Counterfeit Magic: The Gathering cards are nothing new, however recently there's been a much larger amount circulating. While primary targets are expensive Vintage and Legacy cards such as Black Lotus, Ancestral Recall, Time Walk, Library of Alexandria, and Dual Lands (among others), there have also been a few more recent cards like Tarmogoyf and Dark Confidant. Most of these counterfeit Magic: The Gathering cards can be spotted under close examination, especially when side by side an authentic version. Counterfeiting is one of the reasons for the recent new card frame in M15. Except counterfeiters have already found a way to replicate it.
Last year on July 10, 2014 Examiner's David Leavitt contacted Wizards of the Coast for a comment about counterfeit Magic: The Gathering cards:
Hi,
I didn't know who's the best point of contact for this question.
The owner of [REDACTED] and twitter [REDACTED] reached out to me for an interview and is telling me that he can produce counterfeit MTG cards, even with the new card frame.
Is there any official response / policy / or quote I can give to reassure readers / players about the subject of counterfeit cards?
Thanks for your time, looking forward to the M15 prerelease!
-Dave
Hello David!
Thanks so much for the email.
Let me take a few minutes to discuss this with some people before I give you an official response.
I appreciate you sending this information on, and I will try to get back to you ASAP.
No official comment was ever received back, however twelve days later Wizards of the Coast issued a statement addressing counterfeit Magic: The Gathering cards. While Wizards should be commended for their efforts, the particular individuals who we originally contacted Wizards of the Coast about were not stopped. In fact, for the past six months the company has been selling a complete playset of four of every Standard rare and mythic rare for $324.01. Examiner.com spoke with the owner of the company, who's currently producing counterfeit cards from Wizards of the Coast's most recent set Khans of Tarkir and also plans to counterfeit cards from Fate Reforged.
Is there any intentional mark or difference you've created on the proxies so that they can be identified. I own power, and have been playing the game since Unlimited. Some people make a distinction between high quality proxies and counterfeits meant to be sold and traded. Or are they that real you can't even discern?
I use the term "high quality proxies" even though there isn't a distinguishing features that would set them apart from a card printed by Wizards. I don't think the term counterfeits is really accurate when you can't tell the difference 99% of the time. The older print runs from one specific source do have some variations with the blue line.
Older vintage cards versus the newer standard proxies you create. Is one or the other of higher quality?
They are the same, since every image is hand-created now, as opposed to being based on an existing scan or render.
Do you play Magic yourself? If so, for how long and what is your favorite card? Artist? What formats do you play?
I do, and so does my business partner. I've been playing since 2000, him since 2003. I couldn't tell you a favorite card, but my favorite block is the original Mirrodin block, with Onslaught (Clerics!) being a close second. I really like John Avon's land art. He produces some amazing work. I was very excited to pledge on his Kickstarter campaign last year.
How did you get the idea to make "professional" proxies?
In 2008, I was a tournament organizer at a store in an area with a small but growing Eternal scene. Every week the "die hard" players would ask me for Vintage and Legacy events, but the tournaments would never have enough people to fire. Eventually I started holding tournaments with unlimited proxies allowed. The first couple weeks there was no extra charge for proxies, but 70% of what you won (if anything) had to be used to "un-proxy" cards in your deck. After a while, as people started getting the cards they needed (because they realized how exciting Eternal formats are) I started charging an extra 25 cents for each proxy you used, then some more time later, 50 cents extra. Eventually people either had 100% non proxied decks, or they had decided that Eternal formats weren't for them. Since then, I've moved across the country, but that store still does very large Eternal tournaments every week.
A few months ago, though, I was playing Magic at my local store and a college student came in trying to test their brand new tier 1 Legacy deck (I believe they were playing BUG Delver). Nobody would play them because all of the expensive cards in their deck were torn slips of paper with the card name written on them in front of basic land. That's when I realized that depriving someone of the game because they just can't afford $300 cardboard just isn't fair.
How long did it take to go from the idea, to it being a reality?
It was the same day I met the college student that I went home and started searching for companies that would accept a low-quantity print order. I knew it wouldn't be easy to find someone in the United States, so I started with Chinese commercial sourcing sites like Alibaba, where I eventually met someone who was willing to send me a sample with my own images. The images I could find online weren't near high enough quality, though, so I ended up cracking open my own set of graded power in order to get quality scans. The first batch of cards I received were good, but not great. You could see the scan artifacts and slight wear that were on the cards in the first place. So I taught myself Photoshop and fixed them. The second batch was exactly what I wanted.
I've seen many proxies over the years. What makes your company's better?
The main thing is that they are playable, with or without sleeves. In my quest for quality, I've bought a lot of proxies from various websites. The biggest problem I've had with them is that they are visibly thicker or thinner than a real card. Some of them were stickers over erased foils, some of them were printed right on actual erased cards. The cards I have are printed on the same blue-cored card stock with the same style of industrial printer.
What has been your biggest challenge?
Acceptance. People need to get off their high horse and realize that Magic is a game. It's designed to be played and enjoyed. There are people sitting on enough Black Lotuses (Lotii? :P) to spell out words. And Hasbro isn't helping the problem - the reserve list is hurting Magic as a whole.
Magic 2015 introduces a new card face. Will you be offering proxies on newer cards too or just the older ones?
The foil stamp isn't particularly difficult to reproduce. The frame itself is just Photoshop work, and the font has already been done.
At the moment, your website may look like a scam. How can potential customers know their transactions are safe and they'll receive the product?
For one thing, we don't actually process transactions. Much like using PayPal, all payments are done using a different, secured, site. Accepting Bitcoin only was a tough decision on our part. We wanted to use PayPal or Authorize.Net, but with the amount of fraudulent chargebacks we've had in other business ventures, we knew it wasn't an option. We are currently working on a way to accept credit cards as BTC, which should make payment easier.
As for shipping, everything is shipped priority mail with tracking. There is some lead time on the printing and inspection, since we don't keep much in stock in order to accept custom orders.
The current website was a very quick project, and a "real" version with a shopping cart, coupon codes, and other normal ecommerce features is nearly finished.
All in all, it's really the same as any other online-only store, though. When Amazon first started, how could you know for sure if you could trust them?
Is there anything else you'd like to add?
I appreciate the opportunity to answer these questions and I hope the community will realize that Magic is a game designed to be played above all else.
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This isn't the first time Standard cards have been counterfeited. In fact, entire booster boxes of packs have been in the past. We hope that the next time you purchase or trade for expensive cards that you take measures to protect yourself and the card's authenticity. If you have any information about counterfeit Magic: The Gathering cards you can "alert enforcement officials or contact us at any time at investigations@wizards.com."
What are your opinions about counterfeit Magic: The Gathering cards? Please let us know in the comments or via Twitter.
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