Best way to check if an MTG card is Fake with no tools to buy
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 8 ส.ค. 2024
- I describe the best method I have come up with for checking for authenticity of an MTG card (to see if it's real or fake) without having to buy any tools like a jeweler loupe or a digital microscope.
Counterfeit/Fake MTG cards are becoming a problem on eBay and TCGPlayer, especially with lower value cards that no one would think to check and are lower value than what is required for eBay Authenticator. There are probably a lot of fake MTG cards in collections without anyone knowing. - เกม
Disclaimer: Although this method works on most cards, it does NOT work on Real Alternative 4th Edition Cards as well as Re-Backed Fake Beta cards that were made using a Real Collector's Edition Card Front Glued to a Real Card Back.
If it was glued at the back of hte CE then light test should do the job.
@@ryansimonp3911 Yes, the light test works great for exposing re-backed cards
drink more water
I use black light as fake cards do not absorb uv and just shine back. Also I have a table with the weight range. So far I have managed to protect myself. Got money back for a fake mishra’s workshop, as I had 3 and needed the 4, and also managed to find out a fake Japanese Narset parter of veils foil. Those ain’t cheap either.
So far, this works for me.
Photography scanners also do the trick. Specially because you really notice discolouration
These days, the easiest way to check is if the cards are curled like a pringle. Fakes will lie flat, because a home printer has superior card quality to a multinational corporation.
It's actually crazy that fake cards are more higher quality than the real deal. It's absolutely horrifying lmao
I laughed so goddamn hard at this… 5 or so years back I got *many* boxes of eternal masters boosters & cracked them all (wanted to see if I could turn a profit/just like gambling lol) I would say that I profited by this point, except that all of the cards I have left (foils much more so than non) are curled to an insane degree that I never once witnessed playing MTG when I was in high school/back around 7-8th edition era.
In fact, I STILL have 7th edition foils that lie perfectly flat/are gem mint, despite no real humidity protection rofl. Card stock quality has taken a SERIOUS dive 🤦♂️🤷♂️
One year later and I too got a giggle out of this comment.
Jokes on you for being a sucker and buying foils.
@@samsonhaze6595 Store the foils in double sleeves. No more curling
This is so funny, i was helping our local lgs determine genuine cards the other night (large collection was brought in and it was slow with nobody to play with, so i help out sorting, testing cards, etc) and I was using the red dot method when I was noticing that M shape.
Glad someone fleshed it out more so I can better recognize and not need more specialized tools.
Good job! Some modern cards are a little harder to distinguish, but the genuine cards are still much closer than fakes.
Pretty cool video overall, though some of the hand motions at the start had me wondering if it was a troll and you were going to rip the card to show the blue core. Glad to see an easy to access non-destructive method!
Haha, funny, no trolling. This is a serious video :)
@@DismalDante But its a legit test
Wow, spot on!
I had a card which I wasn't sure about. Used your method, and it's more curved like the fakes. I even checked an Alliances card, and that had the volcano !!!
Simply put: thanks, Dante, from MtG Casual Commander Show. Love the detail and the care you gave. Much love, for real
My phone isn't good enough to get this amount of detail 😢but the volcano pattern is still pretty visible along with the difference in shape of the fine dots all over the card. Thank you!
This was a great video! Honestly not sure how this channel has not blown up yet! You got a subscriber! :)
Thanks!
At first I thought you were gonna recommend the bend test 😆 this is really helpful!
Appreciate the alternative way of checking! Thanks!
That's a cool approach, assuming your phone camera is high enough resolution. I wonder if you could apply that to some of the features on the front of the card (mana symbols, etc), since the print dots should be aligned in the same direction?
Good thought! I am investigating this and will post a video once I have conclusions.
How do you check double sided cards?
Good question, I'll have to come up with a different method for those.
Look, this man asking the right questions .
That the neat part, you don’t 😂
Just use an led flashlight and learn to identify the inner paper's texture... fake cards rarely have any translucency.
It seems that doesn't work on low level cell phones. I have a Samsung A30 and the zoom in was too blurry.
Awesome video! I have a Modern Masters 2017 Misty Rainforest that is giving me a lot of Red Flags, but still not certain. Will check with this method and see what it shows!
