MTG - How To Sort And Store Your Magic: The Gathering Card Collection

[@immersion726]

Ngl I would love a newer version of this video. It's been like 6-7 years. Would be cool to see how the Professor stores his Pokémon TCG Collection as well.

[@avavii]

@Professor Make it happen :) this is a great idea.

[@seapanda-117]

Please. Card storage based on budget and expectation, like most of your modern stuff is. Haven’t even started playing again yet, and this channel is fun to watch and listen to.

[@justingolden21]

Not a new video, but I'll give my two cents as a decade long player with a large collection: Separate cards into several broad categories: Decks / for specific decks General deck building (cards you want around for decks, for example commander staples) Collection (cards that you want to hold on to and are not for trade) Trades Bulk Basic Lands / Tokens When you obtain any product, be it singles, opening packs, getting a deck, or a secret lair, sort the cards out into these broad categories. Firstly, pull out any cards for decks, then any cards you want for decks in general, then anything you want to hold on to. The remaining rares, mythics, foils, and powerful uncommons/commons can go in trades, with the rest in bulk. As for organizing each section: Decks go in deck boxes. I personally have the plastic 2 piece boxes from ultra pro that are 2 dollars and store 100 sleeved cards. They look nice displayed on a shelf and fit perfectly in an amazon basics DSLR camera backpack, which holds 12 decks + dice and mats. You can also put them in smaller deck boxes in fat packs/bundles, or you can get something such as the ultimate guard box that holds 4-5 commander decks plus dice and mats, for on the go. For general deck building, I used to use fatpacks but found binders are nicer and easier. Same for my collection of stuff to hold on to (for no reason) such as cards I like, secret lair stuff, etc. As for trades, I currently have them in large plastic boxes (to store more cards, since I don't bring them frequently), but for most people I would recommend binders. One thing of note with ring binders, is the rings can indent in the sleeves. That's why I prefer the typical ultra pro / ultimate guard binders, although having modular pages is a million times better imo. You'll want to decide if you want a zipper, also if you want a backing on the pages, and finally the size. Typical sizes are 3x3, 3x4, 4x4, 2x2x2, 3x2, 2x2, 2x1. 3x3 is the most common and a general purpose good size. 3x4 is a bit large but good for specific purposes such as collecting a set or organizing playsets in 4s. 2x2 binders are nice for being portable. My bulk is organized by set and set ONLY. I have large plastic boxes from the container store that work PERFECTLY and are very large and stack well, they also come with dividers and are clear. In my opinion, it's not worth sorting even by color or common/uncommon here. Sorting by set is super easy (nearly instant almost all the time, given that when you get a product it's usually from one set, or a few standard sets), and it works chronologically, so adding new cards is super easy. As for sorting by color, it takes more time and requires that every single time you get a card from anywhere, you actually sort it. This way, if I open 36 packs, I can just throw them all in the set area (after removing rares, foils, tokens, lands). If you're looking for a specific card, searching the set is nearly instant. If you're browsing your collection in general for cards, and you're browsing bulk, and you need specific colors, and this happens frequently, then maybe you have different needs than I do. Personally, my bulk is almost always just going to sit there, and I rarely sift through it, and sifting through a hundred cards from one set to find a card is worth not having to organize every single card by number. If I want a specific card (dissolve from theros for example), then I go to theros and look for maybe 60 seconds max. It doesn't need to be organized even by color. If it was organized by color first, I'd have to search through every single blue card, which would be awful. My basic lands just go in small stackable plastic boxes that are labeled. My tokens go in a fatpack box (they outgrew the stackable boxes) Lastly, I just have a bunch of fat packs. They're very easy to store and fit together nicely, look nice, and are compact. I can hide away some cards in there but mostly just keep them empty. I've used them for trades and bulk in the past, but I think binders are better for premium cards and the container store boxes are best for bulk. I also have gift boxes that I used to use for trades and for modern decks, still have some modern decks in there. The boxes are very useful but I don't find myself using them much personally. Since they're more of a pain than fatpack boxes, I would store bulk or cards that aren't often accessed in there.

[@avavii]

@@justingolden21 thank you so much for this post. It should be a blog post. Good read.

[@williamburrows6215]

This ^

[@Valefolken]

Instead of color and rarity, I sort by color and mana cost. Helps me to keep on top of my mana curve when making a new deck. Rarity doesn't necessarily reflect usefulness in combat.

[@robogent2025]

Same here it helps a lot

[@jeffdawson7841]

Aye

[@randomredfox2780]

Same

[@superfrankytien]

Same too

[@brittanynguyen3794]

All who think this is great say aye, Aye

[@theothegreekthunder1938]

Honestly even though no one will see this I just wanted to say that watching old mtg youtubers and their old videos give me such nostalgia

[@plagedh3]

Ye

[@xenok5]

I agree

[@robertchitty3603]

Greetings from 2024 🫡

[@FuckYoCouchFish]

"If you don't feel comfortable cutting up Ad Cards you can always cut up something less valuable, like cluestones instead" lol killed me

[@TolarianCommunityCollege]

FuckYoCouchFish Those cluestones really ticked me off. I wrapped a friend's Christmas gift in them. Still have far too many.

[@z0zz9]

Tolarian Community College banners are just as bad and both cards ruin drafting because by the end you have at least three dead cadrs in your sideboard

[@galaxy384]

FuckYoCouchFish RIP Death by cluestone

[@AClockworkMelon]

I fucking died when he said this.

