Fixing Cards?

[bakofried]

I recently bought a playset of Forces - my first big step into legacy. However, one of them I got for $30 - it was beat up, but I thought it was only beat to the point of aesthetics. However, there is a slight bend if it is near the top (of the deck), while sleeved. The bend is slight, but noticeable. Do any of you know a way to fix this? I'd hate for my investment to be ruined.

[Jak]

Picture would help just to see how bad it actually is, but anyway, I would just try to flatten in a book and leave it there for a few days.

[bakofried]

I've done that, i put it in a textbook, then stacked like 7-8 large books on top of that. It's been sitting there for roughly two weeks ( I peeked once in the middle) and still no change. Are there any alternate ways to flatten a card?

[xTrainx]

I suppose you could bend it ever so slightly to see if it would make a difference; but you may be hesitant to do so because it is a FoW. Apart from the books, I got nothin'.

[jrsthethird]

Riffle-shuffle it with your deck a lot and see if it adopts the bend pattern of your shuffled cards. If it's already too bent to play, this can't hurt, right?

Maybe using some stiff sleeves could help, although I don't know what brand would be best.

[Malchar]

You should ask the head judge to inspect it before playing in any tournament. I would suggest just shuffling your deck a bunch and trying to bend the card in the opposite way. Theoretically, you can resell it for a similar price to what you paid for it.

[sunshine]

60 Toploaders...

You could also try investing in some perfect fits to double up your sleeves. The extra thickness has helped keep bending uniform when I've had a mix of foils and non-foils.

Riffle shuffling the cards together will also help, particularly if you vary the actual direction of the bend in the shuffle.

If that doesn't work... check with the head judge before the tournament, to be honest if you're not playing in a high level event I don't think anyone is really going to care unless the bend is completely obvious.

[jrsthethird]

60 Toploaders...

I saw a guy do this at a local store once. They kicked him out after a couple rounds because his deck was too hard to shuffle, despite the fact that he spent hours at home practicing it.

[freakish777]

I saw a guy do this at a local store once. They kicked him out after a couple rounds because his deck was too hard to shuffle, despite the fact that he spent hours at home practicing it.

Also, if the cards move around any inside the toploaders an opponent could call a judge saying you have marked cards (for instance one card moves to the bottom right corner of the toploader, and another the bottom left.

[Killing Joke]

I recently bought a playset of Forces - my first big step into legacy. However, one of them I got for $30 - it was beat up, but I thought it was only beat to the point of aesthetics. However, there is a slight bend if it is near the top (of the deck), while sleeved. The bend is slight, but noticeable. Do any of you know a way to fix this? I'd hate for my investment to be ruined.

You bought a $40 card for $30 beat up. There is no ruined investment, you got what you paid for. It will never be valued as much as the others, so even if you do bend it somewhat back into shape, it will always be worth less because its beat up. If you want to invest in magic cards, dont be cheap and buy crap copies. Spend the extra money and get ones in better condition. Theres a reason you got that for $30 begin with remember.

[TheMightyQuinn]

Some people are MWS Warriors. The format is daunting to get started in, especially if you're a kid on a budget. Buying played versions of cards is fine, as long as you're not expecting to turn around and sell/trade them easily.

[Killing Joke]

Playing on MWS is like playing in the most underdeveloped meta in the world. I've never seen so many people with bad "pet" decks in my life. I just want to say 'Look dude, you're not testing secret tech, your decks a pile of shit'. The palyers have access to any magic card ever printed, and they are still running jank. Its almost as if MWS was made specifically for the users of essentialmagic.com or something. Also, that was my point. Played cards arent investments, unless its like power or other high dollar stuff like that its kind of pointless.

[bakofried]

@Killing Joke:
Before I picked up the FoW's, I had Mono-Red goblins (with Wasteland+Rishadan Port package), The Gate, LED-Less Ichorid, and Vial Affinity. And for a poor college student, paying $30 for a piece of cardboard is a fair bit. It didn't seem that beat up at the time, so I thought it was a safe buy.

