Best sleeves?

Somebody somewhere figured out the best sleeves for the Rook City (and thus for Enhanced Edition, Infernal Relics, Unity, and Ambuscade) cards.

I’ve found mention of ‘Mayday Premium’. is that right?

And what size?

I prefer Mayday Normal. Because thinner sleeves are what you need when “It’s not heavy, it’s my game”. :wink:

The green one, 63.5x88.

Mayday Games has a bad reputation on BoardGameGeek, horror stories about slow customer service, faulty products being passed as fit for purpose, and one that sticks out as particularly relevant here, a batch of card sleeves melting into a solid slab when left in a car.

There are also however people on BGG who have had no problems with Mayday sleeves and swear by them.

Do some research first on Mayday Games and Seth Hiatt (owner) to make up your own mind before committing yourself to these sleeves.

For what it’s worth, I am one of those that never had problems with Mayday sleeves. I’ve been using them to sleeve all my games so far.

I use FFG sleeves just because it’s what my FLGS carries. They are tough and I have ever had on split. I have had about 50% good and bad with mayday. That’s not good enough for me to continue buying from them, but YMMV.

I love the Fantasy Flight sleeves. Yeah, they’re thicker, but I personally like 'em like that.

…that didn’t come out right.

+1

I don’t remember what we got, but if I recall correctly they were a japanese brand? Anyways, we’ve got some nice, durable clear sleeves. They don’t have the disadvantage of being easily ruined like penny sleeves, but they still show off the nice backs of the cards, which I really appreciate. One thing that was annoying was that they were quite expensive (approx $7/100?).

I’ve never hard and problems with the normal Mayday greens, but they do wear out with continued use (like any sleeve). As a result, when Rook City came out, I changed to Mayday Premiums (went back and re-sleeved the original set too). In general, I have found them very satisfactory. They don’t wear nearly as quickly, and they add a nice thickness to the cards. However, when sleeving them, I usually find 1-3 sleeves per pack that are too narrow, and you will probably end up bending the cards (I bent 2) if you try to use them. So, assuming you’re willing to toss a few each pack, they’re great.

Went with Dragon Shield Clear Standard.  I found a dealer on Ebay that was willing to sell them for a few bucks less than retail since I was buying 15 packs.  I am about 1/2 way done and I have not had a single imperfect sleeve, and I know Dragon lasts very well.  I just need to get a 2nd Rook/Infernal box so that they all fit.

 

Dragon shields are the best sleeves for cards (imo). Ive been using them for years and have only had a few wear out on me. The only real problem with them is price, and it was expensive to sleeve this entire game in them. They also take up more space, as do all sleeves. 

I'll throw in my two cents for anyone not wanting to spend loads of money on Dragon Shields.

I recently picked up some KMC Perfect Fits.  They were being sold in bundles; 10 packs of 100.  I ordered 2 of those (bringing me to a whopping 2000 sleeves which is more than enough to cover all my cards plus Vengeance once it's out).

Perfect Fits are basically (from my brief experience, but also according to several of my friends who play Magic heavily and have been using KMC for years) the best penny sleeves you can get, especially considering they are so slim.  They are 64mm x 89mm (If I recall, SotM cards are 63.5mm x 88mm) making them tight enough to fit in the EE box, yet not so tight that they warp the card.

I've got to say, I'm extremely happy with them.  Not only do they provide a snug, protective fit, but they are much more durable than other penny sleeves I've used.  I didn't come across any tears while sleeving and shuffling/manipulating the deck hasn't resulted in any edge tearing or seam splitting.

Again, I should remind people, these are still penny sleeves; they aren't going to last a nuclear war and Dragon Shields will protect your cards better.  Also shuffling (while not as bad as some other penny sleeves) is definitely a bit difficult considering the added slipperiness.  But, if you're buying 2000 sleeves and don't want to spend so much money that you might as well just buy a second copy of the game, Perfect Fits might be a very attractive option.

I have been using clear Dragonshield standards as well.  Not cheap, but good protection for the cards.  My interim storage solution for these has been getting empty Dragonshield sleeve boxes from my FLGS, labeling them, and storing decks in those (1 hero / 2 villain / 4 environments) per sleeve box.  Not the most attractive, but more effective IMO than storing decks sideways in the EE box and using a long plain card box that just handled EE and Shattered Timelines.

Now working on the best way to haul around 30 or so small cardboard boxes.  :cry: