Chinese fakes

[Grand Superior]

That Vampiric Tutor has a comically large white border. That's the only one I could immediately tell was fake, though.

[Stinky-Dinkins]

I don't understand the purpose in trying to identify counterfeits based on distant, low resolution camera snaps of them while sleeved. Unless you're buying expensive cards on eBay and are dumb enough to bid without seeing decent scans, is this important? I can print out a picture of the Mona Lisa, and take a picture of it framed from across the room... It would be hard to tell the difference between that and legit canvas. I mean, a blurry pic from a few ft. away makes nearly every counterfeit look legit. It would be like trying to identify fakes in real life while wearing winter gloves and ski goggles with only one eye half-open. Doesn't make sense.

[Koby]

I don't understand the purpose in trying to identify counterfeits based on distant, low resolution camera snaps of them while sleeved. Unless you're buying expensive cards on eBay and are dumb enough to bid without seeing decent scans, is this important? I can print out a picture of the Mona Lisa, and take a picture of it framed from across the room... It would be hard to tell the difference between that and legit canvas. I mean, a blurry pic from a few ft. away makes nearly every counterfeit look legit. It would be like trying to identify fakes in real life while wearing winter gloves and ski goggles with only one eye half-open. Doesn't make sense.

The demonstration is to show that it's much harder to discern which cards are fake and which cards are real from a relatively close distance, or from a photo.

I.E., BUYER BEWARE

[Technics]

I don't understand the purpose in trying to identify counterfeits based on distant, low resolution camera snaps of them while sleeved. Unless you're buying expensive cards on eBay and are dumb enough to bid without seeing decent scans, is this important? I can print out a picture of the Mona Lisa, and take a picture of it framed from across the room... It would be hard to tell the difference between that and legit canvas. I mean, a blurry pic from a few ft. away makes nearly every counterfeit look legit. It would be like trying to identify fakes in real life while wearing winter gloves and ski goggles with only one eye half-open. Doesn't make sense.

Also sleeved a few feet away is exactly where you will be when your opponent is playing with fake cards. Being able to spot this is a good trait.

[Stinky-Dinkins]

No, that was my point, most these pics in no way replicate seeing these cards in real life from a few feet away across the table. Measure one of the cards as it appears on your screen in one of these low res, distant, glared-over pics, what is it? 150 tiny pixels wide or something, a couple inches? That's like looking at a real card from 15 feet away.

Put a reflective quarter on a table and take a low res picture of it a couple feet away under bright light, and then sit down from a couple feet away and look at it compared to the picture. It's a world of difference. Hell, I could print fakes from my deskjet that would be nearly indistinguishable from legit cards if I take distant, low resolution pictures. If you picked up one of these counterfeits and looked at it sleeved from a couple feet away in one hand and in the other hold a sleeved legit version of that card you'd be able to tell almost instantly which was the fake. You can stare at a low rese, distant picture all day long of the same two cards from a few feet away and you would not be able to tell.

And by the way Technics, the pictures you took of your custom proxies were fine. They were very close up. That's not what I'm talking about, I'm talking about standing a feet above a spread of sleeved cards and taking a few low res pictures. Even a spot of glare become "permanent" and practically obscures a huge portion of a card, that simply doesn't happen when looking at a sleeved card in real life. Unless there's something drastically off with the cards (huge difference in border size, corners, etc.) you can stare at it all day long and it's almost impossible to spot a fake, it's basically just a guessing game. I honestly don't mean to offend anyone, I just don't see the point.

[TheInfamousBearAssassin]

I'm assuming they're all fake because none have any wear on them, and that seems to be the logic of when people ask this question; but the only one I could tell was fake, really, was the Vamp Tutor.

I think it's extremely relevant if the fakes are getting good enough that you need tactile feel or close ups of the sides in order to tell at all.

[TheInfamousBearAssassin]

No, that was my point, most these pics in no way replicate seeing these cards in real life from a few feet away across the table. Measure one of the cards as it appears on your screen in one of these low res, distant, glared-over pics, what is it? 150 tiny pixels wide or something, a couple inches? That's like looking at a real card from 15 feet away.

