u/sleeve_gg

I’m upgrading my Miracle Worker precon and I added around 25 cards. Many of them have multiple reprints, finishes, and so on. I was thinking “it would be cool to have all addition borderless where they are” but decided against it as it would push l too much over budget. I have a thing for borderless / extended arts.

But I’m curious to hear your opinion: do you actually think about aesthetic themes when you build your decks, or you just go with the cheapest print?

Played MTG on and off for years and looking for a non rotating format which has scene locally to play. I don’t have much time to play paper though (life!) but I’m a fan of UW control decks. Is this a viable way to get into Modern? Want to have fun mostly, not looking for being overly competitive.

I remember having subscribed at least for 4 drops notification (including the Festival in a Box), but never received one. And yeah, I’ve been checking my spam…

I’ve been reading up on how collection insurance actually works for TCGs (specialist insurers like CIS vs. a rider on home/renters policies), and the common thread seems to be that the burden of proof sits entirely with the collector. No appraisal required up front, but at claim time they expect an inventory, values backed by real sales data, and photos for the expensive stuff.

I’m curious how that plays out in practice for people who’ve actually done it, or worse, had to file a claim:

- What do you use to document your collection? Spreadsheet, app export, photos in a folder, something else?
- If you filed a claim: what did the adjuster actually accept, and what did they push back on?
- Do you redo your valuations regularly, or was it a one-time thing when you took out the policy?
- Is there anything you wish existed to make this less painful?

Interested in both the “it worked fine” and the horror stories.

I’ve been reading up on how collection insurance actually works for TCGs (specialist insurers like CIS vs. a rider on home/renters policies), and the common thread seems to be that the burden of proof sits entirely with the collector. No appraisal required up front, but at claim time they expect an inventory, values backed by real sales data, and photos for the expensive stuff.

I’m curious how that plays out in practice for people who’ve actually done it, or worse, had to file a claim:

- What do you use to document your collection? Spreadsheet, app export, photos in a folder, something else?
- If you filed a claim: what did the adjuster actually accept, and what did they push back on?
- Do you redo your valuations regularly, or was it a one-time thing when you took out the policy?
- Is there anything you wish existed to make this less painful?

Interested in both the “it worked fine” and the horror stories.

I've collected on and off MTG cards for years and never had a clean way to answer two questions: what do I actually own, and what's it worth right now? It always felt awkward to track on my phone (apps feel cramped for a big collection), and my spreadsheet was always out of date.

So I've been building Sleeve. It's web-first, so the real work happens on a proper screen: import your whole collection in one go (Manabox, Moxfield, TCGplayer, Archidekt, Dragon Shield) or scan it in, sort it into binders and lists, and see your total value and how it's moved over the last 7 days.

The phone isn't an afterthought or a separate paid app. There's a companion app for scanning and quick checks that syncs automatically, so a card you scan on the couch is already on your laptop.

Why web-first: managing a big collection on a phone alone gets painful fast. I wanted something that's actually nice to use on a big screen, and a portfolio side (cost basis, P&L, value over time) that I think can be done better than what's out there. That depth is landing through the beta, and I want testers shaping it as it ships.

It's an early beta, so I'd love to find people who'll put it through its paces: real collections, blunt feedback on what's clunky, slow, or missing. I'm hoping to find ~30 or so MTG players who actually buy, sell, and trade.

It's invite-only on web for now. As a thank-you, testers keep everything free (including the portfolio features that I'm planning to put behind the paid tier later) through the beta, and for 6 months after launch.

If you'd like to give it a go, comment "in" or DM me and I'll send an invite. The scanning app comes once you're set up. Ask me anything, and to be upfront, it's my project.

I've been collecting on and off for years, mostly Magic but also Pokémon, and never had a clean way to see what I actually own or keep tabs on it over time. Tracking on my phone always felt cramped once a collection grows past a few hundred cards, and my spreadsheet was constantly out of date.

So I've been building Sleeve. It's web-first: import your whole collection in one go from Manabox, Moxfield, Archidekt, or Dragon Shield, or scan it in, sort everything into binders and lists, and keep an eye on how your collection is trending week to week.

There's a companion phone app too, for scanning and quick lookups. It's not a separate paid product bolted on, it syncs automatically, so a card I scan on the couch shows up on the laptop right after.

Why web-first: managing a big collection from a phone alone gets old fast, and I wanted the portfolio side, what you've put into the hobby and how that's trending, to be something that could be done better than what's out there. That's the part I most want feedback on.

