Long ago, when trading card games were brand-new, people didn't sleeve their cards. They played them naked, completely unaware that their cardboard game pieces might one day buy a freakin' house. As time went on, people started to seek ways to protect their cards. Clean sleeves also make it harder to cheat with deliberately-marked cards or even just recognizing wear patterns on heavily-used or older cards. Companies like Ultra Pro were already well established in the business of making binders, cases, and sleeves for sports cards, so they began to cater to Magic: The Gathering and Pokemon players as an easy addition to their product line portfolio.

Other companies joined the market to compete as this new customer base grew. Dragon Shield is one of the best for people who want more rugged sleeves designed to withstand heavy shuffling and play. They also cost more than Ultra Pro. Other companies try to undercut UP, with varying results. I'm trying out a new set branded as "Dragon card sleeves," doubtless trying to piggyback off the reputation of Dragon Shield instead of looking like every other generic made-in-China cheap bulk sleeve set. Cheap sleeves are hit-and-miss, with some being reasonably good, but others tending to tear. Knockoffs are often made from thinner material that are not fully opaque on the back. How do these stack up?

The Sleeves

Cost: $5 USD for a pack of 100. Compare to about $10 for a comparable pack of Ultra Pro, or about $12.50 for a typical Dragon Shield box of sleeves.

Style: matte. Well, the solid-color back half is matte. The clear half is glossy. Matte sleeves shuffle better. I prefer at least one side to be matte, but your mileage may vary. A glossy clear face is OK for better card visibility, but as people play more and more online with a camera aimed at the table, matte clear sides mean less glare issues.

Count: Dragon Shield and Ultra Pro both have an extra couple sleeves in their packs. This is handy in case a sleeve gets damaged. No-name sleeves like this shoot for 100, no more, and sometimes one or two less. Good luck getting customer service to fix that. This had the full 100 sleeves. In fact, I bought two of these packs, and both had the full 100. This is a sample size of two, so it doesn't guarantee anything, of course.

Thickness and durability: this pack is noticeably thinner overall than UP or Dragon Shield, suggesting lower quality, thinner plastic was used. The backs are not transparent, but they aren't exactly fully opaque, either. It didn't feel like they were likely to tear when I was sleeving my deck, but only time will tell.

I have tried many sleeves over the years. Dragon Shield has a good reputation because their product is good. Ultra Pro's Eclipse line is close behind,and their standard Deck Protector line is usually not bad, although sometimes they seem to have quality control hiccups from one run to the next, and I suggest staying away from their gloss art sleeves altogether. Legion is mostly OK in my limited experience. No-name card sleeves usually range from OK to crap.

I tentatively think these will be OK.

The Deck

But what are we sleeving up? I'm turning to the dark side and attempting to brew a mono-black deck around K'rrik, Son of Yawgmoth (pictured at left). This can help decks which play alongside the most cutthroat meta decks, but I am not aiming for that lofty level of competitive Commander.

My game plan is to play K'rrik ASAP, and then start spending life points to win, aiming to gain more than I lose along the way, or else win before I bleed myself out. The combo line is one way to win, but I may add more "voltron" options so I can also reliably win with K'rrik attacking for commander damage, where his lifelink can offset the life I spend to play more cards. There is potential for this to be explosive, but I haven't tested it yet.

This deck is currently called It's Bracket 2, I Swear and is almost honest in that claim... for now. What does that mean, though? When Wizards of the Coast (a.k.a. "WotC," the company behind Magic: The Gathering and Dungeons & Dragons) officially took over the community-developed Commander format, they replaced the old arguments over ten hypothetical power levels with five official brackets, and established a list of cards they call "Game Changers." You can read more at the official site here.

Bracket 1: Exhibition. This is for joke decks, or decks otherwise focused on a theme more than a win. The classic example is "My deck is 'chair tribal' because all the non-land cards have a chair in the art." Another is a deck dedicated to a specific character depicted in, or referred to on, as many cards as possible. Most people don't play this.

Bracket 2: Core. WotC claims their pre-constructed decks aim for this basic level, functional but with room for improvement. These are supposed to have no Game Changers, no mass land denial effects, no 2-card combos, and no chains of extra turn effects. The goal is to not lock opponents out of playing or interacting with the rest of the players, and have room for each deck to potentially "do its thing." This is the default for most home-brew decks unless they meet a more restrictive criteria as noted below.

Bracket 3: Upgraded. These decks are tuned and focused, with more power potential. Up to three Game Changers are allowed, and 2-card infinite combos are OK in the late game. Still no mass land denial or chaining extra turns allowed.

Bracket 4: Optimized. No restrictions whatsoever aside from the format ban list.

Bracket 5: cEDH. Competitive Elder Dragon Highlander is its own special environment with a clear meta. Either you are made of money to buy rare and powerful cards, or you proxy. Most people don't play this, either.

This is arguably at least Bracket 3. While it has no Game Changers,it does have notorious combo piece Exquisite Blood, and four potential combo pairings to create a loop which automatically wins the game. There are also many ways to trigger the loop, and a few tutor cards which can allow me to fetch the missing combo pieces. Long term, I may add some Game Changers and try to push for a solid Bracket 4 deck, but that depends on whether the basic idea works and whether I find it a fun style of deck to play.