Best Sleeves for a cube?
Gear forum
Posted on Oct. 14, 2014, 9:34 a.m. by TheWaltSpot
I'm starting to build my first ever cube and I want to pick the right sleeves something durable but easy to shuffle and some what of the cheaping side because my cube is decently expensive since the theme is about the clans of tarkir.I was either think of Channel fireball sleeves for the cube or Ultra pros. I'm just looking for thoughts and opinions. Thanks.
i've used ultra pros for all of my edh decks and never had an issue.
i used ultra pros on my cube and after a couple months i had busted too many sleeves to count. for a careful shuffler like me they work great, but depending on your group of friends or people playing with your cube, i'd suggest going with something more durable like dragon shields. I'm using dragon shields now and my splitting issues have gone waaaay down. many people also recommend KMC sleeves, but i don't have any experience with them, or the CFB sleeves. make sure to take your time and gather as much info as you can, because buying 360+ sleeves multiple times is a pain.
i'd also recommend you double sleeve your cube, again to keep your nice stuff safe from sloppy friends.
good luck with your cube! it's the best way to play magic.
October 14, 2014 10:55 a.m.
I have a 900 card EDH cube and I use ultra Pro matte light blue sleeves. A guy was selling in bulk for half the single pack price, so I have like 1500 lol. A few have split in around 6 months, but nothing unsuprising. I have double sleeved all my value stuff, and will eventually double sleeve it all as its way over half foil now. The perfect fit sleeves are about as expensive as the bloody colour sleeves lol, but its a pack of 100 i suppose. Definitely go double sleeve though. Agreed that cube is the most fun, although I would go one further and say EDH Cube is even better! ;-)
October 14, 2014 11:01 a.m.
TheWaltSpot says... #5
I'm kinda of a noob when it comes to card sleeves but do just get the clear plastic sleeves to go inside the ultra pro sleeves for the cube?
October 14, 2014 11:13 a.m.
JonathanSamurai says... #6
Usually the matte/solid ones are the most durable. I've had others peel and crack bad not long after purchase.
October 14, 2014 11:45 a.m.
Get Ultra Pro Pro-Fit sleeves or KMC Perfect Fit Sleeves. These are almost identical to the card size, and fit brilliantly inside any of the other sleeves I have used. If you do (and I highly recommend it) then make sure the card is inserted into the inner sleeve upside down. This way, when you sleeve the card with the normal sleeve, the opening for the perfect sleeve is at the bottom of the outer colourful sleeve. Giving your card awesome protection from crap, water, falling out of the sleeve etc. You will need to pile up some cards and lean on the top a few times to get all the trapped air out, but it stays out after a couple of these leanings. And you have super protected cards. The only downside I have found to double sleeve is with the SDCC Black planeswalkers. I have 2 of em, Garruk and Lilly, 2013 and they are super hard to read, being black, having 2 layers of reflective shiny plastic sleeve plus exterior lights glaring too. But this is it really lol. You can still read them, but its just notably harder than normal and foil cards not black on black lol
October 14, 2014 11:55 a.m.
Seraphicate says... #8
TheWaltSpot the clear plastic sleeve goes OVER the card, then you put the perfect-fitted card, so the opening of the double sleeve goes into the normal sleeve first. There's a diagram (don't know about ultra pro, but KMC has instructions) which is pretty straightforward.
Out of personal experience, sleeve-wise, it really does depend on the person who uses them. I have 2 sets of ultra pro's, and haven't split a single one (used for 2 years). A friend of mine bought another set of ultra pro's, they were beginning to split barely 2 weeks after, and he barely played (that's what deck boxes are for). I've given my ultra pro's away, then moved onto KMC hyper mattes, and I have to say, they feel awesome, and depending on your treatment of them, they shouldn't have any problems with curvy openings. Plus, there's no annoying ultra-pro sticker on them, which is a plus. Only downsides I'd see, would have to be price and their 80-count packs.
October 14, 2014 1:37 p.m.
PreZchoICE1 says... #9
I used Ultra Pro Matte Black for mine. Got 6X100 pack for 7 bucks each. Forget double sleeving if your friends cant respect your property there is something wrong. Mine has been played 15 different times now each time with 8 players and no sleeves have split/nothing has been damaged. I have a stipulation though, penalties for each. If you split a sleeve you must buy me a new 100 pack. No, I dont want 1 out of your pack you bought last week. A fresh 100 pack.
If something gets damaged, the perpetrator must remove pants and underwear, face the wall and have the entirety of a 3200 count land box flicked at their bare arse/bits by the whole playgroup.
As I said, no damage or sleeve splitting has occured. :)
October 17, 2014 1:24 p.m.
Not to hi-jak your thread OP but can someone explain exactly what a cube is?
November 20, 2014 10:47 a.m.
a cube is a collection of cards that are used for repeatedly drafting. normally a cube consists of at least 360 cards (to support an 8-man, 3 packs of 15 cards draft). The most common cubes contain the most powerful cards in the history of magic, so you don't have normal limited filler like Pillarfield Ox and whatnot. people have designed all kinds of cubes, from 360 to 720+ cards, all multicolor, all commons and uncommons, all junk rares, tribal, custom cards, etc.
it's basically a chance for us non-wizards employees to design our own draft environments. it's also the absolute best way to play magic if you enjoy limited. if you like drafting, and you like thinking about set design and balancing colors and draft archetypes, and you have some extra cards, money, or proxies lying around, you should definitely give it a shot with your playgroup. another benefit is that each draft is free (after acquiring all of the cards that you want for the cube, which is normally updated with every set and tweaked after each draft).
here is my cube as an example, if you'd care to try drafting. This site also allows you to build a deck with the cards you draft as well. T/O also has cube building and drafting capabilities, but cubetutor.com is THE place to go for looking at cubes.
Caligula says... #2
Ultra pro matte sleeves are pretty fantastic. 4.50 for a pack of 50 aint bad either.
October 14, 2014 9:57 a.m.