[@patrickgambler8585]

Heard the prof saying that 2 min. ago, ... still laughing tears. :-)

[@ux8r858]

This video should have been called "How To Gather Your Magic: The Gathering Card Collection", well it would have amused me at least.

[@jfredett]

"Collecting and Gathering the Magic: Magic the Gathering and Collecting"

[@sasuke22dante]

Magic: The Gathering : The Gathering

[@codybabody171]

The Magic of Gathering Magic the Gathering

[@brockmckelvey7327]

I miss the old gift boxes (like from Kaladesh) that doubled as storage boxes. I'm using one for my medium-sized collection and it's working perfectly.

[@shaunwelch3438]

Just wanted to say I felt this video was amazing. I've recently attempted to get back into MTG after really sporadic play over the past five years and have a mishmash of a collection I'm trying to get under control. This, as well as your other videos, have been a huge help in sorting, storing, and protecting my collection. Your returning player advice is superb as well--your breakdown of buying a booster box has convinced me to never ever do that again. Even if the singles seem like more of an up-front cost, I think it'll be healthier on my wallet, my sanity, and my willingness to stick with the game. Thank you!

[@swordcop3668]

This is the best timing ever. My entire RTR holiday gift box just broke and spilled my entire collection. Thanks for this video. You should try deck techs every once in a while. I so far have enjoyed watching your modern decks.

[@andreas629]

glad i found this video,i finally decided to short my cards but i have litterally two full trash bags of common and uncommons and i didn't know where to start.I got back in mtg after a few years of absence and i am so excited!!!!

[@kennyiskenny7786]

I've got this habit of sorting the cards after i open a booster box. The broad sectioning by color, within this they're sorted by rarity, within the rarity section they're sorted by mana cost and then within the same mana cost they're alphabetized if there's more than one type. Very tedious but it's therapeutic in a way

[@alandunn6090]

I keep most my commons and uncommons in the theros gift box, my rares, mythics, and non basic lands in my binder, and I sell off most of it when they fill up. As for sorting, I sort by color, then creatures, then all other spells. The thought had never occurred to me to sort by set. Keep up the good work, these videos are very informative and helpful.

[@dylanisaacs9273]

Indeed

[@Colinmchapman]

Been playing for about 10 months now - wish I found this video 9 months ago. Love it! Thanks.

[@Dark-Hound]

My wife and I adopted this exact sorting method, and it has been a huge time saver. Thanks!

[@domenicokleanthous]

that is why we are calling you the professor! you find solutions for everything and most importantly you SHARE the solutions with us to make us organize our cards better! way to go Professor!

[@bowera89]

Just started getting into magic and starting my collection. Slowly learning to play. This helped my a lot, not just for magic but my other collectible card game cards which is all getting larger and larger. Thanks a lot!

[@Nagoto1992]

Proff - Even 4 years later videos like this are helping players! Thank you. I'm excited to organize my collection.

[@kohlorolo4700]

My collection is unorganized. This video helps a ton, as I never really had a guideline for organization. Great vid!

[@dungeonmaster16]

At 3:55 for the ad card part what I do is I get penny sleeves (if ppl don't know it's literally avg 1 buck for 100 loose sleeves, mainly use to sleeve common/uncommon no to low value foils to keep them in good condition but good to sleeve ads and make as tabs) for them and put between them. Helps a lot for my sorting ways.

[@Spyhohi]

Thank you for this. I love collecting and playing, I actually didn't know where to even begin but this gives me a good foundation to stand on. You're the best!

[@Nhaydu257]

+Tolarian Community College I run Kruphix as my main, and favorite commander, something I have NEVER seen before. As someone that really only plays edh and thoroughly enjoys your videos this is something i would LOVE to see happen. Deck reviews of user submitted decks would be something you don't see anywhere.

[@screwthishi5thing]

Really nice. I have a rather small collection (Alara & Zendikar block stuff, and then things that play in the current standard, since I took a long hiatus) but the bulk of it still occupies quite a few fat pack boxes and a large printed cardboard box I have (it's UltraPro). I really was questioning myself about how to order them propperly and this was a great video to elucidate me on that. I presume there are going to be upcoming videos on this topic, maybe discussing other collection sizes. I look forward to them!

[@TolarianCommunityCollege]

Yes, I want to talk about effective setups for people who primarily draft and maybe have a standard deck from time to time, as well as other types of collections.

[@Woodwender455]

​@@TolarianCommunityCollege Hey Professor! I would love to know an effective setup for exactly that! Do you have any suggestions? I draft and was planning on having a few deck boxes for standard cards, then the rest of my cards somewhere else. I don't think storing my cards by set would work. I was thinking either a 3200 bcw box or an 800-1000 ct. bcw box for each color.

[@luci9317]

This video really helped me, I was really lost when sorting my binder. unfortunately my local gamestore doesn't have that kind of binder in stock yet. Thank you from 7 years in the future!

[@Sparkrdom]

I would love to see this updated!

