I’m glad you clarified that the discoloration doesn’t absolutely mean it’s fake because I’ve opened packs before with cards that had an identical discoloration I’ve run into quite a few
@@ToastyTstdToast I am a legend in my store and only the oldest in the store know me because I sell proxies for 10 bucks or less, I think there are cards like the mana crypt that are useless, they are only expensive due to the lack of reprints that's why I as a fighter for people who don't want to spend more than 100 bucks on a piece of cardboard that you will only use to play
most people what have unofficial printed cards arent trying to rip anyone off.. they just dont wanna pay for over priced pieces of cardboard. "counterfeits" r the way to go 100%.
And the print looks better to me as well honestly. they used more ink then the real card and it looks a lot more vibrant. but really, magic cards never were the best cards in term of actual print and material quality. Look at weiss schwarz or vanguard. those cards probably have the best quality of all trading cards i have seen in my life. The cards are a little stiffer than magic cards and the edges and corners are really tough. And the paper is very pure white while magic cards really look quite greyish. Some of the foils(theres a random chance) in weiss schwarz even come with a slightly indented autograph of the artist printed on it making it look like it was actually written with a ballpoint pen. They really do care while WoTC clearly does not.
I'd like to add a 2021 update to this counterfeit test. The light test normally is a very easy way for cards to show their authenticity. However, cards printed in 2020+ have started to become much more red, through the light test. More recent cards are also much more rigid to bending, but still pass the bend test. This is just a forewarning to anyone attempting to test cards that were printed in 2020 and beyond -- you may flag real cards as counterfeits just because the print stock is of worse quality. Noting this, one last thing to point out are cards in "The List". These cards' dates have not been updated, but are actually printed on the 2020+ print stock. So, a card with a printed date of 2007 may look much different and feel more stiff than other cards from 2007, but this wouldn't actually be a fair comparison if it was printed in this special way. Luckily, there is an easy way to tell which cards were printed in "The List" as a small icon on the bottom left of the card. Good luck to all MtG players and traders out there!
Board game manufacturer here: The reason why so few counterfeiters have access to blue core cardstock is because, I am told, that the manufacturers of the stock are very particular about who they will allow to buy it because they are aware of this problem. I was actually very surprised to learn TheGameCrafter was able to purchase Blue Core cardstock for their cards, because it is actually a superior product to Black Core stock or Ivory Core stock. If they were not extremely careful, someone could use TheGameCrafter to counterfeit magic cards, but TGC has a quality control process that won't permit any printing of copyrighted content that actually false-flagged me more than once so I'm not especially worried. Awesome channel, btw. Subbed.
Thanks so much for this comment, I can definitely see the blue core all around the real card, another test to do, it's so obvious on a fake card, I can say I'm ashamed i didn't look at these videos sooner before getting ripped off for a Gaea's Cradle for 350 >.
The blue core is also why the light test works as well. Notice much darker fake cards are? This isn't just from the heavier ink on fake prints. It's the core absorbing the light as well. Compare this to the blue cores, where not only can you see the light come through much more consistently, but it's got tinges of blue in it as well. That being said... once you know what counterfeits look like, it should be no problem sniffing them out. One good look at the cards can show inconsistencies in their fake prints that won't show up with real ones. The repeating pattern on said cards can be very obvious, and even an untrained eye might catch the irregularities in said pattern.
This is an exceptionally good video. I know most of your videos, but this one stood out. It has a very clear, informative tone. One topic, well researched, you combined into one video what needed more research and different videos from different sources before. And in comparison to most other content creators, you did not include the usual 5-10minutes of "air" - nonsense talking to increase video length. Loved the straightforward approach. will actually share this with all my playgroups.
Okay this is 4 years old so I'm gonna assume things just don't apply the same as they use to because the light test doesn't really work on Innistrad midnight hunt unless I got two sealed and fake booster boxes.
The fakes are made from much better stock. That's why light doesn't pass through. I personally believe that proxies are a good thing. Making someone pay insane amounts of money for cardboard is crazy.
@@natethetoe386 In technicality the bank note has no monetary value. It exists as a representation of the Federal Reserve Bank and is a note that 'merits' its value in an economy. The Bank note itself is entirely valueless.. that's why heaps of old paper money are burned every year and it doesn't cause our economy to crash. o7
@@Azerkeux Well ya if you want to get technical, nothing has value. Value is a concept that only exits in the human mind. Humans only think things have value.
good video. Thank you. I think the loupe will stay useful for a while, until and unless the counterfeiters can obtain original art to prepare the layer separations from. At the moment they have to scan the card, which inevitably introduces errors that will break the roseate pattern.
i was startled to see TCC's video on cardstock quality, having recently returned to MTG after a long break. Anecdotally my Ixalan and C17 cards look to be inferior cardstock than my old cards. Interested in comparing old/new/counterfeit cardstock quality with science? precise dimensions, precise mass, how they tear, how they react to water and fire...
