Lotus ScanHow to Organize Your MTG Collection Digitally
A step-by-step guide to help you organize your mtg collection digitally quickly and accurately.
A digitally organized collection transforms how you interact with your cards. Instead of digging through boxes hoping to find that one copy of Smothering Tithe, you search your app and know exactly where it is in seconds. Good digital organization also makes deck building, trading, and selling dramatically faster and less error-prone. The key is choosing an organizational system that matches how you actually use your cards, not just dumping everything into one giant list.
Step-by-Step Guide
Choose your primary organization method
Decide how you want to group your cards based on how you use them. Common approaches include organizing by format (Standard, Modern, Commander), by purpose (decks, trade stock, collection keepers), or by set. Most players find that organizing by purpose is the most practical because it aligns with how you actually access your cards.
Tip: Your digital organization should mirror your physical storage. If your physical cards are sorted by color, organize digitally the same way.
Create collection groups in your app
In Lotus Scan, create separate collections for each major category. At minimum, create groups for: Active Decks, Trade Binder, Valuable Singles, and Bulk. You can add more granularity as needed - maybe separate Commander decks each get their own group, or your Modern staples have their own section.
Scan and sort cards into the right groups
As you scan cards, assign each one to the appropriate group immediately rather than sorting later. This takes slightly more time per card during scanning but saves you a massive reorganization effort afterward. If a card belongs in multiple contexts, put it in the group where it currently physically lives.
Develop a naming convention
Use consistent naming for your collection groups so they sort logically. For example, prefix all deck names with "Deck - " so they appear together, or use "Trade - Standard" and "Trade - Modern" for format-specific trade stock. Consistency now prevents confusion when you have 20+ groups.
Tip: Include the format in deck names so you know at a glance which decks are legal where: "Deck - EDH - Atraxa" or "Deck - Modern - Burn."
Maintain your system as cards move
Cards move between groups constantly. You pull cards from your trade binder to build a deck, or you retire a deck and its pieces go to trade stock. Update your digital collection when cards move physically. Five seconds of updating now saves five minutes of searching later.
Do a quarterly audit
Every few months, review your digital collection against your physical cards. Look for cards listed digitally that you've sold or traded away, and cards sitting in boxes that were never scanned. A clean database is a useful database, and drift accumulates faster than you'd expect.
Make It Easier with Lotus Scan
Lotus Scan for iPhone simplifies this entire process with AI-powered card recognition, real-time price tracking, and intuitive collection management. Just point your camera and scan.
Pro Tips
- Keep a "Limbo" or "Unsorted" group for newly acquired cards that you haven't decided where to place yet. Process this pile weekly.
- If you share cards between multiple Commander decks, pick one deck to be the "home" and use proxy placeholders in other decks. Track the real card's location digitally.
- Color-code your physical storage to match your digital groups. If your trade binder is in a red folder, use a red label or emoji in the app.
- Don't over-organize. If you have 15 collection groups and struggle to decide where a card goes, you have too many categories. Simplify until every decision is obvious.