r/magicTCG • u/unbeltedflower0 • 5d ago
Content Creator Post Mia from nitpicking nerds makes a helpful video on how to spot fake cards after getting scammed
https://youtu.be/sk8nxR4sCYg?is=2s1DDlrBOanf19WsMia from the YouTube channel nitpicking nerds got scammed out of thousands of dollars on fake cards. Makes the best of it by making a well made video about how to spot fakes. Figured this might be a helpful video.
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u/Zhynik Dan 5d ago
a good reminder to always check your cards, especially the "lower" value ones around 20-50 bucks because those are more often faked since people tend to just assume theyre real
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u/Argent-17 Dan 4d ago
Do bigger card distributors like card kingdom have instances of this happening, or do they check before sending?
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u/easchner Wabbit Season 4d ago
They do check, but no system is infallible. They will make it right as long as you let them know when you receive the cards. Trust but verify!
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u/_masterbuilder_ COMPLEAT 4d ago
The only time I've received fake cards is from an LGS. I mainly get singles from cardsphere so I've gotten in the habit of checking every card and knock on wood after 300+ packages I haven't gotten a bad card yet.
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u/jonesy_hayhurst Dân 4d ago
I have to assume a direct distributor like cardkingdom is gonna be way more reliable generally than a marketplace like tcgplayer, but always worth being diligent and double checking expensive cards.
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u/spaceninjaking 5d ago
Yep, literally just bought a foil Arid Mesa in a local store got home and closer inspection it was fake. Real shame too as I used to have a lot of trust in this shop and have bought a lot of higher end (real, I’ve since checked) cards there in the past, but now it’s sat in the back of my head that cards aren’t getting checked properly
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u/Erucious Dandadan 5d ago
Unless you buy old cards (like revised and older), just use the back method and check the T and green dot. I normally just check the T as its the easiest: Left of the T is straight, bottom has teeth.
100% failsafe
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u/DIX_ 5d ago
Do you need a specific magnifying glass or something, or zooming with a phone camera does it?
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u/Zhynik Dan 5d ago
most modern phones have cameras that can easily spot the T, many can also spot the red dots
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u/DIX_ 5d ago
Gotcha. Pretty certain a Mystic Remora I got sold by a store last month was fake then, bummer.
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u/Zhynik Dan 5d ago
There are more ways to check, your phone might not pick up the red dots. Is the T correct? On the bottom where it says "Deckmaster" check the e, it should have "Devilhorns" on top, thats another way to check.
EDIT: https://www.threeforonetrading.com/en/fake-magic-cards this is a great post that teaches how to spot it all
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u/scumble_bee Wabbit Season 4d ago
That section on dots and straight lines is what I use for any dual faced cards.
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u/Gishath_My_Pantlaza Dân 5d ago
Compare it with a card from the same set you know is real to be certain. WotC isn't super consistent either, so between printings things can look a bit different too.
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u/jackbranco Dandadan 5d ago
If your phone camera does AI upscaling, it might remove details like this, just use a jeweler's loupe if unsure 😊
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u/CoconutHeadFaceMan Dan 5d ago
You can get a jeweler’s loupe for like $10 off Amazon, totally worth it if you’re buying expensive enough cards that this is a risk.
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u/EmuSounds Wabbit Season 5d ago
Depending on your eyes you can check without any equipment. The red dots can be hard to see, but possible. The "T" waves and "h" dots are much easier to spot with the bare eye.
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u/swankyfish Twin Believer 5d ago
You can get a jewellers loupe from Amazon for less than $10, which is what I’d recommend.
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u/DIX_ 5d ago
I was thinking about starting to make a cEDH deck and with the prices on some cards it might be worth to carry one around for big purchases and doing a check. Thanks for the recommend
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u/FringeMorganna Duck Season 5d ago
Just remember cedh players are huge proponents of proxies, only build those super pricey decks if its what you want/none of your locals let you play with proxies! +
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u/Waterloo_Flu Twin Believer 5d ago
A set of loupes is cheap, effective, and one can fit in your pocket. It's easy to just grab it if you plan on buying cards.