I have enjoyed your videos. Thank you. As much as I enjoy playing Magic. (We started way back in the 90s when a friend gave a bunch of cards to me and my wife). I really always disliked the way it devolves into an arms race for the "best" and most rare cards. I completely understand why counterfeit cards need to be eliminated from competition and how it's bad for Wizards of the Coast. But when we play at home everyone just has to play from the same stock of cards. And I'd almost welcome a few counterfeit cards to back up the few highly valued singles (or cards where we simply need more of to go around). Not that I think we have any high dollar cards hanging out in a shoebox in the living room. Anyways thanks for the channel. I enjoy hearing your take on different deck builds.
If you have access to a jewellers loope you can actually see the "core" glue along the sides of the card. All cards will have at least one area where the glue is visible along the edge.
Thank you for this! Just helped me find out I've been ripped off on buying an Old Gnawbone (full art)! So angry I've been ripped off but so glad this video helped me find out before it was too late to do something about it!
Honestly there might be a massive chance that it's a real card especially considering it's only a $20 card and one of my favorites at that. If I showed you my collection you'd be surprised to see I have a lot of cards worth a lot of money. One of the most important things is that I've learned that these tests do not always accurately portray fakes versus reals. Yes maybe the rip test for a newer card, but even that turned out to be wrong because they accidentally printed a bunch of cards on the token stock so there was no blue middle. I bought this really good microscope from Amazon and you can use that to tell if it's fake or not by seeing the color rosette pattern and then the really deep blacks along the wording.
But if your SURE it's fake and it looks really good I'll buy it from you and put it in my fake pile. I'm always looking for something for comparisons especially newer ones because most of the time people bring me fakes that are 1993 to 2005. I don't get a lot of 2022 fakes.
Last night I tried the light test on some cards that look a little dingy and discolored. The light sort of shined through, but it was a bluey red purple and fairly dim. I then tried the light yest on an older card from rise of eldrazi. It past the light test. I could see right through it. Then I tried the light on a newer card that I know came out of a booster. It did the same as the original. Bluey red purple color and dim. Do older cards react differently to the light test than newer cards?? Serious enquired cause I've got a Guide of Souls that feels papery on the front and a bit glossy on the back, and it's bluey red purple and dim when I tried the light. It's also dark compared to one that I opened out of a booster. Help?
I have two Growing Rites of Itlimoc that I pulled from Ixalan packs myself. One of them doesn't have that inner blue lining, but the other does. I plan on holding onto them both (and eventually putting them into a deck) but, this is clearly a case of a misprint.
Castor Gaming in one deaolatormagic's videos (I don't have the link sorry) he says that some of the double faced cards from ixalan were printed on the token paper which is only one-ply and so doesn't have the blue middle.
Thanks for your video. After watching it once and traiing myself with a proxy and real card. I believe I can now tell a fake w/o a scope even. Good skill to have
Hey man, good vids Weirdly enough, without background music or anything of the sort, your "mono-tone" voice is actually delightful to listen to. It's probably because you're really passionate about MTG and you put a lot of effort into the vids. Keep it up man
Jeff G On TH-cam I find if you need music to keep things interesting in your video while youre talking, you should probably not be talking. Hence why vlogs have so much music variation ☺
Thank you for this video. Are you 100% sure you got the images right? For example, the 2nd card shots you show at 4.10 I can not tell the difference. How are you telling the difference between the real and fake?
This helped me to be certain that a card I bought was fake. It failed the light test spectacularly, had slightly different coloration and line quality, was noticeably harder to bend when I did a blind test comparing it to real cards from the same set, and the gloss/texture of the card was slightly different too. The fake was glossier- this might be a less clear but still helpful test. Thank you! REPLY
When counterfeit money become impossible to distinguish from real money it's call superdollar, superbill or supernote. Have there been made any mtg supernote like someone got there hand on an original printing press and plates? Got any stories?
Being someone who played magic since Beta came out. It was quite easy for me to tell when someone sold me a fake snapcaster on ebay. The light test definitely confirms my judgement. Thanks for sharing. Btw, you can also make a scent comparison and it gives off the fake as well pretty easily.
I’m watching this video to learn myself. I have two thoughts as to why the one on the right is real. First on the fake it looks like in some places you can see through the black, meaning it’s not a solid line. Also, if you go back and look at the fake again, some of the rosettes seem to be bigger than others or sit on top of others. It’s not the case on the right. On the right all the rosettes appear to be uniform. This is just my guess. I wish he had elaborated more as to why one is real and what is fake in each example.
I heard the reason counterfeits are black and not blue, is because of something to do with availability. Its like paper with money, it’s extremely hard to find the exact paper type, its just not for sale, the original printers (in this case wizards of the coast) own the rights to the specific type of mix needed for a magic card.
hi all I hope someone tell me even if the video is a bit old: I have a problem with some brothers war cards. I bought boosters one week apart: in the first the cards pass the light test perfectly, in the second they don't; the cards are much less transparent and the light that passes is not clear, blue. I took a look with a lens I had (unfortunately only a 4x) but everything seems ok, I also tore off a card: inside is the blue layer, very marked. is it possible that for printing reasons a real paper does not let light through? if someone let me know I would be very grateful ... in the meantime I ordered a microscope ...
