Parents - Getting Kids Involved! 

The Fifth in a Series of Articles for Parents of Young Players

Caring for Your Cards

One of the biggest problems I've seen with some younger children owning cards is how they care for them.  I can't tell you how many times I've had kids approach us at our shop and ask to sell us some cards, which they proceed to pull out of their pants pocket, completely unsleeved and unprotected. The edges are frayed and corners are bent. I just cannot buy cards in such condition. There is no way I can resell them, so they are virtually worthless to me, unfortunately. Almost any card in good condition has some value to me, but on the other hand, almost every card in bad condition has no value to me.

Some kids do realize the value of their cards and the wisdom in keeping them in good condition, but many do not. A few simple and relatively inexpensive steps will help you and your children to keep their cards in top shape, helping them to hold their resale value if they should ever decide to trade or sell them.

Penny Sleeves:
Penny Sleeves are the least expensive way to protect your cards. As their name indicates, you can purchase them for practically pennies (100 pack for $1), and they are worth every penny (pun intended). They are thin, clear plastic sleeves or covers that you can slip your cards into. I recommend that every rare be sleeved, and you can also sleeve commons and uncommons if you'd like. Sleeving is especially important if your kids like to show their cards to their friends and the cards are passed around a lot.

Deck Sleeves:
Deck sleeves are similar to the Penny Sleeves, but thicker and of higher quality. They are a bit more expensive than the Penny Sleeves, but the extra thickness is necessary in many cases. They will give more protection to the higher valued cards you have. I would also highly recommend them for any decks that would be played, as the shuffling and handling necessary for playing can damage unprotected or lightly protected cards. If you'd like to see an example of Deck Sleeves, you can check them out at our Website: http://www.shuffleandcutgames.com/magic/

4 or 9 Pocket Card Pages:
A great way to show off a collection, clear pages, such as those offered by Ultra Pro, make a great display of your cards while protecting them at the same time. Pricing varies from different retailers, but I can usually pick them up for about .10 cents a page or less. Use the pages in binders to display the cards. WARNING!! Be sure to use only "D" ring binders for your paged cards! Regular round "O" ring binders can bend, crimp and highly damage the cards if the pages are not laying perfectly straight. The "D" rings will help you avoid this as they keep the pages flat and in line.

Deck Boxes:
Deck Boxes are a must if you will be transporting cards in any way other than a page binder. Decks should always go in deck boxes. They are semi-rigid containers made to a perfect size for holding decks and a sideboard. If you are unsure what I'm talking about here, you can see an example of Deck Boxes, as well as the colors they come in, at our Website: http://www.shuffleandcutgames.com/magic/ . While sleeves protect cards from being scuffed and scratched, deck boxes will keep your cards from being bent or damaged otherwise. They also help to keep your cards together and from getting lost.

Special Note on Foils (Holos):
All foils should go immediately into protective sleeves, even if it's only a penny sleeve. The foil surface of premium cards is highly prone to scuffing, even from the slightest rubbing, such as from being in a box or in a stack of cards. The only way to protect foils is to sleeve them right when the come out of the pack. Scuffed foil cards are practically worthless, as most people that want to buy foils want nice looking mint cards for the coolness factor. If a foil is scratched up, then the coolness factor is missing and the card has lost its value.

Utilizing any and all of the above methods to protect your cards will help them to keep their highest value for you as a player and a collector. Investing just a few dollars will actually save you many dollars in the long run.

Until next time....

 ~ Christine

www.ShuffleAndCutGames.com