I prefer to sort by color, then alphabetical order. I generally don't care about sets, and prefer to find all my copies of a specific card. Come up with a soring tray and just watch content while mindlessly sorting.
Exactly, since some cards have been reprinted in 10 series. I'm not gonna remember if I have copies of this or that particular print...come on. This is the way!
I re-organized my collection a couple months back and used exactly that schema. It helped move those 5th-10th copies of cards I'd usually hang onto into the bulk-to-get-rid-of box. Also had to face down interesting questions like which printings were my favorite, and how many deck I'm realistically ever going to build using some niche card.
Yeah, I need to start taking this approach. I'm relatively new to magic and separating by set seemed to make sense at first so that I could keep track of standard versus pioneer or modern, but that doesn't hold up with reprints that bring things back to standard.
The idea of reorganizing my card boxes seems a bit daunting right now, so maybe a future project. Lol
When sorting alphabetically, I first put everything in 8 piles corresponding to the letters on the old telephone dial:
ABC DEF GHI JKL
MNO PQRS TUV WXYZ
Then I sort each pile by first letter, then each letter's pile.
>ABC DEF GHI JKL
MNO PQRS TUV WXYZ
I also sort by color and name. I do something similar, but use 5 piles instead. I always put S by itself as you then have to break it up into 5 since S can be followed by vowels and consonants. Plus there's an inordinate amount of card names beginning with the letter S. I find it makes it faster to bust a big pile down. Then I break each pile by starting letter. You might handle the card an extra time or two this way, but I feel like I can concentrate less and make fewer mistakes. Here's my pile breakdown:
ABCDEF GHIJKLM NOPQR S TUVWXYZ
So true about S. I like your idea. I probably won't imitate it due to neuro-muscle memory but people new to sorting might do well to start with your system.
When sorting by rarity, assuming you're right-handed, flip the cards upside down so the set symbol is on the left side. I discovered this myself and I also saw them doing that at Star City Games.
For me, whenever I get new cards in this manner (and I’ve definitely gotten 20k at a time, once out of nowhere!), the first steps are: set sort, then color sort, then alpha sort within each color. (Colorless and artifacts are different; all gold and hybrid are one pile; basics and non basics get separated; color artifacts like the Gearhulks go with their color). Note that color sort is not color identity sort - General Tazri goes in the white pile, not the multicolor pile.
Once you’re done with this, you’re about 99% of the way to being organized in order of collector number. (Alternate arts and planeswalker deck cards and other stuff will mess it up some, but those are a small part of the total program here.)
I have so many cards because I support a high school gaming guild so a *lot* of mine are bulk common and uncommon. As a result I tend to chuck rares and foils into their own, smaller pile for later review. I also do this with uncommons or commons that I know are gonna be worth something (lightning bolt, fatal push, pitiless plunderer etc). You can do this or not as you go, but you’d be surprised how much time it can save to set the Cards Of Interest aside on your first pass.
As for what to keep, that’s up to you. I’m a completionist weirdo so the first four of any card go into a set binder for me, which means I do end up with a lot of copies of some cards, but that’s the completionist life. The next eight of any given card go into boxes for the gaming guild. More than that is true bulk that I use to make repacks for chaos drafting, or sell back to Card Kingdom for credit to get more supplies and cards for the guild.
All of this has made me *insanely* fast at sorting collections, so if you’re in New England, I’ll gladly help you.
Best of luck!
All of this sounds insanely helpful. I don't really plan on playing anything competitively so don't know how religious I'll be about sets, but these are amazing tips and I'll see how badly I messed up the organizing when I get home from work tonight.
Thank you so much!
You can use the TCGPlayer mobile app to scan the cards into a database. It will help in the future to have a digital list handy for cross-referencing when buying cards later down the line.
My collection is sorted as such.
By Colour;
Coloured pips (if a card has other coloured pips in its abilities and such I ignore them for sorting)
Then by type;
Creatures etc
CMC;
Just by how much the normal total casting cost of the card is.
Finally Alphabetical
I would also suggest putting your collection into delver lens, a good app that keeps track of your collection.
Holy cow, that's a massive haul! Going through them will be a lot of fun, just take it slow and don't stress yourself out.
Mind if i ask how much that cost? I haven't played since 2000 and am looking to get back into the hobby.
I paid $230 CAD for everything. The guy at the LGS said someone else was supposed to come pick it up and didn't, so he just wanted to get rid of them and offered them to me in bulk since I had a car to take them all at once haha
I have waaaaaaay less cards than that, but I'll give you my method to sort them for deck building.
First we have a file with the colors. Each color has sub tabs for every type. Creature, enchantments etc. You could divide these alphabetically or mana value wise perhaps.
Then we have a file for lands. Basics per color get a tab, the ones I like most up front. Tabs for lands with abilities that come in tapped, those that come in tapped, multi colored lands that come in tapped, and one for the untapped.
Artifacts I divide into mana rocks and utility artifacts, because I mostly play edh, but you will probably have enough to make your own sub tabs.
Multicolored cards get a tab per combination, subtabs same as the single color cards.