[@OgreOwner]

I print up clear mailing labels with the name, rarity and number of each card for a set on Avery 88695 labels, then put a label on the bottom center of each pocket in an UltraPro 9 pocket Platinum page. I then put the pages for a set into a good quality binder and adorn the outside of the binder with art from booster boxes. Each pocket holds up to two play sets of each card, and I put tick marks on the labels for rare cards to indicate how many rares I have as the rares tend to live in decks I am playing. In this way, I know if a rare can go into the trade binder or not. My goal is a play set of each card and for Khans, I am within 1 card away from that goal at this moment. When the set rotates out, I have the cards in a binder on the shelf to build whatever deck I want. Excess cards go to my nephews or get sold to a local store.

[@ObsidianPichu]

I'm pretty sure I saw a playset of Endless Ranks of The Dead in there. I knew there was a reason I liked this channel.

[@dusk1947]

This comment is very late, but I personally havn't touched a magic card in twelve years... Until earlier this week when I cleaned out a storage area and found a giant box of cards dating to my teenage years. This time capsule of MTG immediately set me on a path to once again becoming a casual player. I also quickly found your channel, and have been burning through your video's in an attempt to catch up on formats like Modern and Pauper. But this video specifically is what I needed. Teenage me was not organized. I would often come back from a draft night and add my cards to a random box... twelve years later, I now need to finally sort the 3-4 thousand commons and uncommons; of which I had no idea where to start. Thank you for this video! and your content is exceptional

[@Brandon9oh7]

My girlfriend and brother and I have a shared collection, that I mostly organize... with the help of my girlfriend, she's looking over my shoulder as I type this. We do a lot of similar things. Finding out about the binder pages and moving them with set rotation was clutch. We get one holiday gift box per block since those come with all the tabs and stickers for organizing. Great video, very helpful tips!

[@dylanisaacs9273]

GREAT video man you make the best videos I have seen. This video helped me out drastically and I wanted to say how happy I was

[@Silversnorlax204]

I absolutely love these videos that you put up. I love seeing all of the organization and reviews. Helps me come up with my own ideas for my own collection and channel. Keep it up!

[@nmpb1234]

OMG silversnorlax likes toleration to yay

[@Silversnorlax204]

Never a bad idea to support a member of a TCG community. Despite us all playing different card games, I find we all enjoy doing what we do together.

[@nmpb1234]

Absolutely

[@gregfrench4619]

"If you don't feel comfortable cutting up ad cards, you can always cut up something less valuable like cluestones instead." You are the best.

[@thesamuraiman]

This has been a big help. I've got a lot of cards and am having trouble sorting them. I'll probably invest in those BCW boxes. ~TSM

[@MrInsaneSam]

Don't get me wrong I already loved your videos, but this seriously made you my favorite MTG KZbinr haha.

[@TolarianCommunityCollege]

That's really nice to hear, thanks! :)

[@GreenDayFanMT]

After all these years, still a great help.

[@NagbratzNasenbeisser]

Please more of these magic merch and protection videos!

[@deanswift2557]

You have helped me throughout my magic investment and taught me what is worth buying and what is not. Please continue producing these videos because they are a lot of help! Thanks.

[@BushRat253]

I would love to see videos on EDH! I'm an avid Commander player and always love seeing new content.

[@TolarianCommunityCollege]

Cool, because I have several EDH/Commander videos I'd like to do.

[@boskojal1681]

Careful when storing your cards in sleeve sheets binders, if you store your binder vertically, the weight of cards will bend the sleeves and also your cards

[@dustybloo3019]

There are a lot of new products on the market for TCG collection. I would love to see a new video from prof showcasing some new binders and storage boxes. For example I don't like storing my collection in three ring binders due to the possibility if the rings damaging the cards, so I buy binders that have stitched pages. I also recommend side loader binders to mitigate the possibility of dust collecting inside the card.

[@threeparthuman]

This is cool LOL. I like how systematic and serious the voice/method is.

[@TheRealHanzan]

thank you so much! i am new to magic but already collected a rather big sized collection. this was exactly what i needed to know how to store it

[@QueencityAirsoft]

This helped a lot! My collection is starting to getting out of hand. This video gave me ideas.

[@neonz2712]

I literally just like to sit on my floor with cards all around me & sort them each multiple times. The first way I sort is by color, the second is by card type, then I sort the creatures from least to greatest toughness, then I sort those from least to greatest power, I store all of the sorted creatures, and then I follow that up by storing every other card type in order systematically. I tend to leave the cards I remove most near the end of the pages as I hate having gaps in my pages as well as having to move all of the other cards around the ones I remove. You could say that I'm a little OCD about sorting my cards. The honest truth is that I wouldn't trust anybody to sort my collection the way I do. Sometimes, if you want something done right, you have to do it yourself.

[@neonz2712]

I'd also like to mention that I don't alphabetize or sort by set as I find it counter-productive. I'd rather just keep two binders like the Prof. One for legacy & another for standard.

[@tefnutofhoney2832]

I tend to sort by plane, not set, and faction, alongside color, rarity, card type, and creature type. Usually cards from the same plane tend to synergize well is all.

[@michaelbrintz7820]

I love your channel. Recently started playing again and I find all your videos helpful, fun and engaging. Thank you!

[@ytsejam58]

I find color and set to be the most useful for my organization style. But I'm constantly wrestling over what takes precedence. Set first then color. Or color then set. Having colors together is nice because if I was building a deck with only black cards then I only need to look through my black box. But having cards of a set together is nice too because set cards usually synergize well with each other. I basically build my own battle decks. Taking draft themes and expanding them with modern cards.