Hey, thank you so much for the video! I would be really interested to have your comments on what you can see in the pics from the "better fake" Snapcaster that leads to you saying it is fake or not. In some of them, I was not able to tell, and could not understand what "gave it away".
Its a bit late, but yes, its fine. The foil layer makes light harder to get throught. It should still be blueish but not as "transparent". Jewelers loupe is way better at analyzing foils because of this
I purchased a Commander deck, seems 100% real, but the Glen Elendra Archmage seemed super dark. Just the image/artwork. But all else seems fine. Just interesting to see a 100% legit product contain a card that's not exactly like the previous print
about the non consistent older cards back when revised came out i bought a box and 6 packs in the box all the cards were tented yellow we used to call them piss cards
Just curious if haven't owned or played magic since the early to mid 90's . Didn't the 3/4th generation have a semi gloss to the picture, just wondering . I vaguely remember them having one but I'm getting older lmao
Three problems: Your loupe images were inconsistent. While it was easy to tell some examples between others, you seemed to have a problem with making sure the two images all had an identical distance between the card, loupe, and camera lens at all times. This made some images of the counterfeit card look more real than the _real_ card. Foil cards are more opaque than normal cards, so by this explanation *all* foil cards are by definition counterfeit making the light test vaguely consistent at best with normal cards, but utterly useless on foils. Besides, light tests are only accurate if there's a standard light value to test with, like say 80 lumens or something. Current cards are almost always warped when they come out of the package, meaning that they take a crease much more easily, therefore all magic cards produced after 2015 must be counterfeit even if purchased directly from the WOTC printing factory itself.
I just did a fake to real comparison test and the brothers war retro artifacts that I pulled right out of a back definitely had a hexagonal rosette pattern. Unless I'm thinking of something else or I'm mistaken in some way. They printed differently over the years so I wouldn't assume that makes something fake. Usually it's just easy enough to tell by looking at the black ink compared to the coloring around the letters and the rules. I haven't seen a fake yet that passes the zoom test even slightly well. I use a microscope with a light, and I see tight circle patterns, loose circle patterns, and shapes of all kinds. Wish there was a way to hook a camera up to my microscope.
The fakes coming out of germany are insanely good. The only thing they don't pass is the rip test (black cores instead of blue). Some of them even have the holofoil stamp, which honestly makes it even harder to pick them out until you're shown that every holofoil is the same with the planeswalker symbol in the middle of the stamp. Real holo-stamps can have any mana symbol(s) and/or the walker symbol in any combo visible.
One thing I noticed on the jeweler’s Loupe test is that all printed rosettes on the real cards stayed the same size and the fakes had all different sizes.
99% of everything printed in mass today uses standard CMYK, nothing else. They use one, or at best two special layers when absolutely needed (like a gold or silver layer).
nesznoe2 yep. On genuine magic cards - every one I’ve seen - the K pass is the last of the four (not that that’s uncommon) which results in the black being on top of the colors - and some of it is pure black, like text and mana symbols etc, and some of it is raster dots of the image parts. The fakes I’ve seen, some of them seem to not do the back pass last (which is just weird), and many of the worse ones don’t bother to put the vector file parts in the print, which leads to everything - including stuff that should be sharp - being c9mposed of rosettes. A secondary problem for counterfeiters is that they don’t have the source files - they can only scan the printed cards. It requires a lot of manual cleanup of the file to get something which you can then pass through a printing process and then get a result that’s reasonably like the original.
@@JasperJanssen > *and some of it is pure black, like text and mana symbols etc, and some of it is raster dots of the image parts.* Would that explain why, in a scan of a Force of Will I saw on MTGSalvation, I saw cyan dots in the black border? I should look for the image again (not that YT wouldn't auto-delete my comment for putting a link in it 0 _ o )
And then there's the case of the Ixalan duo land misprints which were mistakenly printed on the paper used for Tokens, in which there doesnt exist an inner core. I opened several of them in both prerelease kits and bundles.
Great question! I haven't seen or even HEARD OF a fake foil card. They are much harder to fake due to variable transparencies in the art, ect. I would guess we won't be seeing them for a long time.
I've seen the different colours from different print runs thing myself, I have 2 copies of Earthcraft and if you put them side by side you would think one is fake because one looks almost sun bleached compared to the other, but I've done all the tests and it's obvious that they are both actually real, I even took them to my LGS and those guys think they are both real too.
A weird thing is I've seen 2 real cards look very different even though they were both from the same packaging even, When I first started I got one of the beginner decks, and one of the cards it came with multiple of was much brighter then the other version, these were brand new and I opened the package myself so they couldn't have been fake
@@水页 The bend test ... there is no reason for it to be considered good, or useful -- feel, smell, appearance (especially with a loupe) can weed out fakes, even rebacks - without any risks of damaging the card.
