Ultra Pro VS. Dragon Shield

[OffTheWall]

I like the Ultra pro sleeves that come in the 100 count boxes, and only come in Black, Blue, Red , and Green and they have a dragon on the box. I did run into the problem with the Blue ones color comming off, but the other 3 colors have been excellent. They are also very hard to find. I had red ones on my deck for nearly 3 months and the only issue was the ultra pro logo wearing off. The ultra pros that come in 50 ct packs are terrible, and do split all the time. I used to love dragon shield, but several packs I bought were cut to short. I also found most of the japanese sleeves to get sticky way to quickly, but they do feel nice when they are new.

[zulander]

KMC sleeves > Dragon Shields >> Ultra Pro

KMC sleeves suck. At the running gagg I tested them out, and it was horrible. I had 3 sleeves crack while shuffling lightly. PINK Dragon Shields > the rest, purple is followed closely.

[Nightmare]

I can honestly say I've never split a KMC sleeve.

Zuhair, shorten your sig up, or I'll do it.

[zulander]

I can honestly say I've never split a KMC sleeve.

Zuhair, shorten your sig up, or I'll do it.

I used to work at a game store and back then the UP's were fine, but after a while they would tear up. I've had about 400+ dragonhshields and have only had ~10 tear total. The kmc's split very early on and made shuffling a nightmare, they were also bent backwards for some odd reason too.

[emidln]

While I have a soft spot in my heart for pink dragonshields, the only sleeves to never fail me have been these KMC Super Black that I buy in packs of 100. They have a glossy back and have never split, despite the amount of abuse I give them. They seem to have a long lifespan (might help that I use a playmat), don't become marked easily (outside of oils from your hands, the solution to which is wash and dry your hands), and are consistently cut. The consistently cut thing is becoming a huge bonus as I can leave most of my eternal stuff sleeved and switch between decks without desleeving/resleeving.

As for other sleeves I've tried:

Dragonshields - The cut and thus size of these cards varies from pack to pack. Sometimes you will be able to find matching cuts between boxes, but then you must worry about varying color. As far as slickness, they are roughly the same as KMC Super Black while new, but retain their slickness for at least an extra 4-5 rounds. If they are left out in the cold, they tend to break more easily than KMC or Ultra Pro. Their price, inconsistency, and lower availability keep me away.

KMC Matte Blue - I tried these on the recommendation of a friend. From what I can tell, the backs mark the outline of your card with white scuffs (on the sleeve, not the card), which leads to marked cards after about 5 rounds. This is unacceptable.

Ultra Pro Matte - The new Ultra Pro sleeves have consistent cut and color, but appear to be slightly less durable than my KMC Super Black. I say this because I split them frequently while drafting for the month or two that I played with Ultra Pro blue and black sleeves.

Anything Shiny - These will either peel or split, depending on the way the shiny was made. I bought a thousand shiny Ultra Pros for my cube due to sleeves being sold for a quarter less than anything else, and was summarily shown the error of my ways. I finally broke down and spent the $50 to properly sleeve my cube in KMC Super Black.

[Jaynel]

I have old Ultra Pro sleeves (circa 2003 or whenever UR Fish was good in Type 1) that still shuffle great.

KMC Matte Black has been my sleeve of choice after Ultra pro went downhill.

[wmagzoo7]

I have a different color dragonshield for each format, white for 5 color, red for type 1 and clear for pimped out ravager decks. The generally best looking sleeves are Dragonshields since KMC are nigh impossible to get your hands on in the U.S.

[zulander]

I have a different color dragonshield for each format, white for 5 color, red for type 1 and clear for pimped out ravager decks. The generally best looking sleeves are Dragonshields since KMC are nigh impossible to get your hands on in the U.S.

SCG.com

[FakeSpam]

I've found the old-school 100 count ultra-pros to be the best overall. Dragon Shields are a close second. After that, it's all just shit.

I have a pack of really thin holographic fonts that I use for drafting. They take a beating, but keep on going. Too bad they are really annoying to look at/play with. They were dirt cheap. $2 for 60. I think they give Japanese kids seizures.

[n00bas4urus_r3x]

I've gotten multiple boxes of DS from multiple vendors over the years and never really have had any problems with length, though one box did have a few that split on the first shuffle (read one or two). I still have four year old ones in use, however they are scuffed a bit, bit still shuffle great and I haven't had any of those split. As for movement room in DS, yeah about a 1/16th of an inch, and they usually don't move, the shield is just a little big. I just ordered a set of KMCs today to test them out actually so we'll see how that goes.

[goobafish]

I have tried everything. I have them all in my house. Among them:

KMC Matte Black and Blue
Ultra Pro Originals
Ultra Pro Raven Textured Back
Yanoman 100ct (Old Ones)
Yanioman 75ct (New Ones)
Dragon Shields (All Colors)
Ultra Pro Japanese Sleeves
Players Choice

The hardest ones to get are the Yanoman 100cts which took me forever to find and cannot be found now, anyone who has them wants over 25$ per pack.

I find the Yanoman 100cts by far the best, with the Yanoman 75cts (still available) coming up not far behind. The only problem is some of the sleeves in the package are marked with a line down the back, similar to a cutline on a foil, just filter them out before using them.

KMC Matte are not great, they mark up on the back and front quite easily, but look good originally. The KMC Mattes are also all the same size, height and width so there is no discontinuity between them.

The Ultra Pro Ravens are the ones I am currently using. They seem to be quite good, they shuffle well, they feel good, they do not mark and foils look great in them. The problem with these is that there is a discontinuity, the sleeves are sometimes different heights or widths. These sleeves do not show wear.