[@emmathepony1992]

the best CCG storage video on youtube , you helped me a ton !

[@b3ans4eva]

Awesome advice that can be carried over to any TCG. I really should be doing this better.

[@SuaveDavid]

Watching this video for tips on making it easier to get rid of my collection, and it's just making me want to pick up playing again.

[@IrunwiththeBrits]

I would really appreciate a video on organizing and storing a smaller collection.

[@ericfortin559]

I keep one full set of each edition in binders. Then I have 2 more binders - a small one for overpriced cards ($20+), and a huge one for cards that aren't quite pricey enough to make the high value cut, as well as cards that I am always grabbing for deckbuilding. With what's left, I sort by putting cards in order by set chronology and card collector number in long boxes. For early sets without collector number, I organize alphabetically by white, blue, black, red, green, multicolor, artifact, nonbasic land, and finally basic lands. Frankly I can usually find the cards I am looking for in seconds - the only exception being if they are in my deckbuilding binder, so I always check there first if I'm unsure. I have a label-maker so all my boxes and binders are labeled.

[@rosalie.e.morgan]

Ikea sells a wine rack that fits into the kallax units, and they hold an 800 count bcw box quite well, although not perfectly. You lose vertical storage space, but it makes it easy to pull out any individual box.

[@captianbacon]

I would like a updated version of this and how you handle massive collections from a decade plus of playing cause I'm personally at odds with my collection idk what to do anymore.

[@timothygomm9603]

This was very helpful. I am just starting out and my collection is starting to grow.

[@moodragonx2]

Thanks so much for your help! There are a lot of suggestions online but this was some of the best advice for my needs at least.

[@2ogres1cup50]

This video is just so useful. Even freakin' 7 years later. It's like it hasn't aged a bit.

[@BlanktonFAB]

I sort my standard cards, that are playable in constructed, in a gift box. My sorting method is to separate creature spells, non-creatures spells and non-basic lands. Then I further sort them by mana cost and color. I need a second gift box for my modern cards (I will never play legacy), so they are currently not too well organized in a cardboard box. Thanks for the sorting tips! It's interesting to see how other people organize stuff differently than others.

[@chineseproduct4708]

Hey guy, honestly, you make an amazing videos: good sound, excelent quality videos. You should have 100k subscriber at least

[@TolarianCommunityCollege]

100k? I'd be happy with 10k at the moment. Ha! Glad you enjoy the videos and find them helpful! :)

[@dyadgen5197]

Would love to see an update to this subject. I’m sure you collection has doubled-even tripled-since this was made.

[@Nazorath]

Love the videos! Been playing since Onslaught i don't play tournaments myself so i break my stuff down and little differently. I usually play kitchen table casual with friends and acquaintances by vintage rules. I store all my stuff in binder by color. each color has at least 2 binders one for all creatures one for enchantment, instant, sorcery. Then within that its all broken down by creature type and rarity for creature binders and just rarity for spell binders. Lands, Artifacts(along with artifact creatures) and Multi-colors have there own seprate binder and get the same treatment. Multi's i break down by Guilds (Ravnica, Alara etc) then by creature type and rarity.

[@Phoeveryoung]

I like cutting up a Land and tip/ad card, taping them together, and using it as dividers. The tip card is sideways with the rest of the cards and the Land is taped upright so the tip card keeps the Land card from moving back and forth in the box. (I use the 800 BCW sideload storage)

[@DaveS86]

Professor, I just recently returned to Magic and stumbled across your channel. Thank you for all of the great videos! I have a question though: What is the advantage of storing rares in binders instead of in top loaders inside boxes with the commons and uncommons?

[@garrettcarrett8634]

Professor! Update this video! I’m about to start collecting and I’d love to know if your methods have changed!

[@evanalexander7706]

That Cluestone joke though...

[@yerfdog1935]

Did you also literally LOL?

[@magerehenk7579]

yerfdog1935 can you figuratively lol?

[@LinkEX]

magerehenk  Well, you can definitely type this omnipresent internet slang term without actually laughing out loud in front of your computer or smartphone - and in fact thousands of people do this every single day - so saying that you literally lol'd actually does convey additional information.

[@FriedSynapse]

Actually, whenever someone types "lol" I assume they are politely saying "That's a joke you made... yeah." When someone says that they actually, literally laughed out loud, I take it to mean that it was something legitimately funny. But then... sometimes people read into what others say/type too much.

[@mesutdegirmenci850]

Ppr novido. Thé

[@SHINTA1035]

Been subscribed for a while and love the vids. Keep it up man. :)

[@lamgor89]

i really like your channel, been watching and you answer all my Magic The Gathering, questions Thanks You Love from Sydney, Australia

[@deathcometh61]

I sort by color then mana cost. For my Rares I use 10-Compartment Professional Deep Organizer (Home Depot). I have 3. OR the Kobalt 10 Compartment Organizer (lowes). One makes up my trade collection/Rares One makes up 10 EDH Decks Last one makes up my standard/Mordern Decks and future Ideas. They run $15-16, but are hard plastic and its hard for someone to walk away without being seen with a large yellow box.

[@parkercole6389]

lol that jab at clue stones xD

[@Populous3Tutorials]

never forget i had black lotus when i was kid and some older dude from school traded it with me i gave him lotus he gave me 2 random shit cards i hate him and myself :)

[@leredrasscul]

:(

[@Toppro]

The cluestone crack was great. :)

[@TolarianCommunityCollege]

True Story: For Christmas I wrapped some of my friend's gifts in cluestones. Saved me some cash on wrapping paper and finally put them to good use!