Thanks! I'm curious about the results you get. Please update what you find.
Great video. The difference is pretty striking. The industrial printer has a pretty distinctive signature
thats cuz its not a printer, it's a 4 stage press.
I know the focus is on the volcano, but the color difference is VERY striking as well. The high resolution really blows up the difference. Those fakes aren't even close!
wow that was interesting - great job figuring this out!
Appreciate the video man what I subscribed to your channel as well I recently purchased a foil retro frame marsh Flats. Off eBay and I had a commenter on my video that I uploaded just showcasing the card and what I paid for it say that the card was a counterfeit and a friend of his makes textured cards just like that I knew without a shadow of a doubt that's a card was authentic because it was from a reputable seller I did the test to be sure and it checked out..
Nice! I'm glad I was able to help!
I appreciate your video. Thanks. Im sure it'll save me money moving forward.
I feel like you can tell by just looking at the pattern of the brown area around the dots. The pattern of the black dots on authentic cards always goes in a 45 degree angle and you can always see that they constitute squares.
Well I'll be, all these squares make a fucking circle.
The mountain template you used on the fake card isn't centred on the green either that's more noticeable than the amount of dots, so is the colour tone of the backing. .
I have noticed it's much less likely to match on modern cards but older ones for sure works great
Newer phone cameras are pretty nuts. If you adjust some of the settings before you take the picture, you can get a lot more detail.
Ive spotted fake cards that pass the green dot test and bend test. but they had poor light pass through and weighed too light
I have bought an Imperial Seal from Double Masters. It passes this test. The edges are a bit rounder though and I don't see the "bark texture" when I do the light test. Is that strange?
The light test is not reliable anymore with so many variations of printing sources. The corners also can vary from set to set. If the card passes this volcano test, it is real
I matches well, except for re-backed (CE) cards being passed as Beta. They have a real back, but mostly fail only at a) weight or b) light test as they got glued together by the non-default material.
...add alternate 4th as well. If I trusted this video, I'd thrown away the alternate 4th edition Fellwar Stone I received a couple of days ago (ordered a normal 4th edition).
I have two cards bought from a magic store that during the light test it shows a purple light coming from the back instead of a bright white light, it's probably not normal but the real question is: does some real cards show the same kind of result depending on the set for example?
Purplish or blueish light can be normal. What really matters in the print dot angle and density that I show in the video
Your calmness and composure is really nice. Are you a doctor or something like that? I can imagine you operating on someone without breaking a sweat.
Thanks! I'm actually a software engineer
@@DismalDante Oh sweet! Great videos man.
Gonna be honest, the entire lead up I was expecting this to be a joke video and for you to just rip the card down the middle to check the core.
how do you check a flipcard though? :/
Easy, you flip over the card to look at the back, then you flip over the card to look at the back, then you flip over the card to look at the back...
I bought manabarbs from fourth edition on tcgplayer a while back and it was one of the most pristine looking cards ive ever seen and i was skeptical
That's really cute, but I'll rely on my trusty Lupe
Quick question. I tight the three red dots in there is what I should be looking for or is this a used counterfeit method now?
Verifying the 4 small red dot in an L shape on the green dot works, but only if you have a jewelers loupe or digital microscope. This method is an option for those that don't have these tools
Sweet. I'm checking my Beta Mox Ruby this way when I get home.
Great video! Thanks for the tip. 😊
I would rather use the black dots method to check for real cards but thanks for the info.
Does not catch the clipped corner alterations or re-backed cards. Real card, fake set. Careful to look at MORE than one thing when verifying authenticity. But it is a great start. Pull out your loop and look at the red dots in your quest for verifying...especially high priced cards.
I have a couple of cards which im sus of this helped confirm suspicions id recommend this in a pinch!
Getting like 3 different patterns of dots on the green symbol on islands printed within the Explorers of the Deep precon. Wizards consistency is propperly fucked
This seems like good way to catch bad fakes-any card that fails this test is certainly fake-but a card that passes surely isn’t guaranteed to be real. Just as one example: one of the more sophisticated ways of making a counterfeit is to use a real low-value card of the appropriate era and chemically remove the printing from the face side so it can be re-printed with a high-value card image. In that case, the back would (of course) pass this test, because the back is authentic. And I assume the dot pattern could be replicated with a counterfeit made from a sufficiently high-resolution scan with a sufficiently high-quality printer. That said, the fact that the counterfeits you acquired all failed the test may mean this is a good-enough test to catch most of the low-quality counterfeits actually circulating in the wild.
