Steel vs Brass: Choosing a Metal Token Finish

Every token we print comes in three versions of the same art: brushed steel, brass finish, and card stock. The art is identical across all three. What changes is the surface it sits on, and that choice is mostly about how you want the thing to feel in your hand.

Short version: steel is the everyday workhorse, brass is the one people pick up off the table, and card stock is the one you can afford to lose.

What each one actually is

Brushed steel. A stainless steel plate with a fine directional grain, UV-printed edge to edge. The satin surface scatters light instead of reflecting it, which is why steel photographs flat and reads clean under harsh venue lighting.

Brass finish. The same plate construction with a polished, warm-toned brass finish sealed under lacquer. It is a brighter, more reflective surface than the steel, and the lacquer is what keeps it that way over time.

Card stock. Genuine trading cards, bulk commons bought at retail, with an opaque white underbase and our token art UV-printed over the face. None of the original card face stays visible. They ship in five-packs per token type.

Side by side

All three are standard trading card size, 63.5 x 88.9 mm, which is 2.5 by 3.5 inches. Both metals are roughly 0.5 mm thick, deburred and corner-rounded to the same radius as a normal card.

How to choose

Pick steel if the set gets played. The brushed grain is forgiving. It hides the smudges that come from four hours of picking tokens up and putting them down, and it needs nothing beyond an occasional dry wipe. If you are buying one complete set and it lives in your bag, this is the default.

Pick brass if you want the set noticed. The polished surface catches table light in a way the steel deliberately does not, and at about 28 g it lands with a bit more weight. The tradeoff is honest: a polished sealed surface takes fingerprints more readily than a brushed one. They wipe off with a dry cloth, but you will be wiping.

Pick card stock if you want coverage over presence. Five of a token type for a fraction of the metal price means you can field a wide board, leave a pack in a second deck box, and not think about it. Plenty of people run metal for the tokens their deck makes constantly and card stock for the rest.

There is no durability argument between the two metals. The ink is the part that takes the abuse, and it is the same UV-cured ink bonded to the plate in both cases. Our UV printing guide covers why that holds up.

The mixing question

Nothing stops you from running both finishes in one set, and it is a reasonable way to make your most-created token the one that stands out. The only thing worth knowing is that steel and brass read as genuinely different temperatures side by side, cool against warm. Some people want exactly that contrast. Others find a matched set looks more deliberate. Both are fine, but look at a set page's photos before assuming you will like the mix.

Living with either one

Neither finish needs much. A soft dry cloth handles almost everything, and the mistakes to avoid are the same for both: abrasive pads, solvent cleaners, metal polish, and the dishwasher. The brass has one extra note, which is that the lacquer seal is the protective layer, so it is the thing you are preserving. Ordinary brass tarnishes in open air; a sealed brass finish does not behave that way.

The full routine, including storage and what to do about fingerprints, is in how to care for metal tokens.

If you pick wrong

Every order is covered by a 30-day money-back guarantee. Finish is a matter of taste more than the rest of this catalog is, so if a set turns up and the finish is not what you pictured, that guarantee is the intended answer.