Why I hate Elastic bands! Or have you lost a card recently!?

My stepson recently got the Level 10-Armed Dragon from a booster pack and as the cheers and celebration died down he casually stuffed under the elastic band that tightly held his dragon deck together. Not only was this a cheap nasty band but it was a red, thrown on the floor by a postman and land in dog pooh elastic band! ARRGGHH

Time to invest in holders, wallets, boxes, tins or even nice elastic bands minus pooh. I then discovered there are a lot of devices for his collection. We started with a small yugioh brand wallet that held 8 cards a page (4 back to back) with ten pages or so. Not bad, the cover was black and silver, it’s was sturdy but soon proved too small. Also the pages were permanent so once his greasy fingers had torn a pocket it could not be replaced only ignored. Next came the strangler – sorry tin on a rope! Whose good idea was that. Yes I know lets invent a safe, METAL, storage device so that when a child runs through a door way, or someone tries to steal a child’s deck or in the excitement of the playground my best mate grabs my deck to see my Ultra rare card – oops . . .

So on to the full A4 professional folder with Yugioh on the cover … or not… why not without Yugioh on the cover (£1 cheaper). Then this is filled with pages which hold 18 cards (2 x 9 back to back) Very Cool for once I don’t have to hunt under the bed or in the secret stashes for the rare dragons the night before the tournament (in theory!). Now He (Jonah) pointed out that he needed a file for his traps (red/purple) and spells (blurry). Ryman’s here we come 3 for 2 offer on bog std A4 binders – they hold the nice sheets at a pinch (Ps never pay more than 50p a sheet, I saw £1 yesterday!). And they had Blue and purple ones RESULT

So off to our first tournament with the boy and his mate (hi Ollie) and we realise that Ollie has no protectors for the deck we leant him – so silly really to throw the cards in a messy heap for £2.50 (avg. price for 50 single cardholders – soft). Unfortunately in my haste I choose the yellow eyed ones (on the back silly) and as his elemental hero deck had 53 cards (I know a pro only has 40 but he is 8 and likes his heroes) we needed two packs! And for his side and fusion decks. (A total of 80 ish cards!). Then a nice judge pointed out that we were inadvertently marking our cards as we had yellow and blue eyes mixed with black and red sleeves (borrowed from Jonah). So back to buy more yellow sleeves (£2.50 again). My first opponent was not quite ready, as he had been told his sleeves were too torn and tatty and this would also mark his cards! His dad was also £2.50 lighter than expected (was that demanding money with menaces I wondered) So finally We (Jonah, Ollie and myself) could get on and duel. Well get thrashed actually but it was a pharaoh’s tour qualifier – hence the very strict rules! It was also great fun.

Oh I forgot to mention the small boxes with hard insert to separate side form main deck – very good idea to someone. We got two pharaoh / zombie ones and that way the boys were not always rummaging through big tins for side deck cards.

Now as a collector / seller I have discovered top loader’s which are see through and hard, ideal for the post man to try to bend and should ensure all my cards get to the winning bidders in tip top condition. So no more elastic bands. It is silly to spend hundreds on anything, but sillier not to spend a few quid on looking after your investment. Jonah please don’t chew the sleeves! I must not drop my cards in the coffee!