How to print your custom cards

The standard size (and why to keep it)

Almost every modern trading card is 63×88 mm (2.5×3.5 inches) — the same footprint as a poker card. Stick to it: sleeves, toploaders, binder pages, and deck boxes are all built around that size, and a card that fits standard sleeves immediately feels legitimate. Card Forge cards are designed at 630×880 px, exactly this ratio, so exports print true to size with no cropping.

Resolution and bleed

For a 63 mm-wide print, aim for 300 DPI — roughly 750×1050 px, comfortably close to Card Forge's export size (and upscaled exports handle it cleanly). If your print service asks for bleed (extra image beyond the trim line), choose a template with a border: borders forgive a millimeter of trim drift, full-bleed art shows every wobble.

Paper: the difference between a print and a card

Regular printer paper makes a picture of a card, not a card. What you want is cardstock in the 300–350 gsm range — that's the weight real trading cards use — ideally with a smooth or silk finish. Three routes, in ascending order of effort and quality:

• Home printer + 300 gsm cardstock sheets — fine for prototypes and gifts, cut with a guillotine not scissors
• Local print shop — ask for '350 gsm silk, cut to 63×88 mm'; a stack of a full set usually costs less than a coffee
• Online card-printing services — upload PNGs, get professionally cut and cornered cards with optional gloss or linen finish

Corners, sleeves, and the finishing touches

Real cards have rounded corners (a 3 mm radius corner punch fixes straight-cut cards in seconds). Sleeve anything you care about — penny sleeves cost almost nothing and a sleeved custom card in a binder page next to 'real' cards is a genuinely great feeling. For gifts, a single card in a toploader reads as 'this is a collectible', not 'this is paper'.

One honest note: holographic foil is a screen effect — a home print won't shimmer. Some online services offer real foil or holographic laminate as an upgrade if you want the shine physically; otherwise, dark-art cards with strong frames print the most convincingly.