Arcihval-Quality Deck Box

 

 

 

There are plenty of high end deck boxes that are made of wood. Nothing is wrong with these boxes, Ive made several myself, but wood is not archival quality. If you want your precious cards to last hundreds of years you need a better material. 

The problem with wood is that as wood ages acetic acid and formic acid are produced by the degradation of cellulose and hemicellulose. This process is known as off gassing. Over the course of decades off gassing can migrate through plastic selves and eventually into the cards themselves causing yellow or brown discoloration due to acid-catalyzed oxidation reactions. Acid can also cause "foxing." Foxing appears as small brownish spots often seen on old comic books. 

Acidification of the cards (lowering of pH in the cards) will weaken the cellulose fibers in the cards and will cause the cards to become brittle.

After about 50 years the effect will likely be slight but noticeable, after 100 years the damage could be extensive.

So what materials are archival? Well, leather and plastic, are inert and wont off-gas. However, leather and plastic don't stop acid migration. If you were to store your box in a wooden cabinet or on a wooden shelf the the box would become acidic due to acid migration. Now, one option to prevent this acidification from happening is to line the shelf or drawer with Marvelseal. This material will effectively block all acid migration.

Now, one could incorporate marvelseal into a wooden deck box, but I think there is a better way--Aluminum. 

Aluminum blocks acid, is durable and light weight compared to other metals.

This is a 3d printed deck box I designed. Its made of an aluminum, magnesium, silicon alloy. I had it 3d printed in China for about 50 bucks with shipping. 

 

 

The top of the box is fitted with neodymium magnets and pins to prevent the lid from sliding off. The pinholes are reinforced with steel tension pins (AL is too soft to handle the wear of pins going in and out of it). The pins are made of steel and glued into holes in the lid. The magnets are also glued into their holes.

I carved the design using a hand held rotary dermal tool but if I had to make the box again I would build the design in fusion 360 using this technique.

I wanted my box to look aged and old. Normally AL looks new and shiny. The neat part of this particular alloy is that it holds a nice dark patina. All you have to do is suspend the box in water over a sprinkling of Oxyclean powder. Wait a day, and when you come back in the morning the box will be totally dark. I used a rag with Hydrochloric acid to lighten the raised areas of the design. Also, if for some reason you're having trouble getting the patina to stick try rubbing the resistant area with Hydrochloric acid. Be sure to wear gloves and eye protection. When your done playing with the acid neutralize it with baking soda before you dispose of it.

Finally, I painted on a bit of green ink into the recesses to make it look even more worn and old, like an ancient wizard trinket.

 

Black Lotus Misprint Mystery

 

Recently there has been some controversy on the MTG misprint 

subreddit and in various email threads about the authenticity 

of this card: 

 

 

I was contacted by the owner of the card and asked for my opinion on its authenticity.

 

 Firstly, let me say that he did not ask me to write this blog post, I'm not affiliated with him in any way 

and have no incentive to write this post other than my own interest in the topic. 

The question is: is this card a genuine test print/misprint. Or stated another way, was this card printed by a WotC 

employee?

 

At first glance the card appears to be fake. It's clearly printed on top of a 2000 championship blank.

My immediate assumption was that someone used the technique presented on my blog to simply print on top 

of the blank. I responded as much, but then added that I couldn't know for sure without seeing the card under 

a jeweler's loupe. A few months later I was sent this:

 

 

We clearly see a rosette pattern. The rosette pattern does not match that of

 a real lotus nor would we expect it to since the original lotus plates are assumed to be destroyed.  

 

A rosette pattern is an anti counterfeit measure that is worked into a printing plate used in offset lithography

 printing.  

We also see that the art was clearly printed on top of the blank. Notice the art alignment. 

 

 

In my opinion, a rosette pattern can ONLY be produced from a stamp being pressed into the card. 

 

This card was not created using an inkjet printer nor was it created using a laser jet as many people

 in the magic community are incorrectly stating. 