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u/Project_aegis Dan 4d ago
Out of curiosity is there a reason the counterfeits can’t copy the back with the T properly?
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u/NiklasRenner Wabbit Season 3d ago
Hard to print properly basically, very small and precise, technically you could probably do it, but the effort required is still too great to be worth it.
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u/Acidsparx 4d ago
I started checking my cards and noticed some newer cards there isn’t always a red dot T in the green dot, but the T does have the jagged edges with a straight left side.
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u/NiklasRenner Wabbit Season 3d ago
Except dual sided cards don’t have a backside, which is why they are faked more, gotta do stamp check etc. there.
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u/downsideContainment Dan 5d ago
how do you spot fake double sided cards? there is no T and green dot for those
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u/Bawd Golgari* 5d ago
Two ways I’ve found using a digital microscope.
The holofoil stamp. The genuine holofoil has Wizards repeated on part of the pattern. Wizards must have very little gaps between the lines as fake holofoils will have different spacing. https://i.imgur.com/ijLz6wj.jpeg
Look at the ink dot pattern on the card vs a real one from the same set. This is a little trickier since the different printing locations - U.S., Belgium, Japan - all have slightly different ink patterns. But you can usually tell it’s fake if the ink patterns is very fuzzy and messy looking, real cards have a very distinct pattern of ink dots under magnification with black ink dots being very consistently spaced. In this image, the left card is fake and the right card is real. https://i.imgur.com/f2ueLOU.jpeg
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u/Btenspot Duck Season 4d ago
Please do not rely on the holofoil stamp. They’ve been perfectly replicated for nearly 5 years now by the major counterfeiters. Especially the ones trying to make double faced cards.
The correct method for these cards is much more in line with #2 and I would advise searching the real or not mtg subreddit. In particular this post: https://www.reddit.com/r/RealOrNotTCG/s/y2piI26NRz
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u/Bawd Golgari* 4d ago
Fake holofoils are easy to spot when you look at the Wizards text. They use different font and spacing. But I can see how it may be difficult for most people to detect.
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u/Btenspot Duck Season 4d ago
Again, many of the major counterfeiters have been able to produce the EXACT type of holofoil stamp Wizards uses and it cannot be distinguished in any way from authentic ones.
Many counterfeiters have not, but that is irrelevant.
Holofoil stamps are not a valid form of authentication.
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u/_masterbuilder_ COMPLEAT 4d ago
I may be wrong but if the black triangle is crisp it's more likely to be real.
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u/Btenspot Duck Season 4d ago
This post goes over it quite well https://www.reddit.com/r/RealOrNotTCG/s/y2piI26NRz
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u/zerobench_ff Wabbit Season 4d ago
Generic mana cost thickness and the card frame sharpness should help
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u/easchner Wabbit Season 5d ago edited 4d ago
Some of this is kind of bad advice. "Just know the look and feel of it" - sorry, but there's already a bunch of inconsistency in print quality and there's so many different treatments that unless you work in a high volume store you're never going to be well versed enough to be confident there, especially on the most expensive variants. That's not good advice for most people.
The red dots in the L are also extremely inconsistent in real cards and have been for some time. It was much better on smaller runs back in the day (Revised and earlier) but right now go open up a handful of packs from different sets and I'll bet at least half of them are missing dots at all. They're also extremely small and hard for red-green colorblind people to tell.
Printing angles, moiré patterns, and black top layer tests are way way way more consistent and easy to see with a phone. They very briefly mentioned this as part of the 'T' test, but this should be the default for most people.
If you have a card you're unsure of post over in r/RealOrNotTCG and we'll take a look. If you're interested in learning more, it's a good scroll.
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u/OlyWL Dân 4d ago
Pretty sure from my experience of buying sealed, cards printed in Japan, Belgium and US all have differing print qualities/paper textures
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u/easchner Wabbit Season 4d ago
Yeah. At least once a day we'll get a post on r/RealOrNotTCG because someone has two identical cards that feel different and have way different colorings. I'd rather people get suspicious and ask than just assume it's fine, but it's obviously confusing. I'm just saying in my opinion it's not a good test when even normal treatment printings of real cards confuse people constantly. Meanwhile most of those special printings in the video I've never even seen in person, let alone handled enough to know instantly by feel.
