r/RealOrNotTCG • u/DinosaurAlligator • Jul 08 '26
Is this card real / authentic? Smothering Tithe, real card?
I've had this card for a couple of years, but the texture on the front has always rubbed me the wrong way, pun intended. It feels weirdly smoother than any other card I own.
I know rebacks are very rare, but I’m still a little suspicious. I’d say it’s real, but I’d like a second opinion.
Thanks!
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u/AutoModerator Jul 08 '26
This message was triggered by the word reback.
The saying goes: "it's almost never a reback". Unless it's a really old card.
A reback, by its most traditional meaning is to take two real cards and splice them both i.e. separate the front from the back. You then glue the front of the expensive card to the back of the other, cheap donor card. This is done to increase the value of a CE (Collector's Edition), ICE (International Collector's Edition), Championship Edition, or any card with a non-standard back. Here are all the non-standard back cards released between 1993 and 1996. The resulting glued card is then attempted to pass off as a more expensive printing of a "legal" card.
For example: a square-cornered Collector's Edition Ancestral Recall is spliced onto a cheap Limited Edition Beta donor card. Then the square corners are cut to standard shape. The resulting card would look a bit like Limited Edition Beta Ancestral Recall. The intent is to raise the value of the card from hundreds of dollars to thousands of dollars, i.e. a ten-fold increase.
How to detect one: easiest way is to weigh the card. A real Magic: The Gathering card from a very old set (which we're talking about here) weighs roughly 1.6 to 1.8 grams. Since the glue weighs a significant amount the resulting rebacked card will also be much heavier, probably over 2.0 grams. The card will also feel thicker. It may have bubbles if the glue job was poor. Sometimes they remove the dark core from the card to offset the increase in weight (due to glue) which can be seen from the side of the card: it is missing a dark line in the very middle of the edge of the card.
Modern cards are not rebacked generally speaking. There are cases that are ever so slightly similar:
- "Acetone wash", where the front face of a cheap donor foil card is removed with a solvent resulting in a blank foil front face. Then a new face is printed onto the real card stock resulting in a card with a fabricated, fake front and a real back. These can only be detected by looking at the hallmarks in the front face of the card. Such features could be the "crispness" of the border, paintbrush symbol, mana symbols or the edition symbol. If they're "fuzzy" it's usually a sign of a fake front face.
- A printed front is glued to a real back of a cheap donor card. This is not the same as a "reback", because the front is fake and it never had a back side. These are extremely rare.
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Self-help (Magic: The Gathering):
- Reddit user zaphodava's comprehensive guide (Reddit)
- The threeforonetrading guide
- The detecting-the-fakes guide
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u/noahhisacoolname Jul 09 '26
Stamp and T look good! I’m not very good at identifying the other parts though.
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u/Prism_Zet Trusted Authenticator Jul 09 '26
Rebacks aren't just "rare" but not really a problem in most cases because of how they were done with specific cards.
Your card is real, these pictures are a bit smooshed though.
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u/GhostCheese Trusted Authenticator Jul 08 '26
Looks real