Recently took out my collection of MTG cards after they had more or less been sitting untouched since the original Zendikar and Scars era (also my Pokemon cards which had been mostly untouched for even longer). Some of the foils had intense curling and warping because they were either unsleeved in a binder or just in a penny sleeve. Also a lot of the Pokemon cards had stuck to the sleeve and or page. I've gotten back into playing Magic but also am upgrading how I store the cards now that I've watched the Tolarian Community College videos and have a better understanding of the importance of using proper fitting sleeves, and double sleeving.
I'm using KMC Perfect Fits as inners but am not sure what to use for the outer sleeves. The main issue is the cost, I have literally hundreds of those 9-page Ultra Pro sheets worth of Pokemon and Magic cards that I need to secure as well as a couple hundred original Zendikar foil lands. The reviews that I have seen for sleeves are usually for playing but I'm sleeving these solely for long-term storage while also slowly selling off my collection to pay for additional accessories and newer cards. As such, I would like to avoid paying $8-9 for a pack of UP Eclipse, Dragon Shields, KMC Hypers, etc. as my outer sleeves do not need to be ideal for playing, they just should be tighter than penny sleeves and okay for storage. I've also been slowly migrating most of my $5+ foils into toploaders and a separate box, so again these sleeves do not have to be super high quality. I've been using these really old metallic Ultra Pros that I had from years ago, and they do the job really well...just ran out of them.
Any recommendations?
EDIT: By outer sleeve I do not mean the KMC Character sized sleeves, but the 66 x 91 mm standard sleeve size that are a grade above penny sleeves but ideally do not cost 8-12 cents per.
You can also get a ton of them for free if a wife/girlfriend/anyone buys shoes, purses, or anything that comes with those packs. I always save them and keep them in my safe with all my decks, binders, comics, and firearms. Humidity ruins a lot of things and those packets do wonders for storage.
Thanks. And yeah I recently discovered the use of the silica desiccants. I had a few lying around the house and started using them a couple weeks ago, and also asked my fiancee to give me any she encounters through purchases.
Unfortunately the bulk of my cards were purchased/traded for and stored when I was a preteen or young teenager, so I didn't worry too much about proper long-term storage.I also did not know that curling was a thing until I moved to Georgia several years ago and saw it first hand. Anyways if anyone is interested in the longer story, here it is:
Thankfully 10-13 year old me had the wherewithal to put most of my rares/foils in a binder, but a lot of my Pokemon and Yugioh cards were thrown in boxes and left in a garage, and my mom probably gave them away to my nieces and nephews. What did remain was a binder of Pokemon holos and promos with about 1/3 of them in penny sleeves, sometimes two or three cards per sleeve, and the rest unsleeved. I guess Pokemon cards don't curl or bend as much because they were left in the binder for probably 12 or 13 years and have minimal curling and the cards are mostly in the condition they were probably in when put in the binder, save for a couple cards which got stuck to the sleeve. Or maybe the Pokemon cards were stored in dryer conditions than my Magic cards, as when I moved to Atlanta for grad school in 2013 I left my Pokemon cards in Michigan (I honestly think I just forgot about them) and brought my Magic stuff with me. After a year of being stored in a closet in my guest room, I noticed my Magic foils curling immensely, particularly ones I left just sleeved and not in a top loader in my deck case. I never knew it was a thing that foils did, but some were damaged/warped, some stuff to the pages, and others permanently curled. That's when I immediately starting using toploaders but did still not know about silica packs or that double sleeving was really a thing. But at least the toploaders seemed to do the trick as most the stuff hasn't appeared to warp further after another few years of storage. Now I know to make sure to double sleeve in a proper zippered binder/portfolio, use toploaders for foils, and use the silica packs.
Id say look online (or even lgs) for the sleeves that are the cheapest and where you get more per dollar/euro. Start sleeving the most valuable ones first.
That's odd though, I have lots of cards in those cheap penny sleeves and no problems at all. And I have some non-sleeved in binders.
When flattening, be careful with the foils. The thin foil can crack during the process. The silica desiccant will help but you need a hermetically sealed box (such as acrylic) to maximize their effectiveness. Hopefully, you can draw out enough moisture to where they'll start to uncurl. Once you reach a point where they're close to flat, you have a couple of options. Pack them tight in boxes. I do this with most of my newer cards stored this way by alternating the curled cards like thus ()()()(). If the box isn't full, I add spacers to create the pressures. This process can be done gradually by adding new cards to increase the pressure. Moisture will still be your enemy. Alternatively, you can find some big heavy hard cover books with matt, not glossy, pages. The best are those with acid free paper (craft stores like Michaels have it, up to you to use it) and sandwiching the cards amongst the pages. Not too many cards or you'll warp the book spine. This is exactly how flowers were pressed to preserve their shape and color. The book pages will draw the moisture out. Books are also an excellent way to try and salvage freshly water damaged cards but you need lots of pressure. Just remember to go slow and work the process slowly. It can take weeks or even months for the cards to be workable again.
Binders are fantastic for trade or display but are poor choices for long term storage. Binders cause an array of problems I posted about elsewhere. Yours probably avoided curl because of the dynamics involved. A 9 pocket sleeve is probably more resistant to curling just by the construction method.
I'm mystified as to why your cards stuck to the sleeves. Card sleeves are supposed to be polypropylene (PP) which is usually considered archival safe. This means that, besides being acid free, they are stable and are extremely unlikely to break down or react with other materials we have in our homes. This is a far cry from polyvinyl chloride (PVC) which wrecks havoc on anything remotely interesting. I think I can recall Ultra-Pro selling some really crap 9-pockets made out of PVC on the extreme low end of the product line back in the late 90's but I'm not sure. I don't know if they were still selling them late enough for you to get them if. UP hard top loaders and binders are made from PVC. Other companies also still sell PVC products as well, bleh.
