An all-round superb binder, with incredibly durability, high quality materials and strong stitching to help it last for years on end.
The perfect binder for those that like to secretly show off their collection. It’s also an easy way to see which set features in the binder for organisation purposes.
If you have far too many cards and don’t know how to organise it, this is the best and most affordable binder to get, it can hold hundreds of cards at a time.
Since Magic: The Gathering first appeared in 1993, both players and collectors have needed a way to safely store their collection from the best trading card games. Deck boxes are great, but of course they tend to be of most use when you’re actually done with the process of building a deck – and taking it with you to games. Binders, however, serve a dual purpose. Not only are they great to safely, securely store cards, but they also provide easy visibility and access for players when putting together their decks. There’s a huge number of brands and types of binder out there for trading cards, but which are the best?
1. Ultimate Guard ZipFolio
These binders are a great “all rounder”. The material used is a high quality “Xenoskin” fake leather that is resistant to water, scuffs and scratches. There’s extra padding around the front and back just in case. The zips are very durable and are incredibly easy to open, the stitching used around the zips is incredibly high quality, and none of my binders have ever ripped or torn since buying them several years ago. It’s worth noting that I open these things a lot!
On the inside you will find side loading pockets that are very tough, making it hard to rip or tear when and if you’re being a little heavy handed. The protective pocket is acid and PVC free making it safe to store loose cards; that said this binder even has space for double sleeved cards too, making it a good choice for high value cards as well. Where the pockets meet the hinge you will find strong stitching, this again stops rips or floppy pages.
Overall the Ultimate Guard ZipFolio is one of the best grading card binders on the block, it’s an all-round juggernaut that we have been using for a very long time and have no regrets snagging them.
2. Ultra Pro Premium Window Binder
Though this may not be the most reassuring design for anxiety-ridden trading card collectors and players (and I count myself as one of those!), this Ultra Pro Premium Window Binder is a great choice for showing off that one special card in your collection.
We’ve all got one of those, right? Well, they need to remain hidden no more, as this binder can showcase the pride of your collection with its central window! Ultra Pro are absolute masters when it comes to trading card accessories; they’ve been dominant in the space for years – and for good reason.
This windowed binder may not soothe the nerves of anxious collectors when one card is reasonably open to view, but it can serve as a handy way to indicate what’s inside the binder, and even the window itself is very well protected by the padded cover that surrounds it.
Read our full review: ULTRA PRO Window Premium Binder
3. Ultimate Guard Binder
Despite its diminutive size, this Ultimate Guard Binder is one of our go-to solutions when it comes to storing our cards. At Card Gamer, we’re always on the go and our cards accompany us absolutely everywhere, and we’ve used the Ultimate Guard Binder for years without any issues whatsoever.
It may only hold four cards per page, for a total of 160 cards overall, but that’s a decent number when you’re looking for a binder that’s portable and not necessarily one that’ll just sit looking pretty on a book shelf. It has a rubberised, soft touch exterior and a reliable zip; plus, the pages themselves are sturdy and long lasting as well (which we can attest to!).
If you’re looking for a binder to take along to tournaments or even casual games at your friend’s house, you could do a lot worse than this excellent little binder!
4. Gemloader Graded Card Binder
One of the most recent binders that we have reviewed is the Gemloader Graded Card Binder. A newly built folder that can hold up to 28 graded cards, from PSA to Beckett, many slabs will fit, all situated in plastic trays with easy installation. It’s a big folder at approximately 4 times the thickness of a traditional binder; it’s also worth noting that it weighs far more, so fitting this in your bag may be a struggle.
I found myself holding it in my arms when I would go to a friends, or when transporting my cards to a collectibles convention. Perhaps a handle would have been nice, but even then I think I would have been nervous swinging my cards around so aggressively.
The build quality is really good, with a fake leather on the exterior which comes in four different colors: red, blue, grey and turquoise. The stitching is very high quality, with a microfiber interior to keep things clean inside. It’s one of the best graded card binders on the market, and although its not “premium” it’s still a step in the right direction for Gemloader.
5. Ultra Pro Collector’s Album
It’s probably no surprise to see the ever-present Ultra Pro pop up again on the best trading card binders list; here they are with another binder! Pretty much the complete opposite to the Ultimate Guard Binder we’ve just talked about, this Ultra Pro Collector’s Album is absolutely huge.
Unlike any other binder we’ve featured, this Collector’s Album has a large D-ring that allows you to add your own card pocket pages, in whatever size suits you. Want 9 pockets? Go ahead. How about 12 pockets per page? This will cover you!
Allowing you to add and remove pages at will means that this Collector’s Album can be as flexible in terms of what it stores as you need it to be. If you want to separate your cards by type or even by different games, you can of course add divider pages too, making this Collector’s Album an incredibly versatile addition to anyone’s accessory collection.
It can hold up to a thousand cards if utilized properly, but just as Jeff Goldblum warns in Jurassic Park: just because you can do something, it doesn’t mean you should do it. What we mean by that is that though it can take up to a thousand cards, it definitely becomes pretty unwieldy to use, and you’re probably asking for trouble in terms of the strain put on the binder itself. So we’d highly recommend not going much beyond 600 cards in this binder – which is still a considerable amount.
6. Vault X Premium eXo-Tec 12-Pocket Binder
Here at Card Gamer, we’re big fans of Vault X; having used their sleeves and deck boxes for years, we’re also impressed with the great quality and attention to detail shown with their trading card binders too.
This particular binder uses Vault X’s eXo-Tec material on its exterior. This gives it a sturdy, reassuring feel; especially as it’s non-slip, water resistant and extra rigid. A high quality zip also helps in this regard. What’s more, with 12 pockets per page, and 20 pages overall, it can hold a massive 480 cards.
Each page even has a lightweight padded layer for even further reassurance and protection. The pockets themselves can accommodate sleeved, Magic: The Gathering or Pokémon-sized cards too.
Though it’s definitely not a cheap binder, its sheer volume and reassuring, high quality design makes it an obvious top recommendation on the best trading card binders list, especially as it’s available in a decent range of both dark and more pastel-type colors to suit the tastes of a variety of collectors.