Put a reflective quarter on a table and take a low res picture of it a couple feet away under bright light, and then sit down from a couple feet away and look at it compared to the picture. It's a world of difference. Hell, I could print fakes from my deskjet that would be nearly indistinguishable from legit cards if I take distant, low resolution pictures. If you picked up one of these counterfeits and looked at it sleeved from a couple feet away in one hand and in the other hold a sleeved legit version of that card you'd be able to tell almost instantly which was the fake. You can stare at a low rese, distant picture all day long of the same two cards from a few feet away and you would not be able to tell.

And by the way Technics, the pictures you took of your custom proxies were fine. They were very close up. That's not what I'm talking about, I'm talking about standing a feet above a spread of sleeved cards and taking a few low res pictures. Even a spot of glare become "permanent" and practically obscures a huge portion of a card, that simply doesn't happen when looking at a sleeved card in real life. Unless there's something drastically off with the cards (huge difference in border size, corners, etc.) you can stare at it all day long and it's almost impossible to spot a fake, it's basically just a guessing game. I honestly don't mean to offend anyone, I just don't see the point.

Maybe you are looking at an iphone or something? I have a desktop and if I hold a card out at arms' length, it takes up the same share of my field of vision as one of Koby's pics when my face is about, oh, nine or ten inches from the screen. At which point I still can't tell them apart in terms of one seeming faker.

[lyracian]

Here, I'll help out:
Guess the real and the fakes:

I agree with others that the Vamp Tutor looks odd; however I do not own any white bordered cards from, I think, 4th through 9th Ed so have nothing physical to compare it to. As for any other cards shown being fake I have no idea from the pictures.

[sdematt]

If you look at them close up, they're blurry. You can tell they're using scans and printing it off. Of course, from a few feet away it is hard to tell, but if you're trading in person, you can tell if you've handled cards long enough, ESPECIALLY the duals.

-Matt

[Secretly.A.Bee]

So before it gets lost within the pages of the thread, which were fakes and which were real?

Sent from my SM-N900V using Tapatalk

[swoop]

did anyone recieve their shipping yet?

[BVB09]

They are selling them again. I asked them some months ago about the cards and pictures and they never answered, however I have just received and email with information and pictures of the cards.
I'm not sure if it's allowed to copy paste an email though...

- Most of the cards look almost real.
- They're selling them in sets (55 cards) and now the price is usd100 per set, with a minimun order of 4 sets.
- They specify these are only proxies not valid for tournament play and made of "blue core paper".

[KobeBryan]

They are selling them again. I asked them some months ago about the cards and pictures and they never answered, however I have just received and email with information and pictures of the cards.
I'm not sure if it's allowed to copy paste an email though...

- Most of the cards look almost real.
- They're selling them in sets (55 cards) and now the price is usd100 per set, with a minimun order of 4 sets.
- They specify these are only proxies not valid for tournament play and made of "blue core paper".

Hahaha. Nice. Blue core paper now

[Russian Alara]

Yeah Delson threatened MTG Lion:https://storify.com/MTGLion/delson-h...tening-mtglion

[KobeBryan]

Yeah Delson threatened MTG Lion:https://storify.com/MTGLion/delson-h...tening-mtglion

The counterfeits are really inevitable. With the intellectual property law in china, what can a corporation do?

Rolexes, watches, purses get counterfeited all the time.

The only thing to prevent this is to make it harder to copy, make sure you market to people who have a disdain for fakes, or the best option, reprint the cards people want.

[twndomn]

The counterfeits are really inevitable. With the intellectual property law in china, what can a corporation do?

Rolexes, watches, purses get counterfeited all the time.

The only thing to prevent this is to make it harder to copy, make sure you market to people who have a disdain for fakes, or the best option, reprint the cards people want.

Amen to that. WotC has been granted the license to print money for the past decade and a half, they have themselves to blame if they haven't figure out how to stay one step Ahead of counterfeiters, given all the time they have had.

[Mr.C]

The counterfeits are really inevitable. With the intellectual property law in china, what can a corporation do?

Rolexes, watches, purses get counterfeited all the time.

The only thing to prevent this is to make it harder to copy, make sure you market to people who have a disdain for fakes, or the best option, reprint the cards people want.

Doesn't matter, though. They haven't gotten sizing nor texture correct.

[KobeBryan]

doesn't matter, though. They haven't gotten sizing nor texture correct.

yet

[Mr.C]

yet

It's the third 'run' of these fakes and they haven't gotten that fixed. I don't think they will.

[big_ticket]

wow counterfeits are all over the place i think...