View Poll Results: What is the best sleeve for protecting cards and ease when shuffling?

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  • Dragon Shield

    78 35.45%
  • KMC

    124 56.36%
  • Other

    18 8.18%
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Thread: Sleeves: Dragon Shield vs KMC

  1. #1
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    Sleeves: Dragon Shield vs KMC

    Gotta buy a bunch of sleeves and haven't played with KMC but heard good things.

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  2. #2
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    Re: Sleeves: Dragon Shield vs KMC

    If you're going for KMC, I'd suggest getting the Matte instead of the Super Series. Matte gives you about 4-5 color options, while Super gives you 12+, but Supers have this weird film that can flake off after repeated use (I'm assuming this film is what gives it that glossy finish).

  3. #3
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    Re: Sleeves: Dragon Shield vs KMC

    I'm personally using Dragon Shields atm, as i have my 500card Cube in it and figured it'd be easy to swap out Legacy cards from my decks to the Cube and back.
    However i used KMC before these, and they're definately better. DS sleeves seem to get dirty within a few hours of playing with them, aswel as there being lots of minor imperfections in them (mainly in the size, some are bigger then others, i even have 2 that are 3-5 mm bigger then the rest)

  4. #4

    Re: Sleeves: Dragon Shield vs KMC

    Recently started using the KMC Metallic Red and Blue sleeves, so far they shuffle and look good, but no heavy use yet. DS get dirty ultra fast, that's for sure.

  5. #5

    Re: Sleeves: Dragon Shield vs KMC

    I've tried just about everything and settled almost exclusively on KMC Matte Brown. The other matte colors are generally fine but IME brown shows the least wear. The only complaint I have about them is that occasionally they'll pick up a corner crease during shuffling that can to marked very quickly. The non-matte KMCs are still probably better than anything else but I've had more issues with them tearing or marking easily.

    Dragon Shields are probably the most resilient sleeves I've used (I've never had one rip, ever) but seem to pick up dirt and cruft very quickly. They also often have a pronounced curve to them that can warp cards, especially foils, and are a little inconsistent on whether they'll fit double-sleeved cards.

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    Re: Sleeves: Dragon Shield vs KMC

    Im a fan of the KMC Mattes. They shuffle much better than Dragonshields and are almost as resilient
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    Re: Sleeves: Dragon Shield vs KMC

    I was a KMC user for a while a Dragon Shield user for a while a KMC user for a while a Dragon shield user for a while (see where this is going?). But I've finally settled back on Dragon shields. Yes, they do pick up spots of grime but if you play with clean hands and on a clean mat (I know that's a lot to ask for) they're generally fine. I've found the KMC Mattes, rather than picking up grime, somehow incorporate it into their essence and become harder to shuffle the longer you play with them...
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  8. #8
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    Re: Sleeves: Dragon Shield vs KMC

    Ultra Pro 2007 series.

    I just wish I had cases of these sleeve left. By far the most consistent, fits double-sleeving, gets dirty less quickly than both KMC and DragonShields, light-weight.
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  9. #9
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    Re: Sleeves: Dragon Shield vs KMC

    Bought a case of KMC Black Matte's a while back - they've been pretty awesome, overall. They do tend to get dirty after a while though, which makes shuffling a bit difficult. Seems likely they are pretty easy to clean/scrape off. Haven't really tried.

    I've yet to have any of them split on me though - they seem to be incredibly resilient with excellent welds.
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    Re: Sleeves: Dragon Shield vs KMC

    I have purchased KMC once and I am not sure if I got a bad batch or whatever but my perfect fits was so tight it trapped air in it and made the cards poof. Dragon sleeves are easier to acquire locally for me. Perfect fits fit in them and you can set books on them to press out the air with the KMC not even that worked for me. I purchase pink only and have always had almost perfect quality, every now and then I will get a box that is a hair off from the rest in terms of length but that is easy to work with.

    Ultra pro's use to be awesome as heck around Ice Age, but have gone down hill since then. I have a couple old ones from decks I had back then and compared to a new one you can feel the difference. It is like picking up a real beta and a re-backed collectors edition card. Your not quit sure what is wrong they just feel different.
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  11. #11
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    Re: Sleeves: Dragon Shield vs KMC

    Quote Originally Posted by Koby View Post
    Ultra Pro 2007 series...light-weight.
    How long until we see the obsession with weight and the attendant carbon fiber trickle into Magic? To be honest, I wouldn't mind a sexy stack of carbon fiber weave sitting on my playmat but maybe I just exist at a perverse intersection between cycling and MTG.