I generally agree, but I don't know how prevalent these other types of fakes are in trying to be sold as authentics to rip off people. I would post a follow up video if I'm able to find some examples
I mean at what point do we start calling pieces of cardboard fake 🤣🤣... Counterfeits r better quality then the garbage WoTC makes an r a fraction of the price of the secondary market... As someone who owns alot of high value cards and expensive decks i play magic for the skill and competitiveness of the game not because my deck is more expensive then someone else's. The whole reason counterfeit cards exist in the first place is because WoTC refuses to reprint the game pieces players need to play the game.. U wanna have expensive premium and foil cards fine but there should always be an affordable card for all formats so players can simply just play the game or allow proxies/counterfeit cards in tournaments. I have 5 top tier modern decks 3 r fully foiled and 2 legacy decks.. The prices for cards r insane. Id rather them reprint all the cards and so everyone can play the formats they want instead of just have these over priced cards in formats that r dying because most cant afford or just choose not to spend money on pieces of cardboard... I love buying cards and foiling out my decks but that's my choice... I have a playset of foiled orcish bowmasters (45-50$ cards) and a playset of nonfoil OBM (35-40$) y r the nonfoils only 10-15$ cheaper... Smh they should be 8-10$ at the very max... Sry bout the rant but as a very fortunate player who can buy expensive cards and play the game i love i feel bad for the people who just wanna play tournaments but cant because the mana base alone for most formats (modern and legacy) r the damn price of most peoples rent for the month. Its disgusting and really needs to change. If that means my cards lose value then so be it. The game being affordable for everyone is more important then me having 10s of thousands of dollars in cardboard. Again sry for the rant lol.
@@subzero308 I have a book called mastering magic cards you can google, It suggests arguing you should be able to use proxies in tournies because you can't afford the real cards (power 9 etc) and it was printed about 30 years ago. It's argued those cards "unbalance" the game, but how do you objectively define that, anyone with the right kind of deck can unbalance it
Thx man! Really appreciate it!
The volcano test!
method works well, though some phone cameras the dots get blurry on magnification
Have you seen any modern fakes that have the mana symbols in the holofoil stamp
jewelers loupe is like 10 bucks and you can 100% be sure... just get that
Great video thank you!
Work at a lab and use a microscop to look for the red dot on the back. Good trick though
The volcano looks like the Neon Dynasty logo a bit.
Good content. Cheers!
cool, but its cheaper to buy a jeweler's loupe than a phone with a camera so good you can see the dots of the printing.
To be honest checking the black circle around the green dot already shows clear differences.
very good tutorial!
really good video :) Thanks
can anyone confirm this method?
Dang my new iPhone can’t get a pic that good
I ordered masterpiece cards of ebay had me checking still cant tell 2 much but i think im good bc the people i got them from have thousands of 5 star ratings
Not gonna lie, I breathed a sigh of relief, because I was certain the answer was 'tear it.'
Light test seems to be the quickest, imho.
some bro rn is learning what he needs to add to his counterfeit
Really serve me for my limited rings from lotr
the red dots can be 3 to 4. not only 4.
A buddy of mine gave me some counterfeit cards he used as proxies in his cedh pods and a small handful of them even pass the infamous, if not debunked, green dot test
Maybe they are real magic backs, but chemically wiped fronts and reprinted on. Can you share an example with a 2x zoom picture of front and back ?
There is a double issue here
Premium fakes have better dpi quality than real cards, so you can't tell
WOTC printing control is so bad that multiple avenues use different printing methods yet they are real cards - the glossy premium finish of the Belgium made vs the rough unfinished US versions for example - BOTH are legit prints
All the different real card printing methods still have the same print dot angle and density, where the fakes do not, so this method still holds. See my video th-cam.com/video/K9OwKLXZsPs/w-d-xo.html where I compare Belgium vs US printed Archon of Cruelty vs a Fake card
Nice Tip! 🤘🦁🤘
Damn, so simple... Time to shelve the microscope
Try with your phone first. Some phone will always process the image taken through hdr and things like that, making this method not viable with that phone. So it depends on the phone.
