How to Protect Your Magic the Gathering (MTG) Card Collection

The ProblemIf you have been playing Magic the Gathering (MTG) for any period of time, you've undoubtedly got a heap of cards in a shoe box somewhere, it could be a few cards, or it could be a plethora of cards. They could be in a big cardboard box or shoebox, but do you realise, if your collection isn't properly protected, you could be unnecessarily damaging your collection and losing lots of potential value from it.This article highlights an important part of the process to maximise the value in your collection - how to effectively store and protect your MTG collection to make sure your cards stay new, mint and worth as much as possible.2. Why is this Important?One thing that is of the utmost importance if you are going to sell Magic the Gathering cards is to understand the concept of card quality. Simply put:The closer the card it to Mint condition, the higher its valueWhen I describe a card as Mint condition, I mean that a card that is basically brand new as it would have come out of the pack or booster, so this means no marks, defects, dings (slight dents on the sides of cards), breaks, tears, dirt or even greasy finger prints.So, if you have kept your Magic the Gathering cards in a card board box so far and not thought about this, chances are that your cards are not in Mint condition. The bottom line here is that:Anything which marks a card as not Mint is costing you money!3. RecommendationsHopefully by now this article may have made you think about protecting your MTG collection; here are some recommendations on how you can effectively protect your Magic the Gathering collection:Never use rubber bands to hold groups of cards togetherAlways use protective boxes such as deck boxes or Fat Pack boxes to store large groups of cards such as commons - they are perfectly sized to hold MTG cards without any card bashing.If you really want to protect your cards, I would recommend using protective card pages such as Ultra Pro 9 pocket pages to store your cards in. Whilst it may not be feasible to keep all your cards in these protective sleeves, I would recommend putting at minimum your rares, if not uncommons too to protect your collection.When using cards in games, always use Deck Protectors for all your cards. Actually playing the game is when your cards take the most pounding, so protect your cards whilst having fun! There are many different types of Deck protector with lots of fun and stylish designs to them - these can help augment your enjoyment of the game too!If you can follow all of these recommendations, then your MTG collection will be well protected and last you a lot longer, and will help to protect the potential income in your Magic the Gathering (MTG) collection.Protecting your Magic the Gathering collection is vital for any collector, but especially so if you want to realise and release the potential in your spare Magic the Gathering (MTG) cards through selling.