Dragon Shields are great, but I find them too thick. They cloud up the front of the card after a while and make foils look bad. They are definitely great for people who do not pimp their decks.

Ultra Pro Japanese are okay, but not great.

Players Choice: ditto.

The clear best is the old Yanoman sleeves if you can get a hold of them. The new ones are still available, and although not as great as the old ones, they are probably still the best sleeves around. The other option would be Ultra Pro Raven textured sleeves.

[emidln]

Oh, I forgot about the Japanese Ultra Pro sleeves. I've had two packs of these that I get from a dealer in Chicago and they've been roughly the same as KMC Super Black sleeves. They come in a 100 pack like the KMCs. I'm not sure where else you can find these though.

Edit: Damnit, Cappy beat me to it. As I was trying to remember other sleeves I've used, I thought of the Japanese Ultra Pros and was apparently a few seconds ahead of me.

[Bardo]

The clear best is the old Yanoman sleeves if you can get a hold of them. The new ones are still available, and although not as great as the old ones, they are probably still the best sleeves around. The other option would be Ultra Pro Raven textured sleeves.

Ah, a man of good taste. Those are the best.

Failing those, which I can't find, I like KMC and have never once split a KMC those sleeve, despite going through a few dozen packs of them.

[TheAardvark]

Ultra Pro Canary Yellow are the best sleeves I have used in my 11 years of sleeve use, and it's not even close. Dragon Shields are pretty much garbage in my experience (about 6 boxes), but I know some swear by them.

So, yeah.

[MattH]

I bought two boxes of blue Dragon Shields back in 2005, and I am still using them. All of them - never once split even one. They also were all even enough in height that I was able to mix them together without notice.

They slip a lot at first, as someone upthread mentioned, but that goes away quickly. And yeah they do scuff easily, but very evenly, so it's not really a problem.

[Brushwagg]

I recently bought some KMC sleeves after hearing how "good they are". I say MEH.. After opening 2 packs I found that 1 pack (100 count) that 50 where cut an 1/8 of an inch tall then the others. Luckly I got 300 because I ended up with 150 one size and 150 another size.

Dragon Sheilds: Be careful on these also. (See my thread on quality problems). I'd stay away from the black because some are cut wider then others and you can't tell until the pack is shuffled. I haven't had a problem with the red yet.

UP:I've been using the Gallery ones and haven't had a problem with them. I also used ones simular to the one Nightmare has and no problem. Raven Black are fine, but the regular ones do suck.

[Pinder]

I'm not entirely sure what the name of the sleeves I currently use are, but I know they're made by Ultra Pro, and I know I love them. I've been using the ones I have CounterSliver in for about a year now, and they still shuffle great and I've only split one so far.


Oh, and while I'm generally not too picky, my one major quirk is that I absolutely hate sleeves with the stupid fucking anime girls/ninjas/skulls/dragons/faeries/busty vampire chicks/what have you artwork on the back. One color, solid color. End of story.

edit - Are my eyes deceiving me, or is KMC selling sleeves that go inside other sleeves?

[TrialByFire]

Ultra Pro Matte Black Textured. I just bought 800 (8 of the 100 count packs that Offthewall was talking about) of them about 2 months ago for all my decks and my Type 4 stack. They all are exactly the same color, and they have no wear and shuffle great. I won't use Dragon Shields because although they are rugged as fuck and never break, my friend has them on his cube and they shuffle like shit. So UP all the way for me. My last batch of blue Ultra Pros lasted me from 1999 till I just bought these new ones. So maybe you guys got unlucky?

[Pale Moon FTW]

Dragon Shields differ a lot for each color. I've bought some black ones a while ago they're great, except a few were miscut. Recently I bought some gray ones and they split like there's no tomorrow. I think the gold colored are the best ones.

[yawg07]

I am a very heavy advocate of Japanese > American CCG Accessories.


KMC Matte Blue/Black Sleeves: They are wonderful sleeves, but seem slightly thicker than their normal variety and don't shuffle quite as easily.

KMC Matte Red Sleeves: Nice, but the pack I got had perfect widths, but inconsistent lengths, very unlike a Japanese company.

KMC Normal Sleeves: ALMOST the best sleeves I have ever used, all colors are wonderful, excellent shuffling and consistency.

KMC Super Holography: Excellent KMC quality, but they wear a bit faster and seem thinner to me.

Yanoman 100ct GUNMETAL Sleeves: EXCELLENT Sleeves, WOW. Perfect widths and lengths. Also all Yanoman sleeves are extra long so your cards are protected best.

Yanoman 100ct Other Colors: All excellent as well, but they seem to be manufactured just oh so slightly different than their Gunmetal counterparts.

Yanoman 75ct Sleeves: Not worth your time, on Yanoman's second coming they decided to drop all true quality in their sleeves. Thin, break easy, don't shuffle very well.

AClass 100ct OPAQUE Sleeves: OMG By far the best sleeves I have ever used, they never split, they are all perfect and they shuffle forever.
I have only ever seen one color for the opaque variety, but it's a cool burgundy.

AClass 100ct Transparent Sleeves: Same unbelievable quality as the opaques, but they are transparent colors. Best draft sleeves you can ever hope for.

Aquarian Age Clear Sleeves: Holy crap most heavy duty sleeves ever. These suckers will take punishment for-EVER.
EXTREMELY hard to find, but worth it if you can.

Aquarian Age Colored Sleeves: I have never had the chance to try them, I can't find them anywhere, but I know they exist.
Please contact me if you have any.