Inkjets simply do not have the capability of printing at a resolution fine enough to create the pattern

 we see under the loupe.

 

 Laser printers also are not capable of printing at this resolution. I know of no technique that 

would allow laser toner to adhere to an actual magic card and 

even if somehow the toner could adhere to the card the heat would likely cause warping.

 

The bottom line is home printers can not print such an extraordinarily fine resolution--not even close. 

So now you can see why I find this card so interesting. Either this person invented the greatest proxy 

technique of all time or this card was printed by an offset lithography printer.

So we have a mystery on our hands and other interesting clues to examine. 

Notice the dot in the text box. 

It appears to be an attempt to reproduce the dot present in an actual lotus.

 

I suppose if someone were to attempt to print this card and sell it off as a test print it might occur to

 them to reproduce this dot, but why would they try to sell a test print when they clearly have the technology to 

print the most convincing fakes of all time? 

The font exhibits no rosette pattern of its own which genuine cards do not. This is because the font is

 stamped onto a card in a separate process from stamping the art as is done in authentic cards.

 The font also appears to match perfectly the font of a real lotus. 

Here is close up of the font of the casting cost:

  

 

The font looks beautiful. This sharpness of font can only be attained by pressing

typeset onto the card.

Here is another interesting piece of the puzzle. 

 

 

Those appear to be Machine Identification Code (MIC) dots. Decoding the MIC dots should be able to 

identify the printer used and solve the mystery. Unfortunately dot codes are kept secret and we don't even

 know what printer was used, if we did we could contact the manufacturer and ask about the dots and perhaps 

track down the guy who printed it or at least prove what printer was used.

Then several months after I was contacted this post appeared on Reddit 

https://www.reddit.com/r/magicTCG/comments/1bxrcie/black_lotus/   asking if these are real cards:

They appear to be made by whomever made the lotus in question. Attempts to reach the poster to ask for 

clues about the origins of their cards have failed.

So this leaves us with many clues and no clear answers.

 

Its a rather unfortunate circumstance for the owner who 

contacted me. The card will only have value if it can be authenticated and it saddens me that the Magic 

community so quickly dismissed his claims despite being presented with a rosette pattern.

Now I should state that there are plenty of fake cards printed with rosette patterns. These fakes, so far, have 

come out of China and are printed on offset lithography printers, 

but they use counterfeit card stock and thus are easy to ID as fake when held. 

This lotus has a rosette pattern printed on genuine card stock. This is not something that the Chinese proxy 

makers would produce or maybe even could produce.

My personal speculation is that some WotC employee wanted to make proxies for themselves. 

They obviously had the technology to produce an unbelievable fake, but instead chose to go out 

of their way to make the card look like a proxy. They didn't even bother to check their spelling.  

These oversights, to me, imply good will on the part of the maker. 

 

I have no idea why they had a plate made with lotus art on it, but they did. They also had the font type on

hand. Did they perhaps attach this 2000 championship blank to a carrier sheet and run it through an offset printer?

Who would have the ability to print such a compelling reproduction so casually other than 

a WotC employee or someone who worked with WotC in the past? 

What do you think?

Can anyone at WotC verify the authenticity of this card?

 

 

Can an unsolvable format be created? Part 2

In part 1 we talked about using a point system to ensure that most decks in the format are roughly the same power level.

Unfortunately, the point system only works for a small format and can not be updated as new cards are released.

Now I present a theoretically unsolvable format that you can play right now with any of the decks you already have!

Here are the full rules.

The idea behind the Parley rule is to prevent raw card power from determining the strength of a deck. 

If you have ever tried to play a casual game with a friend you probably noticed that your decks were not balanced. This is fine for the first few games, but gets boring after a while since the games become predictable. With Parley each game is balanced regardless of traditional deck power. 

Mana screw and mana flood are no longer a problem. If you get bad mana you can simply wait until you draw all the cards you need. The parley rule will keep you safe long enough to set up an interesting board. 

