Posted in: Card Games, Games, Tabletop | Tagged: Dragon Ball Super Card Game, Magic: The Gathering, Pokemon TCG, Ultimate Guard, Yugioh

Trading Card Binder Review: Ultimate Guard ZipFolio 9-Pocket XenoSkin

One of the biggest decisions a trading card game collector can make is deciding how to display their cards. In order to help out fellow collectors, this brand new series Trading Card Binder Review will take us through binders being sold as premium display items to see which products live up to the hype and which aren't worthy to store your big hitters. Whether you collect Pokémon TCG, Dragon Ball Super Card Game, Digimon, or any other CCG/TCG, I hope this helps you on your journey. Today, let's take a look at a product I saw being pushed on Amazon recently: Ultimate Guard ZipFolio 9-Pocket XenoSkin.

Ultimate Guard ZipFolio 9-Pocket XenoSkin: The Details

• Side-load sleeves for the cards
• Black exterior, black interior
• Zips shut
• No rings
• "XenoSkin" for protection

The Good

• Relatively standard interior: As far as the interior of the binder, this is what you'd expect. The pockets fit slightly different card sleeve sizes nicely, and they're snug to prevent cards from moving around. The pages are high quality and the sheet count stops the binder from ramping up too much when cards are added. I compare the interior mostly to CardGuardian products, which feels standard. It's the exterior where this product fails.

The Bad

• Flimsy: This binder is similar in price to the higher-end TopDeck binder, which made me think we were going to get something incredibly sturdy. The opposite is true. The cover is flimsier than any similar binder I've purchased. VaultX, Card Guardian, Wintra, Ultra Pro — all of them have noticeably sturdier covers than this binder. The binder feels lightweight and that's not to its benefit. This is a product that feels like it would wear over time.
• XenoSkin: This is advertised as a bonus, and yet it is the worst exterior of a binder that I've purchased. The XenoSkin is loose, bubbling up in areas when the binder sits. As to its feel, it feels like a looser, lower-quality version of the texture of any binder. If XenoSkin is why this binder costs more than its competitors, Ultimate Guard should reconsider, because it is emphatically not a draw. Even the color seems faded, not grey enough to look like a purposeful dark grey and not black enough to compete with the sleek VaultX offering.
• Price: $36.99. Come on.

Ultimate Guard ZipFolio 9-Pocket XenoSkin: Final Rating

4.5/10: To say that this binder is overpriced compared to its competitors is a hilarious understatement. If I were to suggest a binder to a dedicated collector, this wouldn't even be in the conversation.

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