Spotting a Fake

Pyrian

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Cripes, mate, needs some editing.

"Just by handing Magic cards frequently and often you're going to develop a six sense for it." handling sixth

"And when buying online, stick to reputably dealers or sites that otherwise protect you." reputable

"WotC and the community are continually working to curtailing of counterfeiting and your chances of encountering fake cards are going to vary, but a little diligence goes a long way to protecting yourself." curtail towards
 

Atmos Duality

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Mar 3, 2010
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Very good technical information, and very important for dealing with the second hand market.
I've had vendors try to pawn obvious fakes off on me, but this provides a good field guide.

I'd like to add that this is why vendor reputation is important, especially for online outlets and trade sites.
When you're not able to actually inspect the product yourself, reputation and blind faith is the best you can hope for.

Slycne said:
Let's face it; if certain cards weren't expensive then there'd be little need to make cheap fake one
When the average Standard deck is pushing in excess of 300 dollars, and Modern decks pushing 800, that's to be expected.
I mean, it's just CARDBOARD. Very nice cardboard, but still...that's insane.
 

Chris Ingersoll

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Jun 21, 2013
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A lot of the Chinese fakes pass many of these tests, as they were made using the same special cardstock as official cards. I usually end up having to rely on font size differences (very helpful to have a known legit copy to compare against) to suss these things out. Fakes usually have text that is slightly thinner than the legit copy.
 

Queen Michael

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Jun 9, 2009
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In my grade school, when I was twelve, there was a girl trading fake Pokémon cards. I caught her thanks to the bend test that I'd read about in a magazine.

Of course, the fact that all her cards were super-powerful versions of the new Gold & Silver Pokémon with the Japanese names written with Western letters should have clued me in too... Ah well, at least I was too smart to get bamboozled.
 

RaikuFA

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Jun 12, 2009
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Damnit Slycne, now how am I going to stay as a cornerstone of the MTG black market with my fake Tarmogoyf?
 

Elementary - Dear Watson

RIP Eleuthera, I will miss you
Nov 9, 2010
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I just tried the rip test on all my cards...

I conclude that they are were real...

Jokes aside... thank you. I am new to the game, and eventually will be inevitable boosting decks with singles bought online, so will be good to tell. (If mainly for reporting duff sellers)
 

Slycne

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RaikuFA said:
Damnit Slycne, now how am I going to stay as a cornerstone of the MTG black market with my fake Tarmogoyf?
We all know the real money is in [mtg_card=Storm Crow]s.
 

RaikuFA

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Jun 12, 2009
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Slycne said:
RaikuFA said:
Damnit Slycne, now how am I going to stay as a cornerstone of the MTG black market with my fake Tarmogoyf?
We all know the real money is in [mtg_card=Storm Crow]s.
That and Wood Elementals/Chimmney Imps.