Does anyone have any other advice? My local tournament shouldn't mind, everyone's cool with beat up cards. But I'd like to have it in "flat" condition so I could take it to a major tournament.

[Phoenix Ignition]

If you double sleeve with the Perfect Fit sleeves and then normal one it does a great deal to stop warping from bad foils and creases from damaged cards. I prefer double sleeving just so I know that some scrub spilling a coke on my deck isn't going to ruin a 2000$ investment too, but doing it to smooth out cards should work well too.

Other than that there really isn't much you can do about it that I know of without making the card more noticeable (taping the sides to smooth it out would make it thicker than the rest of the cards in your deck)..

[kiblast]

Bend it backwards. Hold it for 10-30 second. Release. Problem solved.

[jazzykat]

Just to clarify, is it a curled/warped or does it have a crease? Anyway, try to put it in a bigger stack of books and sit on them for a while every day. Enough pressure should flatten just about anything. Also don't do this on carpet, or anything on carpet

[wcm8]

****I have not tested this yet****

It may be possible to iron the bend out of it. Make SURE that you test this with a basic land or something first.

Basically, you could try putting the card under a sheet of fabric, and then running a straightening iron on a low heat setting over it. Assuming the heat does not melt the ink, it could theoretically flatten out the fibers of the card.

Like I said, I am not sure if this would work without damaging the card, but its worth considering.

[bakofried]

Where can I get Perfect Fits?

[Thor]

I beileve there is a way to tape it(using paper to cover the precious cardboard) to a 2 liter coke bottle, It is suppose to help badly bent foils I assume it could work for this as well.

[Nidd]

Where can I get Perfect Fits?
Shops, Interwebz, etc.

I use them, too, and it prevents my foils from bending the way foils usually do.
And by the way, at first you'll notice that some air gets inside the sleeves and that the deck looks a lot bigger than without them. However, you can press on your deck to get the air out of the sleeves and the deck will shrink.

God, I just noticed how awful this must sound in the ears of a native speaker. Like the rest of my posts.
*shrug*

[Zlatzman]

Slightly off topic, but does anyone else have problems getting KMC Perfect Fits into KMC Matte Black sleeves? According to the packaging on the Perfect Fits it should work, but I'm unable to properly keep the card within the perfect fit as I slide it into the larger sleeve, especially during the last 2-3 mm before everything is properly inserted.

[RogueMTG]

Slightly off topic, but does anyone else have problems getting KMC Perfect Fits into KMC Matte Black sleeves? According to the packaging on the Perfect Fits it should work, but I'm unable to properly keep the card within the perfect fit as I slide it into the larger sleeve, especially during the last 2-3 mm before everything is properly inserted.

I usually find it's easier if you keep your pointer fingers on the top corners of the card when pushing it into the colored sleeve.

[majikal]

Slightly off topic, but does anyone else have problems getting KMC Perfect Fits into KMC Matte Black sleeves? According to the packaging on the Perfect Fits it should work, but I'm unable to properly keep the card within the perfect fit as I slide it into the larger sleeve, especially during the last 2-3 mm before everything is properly inserted.
Slide the card in normally about 1/2 - 3/4 of the way in, and then place your index finger on the face of the card and just guide it in under the clear plastic. If you do it right, the card will bow under your finger very slightly, lifting up the front of the exterior sleeve just enough for your finger to fit in.

[Picc]

Someone already said it but just iron the card. Ive done it to several and it works quite well for flattening them out. Set your iron on low heat and med steam put the card between to thin peices of cloth (I've used dish cloths and a square of material from an old dress shirt) and iron the card. Once your done the card should be hot, flat, and a little moist. Throw it in a heavy book overnight so it doesnt re warp and your done. Also if your trying this method make sure you dont iron the card directly. It wont hurt the ink or anything but it will scuff the heck out of the finish. Still a skuffed flat card is a lot more playable then a warped one imo.