Are Old Cards Heavier than New Cards?
General forum
Posted on Aug. 11, 2022, 12:41 p.m. by EnbyGolem
I have an all old-border deck in which every card was printed within the Alpha and Scourge sets. For awhile now, I felt like I could feel that specific deck being markedly heavier and thicker than my other decks. Yesterday, I decided to try to put these observations to the test (warning: data ahead!)
I used an analog food scale and weighed my old-school deck and my other two non-old-school specific decks. Each deck is 100 cards, uses the exact same inner sleeves, outer sleeves, and deck box. What I found was my two non-old-school decks consistently weighed 251 and 252 grams while the old-border deck weighed 278. While I don’t have nearly a big enough data set to establish any meaningful standard deviations (nor statistical power), this anecdotally seems to be a significant increase in weight.
Unfortunately for this test, the other commander decks are not built around a specific card age - that is to say, they also have several old-border cards and, in fact, have very little cards printed within the last 5 years. Ideally, I would like to run this test with a deck comprised of cards within a specific era of card manufacturing.
Despite these pitfalls, the results do match up with what I’ve experienced. I mean, just grab a card from original Legends and compare it with one from Baldur’s Gate ...
I would love to see if anyone else has had similar observations. If you have a way to test this (ideally with a better scale and decks with more consistent card ages) I would love to see your results!
Balaam__, that must be why my Hellfire weighed in damn near half a pound. Its been gorging on my life loss and own self-anguish this whole time 0.0
August 11, 2022 6:06 p.m.
That artwork! That literary quotation! I weep when I see the state of today’s cards by comparison T_T
August 11, 2022 6:13 p.m.
FormOverFunction says... #8
“Lightbrite of the Sea Gate” “Jandor’s Shrinkey-Dinks”
August 12, 2022 11:07 a.m.
TypicalTimmy says... #9
Actually, yes.
The inner core paper, and the glue, have changed over time. So yes, older cards are thicker and heavier because they were made with different materials.
Balaam__ says... #2
The answer is simple. The old school cards have been around longer, seen more playtime, and have soaked up all the anguish, despair and other negative emotions of your vanquished opponents. They thus weigh ever so slightly more. ^_^
August 11, 2022 3:08 p.m.