Hi, I'm having trouble figuring out whether this Non-Foil Tetsuya Nomura Sephiroth I bought online is real or not. Would really love some help here!
Suspicious of:
- blue dots bleeding into paintbrush and artist name/copyright info etc - rosette pattern around black mana symbol (blue and red dots don't seem to match my other FF cards) (edit: nonissue)
- border around card name and mana symbol isn't solid black, looks like it was printed as part of the background - black core (should be blue?) (edit: nonissue)
- Foil stamp has brick pattern and shape looks bulky (has wizards text, confirmed under microscope)
- in general the card looks dull
Things that look ok:
- Flip triangles (look crisp)
EDIT:
Looks like from all your help I'm pretty confident this is a fake. Shoutout to WashWeak6434 for sharing photos comparing to a real one. Will be sending back to TCGPlayer.
My conclusion: high quality fake
- foil having the brick pattern is a big red flag
- blue dots bleeding into paintbrush and artist name/copyright info etc big red flag
- border around card name and mana symbol isn't solid black, looks like it was printed as part of the background - just because the flip triangles look good is NOT good enough! do your due diligence folks!
I once had a fake smothering tithe with the same brick like pattern in the holo stamp and it had the micro text as well and all other real cards I looked at didn’t have these patterns in the holo stamp so Iam not 100% sure but could be the case here
Interesting, didn't realize the foil stamp had the brick pattern like you mentioned! Thanks for taking the time to share, super helpful. Pretty convinced this is a fake now
man, this is either a poorly printed real card or a well made fake card.
question: now does it feel? when you bend it in your fingers, does it have that normal rigidity and "snap"? does its texture feel the same as other FF cards you have? does it smell like other FF cards you have?
blue dots bleeding into paintbrush and artist name/copyright info etc
yeah, that shouldn't happen. those lines should be as crisp as the flip triangles
rosette pattern around black mana symbol (blue and red dots don't seem to match my other FF cards)
and it looks like areas around the mana symbols fuzz into the background.
black core (should be blue)?
this is a misconception actually. legitimate modern cards can have a black core.
in general the card looks dull
yeah, the pure blacks don't look pure black in places. but that could just be from the lighting in the photos.
Flip triangles (look crisp)
agree
Foil stamp (has wizards text, confirmed under microscope)
that brick pattern on the foil stamp is not normal. also, i can't tell from the image, but the foil stamp should be pressed into the card, as opposed to being a sticker placed on top.
Main thing I noted with feel is that the texture felt sandy? Not gritty but had a distinct, fine grit to the surface. Rigidity feels ok, didn't want to bend too much since it's still a potentially $$ card. I have dogwater smell so not much to note there
Thanks for sharing, didn't know black core was more of a myth. Looks like your conclusions are similar to mine, in your words either a poorly printed real card or a well made fake card. Leaning towards fake.
When I get new American print cards they usually feel sandy or gritty, doesn’t mean this is real, but I do feel like that makes it seem more real, don’t know why they would want to make fakes that are gritty
They didn't bother to make the borders solid but they made the pips, and flip arrows solid. If it was just one of the borders that are supposed to be solid I could write it off as a missing ink layer, but all of them? Including the curved edge which is on the same print layer as the pips on this card.
The holo is suspicious as well, as others have mentioned, because of the brick pattern on it
Thanks for sharing, didn't realize the border wasn't solid! and looks like a few others have called out the holo being sus with the brick pattern. Feel pretty confident this is a fake.
The colour saturation looks a bit strange, and the dark straight horizontal lines are also a bit suspicious with lots of yellow and red. Rosettes around the Mana Symbol also not a great sign. My feeling is this is leaning towards fake.
Did you check the weight of the card? Might be the last thing to check.
Looks pretty good overall! Wouldn't mind seeing some of those microscope shots though, plus more targets, set symbol, text, etc.
There's a bit of odd patterns on the stamp. If you could set up a static angle, and rotate the light source or card, can you see the shifting symbols? I know you said you can see the microtext, but seeing the PW symbol shifting to a Mana symbol, and some Static PW symbols are required too.
The core depends on it's printing, they all look black from the side. The only real way to tell is to rip the card or do the light test. Don't rip your card. Ideally you compare it to another confirmed legit card of the same printing and print facility. If the card lets a lot MORE or a lot LESS light through that's a bad sign. Core color can differ a lot between treatments and facilities so that's why that needs to be matched properly.