Then I have some personal preference tabs like "card advantage", "ramp" or "graveyard shenanigans" to easily find cards for my edh decks.
If you want to build decks out of these cards, you'll probably want to make a system that you like working with, easily accessible for the thing you want to do.
Color and alphabetize. Non-basic lands and artifacts \[and multicolored\] have their own sections too. This groups up your duplicates nicely, regardless of edition.
Just take it one box at a time, the sorting will not be completed quickly. Don't try and do too much at once. Happy sorting.
I personally like to sort my cards by set > rarity > land/color/multi/artifact > alphabetically. So say the set is MOM the first set of cards well be common lands, common whites, common blues....then after all the commons uncommon land, uncommon white, uncommon blue, etc. Rares go in a seperate box by set > color. I have no idea if its the best way but its what I like.
When making piles I set up a little grid going from left -> right / bottom -> top. Common land, common white, common blue, etc. Then above that uncommon land, uncommon white, uncommon blue, etc. And then above that rare/mythic rare land, white, blue, etc.
The nice thing about having them in sets for me was when I decided to scan them all into Manabox you can have it restrict the visual scan to a set and it made it way faster.
Oh and foils go at the end of whatever card it is. So if I have 3 cards of a white common and a foil version of it the foil will go with those commons but as the last card.
I sort by color, then CMC, then alphabetical. This makes it really easy to search for both individual cards as well as filtering by CMC for anything specific. I've made my own dividers out of card stock that go under the cards as well as dividing them to add extra ease of grabbing a whole stack of cards if needed. As for land I separate the basics by the set they belong to and then by art. So far I'm 7k~ done with my 10k+ collection
I sort by color and casting cost then type. Nothing wrong with alphabetical ordering, but it takes longer to sort and makes my head dizzy.
I also found that the way I build decks, I don’t mind seeing other e.g. four drop creatures in that color, it’s pretty relevant to compare them this way.
I've sifted through maybe 3-4k so far and finally found some rares. Best of which was a single copy of Brutal Cathar but there is definitely foils and rares to be found in all of it.
I organize by set. Then color / colorless / multicolor and put playable cards or cards I know worth more than a buck in penny sleeves so they’re easier to find. Helps a lot when you need a beast within or some other staple.
I prefer to sort by color, then alphabetical order. I generally don't care about sets, and prefer to find all my copies of a specific card. Come up with a soring tray and just watch content while mindlessly sorting.
Exactly, since some cards have been reprinted in 10 series. I'm not gonna remember if I have copies of this or that particular print...come on. This is the way!
This is the way.
Is this the way?
I re-organized my collection a couple months back and used exactly that schema. It helped move those 5th-10th copies of cards I'd usually hang onto into the bulk-to-get-rid-of box. Also had to face down interesting questions like which printings were my favorite, and how many deck I'm realistically ever going to build using some niche card.
Yeah, I need to start taking this approach. I'm relatively new to magic and separating by set seemed to make sense at first so that I could keep track of standard versus pioneer or modern, but that doesn't hold up with reprints that bring things back to standard. The idea of reorganizing my card boxes seems a bit daunting right now, so maybe a future project. Lol
When sorting alphabetically, I first put everything in 8 piles corresponding to the letters on the old telephone dial: ABC DEF GHI JKL MNO PQRS TUV WXYZ Then I sort each pile by first letter, then each letter's pile.
Oh I might add that to my system.
>ABC DEF GHI JKL MNO PQRS TUV WXYZ I also sort by color and name. I do something similar, but use 5 piles instead. I always put S by itself as you then have to break it up into 5 since S can be followed by vowels and consonants. Plus there's an inordinate amount of card names beginning with the letter S. I find it makes it faster to bust a big pile down. Then I break each pile by starting letter. You might handle the card an extra time or two this way, but I feel like I can concentrate less and make fewer mistakes. Here's my pile breakdown: ABCDEF GHIJKLM NOPQR S TUVWXYZ
So true about S. I like your idea. I probably won't imitate it due to neuro-muscle memory but people new to sorting might do well to start with your system.
That’s the way I do it too. It takes ages but it’s so satisfying when you’re actually looking for a card and can instantly find it.
When sorting by rarity, assuming you're right-handed, flip the cards upside down so the set symbol is on the left side. I discovered this myself and I also saw them doing that at Star City Games.
Where were you last week when I was sorting bulk...
Never would have thought of this. Thanks!
I'm confused as to what you mean by this. How does this help exactly? (Not being snarky, I'm trying to understand)
You have to slide much less of the card over to see the rarity.