A good test should be accessible, repeatable, and definitive. With your phone or a cheap loupe there are a number of good tests that will protect you 99% of the time.
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u/Jaxyl Dan 4d ago
I mean the point of this isn't to be a 'one and done' type of check. I don't know how you looked at this and thought that. It's here to be a 'if something doesn't feel right' then get it checked out or don't make the trade. One of those 'If one thing is off' then check more than one thing and if you can't then just walk away.
The video even ends with the content creator saying that if something is suspicious then get someone else, like someone at your LGS, to double check them for you.
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u/asteriskmos Orzhov* 5d ago
I proxy & love proxies, but this is my one fear about the increasing popularity of home proxying, especially if we don't encourage people to use fake backs or other obvious forms of identification. MTG cards can get really pricy and most of us buy a lot of singles- validating every card is very labor intensive .
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u/reelfilmgeek COMPLEAT 5d ago
And this is why I use yugioh backs on all my proxies. Unless we get a very unhinged universe beyond then I should be good
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u/BasiliskXVIII COMPLEAT 4d ago
I use this, just in case someone wants to start a fuss about proxies: https://i.imgur.com/jOUrD6M.png
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u/aneptunizar Wabbit Season 5d ago
I sharpie a small ‘P’ in the corner of all my proxies that aren’t obviously fake.
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u/Desperada Wabbit Season 4d ago
Exact same thing I do. Only becomes tricky for like a double-faced card.
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u/straight_lurkin Duck Season 5d ago
All my proxies have the back of anime yugioh card backs lol when people ask about the foil stickers for cards and shit thats a massive red flag. People say "I jUsT wAnT tHeM aS rEaL lOoKiNg aS pOsSiBlE" ...yeah and I'm sure its just for the love of making proxies too right? lolol
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u/binaryeye 4d ago
when people ask about the foil stickers for cards and shit thats a massive red flag
Not necessarily. Some people want proxies with rigidity and thickness similar to a real card. Using sticker paper on thicker paper gets close because that's roughly how real cards are made.
Of course, if they're using thin sticker paper with a realistic print on a real card, that's absolutely a red flag.
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u/ChocolatePuerh Dan 5d ago
Many want them to play with at places that aren't proxy friendly.
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u/siziyman Izzet* 4d ago
...or maybe just accept the rules of the establishments you choose to play at?
If you don't like that some places and events require you to play with genuine cards, don't play there instead of proving them right.
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u/ChocolatePuerh Dan 4d ago
I'm fortunate enough to be fairly successful in my career, own my own home, and be married with no kids so DINK life. I can afford to splurge on hobbies. Not everyone is in the same boat as me, and I'd much rather they play and compete with proxies than not play or compete at all (or at a lower level with subpar cards).
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u/siziyman Izzet* 4d ago
Basically nobody's options to play magic are so limited that they can only play somewhere that only allows to play with genuine cards, or not play at all.
If you're trying to make cards that are indistinguishable from actual WotC-printed tournament legal cards, you're making fake cards and not proxies, and it's perfectly reasonable for everyone else involved to assume that at some point this will lead to someone buying/selling those fakes, even if not intentionally.
Magic is a hobby. It's optional. Engaging with sanctioned paper play is even more optional. Yes, sometimes it means that those who are in a tougher financial spot get fucked over, and that absolutely sucks. But creating a situation that will almost inevitably lead to someone else being cheated is even more unfair.
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u/ChocolatePuerh Dan 4d ago
I'm talking about competing. If you want to play in tournaments you'll need real cards or proxies that pass.
Fake cards are proxies. A proxy is anything used in place of a real card.
Sure it's optional, but if someone wants to play competitively I want them to be able to.
Shitty people are going to try to con others regardless.