    At OP: I use Dragon Shields because they are durable but they do get dirty quickly. The "new" batch of Dragon Shields (after they went on hiatus for a while) seem to be shorter than the older ones so you have to go through and push your cards down frequently or they show on the top. This is not cool. However I have never split a Dragon Shield while I have split numerous KMC and Ultra Pro sleeves and I am pretty gentle with my cards.

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    Re: Sleeves: Dragon Shield vs KMC

    Quote Originally Posted by apistat_commander View Post
    How long until we see the obsession with weight and the attendant carbon fiber trickle into Magic? To be honest, I wouldn't mind a sexy stack of carbon fiber weave sitting on my playmat but maybe I just exist at a perverse intersection between cycling and MTG.
    If people re concerned about the weight of their sleeves, then maybe they need to put the deck down and go do some free weights. I would start with maybe a pencil and go from there.
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  13. #13
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    Re: Sleeves: Dragon Shield vs KMC

    I'm not talking about the weight per se. I'm talking about the profile. It's minimal material compared to Dragon Shields and KMC's. The deck, even double sleeved, is significantly more narrow than the alternatives.
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    Re: Sleeves: Dragon Shield vs KMC

    Quote Originally Posted by Koby View Post
    I'm not talking about the weight per se. I'm talking about the profile. It's minimal material compared to Dragon Shields and KMC's. The deck, even double sleeved, is significantly more narrow than the alternatives.
    Carbon fiber is thicker then most card sleeves, maybe a fiber from carbon nanotubes or something but then the cost of the sleeves would be more then a full beta powered tier 1 Vintage deck.
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    Re: Sleeves: Dragon Shield vs KMC

    KMC Metallic Rose Blue (Discontinued so a bitch to find) are awesome. Also swear by KMC Matte Blacks, seriously the best sleeve out there. I tried Dragon Shields once (gold) and they were just too bent for me. Never looked back from KMC.

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    Re: Sleeves: Dragon Shield vs KMC

    Quote Originally Posted by Magic Fanatic View Post
    I have purchased KMC once and I am not sure if I got a bad batch or whatever but my perfect fits was so tight it trapped air in it and made the cards poof.
    That is quite normal, they are PERFECT fits. Normally I just press the whole deck down a little, and that sorts 90% of the problem out. Then just play a game or two with them, and the air slips out and your card is vacum-sealed inside. :-D

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    Re: Sleeves: Dragon Shield vs KMC

    Quote Originally Posted by Technics View Post
    That is quite normal, they are PERFECT fits. Normally I just press the whole deck down a little, and that sorts 90% of the problem out. Then just play a game or two with them, and the air slips out and your card is vacum-sealed inside. :-D
    Had Matte Black when I first started playing Legacy about three years ago. Cards are expensive in the format, proper protection seems logical. My Deck looked like a 150card pile until i switched to Dragons. KMC split often, getting perfect size into them was quite hard. The only upside was a little less dirt on them, but apart from that I really HATED them. I personally like Dragon shields way better. They aren't as expensive and that's how I argue when it comes to collecting dirt - you need more sleeves per time, but the overall cost is about equal. Also you can vary with colors which is quite cool I think :>

    Another big plus of DS is that for testing, goldfishing and proxies they are quite cool. Dirt does not matter for those purposes!
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  18. #18
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    Re: Sleeves: Dragon Shield vs KMC

    I tend to bounce back and forth between the two. Vintage stays in Dragonshields, because I want the highest level of protection for my power, and if they don't look quite as gorgeous, oh well. I prefer KMC Mattes for legacy, but it's something of a lottery whether you open a set of sleeves that works with perfect fits or not. So usually I get KMCs for a few times, and am happy, then I get a set that refuses to accept perfect fits so I get frustrated and go back to dragons....then I realize that I can't tell my foils are foil anymore, so I get frustrated and go back to KMCs....and so on. It's a never ending cycle.

  19. #19
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    Re: Sleeves: Dragon Shield vs KMC

    Quote Originally Posted by Arianrhod View Post
    then I realize that I can't tell my foils are foil anymore, so I get frustrated and go back to KMCs.
    This is my biggest issue with DS atm, if you get new perfect fits in new DS, it looks beautiful, but after a few games, you can hardly see the foiling :(

  20. #20
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    Re: Sleeves: Dragon Shield vs KMC

    KMC MAT all the way. Black seems to be the thinnest and easiest to shuffle, but the finish is the smoothest so they show wear more than the others so you need to shuffle your sideboard in with your deck quite a bit. Brown and Red are a lot thicker and seem to have more texture to the finish so wear is less noticeable, but they do get the corner bend problem LowBeyonder mentioned. I have heard the quality of DS has improved in recent years, but I'm still not a fan of that ultra high-gloss finish. Unless you're using a really bright color, the scuffing is super obvious, and no matter what color, they always seem to be sticking together.
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