[@einhorn303]

I basically have a 3 pool system, with the cards sorted by color within those pools: Pauper playables, Commander playables, and all other bulk. A lot of storage solutions depend on your favored formats and other personal needs.

[@TheRinyoko]

I'm going to take some tips from this video, I find having my cards divided by color, type and then mana cost is easier and better than rarity (ej: Commons separated from uncommons)

[@diegoscar6591]

I do love the idea of the 2 binders, very helpfull!

[@jg45631]

For annyone with a collection of say 1000 to about 2000 or even 3000 cards, id recomend a sports card plastic container where there are 4 rows in the front and 2 larger rows in the back, it makes a good common and uncommon storage for the 5 colors and mixed or colorless color cards, as said in the video, put you rares or valuble uncommons in a binder. And for basic lands, i use the MGT DeckBuilders Toolkit box for those or you can use a fat pack box aswell, if you have extra commons and uncommons, just buy annother sport card container. I hope you guys with decent colections of 1 to 3 thousand cards find this useful.

[@mrstraiban]

A video suggestion: an overview on some of the most and least (aka homelands) popular mtg sets.

[@tkfritz5790]

ive been looking for a video like this forever! Thank you!

[@jackm8971]

Absolutely amazing. Could you do a video on how you came to own so many mythics and rares please.

[@Venefica82]

My collection is in dissaray at the moment but generally I have one large ring binder per color for commons and uncommons and then I have portfolios for rares and keep lands in boxes.

[@Sdesser]

Started Magic just earlier this year and I love your videos. Got myself that real nice Ultra Pro Deck-Box (The satin hard plastic one) and it's perfect. Seeing my collection has grown quite a lot and with new sets, it will grow a lot more, I'm having a hard time finding good means of storing and carrying them with me to my friends house for playing, trading, deck building and so forth. Currently I have two fully loaded M14 Deck Builder's Toolkit boxes, but sooner or later they'll fall apart, they are cardboard after all. Any tips on how to store cards for easy access and transportation? (I travel by bike or bus, so they kind of have to fit in a backpack)

[@TolarianCommunityCollege]

You'll probably do well with the BCW boxes I show in the video. They're A LOT tougher than the deckbuilders, but hold cards in a similar manner. They're great for throwing in your backpack before you hop on your bike because they are tough and stay shut. Best of all, you can usually find them for just a couple bucks (if your local card shop doesn't carry them, try Amazon or eBay) so if they do eventually deteriorate (after years) it's not that big a deal to just spend a couple bucks and replace one.

[@Sdesser]

Alright, thanks! I'll take a look around for those. I live in Finland though and I've not seen BCW boxes anywhere. Amazon / eBay will prolly be the way to go.

[@TolarianCommunityCollege]

Ah, that specific brand may not be available in Finland, but show a picture to the salseman at your local card store and see if they have something similar.

[@Sdesser]

Okay, will do. Thanks for the tips!

[@mythtage]

Many Magic: The Gathering players ask the question. I need a full video of every time the Professor has said that

[@a.tapes_]

this is the first TCC video i saw a few months ago. at the time i really thought "Tolarian Community College" was an actual school and this was some weird student project or something. i was like "wow im amazed a school decided to make a random video about magic." I also imagined that a place called Tolarian Community College was/would be in arizona or nevada

[@IsomerMashups]

There's no way I will ever remember which cards came from which set.

[@bryancook2965]

I sort mine by Set, Color, and mana cost. It makes it really easy once you know the set and the mana cost of each card.

[@rojoshow13]

I sort my Pokemon cards by type, and alphabetize, and also keep the evolution cards with each other. This has proven challenging since some sets have a Pokemon as one type but another type in another set. And some Pokemon evolve into multiple different Pokemon​ of different types. It's a constant and neverending effort of moving a card from one place to another.

[@kmt112991]

These tips pretty much applies to any TCG. Great vids!

[@PandaJohn71]

I have a video suggestion for a video: Dealing with Friends who like to make frustrating rule changes for casual play (ie. no such thing as max hand size or having 5+ Gates in a Return to Ravnica built deck).

[@stev019]

I do Set --> Color --> Card type (sorted by "speed") --> Converted Mana Cost --> Alphabet Incredibly easy to find anything, but time consuming to add cards to the collection. I mainly play draft so I just sort the cards I get at draft/sealed and then add them to the already sorted box of the set. I don't do rarity. Dollar rares go in the box with the commons. If they are something valuable, they have a different place to be stored. If they are foils that I care about, they are generally double sleeved and stored to avoid the warping that foils love to do on me. If I was constructing decks all the time, I would also likely just sort by rarity and color and say "good enough" but most of my constructed decks stay as they are.