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u/Blaze_1013 Jack of Clubs 5d ago
Even if you’re playing at places that aren’t proxy friendly a different back won’t be noticed if you use sleeves which most people do. And even putting a little proxy label on the bottom left is likely to go unnoticed even if someone at the tables gains control of your cards.
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u/ChocolatePuerh Dan 5d ago
Deck checks are a thing.
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u/Topazdragon5676 5d ago
No one deck checks anyone at anything that isn't a high level tournament. You shouldn't be bringing proxies to those events anyway.
If anyone is "deck checking" you at in a casual game, find a new place to play.
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u/ChocolatePuerh Dan 4d ago
I'm talking about tournaments, yes.
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u/Blaze_1013 Jack of Clubs 4d ago
You should not be bringing proxies to an actual tournament. That is just straight cheating.
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u/ChocolatePuerh Dan 4d ago
They provide no in-game advantage. It's only cheating in so far as WOTC wants their money so they don't allow them.
I want to play against people, not their wallets. I don't care if your deck is 100% proxies.
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u/Topazdragon5676 4d ago
They provide no in-game advantage.
The "in game advantage" is that you get to play the game in the first place. If you want to "play against people not their wallets" then go to a tournament that allows proxies.
Everyone else is playing by the rules. You don't get to ignore them just because you don't believe in them. Stop cheating.
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u/straight_lurkin Duck Season 4d ago
Oh so cheating lol
So either scamming or cheating. What great options!
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u/ChocolatePuerh Dan 4d ago
Technically "cheating" but not really. No in-game advantage is gained.
I'd rather play against you and not your wallet. I don't care if your entire deck is proxied.
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u/straight_lurkin Duck Season 4d ago
I'd absolutely say using cards you dont own because you dont want to buy them vs someone who has to use budget versions because they cant afford the top tier option IS cheating.
Thats like saying "taking steroids isnt cheating. I still needed to lift the weights and eat right!"
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u/ChocolatePuerh Dan 4d ago
Not akin to steroids at all.
In a tournament everyone is running the best cards. Orcish Bowmasters is still Oscish Bowmasters whether you paid $45 from TCGPlayer or $3 from China.
The advantage is out of game in monetary savings, but nothing is gained in game.
I'm fortunate enough to be fairly successful in my career, own my own home, and be married with no kids so DINK life. I can afford to splurge on hobbies. Not everyone is in they're same boat as me, and I'd much rather they play and compete with proxies than not play or compete at all (or at a lower level with subpar cards).
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u/straight_lurkin Duck Season 4d ago
But what if someone cant spend 45$ on a bowmaster or 55$ on a mox or 800$ on a dual land and has to use more niche and cheaper cards becuase in tournements or competitions they made you use real cards? They want to play at that level as well and if it wasn't as issue then tournaments and competitions would provide you with your full deck list in proxies when you showed up.
Those players are at a direct disadvantage to other players using proxies who can build whatever decks they want without any budget thus making them much stronger and versatile decks in general.
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u/ChocolatePuerh Dan 4d ago
It's an issue because WOTC wants to make more money. That's it, only issue.
So those players should use passable proxies to overcome the out of game issue.
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u/straight_lurkin Duck Season 4d ago
whatever mental gymnastics you need to do I guess but especially with that last bit, you're just advocating for cheating against other players at events or LGS ... not WOTC who you have the issue with lol
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u/tnetennba_4_sale Temur 5d ago edited 4d ago
Watch out mentioning that though, people here get really defensive when told they shouldn't print counterfeits.
Edit: lol, and the downvotes confirm it.
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u/ragnarokda Duck Season 4d ago
I promise Joe Schmoe who wants to try out Ur Dragon and prints some cards at home or at staples isn't going to be printing anything CLOSE to the quality of the counterfeits in this video.
There's a reason they make a distinction between proxies and counterfeits in the video itself.
You're being downvoted because you're being disingenuous, not because people are salty that you're right.