Are you 100 % that you are sure which of them are fake? Those rosett patterns looks real to me, but still gets categorised as fake. 5:53 all my cards look like that one to the left.
I'm disagree, different press (USA, Belgium) can make different gloss. Just recieved a THEROS BEYOND DEATH (satyr) token...Gloss is different, it's thin. Just decided to break the card....No blue pattern between FRONT and BACK....Conterfeit? on a token?
Indeed, and you can add several other methods of determinig real or fake by analysing the printing process, like screen resolution (e.g. 150 or 175 lpi), color angles used, color composition and comparing to known to be real details (e.g. from the card back or principal graphic elements on the front, like backgrounds etc), even the dot shape, etc. I'm almost sure you could even analyse the ink used, e.g. regarding UV response or different colored lights/wavelengths. I just did this with some 1st generation fakes from around 23 years ago (maybe older) and under blue light, the used inkjets forensic print marking dot pattern, invisible to the eye, was appearing as black dots over the complete card surface :) (Sure, these fakes were identifyable just by looking at them from a distance ;D ) Anyways, I think if you have an original at hand, from the same expansion, spotting the fake IMO won't EVER be impossible.
IMHO the UV light test is better than the light test. Rebacked cards from Collectors's Edition pass the light test, so this is not really reliable in that case.
I’m glad you clarified that the discoloration doesn’t absolutely mean it’s fake because I’ve opened packs before with cards that had an identical discoloration I’ve run into quite a few
Also, good on the person you were trading with for immediately admitting the cards were counterfeits.
SmugLookingBarrel or he was embarrassed
Or humble. Fakes are nice if you dont wanna buy a 150$ commander or something
@@deviantsid18 exactly, half of my eldrazi deck is proxies because i didnt feel like spending $1000.
@@ToastyTstdToast I am a legend in my store and only the oldest in the store know me because I sell proxies for 10 bucks or less, I think there are cards like the mana crypt that are useless, they are only expensive due to the lack of reprints that's why I as a fighter for people who don't want to spend more than 100 bucks on a piece of cardboard that you will only use to play
most people what have unofficial printed cards arent trying to rip anyone off.. they just dont wanna pay for over priced pieces of cardboard. "counterfeits" r the way to go 100%.
The way you can tell a counterfit is the counterfit will have a higher quality card stock. Lmao.
And the print looks better to me as well honestly. they used more ink then the real card and it looks a lot more vibrant.
but really, magic cards never were the best cards in term of actual print and material quality.
Look at weiss schwarz or vanguard. those cards probably have the best quality of all trading cards i have seen in my life. The cards are a little stiffer than magic cards and the edges and corners are really tough. And the paper is very pure white while magic cards really look quite greyish. Some of the foils(theres a random chance) in weiss schwarz even come with a slightly indented autograph of the artist printed on it making it look like it was actually written with a ballpoint pen.
They really do care while WoTC clearly does not.
You should buy a pack of Force of Will cards sometime for giggles. It puts all the TCG cards to shame with print/cardstock quality.
Well, thats pretty subjective you know. The cards themselfs still are better quality though.
MTG art is super-bland overall......and that's coming from someone who owns 3 original oils, and at least 10 framed prints of MTG art.
Beyond doubt
I'd like to add a 2021 update to this counterfeit test.
The light test normally is a very easy way for cards to show their authenticity. However, cards printed in 2020+ have started to become much more red, through the light test. More recent cards are also much more rigid to bending, but still pass the bend test. This is just a forewarning to anyone attempting to test cards that were printed in 2020 and beyond -- you may flag real cards as counterfeits just because the print stock is of worse quality.
Noting this, one last thing to point out are cards in "The List". These cards' dates have not been updated, but are actually printed on the 2020+ print stock. So, a card with a printed date of 2007 may look much different and feel more stiff than other cards from 2007, but this wouldn't actually be a fair comparison if it was printed in this special way. Luckily, there is an easy way to tell which cards were printed in "The List" as a small icon on the bottom left of the card.
Good luck to all MtG players and traders out there!
Board game manufacturer here: The reason why so few counterfeiters have access to blue core cardstock is because, I am told, that the manufacturers of the stock are very particular about who they will allow to buy it because they are aware of this problem.
I was actually very surprised to learn TheGameCrafter was able to purchase Blue Core cardstock for their cards, because it is actually a superior product to Black Core stock or Ivory Core stock. If they were not extremely careful, someone could use TheGameCrafter to counterfeit magic cards, but TGC has a quality control process that won't permit any printing of copyrighted content that actually false-flagged me more than once so I'm not especially worried.
Awesome channel, btw. Subbed.
brilliant video, dude.
Thanks dude. I try. Sometimes :p
there's no reason to do the rip test. with a 60x jeweler's loupe, you can clearly see the blue core when you look at the side of the card
Blue core?