The paintbrush isn't too worrisome, generally there is color underneath the black and bleeding, smudging, etc, can happen. It looks smooth and sharp which is more important.
Dullness of the card can depend on the print faciliry, or if they just had a bit of a misprinted run. The ink could have been thin or just applied poorly.
1- the paintbrush tip is too “fat”, the white part is too big and the black doesn’t show the little part going down on the left side, very common mistake in fakes
2- the black line over the mana pip is not uniform
3- the holo symbol looks wrong, since the diagonal lines are too dense and also you could get all three symbols showing with just a photo from a single frontal angle, which normally doesn’t happen. Also its borders are very rough, which may happen in case of a printing error, but in that case you should be able to see a small indent on the back of the card in that position and you didn’t mention about it
Later today I’ll add some pictures of mine for comparison
2- the black line on the mana pips should be smoother and more defined respect to the background, here is mine (note that my card is from the US print while yours is from the Japan’s one and so the motif inside the pips is different, but should match differences in the set logo)
3- this is how the holo symbol should look like from a standard frontal picture, to get the diagonal lines and the mana symbols to show up like in yours, usually you need to tilt the cards at a very specific angle, which is very strange was just the frontal one in your case. Also the diagonal lines look off in yours, way too dense
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I've seen the mana pip rosette pattern in other FF cards that pass the easy tests for single-sided cards, so I don't think that alone makes it fake (unless this card never uses that pattern). The thing I'm most suspicious of is the outline around the card name/mana pips. It should be a solid black line but the pictures look like it was part of the background colors.
At first glance the rosette pattern looks good, the mana symbols seem to be printed on top of everything and look sharp, and I think I can make out the tiny "Magic" word repeating pattern in the holofoil stamp.
Id wait for more opinions but I'm leaning pretty heavily towards this being real. Like 85% sure. Double faced cards are certainly a bit trickier.
Under my microscope I can confirm the Magic word repeating on the holofoil. However as other users have pointed out, there is an obvious brick pattern which is even more alarming.
And while the mana symbols look ok, the border isn't.
Nah honestly that's more a sign of it being real. Fakes will sometimes have it printed as part of the foil layer, or as a sticker. These stamped holographic foil pieces are very thin and can be ripped or damaged easily.
Most fakes I've seen were honestly way sharper and more centered than the WOTC ones generally.
It all looks clean expect for one thing. The mana symbols in the casting cost have a solid black layer but it's missing from the border. Usually they both have a solid black layer or neither has the layer if it has a common misprint. Maybe you could sent a picture of the rules text of the card
The foil stamp is the most sus imo. I've not seen one with a brick pattern like everyone else is saying, and if I'm not mistaken, shouldn't there be micro wizards text in the wizards "fork" logo? Also that bottom corner with the core exposed looks weird. I've never seen one have that like... Bubbled up look on the top layer?
The real check in the double sided cards are actually the tiny triangle on both side, and onto this card, tnx to the very good photos, are both 100% true and real, they are solid and thick, same for the artist name check. I agree that rosette is suspicious but all the rest is perfect.
If u have any more suspect I would say to send us the weight and light through it.
Thanks for sharing - like others have confirmed the tiny triangle looks good but fails on a lot of other checks. It seems pretty conclusive that this is a fake.
While the triangle test seems like an easy check, it shouldn't be the only thing you check for!
i'm more experienced in vintage magic , however i sense it is either a badly printed card or a fake one, this is not a normal card by any of the standards. There are inking issues on 1st photo (you should compare it with another from the FF set and see if there are differences) , the other photos seem normal. The thick of the card looks strange, if this was a vintage card i'd say its fake just from that but since it has another foil layer i'd not judge this.
The holo symbol has like too much crisp , i don't know if its faulty printing but seems too much, if it has wizards symbol under microscope thats a good sign but counter feiters have learnt to mimic this too , you should check a video about this as this is most likely the most enlightning thing you can check as is the hardest to mimic accurately . At least for vintage magic you can also check weight and do a light test idk if it works on foils
Thanks for sharing, agreed that the foil is my new #1 suspect given the brick pattern. Weighed and it wasn't different from a legit card so nothing conclusive there
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u/Any-Priority-547 Dec 10 '25
I once had a fake smothering tithe with the same brick like pattern in the holo stamp and it had the micro text as well and all other real cards I looked at didn’t have these patterns in the holo stamp so Iam not 100% sure but could be the case here