On April 10, I got email confirmation that I was selected for the @cardamajigs beta test for their new reusable card pack product, Cubeamajigs. Today, I got a sample of five in the mail, so I get to show everyone how they look and feel, and give my general impressions!

Before I move on, I want to disclose that this product is still in-development. This will be a preview of their current state which may change, and everything below is also meant as feedback to Cardamajigs, who provided them to me free of charge. I have no professional association with Cardamajigs, and being a potential customer I am reviewing these as much for myself as I am for you or them.

Putting Them Together

At first, I was a little worried that something was wrong with the plastic, or that the illustrated cards were printed on a film simply wrapped around a standard plastic case:

The back of the feedback request form contained instructions for folding the packs into a box. Step 1 alleviated my concerns and actually impressed me!

The plastic is protective and meant to come off! It’s also really satisfying to peel, like ASMR for your fingers.

The sleeves are made of thin, pliable, yet sturdy plastic

I filled them up with cards, single- and double-sleeved:

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Packs will also fit up to 40 unsleeved cards (very snugly, which means they may not work well for keeping a limited deck together, but are fine for say, 35 card “teaching/intro” decks).

Storage

Packs fit perfectly in a standard white cardboard card box.

The boxes are almost half as thin than a duel deck box, but also a little wider

I also tried various other boxes, including an Origins Clash Pack, Dragon Shield sleeve box, Ultra-Pro sleeve box, Ultra Pro premium deck box:

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I also put them into the Dominaria prerelease kit that I got this past weekend, and it also works perfectly as a personal draft box:

Look & Feel

Overall, these look and feel great. The packs feel like they’re going to keep my cards together well, and provide more protection than a thin cardboard deck box. As a minor quibble, because the middle section of the box is not connected to the top and bottom flaps, it has the potential to feel off-center from the flaps once everything is closed (this is partly based on how well you fold the box together, and may be an issue for boxes that have been used a lot or flattened/re-folded many times). Maybe the edges of the flaps could taper inward to prevent this, but this is very minor.

One thing I noticed is that may put people off is that the solid-color Cubeamajig packs I received are not entirely opaque. The front side of the packs have the flaps which obscure what’s behind them, but the back side does not:

40 unsleeved cards. 15 single-sleeved cards. 11 single-sleeved cards, squeezing with my thumb.

The art packs on the other hand, completely obscure what’s underneath. You’d never know that inside this pack is….

I also really like that artist credit is given on the bottom end:

Overall Impressions

I think these are going to be a really good way to make prepared packs for cube drafts. I’ve used “team bags” before and while they work well once, they quickly lose their seal strength and look messy after the first time you use them. And there’s no way to obscure the contents other than flipping cards.

I’m a little concerned about the strength of the parts of these packs that would get folded back and forth a lot – the tiny flaps underneath of the large ones. These give the pack some rigidity while it’s empty and closed, like a playing card box, but also kind of just get in the way while trying to slide cards out. I think the top set of these is probably unnecessary.

I’ve heard that there will be a lot of print options for artwork and colors, so that’s a big plus. One suggestion I would have is the option to put custom text on either the flaps or the top end or sides. This could be nice for cube owners that have developed their own custom drafts with specific pack orders, such as a 3-set block retail simulation.

I’m also impressed with the amount of effort that was put into the beta process itself. It seems like the sign-up process went off without a hitch, and the information from Cardamajigs appears very professional. If there are no issues with supply or the custom ordering process, I will definitely be ordering a few sets of these for my cubes. Pre-orders begin in just a few weeks!