Thanks so much for this comment, I can definitely see the blue core all around the real card, another test to do, it's so obvious on a fake card, I can say I'm ashamed i didn't look at these videos sooner before getting ripped off for a Gaea's Cradle for 350 >.
☝️
The blue core is also why the light test works as well. Notice much darker fake cards are? This isn't just from the heavier ink on fake prints. It's the core absorbing the light as well. Compare this to the blue cores, where not only can you see the light come through much more consistently, but it's got tinges of blue in it as well.
That being said... once you know what counterfeits look like, it should be no problem sniffing them out. One good look at the cards can show inconsistencies in their fake prints that won't show up with real ones. The repeating pattern on said cards can be very obvious, and even an untrained eye might catch the irregularities in said pattern.
@@Flash-qz2kc i am currently experienceing the same thing. my gaeas cradle is fake too. which is why im scouring the internet for videos like this lol
Bro, your foil Tarmogoyf is totally fake! Lemme show you. “Rrip” Uh oh
And he wil say u Are a fake human and Rip u xD
This is an exceptionally good video. I know most of your videos, but this one stood out. It has a very clear, informative tone. One topic, well researched, you combined into one video what needed more research and different videos from different sources before. And in comparison to most other content creators, you did not include the usual 5-10minutes of "air" - nonsense talking to increase video length. Loved the straightforward approach. will actually share this with all my playgroups.
Thank you for releasing this. I needed a break from the drama.
Does that mean this video is a TastySnack™?
GG Degree I give this TastySnack 3 out of 3 Michelin stars
The best counterfeits...have never been caught...and sit in dealers cases, indistinguishable from the real thing.
Literally.
Yaaay! :D Our annual GG Degree video!
And here I was thinking to myself that I had just cut the gap between videos down immensely! xD
I was joking :) the thing is we'll be here whenever you make them. Nice video btw, pretty useful.
My liliana of the veil passed the rip test, how do I put it back together?
Haha I saw a guy at my locals do that and i was like why would you man
Glue and duct tape
What happens when the fakes become better quality than the real cards
than we know that they are fake because they are not curled ^^
They may become more expensive than the real cards :-)
Oh that’s already happened
the real cards become the counterfeit
Would be amazing if every magic cards cost 1 penny 😑. That way I would return to the game
Okay this is 4 years old so I'm gonna assume things just don't apply the same as they use to because the light test doesn't really work on Innistrad midnight hunt unless I got two sealed and fake booster boxes.
The fakes are made from much better stock. That's why light doesn't pass through. I personally believe that proxies are a good thing. Making someone pay insane amounts of money for cardboard is crazy.
Calling it cardboard is not an argument. You do realize that money is paper right? How can US $ be worth anything its PAPER!!!
Agreed, a spell is a spell. My knowledge of the spell should not be capped behind a pay wall.
Yeah, I also buy all my dollar bills as counterfeit and it's twice as cheap as the real thing!
@@natethetoe386 In technicality the bank note has no monetary value. It exists as a representation of the Federal Reserve Bank and is a note that 'merits' its value in an economy. The Bank note itself is entirely valueless.. that's why heaps of old paper money are burned every year and it doesn't cause our economy to crash. o7
@@Azerkeux Well ya if you want to get technical, nothing has value. Value is a concept that only exits in the human mind. Humans only think things have value.
good video. Thank you.
I think the loupe will stay useful for a while, until and unless the counterfeiters can obtain original art to prepare the layer separations from. At the moment they have to scan the card, which inevitably introduces errors that will break the roseate pattern.
I'm already subscribed to Tolarian Community College.
i was startled to see TCC's video on cardstock quality, having recently returned to MTG after a long break. Anecdotally my Ixalan and C17 cards look to be inferior cardstock than my old cards.
Interested in comparing old/new/counterfeit cardstock quality with science? precise dimensions, precise mass, how they tear, how they react to water and fire...
"It's guaranteed to be fake."
Unless it's an Ixalan transform misprint.
Oh god
Great tips. Tried the light test with my phone. Simple and effective. Thanks!
I was going to buy mtg cards by the bulk and now this guy has me questioning if they are legitimate. Play Magic they said, it will be fun they said.
What about foils and using the light test? Similar in how much light passes through to nonfoil or should it be darker?
super interesting. thanks for making this
I have enjoyed your videos. Thank you. As much as I enjoy playing Magic.
(We started way back in the 90s when a friend gave a bunch of cards to me and my wife).
I really always disliked the way it devolves into an arms race for the "best" and most rare cards.
I completely understand why counterfeit cards need to be eliminated from competition and how it's bad for Wizards of the Coast. But when we play at home everyone just has to play from the same stock of cards. And I'd almost welcome a few counterfeit cards to back up the few highly valued singles (or cards where we simply need more of to go around).
Not that I think we have any high dollar cards hanging out in a shoebox in the living room.
Anyways thanks for the channel. I enjoy hearing your take on different deck builds.
do foil cards go through same rules? for instance light test should pass on foil cards?