The size of the meta game is expanded. A healthy meta game in a traditional format has at most 15-20 decks, but in some cases can have as few as one or two. In Parley the size of the meta game is limited to the number of decks with win conditions. At the time of writing there are about 15 thousand Magic Cards printed. The number of possible combinations of cards that make legal decks easily dwarfs the number of atoms in the universe. In other words Parley is a deck builders dream!

To build a winning Parley deck you don't have to copy a netdeck. In fact using a well known deck is probably a disadvantage. The best Parley deck is the deck you build yourself. Since neither player can win until both agree that the board looks more or less even you will want to build decks with cards and combos that are difficult to evaluate. 

Now this format is only theoretically unsolvable. In the next month or two I'll be hosting a Parley tournament and will post an update with lots of pictures and results. I'll be offering some nice prizes and really try to put this format to the test. I plan on playing a traditionally weak old school deck. I'm sure my opponents will bring lots of modern powerful cards.

The main idea behind Parley is to use bargaining to balance decks before players actually battle. But how do we know that bargaining is balanced? Economists have been studying this problem for decades, and as far as I can tell from the research bargaining is balanced. 

I'm excited to see what happens!

Making a Magic Card Box

Heres another box I made. This time I experimented with a metal bezzle. 

The inside of the lid is lined with stained sheet metal.

I chose brass because it is stiffer than copper.

I went down to my local metal warehouse (Schorr Metals) and picked up some cheap scrap brass. 

I used a Dremel tool to cut the brass with a Dremel Cut-off wheel attachment. 

To fold the brass. I took an exact-o-knife and used it to file a groove. I knew the groove was deep enough when I could feel the metal starting to give way by hand. 

Once I could feel it giving I clamped it down and folded the bend. 

Although this box does not wobble or squeak. It is rather heavy. Also I don't really like the way metal feels. I learned a lot making it, but I don't recommend it, it just does not feel as nice as a solid wood box. 

Can an "unsolvable" format be created?

Today I want to talk about the concept of creating an "unsolvable" TCG format.

The idea is simple, just assign a power level to each card and then limit the total power level of each deck.

I built a simple version of this idea using 93/94 here: https://equilibrium94.github.io/#

My implementation has yet to be balanced, but I think the idea has a lot of potential.

The benefits are:

* Netdecks don't oppress creativity.

* You get a format with a large number of Tier 1 decks, maybe up to 60.

* Each Tier 1 deck can have a 50-51% win rate vs other Tier 1 decks on average.

* The vast majority of the card pool is playable.

* Decks can be balanced with greater precision than banning, restricting, or re-writing cards.

I think the idea works well for static formats like 93/94, and will also work well for digital TCG's like Hearthstone and Shadowverse.

Unfortunately, I don't think it can be implemented for modern paper TCG's since as new cards are introduced the power level of each card would need to be updated.

Common Proxy Mistakes

We can learn a lot from mistakes! Lets look at a few.

1) 

If you see these little dots it probably means you're not using enough FolkArt. 

The FolkArt bonds with the InkAid/Digital Ground and gives it more adhesion. The adhesion is what allows the InkAid to dry evenly over the whole card. The InkAid naturally wants to bead up like water over wax. Thats why you see the dot like pattern above. Its a result of the InkAid/Digital Ground beading up and then drying in that pattern. 

2) 

The problem with this one is that the text is pretty blurry. 

This is probably the most common problem people have. This happens because either you don't apply enough FolkArt or your printer's settings are producing too much ink. 

One of the main purposes of the FolkArt Glass and Tile Medium is to provide a porous surface to absorb ink like a sponge. If the ink is not absorbed it will have no where to go and just bleed out. 

To solve this problem you apply more mixture or increase the amount of FolkArt in your mixture. 

Or you adjust your printer settings to produce less ink. If you have a fancy printer you can set the ink levels directly, otherwise you'll probably have to adjust your "Paper Type" setting and do some trial and error until it looks right. 