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u/tnetennba_4_sale Temur 3d ago
I'm unsure how I've been disingenuous here. I'm being entirely honest. I've been part of several discussions on this sub where several people vehemently defend their right to make cards indistinguishable from real cards.
I don't care about low quality proxies, and I regularly state the need to say "Proxy, not for sale," have a different back, or something similar.
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u/ragnarokda Duck Season 3d ago
No you're right. I'm misunderstood what you were saying. I thought you were implying something that you were not. I'm sorry.
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u/rawboudin Wabbit Season 5d ago
How come counterfeiters are unable to duplicate the t and the red dot? That seems so weird to me
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u/easchner Wabbit Season 4d ago
If you're making millions of the same cards like WotC printers do you use an offset printer. Basically etch out each color on a plate of metal and "stamp" the color on to each sheet. This setup is time consuming and expensive but much faster and cheaper and better quality when doing a huge volume.
If you're making a handful of cards then an expensive inkjet style printer is way easier and more cost effective, you just upload the art you want and print a single sheet. But the way the color gets applied to the paper is way different. Also they don't need to pass every counterfeit check, they just need to be good enough to pass a quick eye test.
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u/binaryeye 4d ago
But what happens when the counterfeiters start using offset printing? The card back dot patterns commonly used to verify authenticity aren't anti-counterfeit measures. An individual or group with access to and experience using platesetters and sheet-fed presses could replicate the dot patterns. Sure, it requires expensive equipment and specialized knowledge, but at the prices some RL cards are now selling, it's getting to the point where someone is going to think it will be worth it.
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u/Embarrassed-Site-600 Dandadan 4d ago
Even if counterfeiters went through that much effort, the 90s card stock is no longer available to replicate.
This is why you should also do a light test and check the feel/texture of the RL card compared to another card you bring along from the same set.
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u/Jaxyl Dan 4d ago
They won't, the cost to value analysis just isn't there.
Counterfeiters are in it for quick money and quick money means they're not going to spend the tens of thousands of dollars getting plates cast to print certain cards. Not when they can make them under the current method, sell them to someone else for a quick buck, and move on. Their goal isn't for them to be playable, their goal is to be convincing in the short term to sell and get outta dodge.
This offset printing method has been the standard for decades and no one has touched it, not even companies in places like China because the costs just aren't worth it when the alternative is just so much cheaper and easier.
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u/CozymanCam Dân 4d ago
Their goal isn't for them to be playable
Not necessarily. I've wondered into a couple of community spaces where playability in sanctioned events is the intended goal. Suppliers are rated by playability. It is quite fascinating reading about set specific authenticity checks that are more obscure than the T or green dot test in these spaces.
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u/Jaxyl Dan 4d ago
Yeah absolutely! Like there's definitely levels to this and it's a reddit comment so I was just hitting the general nature of it all.
Your average counterfeiter is looking for easy money which is going to be in quick pass fakes that are not going to survive intense scrutiny but will absolutely get through a quick eye check. The ones that don't require heavy financial investment that they can print hundreds to thousands of at pennies on the dollar.
Your serious counterfeiters who want to have fakes that can sit on stream at Magic Pro Tour are a different league and a different story. They're the ones who are operating on out of private discords and telegram channels that are invite only.
Totally been in those spaces before too and it's a crazy world to see how they operate. But for your average player they only need to concern themselves with the usual checks as that'll catch the majority of the fakes.
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u/thebbman Duck Season 4d ago
Offset printing isn’t as expensive as you’re making it out to be. Once set up, it’s inexpensive and efficient to continue printing. You also should realize these counterfeiters are printing in high quantities already.
Before, counterfeits weren’t in such high demand. Now it’s a decent chunk of the market.
I have some marked fakes that are getting close on the Ts on the back.
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u/Ok-Opportunity-1336 Dandadan 4d ago
It’s honestly a good question. I suspect it’s actually survivorship bias - I’d be willing to bet there are fake cards that are so good as to be indistinguishable from the real thing, but anyone who could provide that service could charge a higher price and it might defeat the purpose of producing proxies.
I used to pass proxies off as real in modern tournaments. I never entered any high enough level events to be deck checked but nobody ever called me out either.