If you have access to a jewellers loope you can actually see the "core" glue along the sides of the card. All cards will have at least one area where the glue is visible along the edge.
Thank you for this! Just helped me find out I've been ripped off on buying an Old Gnawbone (full art)! So angry I've been ripped off but so glad this video helped me find out before it was too late to do something about it!
Honestly there might be a massive chance that it's a real card especially considering it's only a $20 card and one of my favorites at that. If I showed you my collection you'd be surprised to see I have a lot of cards worth a lot of money. One of the most important things is that I've learned that these tests do not always accurately portray fakes versus reals. Yes maybe the rip test for a newer card, but even that turned out to be wrong because they accidentally printed a bunch of cards on the token stock so there was no blue middle. I bought this really good microscope from Amazon and you can use that to tell if it's fake or not by seeing the color rosette pattern and then the really deep blacks along the wording.
But if your SURE it's fake and it looks really good I'll buy it from you and put it in my fake pile. I'm always looking for something for comparisons especially newer ones because most of the time people bring me fakes that are 1993 to 2005. I don't get a lot of 2022 fakes.
@@thecooleststufficouldfind cardmarket confirmed it was fake, so I no longer have it, unfortunately
There is a MTG TH-cam war going on now and GG just drops a video. I am glad you are making content!
Last night I tried the light test on some cards that look a little dingy and discolored. The light sort of shined through, but it was a bluey red purple and fairly dim. I then tried the light yest on an older card from rise of eldrazi. It past the light test. I could see right through it. Then I tried the light on a newer card that I know came out of a booster. It did the same as the original. Bluey red purple color and dim. Do older cards react differently to the light test than newer cards?? Serious enquired cause I've got a Guide of Souls that feels papery on the front and a bit glossy on the back, and it's bluey red purple and dim when I tried the light. It's also dark compared to one that I opened out of a booster. Help?
Where can I buy cheap proxies? Like $2 each. I need a lot of them.
AAhh, hearing that intro music really takes me back.... Sniff, we missed you man!
Hahaha well, good to be back.
I have two Growing Rites of Itlimoc that I pulled from Ixalan packs myself. One of them doesn't have that inner blue lining, but the other does. I plan on holding onto them both (and eventually putting them into a deck) but, this is clearly a case of a misprint.
Castor Gaming in one deaolatormagic's videos (I don't have the link sorry) he says that some of the double faced cards from ixalan were printed on the token paper which is only one-ply and so doesn't have the blue middle.
Castor Gaming I should check my playset, I pulled them as well.
Sorry just realized I misspelled desolatormagic
Thanks for your video. After watching it once and traiing myself with a proxy and real card. I believe I can now tell a fake w/o a scope even. Good skill to have
Nice one
Ah! When you bent that thought seize, I cringed
At least it was a Theros version. If you're gonna bend a Thoughtsieze that's the one to bend.
I did when he rip it
Same
But when he ripped a card, that was totally fine for you?
Hey man, good vids
Weirdly enough, without background music or anything of the sort, your "mono-tone" voice is actually delightful to listen to. It's probably because you're really passionate about MTG and you put a lot of effort into the vids. Keep it up man
Jeff G On TH-cam I find if you need music to keep things interesting in your video while youre talking, you should probably not be talking. Hence why vlogs have so much music variation ☺
Does the light test work on foil cards?
what magnification of loupe would you recommend using to authenticate cards?
Thank you for this video. Are you 100% sure you got the images right? For example, the 2nd card shots you show at 4.10 I can not tell the difference. How are you telling the difference between the real and fake?
How about cards like Chandra, Pyromaster (SDCC 2013) is it possible to apply the same methods?
Where do you draw the line between proxies & counterfeit?
This helped me to be certain that a card I bought was fake. It failed the light test spectacularly, had slightly different coloration and line quality, was noticeably harder to bend when I did a blind test comparing it to real cards from the same set, and the gloss/texture of the card was slightly different too. The fake was glossier- this might be a less clear but still helpful test. Thank you!
REPLY
Hey, glad I helped you out :D
When counterfeit money become impossible to distinguish from real money it's call superdollar, superbill or supernote. Have there been made any mtg supernote like someone got there hand on an original printing press and plates? Got any stories?
GREAT JOB! Thank you for showing the differences.
This video is immensely helpful! Thanks! :)
Some of the flip cards from Ixalan were printed on the wrong card stock (token card stock) and will fail the light and tear test.
Being someone who played magic since Beta came out. It was quite easy for me to tell when someone sold me a fake snapcaster on ebay. The light test definitely confirms my judgement. Thanks for sharing. Btw, you can also make a scent comparison and it gives off the fake as well pretty easily.
Genuine Ice Age cards were notorious for having discolored print runs. Some of them have borders that are so discolored they're almost a dark blue.
4:38 - Huh? The resolution is significantly higher on the "fake" print. Care to explain?
