How to Protect Your TCG Cards

3rd November 2020

A pastime that is shared by many different people across a huge variety of age groups is collecting and playing trading card games. There are countless types of franchises that are either entirely committed to producing tradable playing cards, and others that added them after the fact. A prime example of this is when franchises such as Pokemon, Yugioh, and others decided to add trading cards to their franchises. Other games such as Magic the Gathering has been in existence for a long time, and are constantly being upgraded with new expansions, and different styles of play.

As many people know, some trading cards can be worth a huge sum of money if they are of a certain rarity or highly desired. This means that if you ruin your cards, you are essentially throwing money down the drain. For this reason, many people like to ensure that their cards are protected at all times, whether they are currently in use, or are just part of a collection. This article will seek to show you a few different ways to ensure that your cards are always kept in mint condition, so they never lose any of their value or desirability.

Laminate Sleeves

One tried and tested method of keeping your TCG cards in good condition is using a laminate sleeve. These plastic sleeves can help to keep your cards safe from things like water damage, oxidation, and many other things that can decrease the quality and value of your cards. These sleeves are usually inexpensive, and come in a variety of colors and designs, allowing you to customize your card protectors however you see fit. Most sets of laminate sleeves will fit a lot of different sets of TCG cards, but you can always ask the person working which set of sleeves will be the best for the type of cards that you own.

Playmats

One of the least predictable things regarding playing a card game is the overall cleanliness of the surface which you will be playing on. Depending on the material of the table, cards can easily become stuck or damaged when playing with them out in the open. Experts from yourplaymat.com/products/custom-card-sleeves discuss how using a playmat can help you to ensure that you always have a clean, organized, and aesthetically pleasing place to enjoy whichever trading card game is your favorite. Many companies offer playmats which can be designed with any image you choose on it, allowing you to customize your playmat to fit whichever game you are playing, or even having a different one for each deck that you have! There are many different options, so be sure to carefully consider which design you would like, and see which options will be the most convenient and affordable for you.

Deck Holders

Deck holders are an incredibly useful tool to include in your arsenal when attempting to preserve your cards for a long time. These items are usually made of hard plastic, with a velcro lid, allowing you to store your premade decks in a safe and centralized environment. This also helps to keep your different decks separated so they do not get mixed up, causing you to have to re-sort all cards and decks.

Hard Plastic Cases

If you have TCG cards that are worth a lot of money and quite rare, then you may not want to use these cards in regular play. Cards such as the famous black lotus can be worth up to thousands of dollars, so you will want to keep them safe from getting folded or creased unintentionally. Hard plastic cases are great for this and can provide both weatherproof and crease protection for your valuable cards. If you are a serious collector then this is the type of investment you may want to consider, so that your assets in cards are given as much protection as possible.

Hopefully, this article has been helpful and informative regarding the different things that you can do to protect your trading card game cards. It is actually quite simple to keep your cards in good condition as long as you are willing to put in a small amount of time and effort. The aforementioned tips and tricks should at the very least give you a foundation to build off when thinking of your own ways to preserve your trading cards. Depending on how rare they are, you may have a lot of money to lose should something go wrong, so be sure to do your part in the process. Mistakes are liable to happen, but as long as you are prepared and have done your due diligence in the meantime then everything should take care of itself.