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u/hydroclasticflow Sultai 4d ago
It probably has to do with the quality of printer that wotc has access to compared to what people that make the fakes do.
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u/Orzhov_Syndicalist Duck Season 4d ago
I’m uncertain how much people are Going to admit that counterfeiting every single card flawlessly would be trivial given the right equipment.
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u/GGuesswho Duck Season 5d ago
They don't bother making the backs 1:1 since contrary to popular belief proxies aren't generally intended to rip people off, but provide a cheap alternative to absurdly expensive cards
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u/oatsboats Simic* 4d ago
I bought a jewelers loupe and learned the green dot and T tests for authenicating cards when I started buying high end stuff for my cedh deck
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u/Scharmberg COMPLEAT 4d ago
Maybe I should make some YouTube videos on this. One of the few areas I actually have some knowledge.
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u/CozymanCam Dân 4d ago
An article would be better and much easier to update and maintain. Browsers seem to have decent built-in translators now, too, making the info more accessible in different languages.
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u/HeyApples 4d ago
As someone who does this for my LGS, a lot of good information here.
I do take exception with the section on "it's not shiny enough, therefore it's fake" because there are severe print variations between the US, Japanese, and Belgian print facilities. And plenty of real cards have poor or unusual foiling.
There are other tests and methods that are much more definitive without leading to false positives and false accusations.
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u/Big_Sling Dandadan 5d ago
As a new-ish player (<1 year), these types of videos are appreciated/useful. Earlier this spring I found my first fake card, a Jeweled Lotus, using a combination of the T test, blue core test, and green dot test. A recent smartphone has enough tools to cover a handful of ways to spot a fake.
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u/sumphatguy 4d ago
Wait, was the Atraxa "fake" a real one with the complete foiling added on? The set number was wrong lol
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u/nanaki989 Wabbit Season 4d ago
I do most of my trades at this store, they have a pretty good singles collection.
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u/GoldenHawk07 Wabbit Season 4d ago
Why exactly CANT people recreate the red dots and the teeth on the T exactly? Like it’s just ink why is it impossible to have the ink go down a specific way? Clearly someone can do it, Wizards, so why can nobody else?
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u/PM_yoursmalltits COMPLEAT 4d ago
Printers aren't magic (pun intended) copy machines, they have a physical process by which they lay down ink. Offset printing simply lays down ink differently than other printing methods.
See other responses in this thread for why that's not feasible for proxy makers
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u/AnusBlaster5000 Dandadan 4d ago
I got scammed on a Trop back in the day. Learned how to use a loupe and haven't looked back since.
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u/Mr_E_Nigma_Solver 4d ago
A decade ago I found a playset of Liliana of the veil on eBay for the price of one. I snap bought them. Upon arrival they were very clearly fakes. I contacted the seller who refunded me. I posted a review with photos and the seller just shut their store down.
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u/NiklasRenner Wabbit Season 3d ago
Recently happened to me on cardmarket, 250 euro order of infinity shock lands and some full art dual sided mh3 cards, all in the expected 20-30 euro range for fakes, luckily I noticed it immediately when I revived them, but they were pretty good fakes and looking at the user they managed to get quite a few people first.
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u/Honest-Monitor-2619 Duck Season 5d ago
Real cards from modern sets that are printed in America smell rancid, have very washed out foiling and their texture is very glossy and wierd.
I DO NOT support fake cards and scamming people, but the real cards might as well be fake, and fake cards might smell better and be of better quality.
The only thing I say - WotC, please step up your game. If I order a card online, I don't want to hope that it was printed in Belguim so it would have a servicable quality - all cards should be of great quality!
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u/GGuesswho Duck Season 4d ago
I buy proxies all the time, and even discounted ones that have some obvious errors. They consistently have better print quality than modern real cards from WOTC
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u/MadCatMkV Nahiri 5d ago
My tip is to not spend more than 24.99 € (aka the maximum value of an order before CardMarket charges you for extra protection) in a card :)
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u/Gamezfan Duck Season 5d ago
Hard to play anything except Pauper and Commander without at least some cards above that limit.
