“One does not simply track a master set in a spreadsheet.”
A tracker for people who want to finish the set, not watch it fluctuate.
“One does not simply track a master set in a spreadsheet.”
What it's for
A set is easy to track right up until it isn't. One column works fine for the numbered run. Then you want the reverse holos, so that's a second column. Then the promos that shipped alongside it, the box toppers, the staff stamps, the regional printings — and now you have a spreadsheet you maintain instead of a collection you enjoy.
MasterSets exists because that problem deserved a proper tool. Every variant is tracked as its own thing, because owning the reverse holo genuinely is not the same as owning the regular. That is what lets a set tell you the truth: finished at base, most of the way to complete, and honest about how far off master really is.
The question this site answers is “what am I missing?” — not “what is it worth?”
If you're new to those three words, they have a page of their own: What Is a Master Set?
The standard
We don't copy checklists from other sites. Every set here is built card by card, and for many of them we track down the cards ourselves to assemble a real master set — because that is the only way to be certain about foils, alternate arts and the dozens of variant printings that other databases quietly get wrong.
It's slower. A single set can take days, which is why the list of games grows in steps rather than leaps and why we can't promise a date when someone asks for theirs. But when we mark a set complete, it is actually complete — and a gap in a checklist is a real gap, not a mistake we haven't found yet.
New sets go live every day. If yours isn't here yet, it's on the way. We're giving it all she's got.
Reverse holos, promos, alternate arts and regional printings each get their own slot.
Set totals are verified against real printings, so a missing card means a missing card.
A database this size has errors. Report one and it gets corrected for everybody.
How it's paid for
MasterSets will be funded by things you can actually hold — sleeves, binders, acrylic cases, toploaders and more — from our store, opening for the Holidays. Supplies for keeping a collection in the shape you found it. That's the business. The tracker isn't the thing we sell; it's the thing we wanted to exist.
There is no outside money in this, which matters more than it sounds. Nobody is waiting on a return, so there's no quarter where the tracker suddenly has to start earning its keep. That's the whole reason the promises below can be promises rather than intentions — the pressure that normally breaks them was never taken on.
The full version of this argument, with the three free plans that all cost nothing, is on the pricing page.
What we won't do
Every site says it respects you. Here is the specific, checkable version, so you can hold us to it rather than take our word for it.
There are no gains, no losses, no cost basis and no little green arrows. Plenty of apps will tell you what your cards are worth; this one is for finishing what you started.
Not on the card pages, not between your own cards, not on the home page. Nothing on this site is trying to get you to look somewhere else.
Not to anyone, not in aggregate, and not repackaged as market insight. What you own is your business.
You can record what a card cost you as a note to yourself. It never appears on a shared view, and it is stripped entirely from the public demo.
The tracker is free and stays free. If we ever build something that costs real money to run per person, we will charge for that thing, say so plainly, and it will not be this.
A child's account needs no email address and collects no personal details. It holds a collection. That is all it does.
Built with collectors
The store map is corrected by the people who actually go to those shops. Missing sets, wrong totals and misspelled card names get reported by the collectors who spot them first, which is always sooner than we would. Requests for new games and features go straight into the queue, and the ones people ask for twice tend to get built.
If something here is wrong, telling us is the fastest way to fix it for everybody who comes after you. That's not a courtesy — it's genuinely how the database gets better.
Pick a game, open a set, and mark what you own. No account needed to try it, and nothing to cancel if you don't stay.
Browse the games
MasterSets is operated by MasterSets LLC, based in Illinois, USA.
Questions we get often are answered on the FAQ.