he let me sort through. Just said I could have them just cus. I'll never trade em, so they go into my personal binder.
What do you do with your foils? do you place them along with your non-foils? What do you do with tokens and those cards that you write on for double faced cards? would you like to make an updated version of this video? that would be awesome! (:
Hey, while I disagree with some of your advice, the Ikea 2x2 shelf will surely score points with the GF. Nothing pushes her buttons more than pizza boxes on our work table.
Personally I wouldn't use a O or D ring binder because it will bend the innermost cards over time. This is most noticeable when flipping 20+ pages at once, or when someone is flipping carelessly through your binder.
Next, I usually keep one binder for rares ~5$ and + (legacy + modern, in order of price range) one for the 1-5 range and as you mentioned, one with all the standard playables (regardless of rarity). I found sorting by color and by card type was the best when i came to trading (these *are* trade binders, after all) since not only could the other person find the card the quickest and browse with the most success, but they would know right away what kind of value they were dealing with.
Playable un/coms are in a box of their own by color and set, and I try to get rid of the rest. I had tons of bulk lying around for a decade and I decided if I really wanted a 10c card I would just get them as singles.
Cheers!
I have a collection of over 30k cards, where almost nothing is more than 4 copies of a given card. (believe me, your collection gets a LOT smaller when you pare it down like that)... With a collection this large it takes like 35x of those 800 count boxes to hold all the cards.
The collection has gotten so large that I HAD to get really really organized or I could not quickly get to any cards I needed, or even worse I could not keep track of what cards I needed to trade for or buy. After paring down the collection to playsets... I then entered the entire collection into software. At first, Magic Workstation. Now it's MTG Studio/Echo MTG.
So every time I get new cards I have to take those new cards and first check if I already have copies of that card from previous sets or the same set. If not, I add them to the electronic database and then physically put them into the collection. YES it's a LOT of work... but
- I know exactly what I have
- I know exactly what the value is of my collection and cards
- I can build a deck in a few minutes
- I don't trade for or buy cards that I already have (makes me efficient)
- If I want to make a trade I can immediate know if I need the card being offered or tell my trade partner if I have the card(s) he's going for.
- If I ever wanted to insure my collection I have the data required to do so.
- The automated tools inform me on price movements. After playsets of cards I don't use move up I trade/sell them for cards I need and do use.
So yes, it's a huge time investment. But after doing this for 20 years I can tell you it's worth the effort. After posting this, I'll try to attach pictures of my cards in drawers (before I 3D printed dividers) and a picture of the dividers I 3D printed.
(Edit: tried to attach pictures, didn't work. Sorry.)
The cluestone crack was great. :)
True Story: For Christmas I wrapped some of my friend's gifts in cluestones. Saved me some cash on wrapping paper and finally put them to good use!
I sort by set and collector's number, since the collector's numbers are already sorted by color. Plus I like it, specifically for BFZ and OGW, because it separates my colorless Eldrazi cards from my artifacts.
I have my collection in BCW boxes, organized in colors and sets. How ever, I took the time to create a database in MS Access. I went on to mtgprice.com, copy the tables to import them into my database and just had columns with the following: Name, Setcode (example BFZ = battle for zendikar), card color (your typical W B G R U), the quantity of the cards, how many foils of X card do I have, and finally the current price of the cards. Another thing I do is print out the tables and put them in my binder/portfolio, and if some one is looking for something, I'll simply show them a list of what I have, or if they want, they can browse through the box(es) instead. And if I get new cards or sell/trade other cards, I write it down on a notepad, once I'm home, I'll simply edit the data base. It sure seems like a lot of work, but trust me, it helps you stay organized and it saves not only you, but other peoples time when they are in a hurry looking for something specific.
I sort my cards by color and function. Each color has around eight groups. So blue for example has counter spells, unsummons, flying, draw, etc. This isn't,t the best as far as keeping sets separate, but can help when you have a certain type of deck you want to make.
Late to the party but holy cow was this useful. My house just doesn't let me be disorganized with my cards anymore. The shelf and binders are a good idea. Any idea how many cards a large binder will hold if you put 18 to 27 cards per page?
I have a video suggestion for a video: Dealing with Friends who like to make frustrating rule changes for casual play (ie. no such thing as max hand size or having 5+ Gates in a Return to Ravnica built deck).
I sort my Pokemon cards by type, and alphabetize, and also keep the evolution cards with each other. This has proven challenging since some sets have a Pokemon as one type but another type in another set. And some Pokemon evolve into multiple different Pokemon of different types. It's a constant and neverending effort of moving a card from one place to another.
Another thing to seperate your cards in boxes are normal ad cards. If you have some spare sleeves, they work fairly well.
I split everything into colors.
Green, red, black, blue, white, artifact, colorless, lands
Then rarity. Mythic and rares usually go into binders.
Then alphabetically.
When i make decks i come up with the idea, and then usually already have some cards in mind, and go searching around usually online in search engines to add similar cards etc, then look them up, or buy them online.
This way makes it the easiest for me to find certain cards and how many i have if any.
I don't work with sets.
I don't play blocks or sets or whatever.
We play casual, all but everything goes.
You know when something is a bit OP.
If you have a good idea that isn't necessarily too OP, but very very annoying, you will soon see you have a target on your head in games, which are usually multiplayer 3-4 players.
So you either fuck around for fun as long as you can survive, or tone them down.
I had a nice black discard deck, 1v1 style, it worked great, but as said, we usually play multiplayer, so i changed it to that.
People tend to ignore me for a small bit, then when i start i get real annoying, and only have cards that basically screw all players, so yeah, discarding and losing lifeper discarded card sucks, so i have a massive target on my head, but it's fun while it lasts and does major damage to all for a bit.
Other than that i am horny for elves, i think i have 4 decks, all token decks with different twists.
One pumps them out fast and sacrifices to make more.
One makes token with most spells i cast.
One has mostly mana elves and lots of wee ones to cast, running on 14 lands, and not needing that, and crippling oponent lands to basically only 1, which is not a problem for me.
Elf-beats deck is fun.
Simple jungle deck, which is red white green, stompy, nothign special, but fun. Whooly Thoctar is great.
Dimir Zombie milling deck is fun.
All that said, i buitl about 12 decks, then sold the rest, for a few thousand.
So i don't do much of it anymore.
Selling 3 of my 4 Gaea's Cradles was painful, but gave some nice dough. Plus i had some cheap replacements.
You can get an inset for those ikea cabinets that have two drawers wich can hold four rows of upright cards, i store my commons in there a playset per penny sleeve.
I sink way too much time into my organizing, I use the five row BCW then go by color (w/u/b/r/g, multi colored, artifact, non basic lands, tokens) then organize by card type (creature, enchantment, sorcery, instant) then I sort by converted mana cost (smallest to largest) THEN alphabetically.
Good work, want a suggestion ?make a video about how double sleeve, i did in my modern deck and the trapped inside destroy my KMC mat
Ask and you shall receive! How To Double Sleeve: ruclips.net/video/FZ2tMSQcBr0/видео.html
I now recommend the new KMC HYPER MATS for double sleeving. They are the absolute best as outer sleeves.