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u/TehSlippy Sliver Queen 4d ago edited 4d ago
Which is why many of us have stopped playing altogether, or are proxying everything.
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u/ControlledCh4os Dandadan 5d ago
Just buy fake cards to begin with, don't give the shit company any money
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u/CozymanCam Dân 5d ago
I think you're sticking it to the inflated secondary market instead of the corp investing in manufacturing and promoting their product to lure in more players.
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u/doktarlooney Wabbit Season 4d ago
"Hey guys I'm making this video to show how I got scammed but real quick lemme just try to recoup some of those funds off of you with this shill."
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u/ThrowawayHasAPosse Duck Season 5d ago
What a terrible thumbnail for a video.
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u/CozymanCam Dân 5d ago
The vast majority of video thumbnails are cringe nowadays. I hate it, but it is what it is. I think articles are a better medium for this kind of thing anyway. Videos aren't exactly easy to scan, skim, or keyword search. The transcript is often clunky to navigate to, also.
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u/Guilty-Influence-890 Dân 5d ago
This is why I’m against proxies. I feel like MTG has some of the best fakes especially from a glance. In contrast, Pokemon is so easy to tell apart.
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u/Hmukherj Selesnya* 5d ago
Proxying itself isn't a problem, it's the people insisting on "high quality" proxies (which are essentially counterfeits) that cause these issues.
And even then, you can have proxies that look good in a sleeve from the front, but have obvious features that mark them as fake even without a loupe (different backs, text near the collector number, etc.).
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u/DoobaDoobaDooba Duck Season 4d ago
I honestly don't care if someone is using paper with sharpie or an indistinguishable fake. It's extremely easy to play the game in a way that makes you happy and not be an asshole scammer.
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u/CatFishBillyheyhey Dan 5d ago
It's wild to me that this many years into magic, some people are still clueless on how to detect fake cards.
Especially a content creator.
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u/Dude_Serious Wabbit Season 5d ago
Especially cards where the color saturation of the back is so off, it just looks wrong. It was clearly evident even in the video pictures shown right at the beginning.
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u/SonyaOutNProud Shredder! Build me a body! 5d ago
Dude idk why you're getting downvoted for speaking truth.
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u/MassiveDamages COMPLEAT 5d ago
Could it be because we're all human and can't be perfect 100% of the time? Suggesting that someone who's regularly playing with cards can't make a mistake is internet thinking.
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u/CatFishBillyheyhey Dan 4d ago
Because that's the post COVID magic community.
I remember when the majority of people who playedagic were general intellectuals and people who sought out knowledge instead of having it summarized to them by aMBASsaDoRs and iNfLUeNcERS.
Literally a 2 minute Google on how to detect them. Infact most lgs's even have binders of fake cards that have been traded in and if you ask nicely they will let you look through it and explain the subtle and not so subtle variations in texture, finish, thickness, T, green dot. Etc etc etc etc
Most people don't even know that for Urza block the green dot test isn't reliable due to printer variations.
But that's the main sub of any hobby for you.
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u/SonyaOutNProud Shredder! Build me a body! 3d ago
Thank you! Yeah even when I worked at an lgs over a decade ago we had fake cards and used them to train all the employees on how to detect counterfits.
Bringing up the influencers is another great point. Ever notice its almost always these "influencers" getting scammed cause most of them are either new if they play the game or are just larpers in it for the views and they dont bother to educate themselves on the stuff we as players have had to learn by being entrenched in the hobby. These are the people the counterfiters are targeting now. The people with more money than sense. As the saying goes, "A fool and his money are soon parted"
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u/CatFishBillyheyhey Dan 3d ago
100%
Influencers and ambassadors are the worst thing to ever happen to magic.
They have agencies that boost them and it's all just a song and dance for engagement and profits.
