Last updated on January 25, 2024
Animate Library | Illustration by Raymond Swanland
Take a look around you right now. Are you reading this from a desktop surrounded by loose Magic: The Gathering cards, hopelessly arranged in semi-complete decks of 20-100 cards, some of which are so old that you don’t even remember which MTG set you were pulling them out from? Or maybe you’re reading this on your phone, unable to even bring yourself to look at that mountain of unsorted cardboard that makes you dread sitting down at your desk each day? Just me?
On the off-chance that there’s another MTG player looking for a solution to their card organization, you’re in luck! I’ve got a handy buyer’s guide to MTG card organizers of all kinds so you can find just the perfect fit for your collection!
Which is the best overall? And just how fancy can these card organizers get? Read on and find out!
Best Overall
The Fageverld Trading Card Storage Box wins the best overall pick for card storage and organization. Twelve drawers keep your card dust-free and tightly packed, while the 50 card organizers included in the package keep them sorted by color, mana value, type, set, alphabetized, or however you need!
The cardboard material should be more than enough to keep your cards safe, especially if you don’t plan on traveling often with the box. The four boxes included in the set can be stacked for convenience, or stored separately as space allows. It’s sturdy and easy to assemble (just fold the cardboard!), and the plain black appearance keeps your shelving looking clean.
For $40, it might feel like you’re overpaying for what amounts to some cardboard with creases on it. But it’s important to remember that you won’t find anything better for any cheaper – the next closest competitor is the BCW 5k. Trust me, though; you’ll want the removable drawers. Having the option to pull a whole organized section from the wall to pick through separately from the larger collection saves you a lot of time in the long run. I’m frequently giving myself dead legs as I crouch on the floor over my BCW 5k because there isn’t a table large enough in my apartment to hold it.
- Drawer-type card storage box set - Keep the dust and damage away from your collectible trading or sports cards.
- Large storage capacity - Each package contains four sets, each with three drawer boxes and one outer box. It holds up to 7,200 standard-sized cards. But NOT for Toploaders.
- 5 packs of 10 card dividers - come with 50 dividers to help you organize your cards. The upright orientation makes it easier to flip through the cards and quickly find the ones you need.
- A perfect fit for 2.5" x 3.5" trading cards like MTG or baseball cards.
- The item comes with step-by-step picture instructions for assembly and does not require tape, glue, or staples.
Buyer’s Guide
There are several things you need to take into consideration when purchasing a card organizer.
First, how much are you willing to spend? Depending on the organizer, you may end up needing multiple versions of the same product to contain your entire collection.
Next is the actual size of the organizer. Are you looking to store 5000+ copies of some Draft chaff and basics, or do you just need space for your 360-card cube? Consider as well if you’ll be storing the cards unsleeved, sleeved, or in hard toploaders? Some organizers are built to fit a certain size snugly, and you don’t want your card bouncing around and taking damage while it's supposedly safely stored in your vault.
Finally, consider the quality of protection you’re seeking. A simple cardboard box with dividers are cheap and get the job done, more or less, but a soft interior can really help prevent any further damage to your expensive Magic cards.
The “Cadillac” of MTG Card Organizers
The Ultra Pro: 3 Drawer Organizer is about as fancy as card organizers can get. This hard plastic set of drawers can hold 1000 sleeved cards (or 500 double-sleeved cards). The drawers are wide enough to fit Ultra Pro deck boxes, as well. Plus, they can be removed and stacked, and the entire lid is snap-fit and removable for easy access. At $65, you’re getting what you pay for – while this organizer is some of the safest and most stylish ways to store your cards, its 1000-card limit means you’ll most likely be purchasing another copy as your collection continues to grow.
The Ultra Pro: 3 Drawer Organizer also comes with nine hard plastic dividers to get you started on organizing your cards.
If that’s not your exact cup of tea, or you feel like being incredibly bougie, you could purchase multiple Ultimate Guard Omnihives and store your entire collection in those. Guaranteed to be the best protection for roughly 1000 cards at a time, the Omnihives mostly see use when moving decks to and from events, but there’s no reason you couldn’t stack four or five of them together to organize your entire collection. With a microfiber interior and two removable trays, the Omnihive comes with all the bells and whistles you’d expect at its price point, but it might not be the best option for an ever-growing collection.
- 3-drawer storage solution sized to hold 1,000+ standard trading cards (500+ double-sleeved)
- Card-sized front display slot for labeling drawers
- Includes 9 dividers for enhanced in-drawer organization
- Snap-fit removable lid and drawers for easy access to cards
- Stackable and fits in most standard shelving systems
The Best Budget MTG Card Organizer
For the Magic player on a budget, I recommend the BCW 5000 Count Storage Box (with Lid). If you’ve spent any time in an LGS in the past thirty years, chances are you’ve seen rows and rows of these bad boys lined up along the walls. The BCW 5000 Count Storage Box is a five-row cardboard storage box with five card-width dividers that can fit roughly 1000 cards in each row. It’s simple, it looks innocuous, and the white cardboard takes Sharpie marks like a champ.
The BCW is easy to label and cheap as dirt, and it comes in multiple sizes to fit your collection. BCW makes versions that come with two, three, four, and six rows as well – and several have options for built-in cardboard dividers.
I personally use two 5ks and a 2k to hold all my disparate Magic cards. Mine sit in a permanent state of unorganized disarray, but it’s nice to know that I could organize them by color and type if I ever felt like it.
