One thing I’ve noticed with Pokémon collecting is how differently people treat cards depending on their value.
Pull a $100 card? Immediately sleeve it, put it in a top loader, and protect it like your life depends on it.
Pull a really cool $2 Illustration Rare?
Eh, throw it in a box.
But honestly, your Pokémon card doesn’t have to be expensive to be worth protecting.
If you like the card, protect it.
Penny Sleeves Are the Bare Minimum
Penny sleeves are ridiculously cheap, and there’s really no reason not to have a stack of them sitting next to you while opening packs.
They help protect cards from scratches, fingerprints, dust, and all the other little things that happen when you’re handling cards.
And I’m not just talking about expensive pulls.
If I pull a cool Illustration Rare, promo, full art, or just a card I really like, I’m probably sleeving it.
A card being worth $2 doesn’t make the artwork any less awesome.
And considering how inexpensive penny sleeves are, why wouldn’t you protect it?
Not Everything Needs a Top Loader
Now, I’m not suggesting you put every reverse holo you pull into a top loader.
There’s definitely a point where that becomes excessive.
For me, top loaders are for cards I especially like, better pulls, cards I’m going to trade or sell, or anything I simply want to give a little more protection.
They’re cheap enough that there’s really no reason to reserve them exclusively for $50 or $100 cards.
Sometimes the card you want to protect isn’t even valuable.
Maybe it’s your favorite Pokémon.
Maybe your kid pulled it.
Maybe your wife pulled it during a pack battle and won’t let you forget that she beat you again.
The monetary value isn’t always the important part.
Get a Top Loader Binder
And if you’re going to collect cards in top loaders, get yourself a top loader binder.
Seriously.
You might remember the classic three-ring binder filled with plastic nine-pocket sheets. I definitely do.
Don’t use them.
If you’re starting a Pokémon collection today, there’s really no reason to put cards you care about into a three-ring binder when purpose-built card binders and top loader binders exist.
A top loader binder lets you penny sleeve a card, put it into a rigid top loader, and then put the entire thing directly into the binder.
Sleeve → Top Loader → Binder.
Now you’ve got the organization and presentation of a binder while every card has its own rigid protection.
Don’t Use a Three-Ring Binder
I’m going to make this one pretty simple:
I would never use a three-ring binder for Pokémon cards.
The biggest problem is right there in the name: the rings.
Pages can shift around inside the binder, and cards near the rings can potentially get pressed against them. That can mean dents, bends, or other damage to cards that you’re specifically putting into a binder because you want to protect them.
It just doesn’t make sense anymore.
And that’s an especially crappy way to discover that the $3 card you loved years ago is suddenly worth considerably more.
Even if the card never becomes valuable, though, that really isn’t the point.
I don’t want my collection getting damaged regardless of what it’s worth.
Modern card binders are specifically designed for trading cards. You can get side-loading, zipper binders that keep everything contained without having three giant metal rings sitting next to your cards.
And for the cards I care about even more, I’d rather use a top loader binder.
Three-ring binders had their time.
For Pokémon cards, leave them in the past.
Regular Card Binder or Top Loader Binder?
There are still plenty of good binders that don’t require top loaders.
A quality side-loading binder with built-in pages is perfectly fine for a lot of cards. Sleeve the card first and slide it into the binder.
That’s a great option for building sets, storing inexpensive Illustration Rares, promos, favorite Pokémon, or anything else you want organized.
But for cards I really care about?
Top loader binder.
You get another layer of rigid protection while still being able to open the binder and enjoy your cards.
That’s what I like about them.
I don’t want my favorite cards sitting in a box somewhere because I’m afraid to touch them.
I want to actually look at my collection.
Cheap Cards Can Still Be Great Cards
This is probably the biggest reason I protect inexpensive cards.
Modern Pokémon has some absolutely incredible artwork.
There are Illustration Rares and other cards that cost only a few dollars that I’d happily put next to cards worth considerably more.
Price doesn’t determine whether a card looks good.
And price definitely doesn’t determine whether a card means something to you.
I’ve got cards that I care about because of how they were pulled, who I was opening packs with, or simply because I love the Pokémon.
That’s part of collecting.
A $3 card you pulled during a fun night opening packs can mean more to you than a $100 card you bought online.
That’s still a card worth protecting.
Today’s $2 Card Might Not Always Be $2
There’s another reason to take care of inexpensive cards.
Pokémon card prices change.
I’m definitely not saying you should treat every $2 Illustration Rare like it’s your retirement plan. Please don’t.
But we’ve all seen cards that were once inexpensive suddenly become much more desirable.
Maybe the Pokémon becomes more popular.
Maybe people start appreciating the artwork.
Maybe the set goes out of print.
Maybe collectors collectively decide that some random card is awesome five years from now.
Who knows?
If that happens, I’d rather discover that my old $2 card has been sitting safely in a sleeve than find it scratched up at the bottom of a box.
You Don’t Have to Grade Everything
This also goes along with my feelings about grading.
You don’t need to send every good card to PSA, CGC, Beckett, TAG, or whoever else just to protect it.
A penny sleeve costs practically nothing.
A top loader is cheap.
And a good top loader binder can hold an entire collection of cards while still letting you actually look through and enjoy them.
For most of my collection, that’s exactly what I want.
I don’t need every card sealed inside a slab with a number attached to it.
Sometimes I just want a really cool Pokémon card in a binder.
Protect the Cards You Like
Obviously I’m going to be a little more careful with a card worth hundreds of dollars than I am with one worth $3.
But that doesn’t mean the $3 card should be tossed around.
My general rule is pretty simple:
Like the card? Sleeve it.
Really like the card? Top loader it.
Want to collect and display those cards? Get a good binder—and stay away from three-ring binders.
And if you’ve got a collection of cards in top loaders, grab a top loader binder and enjoy actually flipping through them.
Your collection doesn’t have to be expensive to be worth taking care of.
Sometimes the cheapest cards in your binder end up being some of your favorites.