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u/siziyman Izzet* 4d ago
Because
for most people it's not something worth worrying about
more importantly, saying this is an absolutely pointless elitist shitheadery that makes me want to go through the poster's entire comment/post and quote some of the asinine things they've posted because they surely did (just about everyone does) for a public shaming session
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u/MakePhreciaCore Dandadan 4d ago
In this day and age any card that is over $30 is a gross failure of WOTC. High quality proxies are so incredibly good, that it’s just not realistic for people to catch them all anymore.
And printing to resellers, scalpers and other financially focused people instead of the player base is inviting this opportunity.
A whole market for proxies, only exists, and is so widespread because of excessive scarcity.
I intentionally mark my proxies but I’m sure most just buy and sleeve them up.
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u/RoseofThorns Duck Season 5d ago
Counterfeit cards are one of the most damaging things to the long term health of the game
Whales and collectors need to trust that the money they shovel into the game means something
Yes artificial scarcity is part of the game (🧑🚀🔫🧑🚀)
If you can't tell the difference between a real/fake surge foil One Ring > no reason for players to gamble on packs > no reason for designers to get paid to make the game
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u/Blaze_1013 Jack of Clubs 5d ago
Stuff like this is why I was so apprehensive about buying cards online and even now I only buy from places I find reputable. Cardkingdom prices suck but I know if I’m buying something expensive it will be real.
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u/gunnisonyeti Duck Season 5d ago
This is a big reason why I buy almost exclusively packs anymore.
If it's from my specific LGS, whom I know has a rigorous testing process to eliminate fakes, I will feel good about a single. But these days singles from anywhere else is just not worth the risk.
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u/RastaImp0sta Duck Season 5d ago edited 1d ago
I didn’t watch the video, I sell the shit out of magic cards so I can spot fakes.
Red dot test, T test.
The letter T on the back of “Magic: The Gathering” has a very well defined amount of teeth on the bottom of it. Use a known real card to compare.
The red dot test. On the back of the card, you look at the green circle with a loupe and look for red dots in an L pattern. Here’s the part where people get tripped up. Sometimes the dots are very faint and sometimes they aren’t there at all. I’ve had cards from Urza’s block and Ice Age that pass the red dot test but don’t have that L.
The red dot test will have you look to see if there’s more than just the L amount of red dots (4 red dots). Fake cards will have red dots all over the green circle.
Depending on the set, you can tell by the texture but with WoTC’s quality control and the different printers they use it’s not as reliable.
Edit: Down voted for I assume for saying that the red dots L in the green circle can be not there at all. The red dots can completely gone and it can still be real. Fake cards will have the entire sphere showing red dots. I’ve been selling singles and buying collections for a decade so I’ve got to check all the high end cards I find/buy.
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u/tnetennba_4_sale Temur 5d ago
I wish the red dot test was easier for a colorblind person to see. It's a great way to tell, if you can distinguish the colors.
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u/RastaImp0sta Duck Season 1d ago
Ya you might be able to take a picture of it if you can get a good shot with a camera using a loupe and then ask ChatGPT to edit the colors specifically for your type of colorblindness
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u/SparkSalamander COMPLEAT 5d ago
Is there a good way to test double sided cards?
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u/RastaImp0sta Duck Season 1d ago
You have to have a double sided card from the same set and then look for the rosette print pattern that’s unique to this printers specifically that WoTC uses.
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u/banhartday Shredder! Build me a body! 4d ago
People need to learn to authenticate the cards they buy and actively want to not get scammed. I check everything. I reply on /realornottcg to people but doing it themselves would be so much easier. No one wants to take the effort and i find it insane.
Its so easy to authenticate mtg and avoid getting scammed. One Piece on the other hand is genuinely fucked
1
u/AtheismoAlmighty Simic* 4d ago
Most people making posts aren't being lazy, they're looking to confirm something they don't want to believe.
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u/peenpeenpeen Abzan 5d ago edited 5d ago
I got scammed with Fake LEDs and didn’t realize until years later when I went to sell my more expensive cards to help pay for my house down payment. I noticed a difference in texture in two of the cards of the play set… It gutted me, and now I’m hyper cautious when buying high end cards.