So you saw a cool looking deck box that changes colors? Now you’re probably wondering if it’s worth it and how it works? In that case, you’ve come to the right place. Today we’re doing a throughout review of one of the coolest looking deck boxes out there: Ultimate Guard’s ChromiaSkin Sidewinder Deck Box.
Let’s get right to it!
ChromiaSkin Sidewinder Deck Box – Details
It’s a fine sturdy deck box, with it’s main feature being that it changes colors on touch. It’s pretty cool looking and it offers great protection for your cards. Let’s get into more details.
Ultimate Guard
Ultimate Guard is the producer of ChromiaSkin deck boxes. In the recent years they became almost a synonym for a quality among players of various card games.
When you get a product from Ultimate Guard, you don’t need to worry that it isn’t well made. Besides, they always have quite reasonable prices, which is great.
ChromiaSkin
ChromiaSkin is the name for the surface of those deck boxes, which is heat sensitive. It doesn’t change just because you touch it, but because of temperature difference. So if you’d take it with you to a sauna, it would also change colors.
Here’s some info about when the color changes:
- Original Color: under 19°C / 66°F
- Optimal for a Change: around 26°C / 79°F
- Fully Changed Color: 36°C / 97°F
So if you live in a very cold place, the deck box would need to be held for a longer period of time to change colors.
Sidewinder
Sindwinder is a type of Ultimate Guard deck box, where the deck lies on its side. The inside edge of the deck box is curved in a way that enables easy access to the deck, as can be seen on the picture below.
This is different from the most common deck boxes, where you sometimes have to turn the whole thing on its head just to get cards out.
Sizes
You can get this deck box in two sizes: 80+ and 100+. Here’s their dimensions and how many cards each of them holds.
ChromiaSkin 80+
- Dimensions: 3.82 x 3.07 x 3.07 inch / 97 x 78 x 78 mm
- Single sleeved cards: 100
- Double sleeved cards: 80
- Price: Check on Amazon
ChromiaSkin 100+
- Dimensions: 3.11 x 4.09 x 3.46 inch / 79 x 104 x 88 mm
- Single sleeved cards: 120
- Double sleeved cards: 100
- Price: Check on Amazon
If you’re playing a format like Commander, where you need 100 cards, we’d recommend getting the 100+ option, as you’ll also have enough space for some tokens.
Colors
The deck box is available in six colors. They are listed bellow and if you click on them, the link will take you to the respective page on Amazon.
- Red to Yellow
- Black to White
- Yellow to White
- Blue to Light-Blue
- Petrol Blue to Menthol Blue
- Dark Green to Lime
Which one is your favorite? Tell us in the comments below!
ChromiaSkin Sidewinder Deck Box Review
Okay, so we talked about the details of the deck boxes, now let’s get to reviewing and see if they can serve you well.
Quality
So how good those deck boxes actually are? Let’s first talk about the quality of the deck box and forget whole changing colors thing. If your deck box can’t safely hold your cards it doesn’t matter how pretty it is, right?
Thankfully, the deck box is very well put together. It’s stitched together very nicely and it likely won’t fall apart even after using it for multiple years. The inside is made from a soft material, which is great for your cards.
Four strong magnets hold the box together and they produce that satisfying click, when you close it. Even after the shake test the deck box doesn’t open, so it’s safe to say that it won’t open randomly in your back pack.
All in all, the deck box is on par with the high standards of quality of the Ultimate Guard and will definitely serve you for a long time.
ChromiaSkin
Okay, so ChromiaSkin is probably the reason why this deck box caught your eye. How good is it in practice? Well, in most places the deck box work as advertised. Everywhere someone touches it, it changes colors.
The problems are if you’re living somewhere very cold or very hot. As we said, at 36°C / 97°F degrees, the deck box’s color is fully changed. So if you live somewhere where the temperatures are that high, it might not be the best choice for you.
Otherwise the color changes are really cool looking, although maybe not as drastic as some promotional pictures suggest.
Conclusion & Grade
Final Grade: A-
All in all, this is a very solid deck box. It sturdy and compact and will keep your cards safe, which is the most important part, when you’re choosing a deck box.
Now this deck box is designed to stand out and to look special. Once again it definitely delivers on that front with something that no other deck box can offer. It has eye catching design with its color changing abilities.
The only downside is, if you’re living somewhere really cold or hot, the color changes might not work optimally. That’s the case for the minus beside the A grade.
So if you’re looking for a deck box that catches the eye, while not sacrificing quality, ChromiaSkin Sidewinder is a great choice.
If you like it, you can buy it on Amazon. On the other hand, if it’s not your cup of tea, you can find more recommendations for best deck boxes here. Doesn’t matter if you play MTG, Yu-Gi-Oh, Pokemon or any other card game, you’ll surely find something great for you.
Do you have any additional questions? Ask us in the comments below, we’ll gladly help you. Until next time, have fun and may your new deck box serve you for a long time!