[@c.d.dailey8013]

That is a very interesting view on collection organization. I mainly play MTG using Arena. It is partly because I can't afford to buy a bunch of cards. It is partly because quarantine closed down events at local game stores. I have some physical cards, and I just store them in one box. MTG Arena is very limitaed because I can't afford any micrrotransactions. So I use suppliment programs. I use Cockatrice to simiulate and practice MTG games I also developed a personal virtual card collection. I download card images from the MTG Pics website. I save the images in JPEG form. Then I put pictures on my computer. I did put the collections ona flash drive later on. I use the filing of computer storage to organize the card pictures. This is a virtual card collection. I have all the cards currently in standard except Kaldheim. I have plans to add in Kaldheim in the near future. I also go deep into the history and collect cards from old sets. My collection is almost 10,000 cards so far. It is still growing. I did develop my own system for organizing cards. It is good to note that the method of organization is personal. It can vary. I do find the organization by rarity and set to be too arbitrary. So I don't do that. Set is good at showing what plane the cards go in. I do use plane as a part of my organization. However it tends to be for catagories for a bunch of cards, like basic lands. If one plane has multiple sets, I tend to put the sets together.without distingction. The one part of the organizaition that make sense to me is by color. That is what I do. Her is my system. This is the kind that is personal to me. I am not making anyone else do this. I would just like to share. The first way for me to divide cards is by color. There are seven. These are green, red, black, blue, white, colorless and multicolor. With multicolor I subdivide it further. The next subdivision is how many colors there are. There is 2 colors, 3 colors, 4 colors and 5 colors. Then next the group is subdivided by the exact combo color. 2 colors has Gruul, Golgari, Rakdos, Izzit, Dimir, Orizhov, Azorious, Simic, Selesnya and Boros. 3 colors has Naya, Sultai, Jund, Jeskai, Grixis, Azban, Esper, Temur, Bant and Mardu. 4 colors has chaos, agression, alturism, growth and artifice. Then after the collection is sorted into color, the cards are then subdivided into card type. The card types are land, creature, spell, plainswalker, artifact and token. Then each card type has its own method into subdivision. Lands are seperated to basic and special. Basic is the forest, mountain, swamp, island and plains cards. I keep multiple pictures of basic land cards. They have different artwork of them. Special lands are other land cards with special effects. After lands are divided into basic and special, they are subdivided by plane. In the 2 color folder, there are dual lands. I have special subdivisions. It is things like basic, gain, shock, scy, pathway etc. I know that there are special names for different kinds of dual lands. I incorperate that. For colorless cards, I go straight into division by plains. There isn't really basic lands for colorless. The closest I have seen so far is waste cards. I just put them in the Zendikar colorless lands group. Then there is the creature cards. I subdivde them by tribe. First I divided the creature cards in general biological groupings. Then I divide the groupings by the tribes. Here are some examples. The mammal grouping has tribes like wolves, cats, pegasi and elks. The reptile grouping has dragons, dinosaurs, lizards and snakes. The arthropod grouping has tribes like spider, insect and crab. It is general groups like that. I did include an amorphus group for things that are neither humanoid nor animal. This is for tribs like elemental, ooze, fungus and plant. I also included monster group for animals that don't fit in a distinct biological group. This has things like beast and chimera. There is the grouping of humanoid. It is the biggest. So that needs further subdivision. There is a subdivision of human, which only has the human tribe. Thene there other subdivsion of humanoid which has groups of tribes. Here are some examples. The fae group has fairies, elves, dwarves and merfolk. The monstrosity group goblins, giants, ogres and orcs. The furry group has centaurs, satyrs and nagas. The celestial group has angels, gods and demigods. The undead group has vampires, zombies and skeletons. The infernal group has deamons, devils and imps. The etherial group has djinn, vedalken and illusion. The spook group has horrors, nightmares and spectres. The human, fae, monstrosity, furry, celestial, undead, infernal, etherial and spook are the humanoid groups I got so far. The groups are varied. Humanoid cards often have two words. The first word describes the race. The second word descibes the class. I divide humanoid cards by race. Then within a single race I divide by class. I have seven groups so far for class. There is normal, martial, agile, nature, arcane, holy and social. Normal is for cards that only have the one word for race and there is no secondary class. Martrial has warrior, soldier, berserker and knight. Agile has rogue, scout, assasin, archer and pirate. Nature has shaman and druid. Arcane has wizard, warlock and artificer. Holy has priest and monk. Social is an odd grouping. It is more about the economic class in society as opposed to the regualar classes that fit in a RPG. Examples of this is noble and peasent.

[@c.d.dailey8013]