3) 

This is what happens if you try to print on a card without InkAid/Digital Ground. InkAid allows the InkJet ink to bond with precision. If we don't use it the ink will look like a big blur. 

4)

Here you can see that the card on the left is super washed out. 

This can happen because your "black levels" in Photoshop are not low enough or your "contrast" in Photoshop is not high enough. Setting black levels and contrast requires calibration and is the main skill used in producing really nice prints. 

In the above case, however, the problem turned out to be a printer problem. The guy was using a really nice Epson Photo Stylus R2880 which uses pigmented inks. It seems the solution to his problem was to adjust the printer speed. I've never seen the problem in person and it seems to be a rare problem, but hopefully it will help someone else. 

5) 

 

In the above picture there are globs of mixture on the card as opposed to a smooth texture. The exact cause of this problem is still unknown. Here are some things to try if this happens to you:

Firstly, make sure that you STIR the FolkArt. If you read the instructions on the back of the FolkArt is says that shaking it is not enough. This is true in my experience. FolkArt naturally congeals and the only way to ensure that it is a smooth texture is to take the end of your brush and stir the liquid. 

If that doesn't solve the issue then the next thing to try is to apply the FolkArt first, let it dry fully, then apply the InkAid or Digital Ground as a second layer. The reason that applying the chemicals in two separate layers can sometimes fix this issue is still unknown. Most people are able to mix the FolkArt and Digital Ground with no issue. Some people, however, when using the exact same brands do experience this issue. We believe that some batches of InkAid or Digital ground have slightly different formulas that result in a chemical reaction that causes the mixture to congeal. If you have any information on why this could be happening please email me. 

Mixing the two products is only a convenience and is not required for making a great print. In the non-foil video I apply the mixtures in two separate layers and achieve fantastic results. 

One final note on this--if you are making a foil cards please allow enough time for the IndAid/Digital Ground layer to fully dry before applying any gloss. If you apply the gloss before the lower layers have a chance to fully dry then, since the gloss is wet, it can cause the lower layers to mix and create the bumps. 

6)

In the first picture, you can see some horizontal lines running across the blue part of the card. In the second picture you can see sketchy black lines also running horizontally. There are two causes for this problem. 

1) Your printer is low on ink.

2) Your print heads need to be cleaned. 

Most printers have an option to automatically clean the print heads. If that doesn't resolve the issue you may need to clean your print heads manually. To do this take the print cartridges out of the printer. Take and use a cotton swab or paper towel and moisten it slightly with some warm water. Then use dab the place where the ink comes out lightly with the swab until its clean. Let it dry and put it back. 

I'll be sure to post more common problems here in the future. If you don't see your problem here email me with pictures and I'll post it and the solution. 

chess314 at gmail dot com

-Reve

One more box

Here's another box design.

My favorite part of the box are the dots on the outside:

I made them with a soldering iron. Can you guess what they are for? They are actually a Quinary life counter. 

Each half of the box represents one quinary numeral. You put them together to make a number. 

Take this orientation for example: 

The three dots on the left are the quinary number 3. Since that is the left most numeral we multiply 3 * 5 to get 15. The dot on the right is the quinary number 1. So the above orientation represents the number 15 + 1 = 16. This box can count all the way up to 24--pretty cool!

The bezel is made of brass.
I tried making boxes with wooden bezels, but the problem with that is that they squeak and wobble.
I also tried making a box entirely out of brass, but the problem with that is that the box is too heavy and also too wobbly over all, since thin metal is not very ridged.

The design is simple, but you need to make sure that the top of the bezel is perfectly flat otherwise you'll get squeaks. Takes a bit of trial and error.

The wood is 1/16th inch thick Cherry. I applied three coats of shellac to the interior of the wood to protect against acid off gassing. The shellac should last about the 20 years it will take for the wood to deplete all its acid.

Overall I don't really like this design that much because the lid tends to wobble and the metal is rather heavy...  back to the drawing board for me.