I’m watching this video to learn myself. I have two thoughts as to why the one on the right is real. First on the fake it looks like in some places you can see through the black, meaning it’s not a solid line. Also, if you go back and look at the fake again, some of the rosettes seem to be bigger than others or sit on top of others. It’s not the case on the right. On the right all the rosettes appear to be uniform. This is just my guess. I wish he had elaborated more as to why one is real and what is fake in each example.
Thank you sooo much for the enlightenment!
This is an invaluable resource thanks for putting this on
Glad to see another video from you!
I heard the reason counterfeits are black and not blue, is because of something to do with availability.
Its like paper with money, it’s extremely hard to find the exact paper type, its just not for sale, the original printers (in this case wizards of the coast) own the rights to the specific type of mix needed for a magic card.
9:19 Damnit Kyle! we get it!! you love Monster!!
hi all I hope someone tell me even if the video is a bit old: I have a problem with some brothers war cards. I bought boosters one week apart: in the first the cards pass the light test perfectly, in the second they don't; the cards are much less transparent and the light that passes is not clear, blue. I took a look with a lens I had (unfortunately only a 4x) but everything seems ok, I also tore off a card: inside is the blue layer, very marked. is it possible that for printing reasons a real paper does not let light through? if someone let me know I would be very grateful ... in the meantime I ordered a microscope ...
Hey, thank you so much for the video!
I would be really interested to have your comments on what you can see in the pics from the "better fake" Snapcaster that leads to you saying it is fake or not. In some of them, I was not able to tell, and could not understand what "gave it away".
Interesting stuff. Man, the bend test scares me lol. Will have to try that when I get home on some cheap cards and see how they fare.
Don't bend a card, it never becomes evenly straightened again. It will be wavy.
Everything checks out to be OK on one of my foils except for the light text is that a problem?
Its a bit late, but yes, its fine. The foil layer makes light harder to get throught. It should still be blueish but not as "transparent". Jewelers loupe is way better at analyzing foils because of this
Time to go through my huge pile of cards and put them through the light test!
if printing keeps improving will reprinting over commons likely become a problem?
I purchased a Commander deck, seems 100% real, but the Glen Elendra Archmage seemed super dark. Just the image/artwork. But all else seems fine. Just interesting to see a 100% legit product contain a card that's not exactly like the previous print
about the non consistent older cards back when revised came out i bought a box and 6 packs in the box all the cards were tented yellow we used to call them piss cards
Just curious if haven't owned or played magic since the early to mid 90's . Didn't the 3/4th generation have a semi gloss to the picture, just wondering . I vaguely remember them having one but I'm getting older lmao
Three problems:
Your loupe images were inconsistent. While it was easy to tell some examples between others, you seemed to have a problem with making sure the two images all had an identical distance between the card, loupe, and camera lens at all times. This made some images of the counterfeit card look more real than the _real_ card.
Foil cards are more opaque than normal cards, so by this explanation *all* foil cards are by definition counterfeit making the light test vaguely consistent at best with normal cards, but utterly useless on foils. Besides, light tests are only accurate if there's a standard light value to test with, like say 80 lumens or something.
Current cards are almost always warped when they come out of the package, meaning that they take a crease much more easily, therefore all magic cards produced after 2015 must be counterfeit even if purchased directly from the WOTC printing factory itself.
One thing I noticed with the printing on the counterfeits was that they had a circle/hexagon pattern with the ink dots, but the real cards didn't.
I just did a fake to real comparison test and the brothers war retro artifacts that I pulled right out of a back definitely had a hexagonal rosette pattern. Unless I'm thinking of something else or I'm mistaken in some way. They printed differently over the years so I wouldn't assume that makes something fake. Usually it's just easy enough to tell by looking at the black ink compared to the coloring around the letters and the rules. I haven't seen a fake yet that passes the zoom test even slightly well. I use a microscope with a light, and I see tight circle patterns, loose circle patterns, and shapes of all kinds. Wish there was a way to hook a camera up to my microscope.
Hello, I'm pretty new in MTG. If the Halo bottom of the card isn't perfectly center, is it a fake?
Do not go by centering for anything. In fact, real magic cards are often off center.
Would using convincing counterfeits only for personal use at tournaments send me to a phyrexian bdsm hell jail?
The fakes coming out of germany are insanely good. The only thing they don't pass is the rip test (black cores instead of blue). Some of them even have the holofoil stamp, which honestly makes it even harder to pick them out until you're shown that every holofoil is the same with the planeswalker symbol in the middle of the stamp. Real holo-stamps can have any mana symbol(s) and/or the walker symbol in any combo visible.
One thing I noticed on the jeweler’s Loupe test is that all printed rosettes on the real cards stayed the same size and the fakes had all different sizes.
Magic is printed in standard CMYK, just four colors, not 8.
The black pass contains both rasterized image dots and sharp-edged vector files.
99% of everything printed in mass today uses standard CMYK, nothing else. They use one, or at best two special layers when absolutely needed (like a gold or silver layer).
nesznoe2 yep. On genuine magic cards - every one I’ve seen - the K pass is the last of the four (not that that’s uncommon) which results in the black being on top of the colors - and some of it is pure black, like text and mana symbols etc, and some of it is raster dots of the image parts.