Then there is the spell card type. It is tricky. The technical distion of spell cards in MTG has a very broad catagory. When I use the spell type in my organization, I use a much narrorwer distinction. Spells are subdivided into instants, sorceries and enchantments. So only cards within these groups count as spell cards in my system. Instants and sorceries are divided into groups based on the general effects. This varies by color, since different colors have different mechanics. Green spells have ramp, pump, counters, fight, noncreature destruction, flying hate, token, heal, card draw, damage prevention resurrection and lure. Red spells have damage, pump, card draw, noncreature destruction and stealing. Black spells have resurrection, weakness, drain health, creature destruction, discard, health payment, sacrifice, exile and pump. Blue spells have counter spell, card draw, bounce, tapping, evasion, weaken, mill, morph, mimic, stealing and time. White spells have heal, pump, token, creature removal, board wipe, noncreature destruction, damage prevention and tapping. All colors have choice and other categories in spells. Choice has the players chose between two or more effects. Other is for wierd effects that don't go in any other catagory. Enchantments are organized diffrent from instants and sorceries. They are subdivided into normal, aura and saga. Normal is for enchantments that don't go in one of the other catagories. Then the next main card type is planeswalker. I subdivide planeswalker into groups based on individual characters. Each character can have multiple cards for them especially Nicol Bolas and the Gatewatch. So I have a group of cards for the same character in each group. I also put in emblems. Planeswalkers are characters like Nissa, Chandra, Lilliana, Jace and Gideon. I have noticed special cases where that smae character has a color shift. In that case I just put cards in seperate colors first, then I distinguish them as planes walker of a given indivial character. For example Nissa is usually mono green, but in rare case she can go Simic and Golgari. The next group is artifact. Artifacts are subdivided to normal, equipment, creature and vehicle. Normal is for artifacts that don't fit in the other three catagories. Artifact creatures are subdivided by tribes, just like regual creatures. I do add in the machine grouping. This has artifact creatures like golems, constructs, gargoyles and thopters. For normal, equipment and vehicle, I do make a subdivision by plane. In colorless artifacts, I sometimes notice they they belong in certain factions. So I make that distinction. This is in normal artifacts. I can put in equipment, creture and vehicle artifacts if they fit in a given faction. Whithin a distinction of normal artifact and plane, there is subdivision by faction. There is normal for artifacts without factions. Theen there are groups for all the faction. The faction disctinction are special cases. I have three so far. The Ravnica artifacts are distinguished by the ten guilds. The Tarkir artifacts and distinguished by the five clans. The Kaladesh artifacts are distinguished by the five phases of the aether cycle. The last card type is tokens. Since tokens are representations of creatures, I divide them by tribe. Token cards don't have explicit symbols. However I can tell what color grouping they belong to based on the color bar that has the token name. Some tokens have a color coded border. So the subdivisions I have is really deatailed. Yet I go in further.

[@c.d.dailey8013]

The final distinction is plane. This is about what place of the multiverse the card comes from. This is where distinguishing the sets is helpful. Lands are the main cards that are distinguished by plane. It makes sense considering that land cards represent the setting and environment. However this distinction of planes can apply to any card grouping. I try to limit the cards or divisions to only a few. Then I can tell where to go at a glance. The cards are auotmatically alphebetized by name in the comuter system. However for folders, I don't want them alphabetizezd. So I put numbers in front of names, so the computer can put the folders in the right order. There is a Alphebetizing does seem arbirtray to me. I am not a huge fan of it. I divide creature types by tribe. The humanoids get extra subdivisions by class. The spell cards get subdivided to instant, sorcery and enchantments. Then they are suubdivided by effects. The planeswalker cards get subdivided by the individual characters the cards are based on. The artifact cards are distinguished to normal, equipment, creature and vehicle. The The tokens are organized like creature cards. Overall this works very well. I can really get into specific groups, even when incorperating thousands of cards from multiple sets and blocks. However in some cases it isn''t enough. A given group will still be too big. In that case I do add a distinction of planes as a subdivision. That usually works. There are so many planes in the ultiverse. I don't know anything about how the physical juxtaposion of the planes work. So I group planes according to what the theme is. So I subdivided cards by the plane group. Then the card in the planar group are subdivided by the planes. The planar groups are mundane, primal, alien, legendary and mythical. Mundane planes are Dominaria, Ravnica, Alara and Tarkir. Primal planes are Zendikar, Ikoria and Ixilan. Alien planes are Kaladesh, Phyrexia and Innistrad. Legendary Planes are Lorwin and Eldraine. Mythical planes are Theros, Amonkhet and Kaldheim. There is a special case for cards of base sets. They have no plane. I put such cards in basic group for now. However that will change. Some base set cards are full blown reprints with the same picture. In that case I put those cards in the same group that the origional card goes in. I handle reprints by putting the set or plane name in parenthisies after the name of the card. That all of that forms the file name. Most cards don't have reprints. So the file name is the card name. Basic Lands have special naming. The name has the plane name, the card name and a number. The card name is forest, mountain, swamp, island or plains. Some plains have multiple blocks. So for basic lands I subdivide lands of a single plain into different blocks. Ravnica is an example of a plane with a bunch of basic lands cards. It is unuique for showing places of a city instead of a natural environment. Ravnica is subdivided to three blocks with sets. The origional block has Ravnica, Guildpact and Dissention. The return block has Return to Ravnica, Gate Crash and Dragon's Maze. The guilds block has Guilds of Ravnica, Ravnica Allegence and War of the Spark. Ravnica isn't alone in this subdivision. Zendikar, Phyreia, Innistrad and Theros have multiple blocks. So they are subdiveded accordingly. I don't subdivide basic lands into individual sets. I find the number of land card in an entire block isn't too large. I am not sure what to do with Lorwin. I know there is both Lorwin and Shadowmoor. I didn't get to that plane yet. I do plan to do this in the futre. Dominaria is a tricky plane to work with. It is the main plane of MTG. I did add the Dominaria set from 2018 to my collection. Much later in time I may encounter more Dominaria cards. That would be in the oldest cards. That is an area that I haven't gone to yet. So I am not sure what I am going to do with that. I think the base sets would be Dominaria by default. I put base cards in thier own catagory for now. However I plan to merge them into Dominaria later. I look forward to completing my collection. I got almost 10,000 cards so far. If I get double that then it will be close to being complete. Edit: I forgot to mention this. If a plane has multiple blocks, I put block name into the name of basic lands.

