The Academic Deck Box Is the Professor’s Magnum Opus

Brian Lewis, better known as the Professor of Tolarian Community College, has made a career of reviewing card-gaming accessories, primarily deck boxes, card sleeves, and collection binders. Whereas with card sleeves the expectations are universal—that they are durable and will protect players’ cards through years of play—the most prized features of high-end deck boxes vary from person to person, so players recommending that the Professor design a deck box of his own have presented no small challenge. But after many years of receiving this suggestion, he has finally done so, opening a Kickstarter campaign for the new product. It’s called the Academic 133+ XL, and it is sweet.

Tolarian Community College/Gamegenic

The Academic deck box was developed in collaboration between Lewis and Adrian Alonso, deck-box design veteran and CEO of Gamegenic, who incorporated all of the features the Professor requested based upon his own preferences and those of his followers in the card-gaming community. This incorporates a variety of features designed to appeal to fans of Magic: The Gathering and other popular trading card games. The primary container offers space for a 100-card, triple-sleeved deck, room enough for Magic’s preeminent Commander format, while an adjacent tray allows room for cards in toploaders, a common way in which players of Commander and Flesh and Blood players avoid accidentally shuffling their set-apart cards into their main decks (Commander cards and equipment cards, respectively).

Beneath this are two additional removable trays, each of which can hold up to 40 single-sleeved cards or 50 double-sleeved cards, magnetized for security. The combination allows room for players to store multiple decks in their Academic box or use the removable trays to store tokens and counters for use during play. What I find particularly impressive is that the primary container offers enough room to store one’s existing deck box, including larger options, such as the Ultra PRO Satin Tower. In this case, one simply removes the token tray from beneath the tower and stores it in one of the Academic trays.

The Sizemorph Divider, a $4 add-on, makes the Academic deck box one size fits all. Tolarian Community College/Gamegenic

Kickstarter backers will have access to a number of add-on features, the first of which to be revealed is the Sizemorph Divider, a flexible foam insert that can compress to give a perfect fit to any deck it’s slotted with. The campaign, whose initial funding goal was $50,000, has already been highly successful, raising over $1 million within days of its March 15 launch. One of the early-bird perks, the Professor’s stamped signature on the deck box, which was offered to the first 2,000 backers, sold out minutes after the campaign went live. The good news is that one of the unlocked social stretch goals so far teases “a very special HAND-SIGNED future package.” More information about this ought to be revealed shortly, and financial stretch goals are to be announced sometime tomorrow.

Card gamers interested in receiving their own copy of the Academic deck box can back at the $45 level. The campaign will end on April 14, 2022.