It's an early beta covering Magic and Pokémon. I'm looking for people actively managing a real, sizeable collection to put it through its paces and tell me bluntly what's slow, broken, or missing. If this goes well I have more games in the roadmap.

It's invite-only on web right now. Testers keep everything free, including the features I'll eventually put behind a paid tier, through the beta and for 6 months after launch.

Comment "in" or DM me and I'll send an invite (the scanning app comes once you're set up). Ask me anything, and to be upfront: it's my own project.

I've been collecting Magic on and off for about 30 years, so what I've got isn't one clean pile. It's a couple of binders full of cards across a ton of editions, a few languages mixed in too. Every time I want to brew something, budget or not, I end up guessing what I actually have instead of checking properly.

Curious if that's just me, or if most people brewing Pauper decks are working from memory and vibes too.

I've been building a web-first way to catalogue it all, since most of what I've tried leans mobile-only. I'm calling it Sleeve: bulk-import from wherever your cards already live or scan a stack in with your phone, then everything's organised into binders and lists you can work from on a real screen instead of a phone. It's early and invite-only while it's in beta, free to try.

If the guessing-what-I-own thing sounds familiar and you'd want to try something for it, comment or DM me, I'd be glad to set you up.

Bit of context: I picked up a precon (Miracle Worker) to get into Commander, and now I want to upgrade it with cards I already own rather than buying singles I don't need. I have been collecting on and off for 30 years and while I don't have an insane amount of cards, I do have some scattered across many sets. I genuinely don't know what's in there without flipping through all the pages one at a time.

A few things that haven't clicked for me (is it only me?)

- Checking whether I already own a decent swap for a card in the precon means digging through binder pages card by card

- Telling printings apart once I find something (which edition, is it foil) trips me up

And doing any of this on my phone feels cramped once it's more than a few binder pages.

How do you approach upgrading a precon from what you already own? What actually works, or do you just end up buying singles anyway because checking your own collection is too much hassle?

I’ve been working on my idea for pretty much a month. Initially I planned a list of features that I wanted to get done before getting users for a closed beta, however I realised that I don’t need all of those to get feedback on my MVP. At the same time, part of me thinks users might want to see more features before giving feedback.

I’m passionate about getting feedback early - at the same time though this is my first launch as a solo dev, so unsure how much of this could be a problem for adoption.

What’s your take on this?

I started playing in the late 90s then took more than 10 years break. Got back with the Theros block - and I found Planeswalkers extremely different and surprising! Took me a while to adapt to the fact I could decide to attack them or a player. I got on with it pretty quickly, but it felt different.

What was the main difference in the game when you got back into playing?

For singles I buy outright, cost basis is easy: it’s just what I paid. Where I get stuck is anything I pulled myself out of sealed.

Say I rip a booster box for $120. I hit an alt-art chase worth $60, a couple of decent holos, and the usual pile of bulk commons. When I later want to know if I’m up or down, or work out my gain if I sell that chase… how do I split the $120 across what I actually pulled?

The approaches I’ve gone back and forth on, none of which feel right:

- Split evenly across every card → makes a bulk common look like it “cost” 30 cents. Nonsense.
- Weight by market value at rip time → feels most correct, but it’s a pain by hand and the market moves.
- Dump the whole box cost onto the chase pulls, zero the rest → clean, but overstates the hits.
- Track at the box level only, no per-card basis → then I can’t tell you what any single “cost” me when I sell it.

Same puzzle for ETBs, and worse for things like booster bundles or tins where there’s a sealed-vs-singles value gap baked in.

For those who track this seriously, especially if you sell singles and care about realized gains: what’s your actual method? Spreadsheet formula, rule of thumb, or do you just not bother below a certain value?

I’ve played MTG on and off for almost 30 years - most recently on Arena.

I’ve bought a Precon EDH deck (Miracle Worker) and while I think it will be fun to play in such a way, I’m a bit scared of missing triggers since I haven’t played much paper in a while.

Is it acceptable to use pen and paper in EDH settings to remember triggers or in general game events which are public knowledge? Noting it down would decrease the cognitive overload.

Thanks!

My son (10yo) started to get into MTG and we’re currently playing some Jumpstart from the beginners bundle. However he read up about pauper and he’s interested to give it a go! He’s fascinated by the fact it’s only common cards.

I was thinking of building 2 decks for him and myself / his friends to play with. He (maybe unsurprisingly) likes big creatures so I was thinking of building a green deck and another one that has a balanced match up yet it’s still easy to grasp.

Any suggestions of lists I could look at given the target audience?