[@esnethen5915]

This was useful! Thanks! I just got a large box of magic cards from amazon, and I need a good storage solution. :)

[@Roseirful]

I am half a collector and a very casual player so I organize my cards by rarity then type->cost->set (creatures vs the rest). I have then a stack of cards I consider for current game ideas. I have also binders with full sets. Old border are also separated from new border since I do not like aesthetics of mixing not borders. This is annoying when building a deck but whatever I have playable cards in mind and I have not that much sets (started in onslaught, quit after first kamigawa set, then Dominaria. Else I buy cards randomly for pleasure) Another best way to « organize » my collection is to give away large chunks of bulky cards, maybe keeping a single copy of each if the set amazes me ((which is not the case for modern sets)

[@Daathen]

I love this channel! Thanks for all you do!

[@allbunsglazing]

I'm shocked to see some uncommons in your black common section for theros! :P

[@MultiNaruto900]

I chose to assort the bulk relatively the same way, but with some added extras: Step 1) Sort by color Step 2) Sort by set Step 3) Sort by rarity Step 4) Sort alphabetically Step 5) If there is alternate art: Step 5a) Sort by original first (should be closest to the end of the box depending on where the art faces) Step 5b) Sort by reprint years (The oldest is placed behind the original and the newest should be last)

[@MultiNaruto900]

Is this needlessly detailed? Yes. Izzet worth it? Yes.

[@HakuZaku]

Another way to help thin down cards, is to check to see if you "feel" the card. If it matches what you like to play, keep it. Otherwise, just get rid of it. It also helps to get a note booked with deck profiles and only keeping 4 max of each card

[@RairaiThepie]

What do you do with your foils? do you place them along with your non-foils? What do you do with tokens and those cards that you write on for double faced cards? would you like to make an updated version of this video? that would be awesome! (:

[@xjgonzosx]

For those of use who don't live in the best of neighborhoods to invest in to 2 two draw locking filling cabinets. the 800 card boxes fit 3 wide and 3 tall. not as mich room as the ikea cube but a little morw secure.

[@xjgonzosx]

also the haning file system usually built in is great for your binders. Remember to keep a piece of cedar 3"×3" or 4"×4" to keep good humidity.

[@paulistastars]

Good work, want a suggestion ?make a video about how double sleeve, i did in my modern deck and the trapped inside destroy my KMC mat

[@TolarianCommunityCollege]

Ask and you shall receive! How To Double Sleeve: kzbin.info/www/bejne/fIuVpYCJhsh1qJI I now recommend the new KMC HYPER MATS for double sleeving. They are the absolute best as outer sleeves.

[@justin1563]

This channel is pretty much the only reason I ever go on KZbin anymore, because it has actual relevant and useful information, and its a bit comical at times.

[@Nanofuture87]

I sort by rarity (mythics with rares and then uncommons with commons), then color, then type, then subtype, then alphabetical. I don't see much point in keeping them sorted by set after they rotate out of standard. It takes more effort to organize it this way, but there's something cathartic about sorting and it's nice to see old cards again that I might not actually play with.

[@STVMcarbondragon]

Might I suggest a review of the Holiday Gift Boxes that Wizards has put out these past 2 years? I've been using one of them instead of a BCW box and found I can get more cards/square inch in that than in BCW boxes. Not sure if it warrants its own video but it could definitely go in a sequel to this video.

[@TolarianCommunityCollege]

If you drop one of those holiday gift boxes on the ground, you're in trouble. I could roll the BCW down the stairs and not only would it not come open, but my cards would be fine.

[@mrjanemba]

Tolarian Community College true, but I think most people who use the Holiday boxes, such as myself, use them with the intent that what's in them probably won't be perused right away, or often, making the idea of the cards falling out, while still possible, something very unlikely to happen. that being said, would you happen to have a po box? I ask because it'd be cool to support the show by sending various products for reviews, fanart, etc.

[@STVMcarbondragon]

Tolarian Community College Okay? I don't really see how that's relavent since you said yourself that bulk storage probably isn't going to be gone through that much. And even so, any money cards should be in a safer container than cardboard anyway.

[@hallarious506]

I use them too. It is good for People without a very big collection. I only use them for commons. One box for creatures the other for spells. And I don't see the Problem of letting it fall. In the end they just stay around 97% of the time.

[@dr_regularlove]

Tolarian Community College Re: Dropping the Holiday Gift Box... I started using it as my primary storage (just started playing again around Khans) and my girlfriend dropped it one day with less than optimal results...much resorting. And in fact that's why I decided to watch this video! Thanks!

[@Dexwin09]

I have my collection in BCW boxes, organized in colors and sets. How ever, I took the time to create a database in MS Access. I went on to mtgprice.com, copy the tables to import them into my database and just had columns with the following: Name, Setcode (example BFZ = battle for zendikar), card color (your typical W B G R U), the quantity of the cards, how many foils of X card do I have, and finally the current price of the cards. Another thing I do is print out the tables and put them in my binder/portfolio, and if some one is looking for something, I'll simply show them a list of what I have, or if they want, they can browse through the box(es) instead. And if I get new cards or sell/trade other cards, I write it down on a notepad, once I'm home, I'll simply edit the data base. It sure seems like a lot of work, but trust me, it helps you stay organized and it saves not only you, but other peoples time when they are in a hurry looking for something specific.

[@sergbastian5]

New sorting vid please!