The BCW is available on Amazon for around $18, but I implore you to ask around your local hobby shops about them – chances are they’ll have extras they can sell you for as cheap as $5.
My only criticism of the BCW 5k is that it isn’t great to carry around. In my time at a nameless MTG singles retailer I saw more than a handful of coworkers drop the deceptively difficult-to-carry BCWs on the ground, sending cards flying across the carpet and into the dust-filled voids beneath the shelving.
- Optimal Dimensions: Featuring exterior dimensions of 19 x 15 5/8 x 4 inches and interior dimensions of 17 5/8 x 15 1/8 x 3 3/4 inches, this card storage box is designed to maximize storage capacity while remaining conveniently sized.
- Premium Quality Construction: This 5000 Count Card Box is crafted from durable white corrugated paper with a 200 lb. test strength, ensuring longevity and robust protection for your cards against dust, moisture, and damage.
- Ample Storage Capacity: This trading card storage box accommodates up to 5000 standard-sized trading cards or 7000 collectible gaming cards, providing abundant space for your entire collection, whether it's for trading or gaming.
- Secure Full Lid Design: This cardboard trading card storage box features a full lid design, offering complete coverage and safeguarding your cards from external elements, ensuring they stay safe and pristine for years to come.
- Versatile Compatibility: Designed to work seamlessly with our Trading Card Dividers, offering enhanced organization and easy categorization of your cards, providing a tailored storage solution to meet your specific needs and preferences.
The Best Protection MTG Card Organizer
If you’re looking to sort and organize your most valuable MTG cards, you’re probably not looking for a huge box of cardboard. For those special cards that never leave their toploader, I suggest the Case Club 84 Graded Card Slab Carrying Case. While this card case is mostly used for transporting the graded cards in your collection, it also makes for the safest possible storage for them when you aren’t on the move.
Foam lining means cards in toploaders won’t move a millimeter during transit, and the modular nature of the foam means you can sort and organize the case however you choose. Plus, it comes with four padlock holes to lock down those valuable cards (padlocks sold separately). Short of locking your cards in a gun safe, this is just about the most secure organizer you could possibly purchase.
- Rugged, Water-Resistant, Graded Card Case fits 84 Graded Card Slabs (fits PSA, Beckett, HGA, ISA, GMA), or 936 Cards in Sleeves, or 4320 Loose Cards if the foam "modules" are removed. Max Card Slab Width: 3.25" (double check your widest slab).
- This durable, heavy duty, collector card storage case that fits Pokemon, MTG, baseball, and other sports is the most versatile trading card holder on the market.
- Move around the foam block separators for completely customized organization of slabs, loose cards, and sleeves.
- Foam is non-abrasive, will not scratch or scuff your slabs, will absorb impacts, and will not deteriorate over time.
- Hard shell plastic exterior is perfect for airline carry-on or conventions, has structural ribs for added strength, and 4 padlock holes for added security (used with customer supplied padlocks).
The Best Nontraditional MTG Card Organizer
Sometimes, the best storage solution isn’t even MTG-specific. A young Jeff’s first form of card transport (after I stopped keeping them loose in my backpack) was an organizer remarkably similar to the Stanley Removable Compartment Professional Organizer. This organizer is typically used for storing screws, nails, and other small pieces of hardware. However, it’s actually perfectly sized to carry traditionally sized trading cards. Each of the four-inch-deep compartments can hold up to 100 cards. They’re fully customizable, too, and the dividers can be removed and reset to create different sized compartments perfectly sized for dice or deck boxes, too. Sure, it looks a little wonky when you roll up to the FNM with a Stanley Organizer, but you can just get yourself a matching tool belt and make it your bit at the LGS.
- Removable cup compartments
- Unique lid design
- Compartments lock in place
- Unbreakable polycarbonate lid for lasting g use
- 10 removable compartments accommodate a wide variety of tools
Custom Card Organizers
If you’re looking to throw a little personality on your card organizers, there’s no shortage of products on Etsy. Check out this wooden Lord of the Rings Card box – the wooden edges basically demand that you sleeve your cards up before dropping them in, but there’s no substitute for style.
Alternatively, consider this gorgeous wooden 12 drawer Card organizer. Similar to the Fageveld 12 drawer organizer, this wooden craft adds a certain “je ne sais quoi” to your storage options.
Finally, check out this 12 drawer Card Cube. Easy to assemble and break down, this collection of drawers measures just under 13 inches on all sides, making it a perfect fit for most standard-sized cube storage/shelving units. The open face of each drawer helps you organize each drawer by type, too.
Wrap Up
Aberrant Researcher | Illustration by Nils Hamm
A wise man once said to me, “If you can get your cards organized, you can get your life organized.” Don’t surrender to the endless cycle of suffering; get yourself a card organizer and fix your life. Whether it's a foam-lined strongbox with locking lid or just some folded cardboard you’ve thrown your collection into, storing your cards in some semblance of an order is paramount to feeling like a healthy Magic player.
How do you organize your cards? Do you sort by type, color, or set? Do you use dividers, or are you just guessing when it comes to where one sort ends and another begins? And how many loose cards do you have in your collection? Let me know in the comments, or over on Draftsim’s Discord.
Thanks for reading, keep your cards safe!
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2 Comments
Three BCW 3200 count boxes with full lid (must be the full lid version) fits perfectly into a single Ikea Kallax cube.
If you have a Kallax, it’s quite possibly the perfect storage solution.
For general card storage I run several of the for row storage boxes. For my decks I use a tool box similar to the Stanley box. Mine ran $17 at Menards.
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