Dragon Shield vs. Ultra Pro ?
General forum
Posted on April 17, 2013, 2:57 a.m. by xXCAETUSXx
Which are the better kind of sleeves?
A couple of links to possibly help your decision (I have not looked through these yet myself):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5lyT1TdeKY
http://www.mtgthesource.com/forums/showthread.php?8504-Ultra-Pro-VS-Dragon-Shield/page4
April 17, 2013 3:29 a.m.
AGunWithLegs says... #4
I actually use both and have to say i prefer Ultra Pro. The dragon shields are nice, and they are a little more durable, but they are thick on the edge and don't shuffle together as easily as Ultra Pro.
April 17, 2013 3:50 a.m.
Both are pretty decent. I feel like Dragon Shields are better quality though.
However, it is much easier to find Ultra Pro shields. If you happen to be a few short it is much easier to find them at a local Walmart or Target than Dragon Shields. And they are less expensive so finding replacements for the broken ones is not a big deal.
I'm happy to play with either but prefer Dragon Shields.
April 17, 2013 9:36 a.m.
I use ultra pro, just because theyre easy to snake from walmart, but Ive heard really good things about dragon shield sleeves. Every time i got to me LGS they try to get me to upgrade to dragon shield sleeves. Ive never owned a pack though. maybe some day, if walmart starts carrying them..
April 17, 2013 9:44 a.m.
TorrentFreak says... #7
Dragon shield wins hands down. I have never broke a dragon shield sleeve, but I have a probably broken 30 or more ultra pro's. Dragon shield protects your cards way more than ultra pro.
April 17, 2013 10:15 a.m.
Epochalyptik says... #8
Dragon Shields are indestructible. Ultra-Pros are not.
Ultra-Pros are cheaper, but you may need to keep rebuying them if you break sleeves. They also don't protect your cards as well as Dragon Shields do.
April 17, 2013 10:20 a.m.
MagnorCriol says... #9
Dragon Shield's main problem is consistency. I don't know the details, but I know they're not made quite as mass-produced, factory-line style as Ultra-Pros because while one pack of UPs will basically always look exactly like the next ten packs of UPs, there's often slight size differences within even the same box of Dragons, let alone from box to box.
I've had lots of success with Dragons, and I like them. But there's been a couple times where I've bought a box and found it almost unusable because of how wildly varied the sleeves were in size, and a couple of times when they've started flaking open on me. But the ones that last, have lasted me forever and work better.
April 17, 2013 11:06 a.m.
NoSkillManiac says... #10
KMC's are the best IMO.
But, with your options, Dragon Shields.
April 17, 2013 11:24 a.m.
Epochalyptik says... #11
@MagnorCriol: I've never encountered that problem. I have heard, though, that the quality of Dragon Shields has dipped in the past couple years because of a change in the manufacturing process.
I still find them to be better than Ultra-Pros, but I do use both. All of my EDH decks are sleeved in Dragon Shields, and some of my casual decks are in Ultra-Pros. I don't often use the casual decks, though. My draft sleeves are Ultra-Pros, but they break often.
April 17, 2013 12:13 p.m.
Dragon Shields are good - I dislike the feel of them after playing for many games, personally. They feel clumped. Still, they're probably the best for EDH. Some have been unplayable in tournaments because of mass-denting throughout. Given, that's rare.
KMC sleeves are really good-feeling, but if you don't have a playmat they collect dirt quite a bit, I find. I'm a clean guy, and I seriously hate playing with a certain deck of mine because the sleeves got played on too many non-playmatted surfaced over the Christmas break.
Ultra-Pro sleeves break often, they say, though I've yet to break one. I'm not the most violent shuffler, but I hate slow play and do it quickly, so who knows? I think they feel the best over time. They're just like butter, which KMC sleeves feel like when not exposed to dirt.
April 17, 2013 1:08 p.m.
theemptyquiver says... #13
i've had the same ultra pro sleeves for 3 years on about 10 decks, and none of them are worn out or deteriorating.
I use them frequently, and i'm not too careful and i shuffle the hell out of them and they have held up just fine.
April 17, 2013 1:19 p.m.
MagnorCriol says... #14
@Epochalyptik - Not sure what it is, but it's a definite thing. I haven't exactly bought enough boxes to have a statistically significant sample size (they're a bit pricey for me to just buy a lot of them), but...I'd say 2-3 out of the about 10 boxes I've bought in the past couple years have had some sort of clear, problematic defect; either they had such great variation in the sleeve height that I'd have called a judge on myself, or they started separating about a week after I sleeved up with them.
But, like I said, the ones that don't have defects are champs. Like you, I keep my EDH decks in Dragons and my casual 60-cards in Ultra-Pros, for the most part. My draft set is in Dragons but that's just because it was convenient to get it that way - 15 lands x 5 land types = 75 lands in sleeves with 25 sleeves left over for the deck with a couple extras.
The Ultra-Pros I have do all work pretty well. Especially since RtR came out and they changed their "formula", so to speak - the Ultra-Pros with the guildmage art on the back are high quality.
April 17, 2013 2:44 p.m.
BorosLegion4125 says... #15
My fav sleeves are KMC mat version the are Japanese sleeves but they are amazing to me and cost about the same as Dragon shield
Denial048 says... #2
I haven't used Ultra Pro, but after my first purchase of Dragon Shields, I will never use another brand. They are a bit more pricey, but worth it.
April 17, 2013 3:14 a.m.