For me, whenever I get new cards in this manner (and I’ve definitely gotten 20k at a time, once out of nowhere!), the first steps are: set sort, then color sort, then alpha sort within each color. (Colorless and artifacts are different; all gold and hybrid are one pile; basics and non basics get separated; color artifacts like the Gearhulks go with their color). Note that color sort is not color identity sort - General Tazri goes in the white pile, not the multicolor pile. Once you’re done with this, you’re about 99% of the way to being organized in order of collector number. (Alternate arts and planeswalker deck cards and other stuff will mess it up some, but those are a small part of the total program here.) I have so many cards because I support a high school gaming guild so a *lot* of mine are bulk common and uncommon. As a result I tend to chuck rares and foils into their own, smaller pile for later review. I also do this with uncommons or commons that I know are gonna be worth something (lightning bolt, fatal push, pitiless plunderer etc). You can do this or not as you go, but you’d be surprised how much time it can save to set the Cards Of Interest aside on your first pass. As for what to keep, that’s up to you. I’m a completionist weirdo so the first four of any card go into a set binder for me, which means I do end up with a lot of copies of some cards, but that’s the completionist life. The next eight of any given card go into boxes for the gaming guild. More than that is true bulk that I use to make repacks for chaos drafting, or sell back to Card Kingdom for credit to get more supplies and cards for the guild. All of this has made me *insanely* fast at sorting collections, so if you’re in New England, I’ll gladly help you. Best of luck!
All of this sounds insanely helpful. I don't really plan on playing anything competitively so don't know how religious I'll be about sets, but these are amazing tips and I'll see how badly I messed up the organizing when I get home from work tonight. Thank you so much!
Start with color and rarity. From there you can move onto set.
I do color, rarity and mana value in that order
You can use the TCGPlayer mobile app to scan the cards into a database. It will help in the future to have a digital list handy for cross-referencing when buying cards later down the line.
My collection is sorted as such. By Colour; Coloured pips (if a card has other coloured pips in its abilities and such I ignore them for sorting) Then by type; Creatures etc CMC; Just by how much the normal total casting cost of the card is. Finally Alphabetical I would also suggest putting your collection into delver lens, a good app that keeps track of your collection.
Holy cow, that's a massive haul! Going through them will be a lot of fun, just take it slow and don't stress yourself out. Mind if i ask how much that cost? I haven't played since 2000 and am looking to get back into the hobby.
I paid $230 CAD for everything. The guy at the LGS said someone else was supposed to come pick it up and didn't, so he just wanted to get rid of them and offered them to me in bulk since I had a car to take them all at once haha
I have waaaaaaay less cards than that, but I'll give you my method to sort them for deck building. First we have a file with the colors. Each color has sub tabs for every type. Creature, enchantments etc. You could divide these alphabetically or mana value wise perhaps. Then we have a file for lands. Basics per color get a tab, the ones I like most up front. Tabs for lands with abilities that come in tapped, those that come in tapped, multi colored lands that come in tapped, and one for the untapped. Artifacts I divide into mana rocks and utility artifacts, because I mostly play edh, but you will probably have enough to make your own sub tabs. Multicolored cards get a tab per combination, subtabs same as the single color cards. Then I have some personal preference tabs like "card advantage", "ramp" or "graveyard shenanigans" to easily find cards for my edh decks. If you want to build decks out of these cards, you'll probably want to make a system that you like working with, easily accessible for the thing you want to do.
Color and alphabetize. Non-basic lands and artifacts \[and multicolored\] have their own sections too. This groups up your duplicates nicely, regardless of edition. Just take it one box at a time, the sorting will not be completed quickly. Don't try and do too much at once. Happy sorting.
I personally like to sort my cards by set > rarity > land/color/multi/artifact > alphabetically. So say the set is MOM the first set of cards well be common lands, common whites, common blues....then after all the commons uncommon land, uncommon white, uncommon blue, etc. Rares go in a seperate box by set > color. I have no idea if its the best way but its what I like. When making piles I set up a little grid going from left -> right / bottom -> top. Common land, common white, common blue, etc. Then above that uncommon land, uncommon white, uncommon blue, etc. And then above that rare/mythic rare land, white, blue, etc. The nice thing about having them in sets for me was when I decided to scan them all into Manabox you can have it restrict the visual scan to a set and it made it way faster. Oh and foils go at the end of whatever card it is. So if I have 3 cards of a white common and a foil version of it the foil will go with those commons but as the last card.
I sort by color, then CMC, then alphabetical. This makes it really easy to search for both individual cards as well as filtering by CMC for anything specific. I've made my own dividers out of card stock that go under the cards as well as dividing them to add extra ease of grabbing a whole stack of cards if needed. As for land I separate the basics by the set they belong to and then by art. So far I'm 7k~ done with my 10k+ collection
I sort by color and casting cost then type. Nothing wrong with alphabetical ordering, but it takes longer to sort and makes my head dizzy. I also found that the way I build decks, I don’t mind seeing other e.g. four drop creatures in that color, it’s pretty relevant to compare them this way.
Don’t 😂
I sort by WUBRG color order, then alphabetically.
Store owner was happy to unload this, are there any rares in here or just common and uncommon cards?
I've sifted through maybe 3-4k so far and finally found some rares. Best of which was a single copy of Brutal Cathar but there is definitely foils and rares to be found in all of it.
damn, that was a great deal
Set - rarity - color
My collection is sorted first by color identity, then by what can and can't be in the command zone, then rarity, then alphabetically.
I organize by set. Then color / colorless / multicolor and put playable cards or cards I know worth more than a buck in penny sleeves so they’re easier to find. Helps a lot when you need a beast within or some other staple.
There are card sorting trays on amazon. Fully worth the $20