The fakes I’ve seen, some of them seem to not do the back pass last (which is just weird), and many of the worse ones don’t bother to put the vector file parts in the print, which leads to everything - including stuff that should be sharp - being c9mposed of rosettes.
A secondary problem for counterfeiters is that they don’t have the source files - they can only scan the printed cards. It requires a lot of manual cleanup of the file to get something which you can then pass through a printing process and then get a result that’s reasonably like the original.
@@JasperJanssen > *and some of it is pure black, like text and mana symbols etc, and some of it is raster dots of the image parts.*
Would that explain why, in a scan of a Force of Will I saw on MTGSalvation, I saw cyan dots in the black border? I should look for the image again (not that YT wouldn't auto-delete my comment for putting a link in it 0 _ o )
Awesome video,thanks.
Welcome back to TH-cam!
Use counterfeits for your play decks, or give them out for free full disclosure.
different coloration on the fake reminds me the prints from the Mirage packs
i had half good half misses with the jeweler's ... when you don't know what to look it's really hard
It is a really bad mistake and shows poor research if you fail to categorize the bend test as a destructive test.
I wish I was playing magic when I was a mechanic for a million dollar card printing machine. I could've had a sick side hustle.
And then there's the case of the Ixalan duo land misprints which were mistakenly printed on the paper used for Tokens, in which there doesnt exist an inner core. I opened several of them in both prerelease kits and bundles.
Great video, thank you
My thoughtseize has the exact color scheme as the fake in the video but the black border is a true black and it passes the light test.
So... the light test works for commons and uncommon, but every rare since they started the stamp I've seen hasnt been as blue as I would have expected
Is the light test as reliable with foil cards?
Great question! I haven't seen or even HEARD OF a fake foil card. They are much harder to fake due to variable transparencies in the art, ect. I would guess we won't be seeing them for a long time.
Ken Shockley foils let less light through, but you can still see the blue glue layer
Thanks!
I've seen the different colours from different print runs thing myself, I have 2 copies of Earthcraft and if you put them side by side you would think one is fake because one looks almost sun bleached compared to the other, but I've done all the tests and it's obvious that they are both actually real, I even took them to my LGS and those guys think they are both real too.
Nice video, very helpful 🙌
A weird thing is I've seen 2 real cards look very different even though they were both from the same packaging even, When I first started I got one of the beginner decks, and one of the cards it came with multiple of was much brighter then the other version, these were brand new and I opened the package myself so they couldn't have been fake
As i watch this, my mouse cursor is hovering over the dislike button and that button must be pressed if he mentions the bend test in any positive way.
Why?
@@水页 The bend test ... there is no reason for it to be considered good, or useful -- feel, smell, appearance (especially with a loupe) can weed out fakes, even rebacks - without any risks of damaging the card.
I prefer fake one .. cheaper . Vivid . At the end what real card can do ? Is really have some special effect
The light test cannot be used to determine if a foil card is real or fake.
Are you 100 % that you are sure which of them are fake? Those rosett patterns looks real to me, but still gets categorised as fake. 5:53 all my cards look like that one to the left.
i got 2 lotr collector boxes from GAMES ISLAND
one with wizzard stamps on plastic and one without, so im gonna ask them now.
I'm disagree, different press (USA, Belgium) can make different gloss.
Just recieved a THEROS BEYOND DEATH (satyr) token...Gloss is different, it's thin. Just decided to break the card....No blue pattern between FRONT and BACK....Conterfeit? on a token?
We've missed you man!
The printing process is only 4 color: Black cyan yellow and magenta. Thx for the video.
Indeed, and you can add several other methods of determinig real or fake by analysing the printing process, like screen resolution (e.g. 150 or 175 lpi), color angles used, color composition and comparing to known to be real details (e.g. from the card back or principal graphic elements on the front, like backgrounds etc), even the dot shape, etc. I'm almost sure you could even analyse the ink used, e.g. regarding UV response or different colored lights/wavelengths. I just did this with some 1st generation fakes from around 23 years ago (maybe older) and under blue light, the used inkjets forensic print marking dot pattern, invisible to the eye, was appearing as black dots over the complete card surface :) (Sure, these fakes were identifyable just by looking at them from a distance ;D ) Anyways, I think if you have an original at hand, from the same expansion, spotting the fake IMO won't EVER be impossible.
Thank You for the video!
Good news! I ripped my black lotus and it is authentic!
I'm struggling to see what defines the fakes from the real with the patterns.
Look for sharp lines between different aspects of the card :)
Damnit man i so grateful for this video it was very insightful
IMHO the UV light test is better than the light test. Rebacked cards from Collectors's Edition pass the light test, so this is not really reliable in that case.
Thanks for making the vid. Love people talking about fakes and how to identify them
Thank you so much for this info
Just conducted the rip test on my NM Alpha Black Lotus. It was real 🥳