I suspect a combination of heat and something in the environment. For instance, PVC outgasses. So a PVC binder full of cards shoved into a closed box and stacked in a garage with seasonal changes will definitely cause damage, even if the cards are inside PP sleeves.
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Recently took out my collection of MTG cards after they had more or less been sitting untouched since the original Zendikar and Scars era (also my Pokemon cards which had been mostly untouched for even longer). Some of the foils had intense curling and warping because they were either unsleeved in a binder or just in a penny sleeve. Also a lot of the Pokemon cards had stuck to the sleeve and or page. I've gotten back into playing Magic but also am upgrading how I store the cards now that I've watched the Tolarian Community College videos and have a better understanding of the importance of using proper fitting sleeves, and double sleeving.
I'm using KMC Perfect Fits as inners but am not sure what to use for the outer sleeves. The main issue is the cost, I have literally hundreds of those 9-page Ultra Pro sheets worth of Pokemon and Magic cards that I need to secure as well as a couple hundred original Zendikar foil lands. The reviews that I have seen for sleeves are usually for playing but I'm sleeving these solely for long-term storage while also slowly selling off my collection to pay for additional accessories and newer cards. As such, I would like to avoid paying $8-9 for a pack of UP Eclipse, Dragon Shields, KMC Hypers, etc. as my outer sleeves do not need to be ideal for playing, they just should be tighter than penny sleeves and okay for storage. I've also been slowly migrating most of my $5+ foils into toploaders and a separate box, so again these sleeves do not have to be super high quality. I've been using these really old metallic Ultra Pros that I had from years ago, and they do the job really well...just ran out of them.
Any recommendations?
EDIT: By outer sleeve I do not mean the KMC Character sized sleeves, but the 66 x 91 mm standard sleeve size that are a grade above penny sleeves but ideally do not cost 8-12 cents per.
https://www.amazon.com/Rechargeable-Desiccant-Packets-Dehumidifiers-Pharmaceutical/dp/B01LX7RUAR/ref=pd_lpo_vtph_201_tr_t_2?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=C0YVFPGD3BJV3RQ3GRT9
You can also get a ton of them for free if a wife/girlfriend/anyone buys shoes, purses, or anything that comes with those packs. I always save them and keep them in my safe with all my decks, binders, comics, and firearms. Humidity ruins a lot of things and those packets do wonders for storage.
UR ....... WUBR ........... WB ............. RGW ........ UBR ....... WUB .... BGU
Spells / Blink & Combo / Token Grind / Dino Tribal / Draw Cards / Zombies / Reanimate
Unfortunately the bulk of my cards were purchased/traded for and stored when I was a preteen or young teenager, so I didn't worry too much about proper long-term storage.I also did not know that curling was a thing until I moved to Georgia several years ago and saw it first hand. Anyways if anyone is interested in the longer story, here it is:
Thankfully 10-13 year old me had the wherewithal to put most of my rares/foils in a binder, but a lot of my Pokemon and Yugioh cards were thrown in boxes and left in a garage, and my mom probably gave them away to my nieces and nephews. What did remain was a binder of Pokemon holos and promos with about 1/3 of them in penny sleeves, sometimes two or three cards per sleeve, and the rest unsleeved. I guess Pokemon cards don't curl or bend as much because they were left in the binder for probably 12 or 13 years and have minimal curling and the cards are mostly in the condition they were probably in when put in the binder, save for a couple cards which got stuck to the sleeve. Or maybe the Pokemon cards were stored in dryer conditions than my Magic cards, as when I moved to Atlanta for grad school in 2013 I left my Pokemon cards in Michigan (I honestly think I just forgot about them) and brought my Magic stuff with me. After a year of being stored in a closet in my guest room, I noticed my Magic foils curling immensely, particularly ones I left just sleeved and not in a top loader in my deck case. I never knew it was a thing that foils did, but some were damaged/warped, some stuff to the pages, and others permanently curled. That's when I immediately starting using toploaders but did still not know about silica packs or that double sleeving was really a thing. But at least the toploaders seemed to do the trick as most the stuff hasn't appeared to warp further after another few years of storage. Now I know to make sure to double sleeve in a proper zippered binder/portfolio, use toploaders for foils, and use the silica packs.
That's odd though, I have lots of cards in those cheap penny sleeves and no problems at all. And I have some non-sleeved in binders.
Maybe I should be upgrading in the long term.
Binders are fantastic for trade or display but are poor choices for long term storage. Binders cause an array of problems I posted about elsewhere. Yours probably avoided curl because of the dynamics involved. A 9 pocket sleeve is probably more resistant to curling just by the construction method.
I'm mystified as to why your cards stuck to the sleeves. Card sleeves are supposed to be polypropylene (PP) which is usually considered archival safe. This means that, besides being acid free, they are stable and are extremely unlikely to break down or react with other materials we have in our homes. This is a far cry from polyvinyl chloride (PVC) which wrecks havoc on anything remotely interesting. I think I can recall Ultra-Pro selling some really crap 9-pockets made out of PVC on the extreme low end of the product line back in the late 90's but I'm not sure. I don't know if they were still selling them late enough for you to get them if. UP hard top loaders and binders are made from PVC. Other companies also still sell PVC products as well, bleh.
I suspect a combination of heat and something in the environment. For instance, PVC outgasses. So a PVC binder full of cards shoved into a closed box and stacked in a garage with seasonal changes will definitely cause damage, even if the cards are inside PP sleeves.