How much time before they'll start to fake the green spot?
I mean at what point do pieces of cardboard become fake? 😂
Thanks for teaching me how to make better proxies
I could see that those are some pretty meh-tier black core fakes, though. Not to mention a lot of MTG fakes are printed on real MTG cardstock that has been acetoned or UV'd out now to preserve the holographic stamp at the bottom.
Where can you get high quality fakes?
@@camerontapscotttry ProxyKing they r really good. I don't use proxies/counterfeit cards but i 100% support them for players who just wanna play without breaking the bank.
Is this still true on new cards like EDH pre cons or secret lair?
Yes, it should. Let me know if you find different
Yes. Not true for alternate fourth edition though.
I think mine are fake, they just have totally white backs and the images on some of them are pink like it was running out of ink 🤔
nowadays, WOTC print quality is so bad real cards probably fail this, usually the thing that tells me its a fake is the quality of the art, because the printers proxy makers use just doesnt get the same vibrance of a real card if you look closely.
I can make fakes that pass this but I can't fake it so the black dots line up under a microscope lenses but 99% of the time this will be fine
Damn. I didn't know I own a smartphone... Can you tell me where it is? I could use a smartphone.
Wow this is really interesting
All you gotta do is tear the card in half 😂
Hmmm interesting the pattern could be recreated on a fake card but it seems unlikely someone making fake cards going to enough trouble to do so.
It would be very difficult at the microscopic level to replicate
@@DismalDante Agreed but as it exists it could be recreated, though likely not cheaply enough for those who make fake cards and proxies.
They would need the same printer basically.
If you could make cards indestinguishable would they even be fake?
@@54321eclipse12345 Exactly and thats why it is not gonna happen as the fakers do not want to invest that much money into their scams, those types of printers are very expensive. They would be as they would not be produced by WOTC though given their recent behavior i would not give a rip.
@@54321eclipse12345 that’s some deep philosophical shit right there. If they’re so good you can’t tell them apart from real ones then you pretty much just gotta accept that they’re legit now
Very hice phone, could you please tell me which brand and model it is?
Google Pixel 6 pro :)
How to tell if your magic cards are fake without having to spend $10-30 on a loupe or a microscope. Save money by using a $250+ smart phone.
Exactly! Well said :)
You mean $1,000 plus smartphone . What are you buying for $250?
Chances are you're already going to have the smartphone lol
Smart phones also serve many more useful functions outside of checking cards. So it has that going for it as well lol
You can get a decent smartphone for $100 easy idk what ya'll smokin.
Couldn't fakes be printed like that?
You just need to have a phone with super good camera 😅
I haven't smartphone so i need to buy a tool to do this ;-)
Just used your method on a ton of old reserved list cards I had that wasn't 100% sure of, and they're all volcanoes :D
Awesome catch, and awesome vid
Glad I could help!
So I grabbed a very real Ixalan card that I have handy ( a basic land that I use as a bookmark) and humorously, I don't think it passes this test.
Can you share a picture you took of the card?
@@DismalDante I am messing with the reply options in TH-cam and I am not seeing an option to post a picture.
One option: You can use imgbb.com and upload the picture and share link to it
Sorry, champ. My smartphone camera ain't that good.
I don't own a smartphone.
jewelers loops are 10 dollars. Youll save yourself 6 minutes from not watching this video. Which is infinitely more precious.
" you won't be able to see the 4 red dots with a jewelers loup" - What? You absolutely can see the "Red L" with a loup, even a cheap sub-$10 Chinese loup from Amazon.
I was talking about the picture taken with a smartphone, where you won't be able to see the 4 red dots. Yes, you can see it with a loupe, but this method is for those that do t have a loupe
What happens when AI digitally prints an indistinguishable replica? I give it a few years. Great video, thanks~👍
Ai really doesn't apply here.
We just need a high enough scan and print for this method.
If you think in wrong tell me how AI applies.
@@footstol66 AI and digital printing will likely be able to be programmed to make nearly an exact and/or an indistinguishable copy, it's just a matter of time. Wizard's of the coast will have to use their sorcery to design a new method of authenticity.
@@JarodM they already did, you gotta check for example the Micro-text with WIZARDS in the holo stamp. Not so easy to duplicate that one.
Its way more easy with the blue one. Its full blue with real and raster pattern blue with fakes
Good catch, but Im not sure it would work for all fakes, but it is true for the ones I have checked. Making a fake with full cyan in the blue spot would probably be relatively easy, since it doesn't depend on the print dot angle or density, only making the cyan dots bigger to fill in the blue spot
Thanks, now I know how to make my counterfeits more realistic /s
Lolol but in all seriousness, it would still be hard for counterfeit printers to do this since these dot patterns are built into the printer itself. They would likely need the same exact printer as the official factories and even then it would still be hard. The real cards themselves have plenty of other variances as it is.
If anyone is making a fake mtg card I'm sure they'd make it worth while. I haven't seen any cheap mtg fakes
I am a printer and I hate seeing these videos. His method is accurate and works. The "pattern" is a process due to printing plates laying ink over the same area of another color, commonly reffered to as "half tone dots". You can make fakes that will not be caught by this process. All you have to do is duplicate what the printer does and create a set of printing plates. You all have fakes and don't know it. Tell me the last time you went to a printer and looked at that equipment versus the criminals that are creating fakes. Most people who create copies will not invest in all that equipment. I know people that have said equipment and do create fakes for documentation of process and museum replica pieces.
True, but he didn't say this was the only way. This is one way, a rather simple way, to use in conjunction with other methods.
I have ran into fakes that pass this, I think legit mtg cards are all over now
Pics or It Didn't Happen 😉
can you try doing this on magic 30th anniversary cards?
This.method only works on real cards with real card backs
Says no tools required, then requires a tool (smart phone).
I think I said "no tools to buy" Most people have a smartphone 🤪
@@DismalDante Yeah, and a lot of those smartphones can't take such microscopic pictures. Even with a magnifier attachment, my phone can't do this. Fortunately I have a loupe.
No tools to buy! Just go buy a nice phone!
Experience
There is the bend test... or ripping it in half! ^_^
"If this patterns isn't there, the card is fake". Which is completely wrong. Alternate 4th edition are perfectly legal cards, and have a completely different green dot and overall printing as well, like no rosette pattern. So if I trusted this video, I'd thrown away the alternate 4th edition Fellwar Stone I received a couple of days ago (ordered a normal 4th edition).
Although this method works on most cards, Alternative 4th Edition cards may be an exception. Can you share an image of the back of your Fellwar Stone that you have? You can use imgbb.com and upload the picture and share link to it
@@DismalDante just go to timestamp 6:10 in the video linked below (the whole video is very good to see the difference for alternate fourth cards:
th-cam.com/video/llBqeM1J7qw/w-d-xo.html
Thanks, I agree these Alternative 4th edition cards look totally different. Since they were never officially released to the public by Wizards, I wouldn't think much product would be out there, but I'll put a disclaimer to warn others.
@@DismalDante sounds great. There isn't very much, but not extremely few either (like summer) so if someone gets a fourth edition card that feels off, I'd say it's just as probably that it is a real alternate, than a fake... :)
I think everyone should check every card they buy. This method is great but if you are buying cards you can afford a $5 jewelers loupe. There is no excuse not to buy one. I have looked at so many mana dots and other print rosettes that I can immediately tell fake when looking. These methods have saved me a ton.
Also, EVERYONE if you get fake cards on eBay you MUST leave negative feedback. I don’t care if the seller gives some sob store about “oh it was a mistake, oh it slipped through by accident, I’m sorry I didn’t know”. It’s the sellers responsibility to be checking the cards they sell. If they let a fake slip through that means negative feedback. And I mean this even if you get your money back no hassle. Sellers intentionally sell fakes then just hope no one notices, and if they notice they just refund. It’s a known scam. For every 100 fakes they sell, maybe 5-10 get returned. People have to start leaving negative feedback if they get fake cards. Not neutral , only negative feedback. A sellers rating should be hurt if they sell fake cards.
Why even take all these extra steps when you can buy an x50 /x75, even a x100 jeweler's loup for $5.00 (cheap x50 is still x50) and just know without a doubt with way less work.