[Off-Topic] Community Chat Thread

[Dunharrow]

@ISBPathfinder What did you do about it?
As a person who does not overly scrutinize cards, it stresses me. But I only order from 2-3 local stores. Last year I had a Scrubland that I tried to sell and was identified as fake. I went to the store I bought it from and they compensated me with an MH2 box.
Sometimes employees make mistakes when buying cards and the store owners do not want to be known locally as the store that sells fakes.

[ISBPathfinder]

@ISBPathfinder What did you do about it?
As a person who does not overly scrutinize cards, it stresses me. But I only order from 2-3 local stores. Last year I had a Scrubland that I tried to sell and was identified as fake. I went to the store I bought it from and they compensated me with an MH2 box.
Sometimes employees make mistakes when buying cards and the store owners do not want to be known locally as the store that sells fakes.

TCG has a contact seller option so I just started up a discussion stating why I think the card I received is fake and I asked them how they would like to resolve it. The fakes these days can be very convincing if you don't know what you are looking for or if you have an employee who also buys cards. I hate to say it but its almost hard to hold stores accountable for their cards being real anymore as the fakes are just so good.

The best test you can do to protect yourself is take everything you receive out of the sleeve and handle it. I often grab a few commons or other cards from similar sets / printing to compare the card to. You can really spot differences in handling when you have a second card you know to be real in your other hand so I often just grab some random common I am positive wouldn't be a fake for comparison. That sort of thing can be great as a comparison for thickness and bendability for comparing. In the past a lot of the fakes didn't have a good light reflection to them but I am noticing with a lot of the ones I have been seeing lately that they have a very similar if not the same light reflection to them.

Most stores don't intend to distribute this stuff but the fakes are getting so good just assume that most of it gets out and circulated these days by accident. If you are in a store I would just insist on being able to handle a card before buying anything of real price because people have been selling these fakes locally either intentionally or unintentionally. I suppose though if they have some site they can buy these cards on the super cheap and then get real money from a LGS though I assume some are intentionally doing that.

I have been playing for a long time though and cards being too thin or not bending / flexing correctly is something I pick up on very quickly. Always unsleeve and put hands on as its been the best for checking for fakes.

[Lifeless]

I'm not surprised people are seeing these more in the wild. I think mid-value cards for instance a ripe for this kind of abuse thanks to the poor printing quality from the last few years.

[Dunharrow]

I'm not surprised people are seeing these more in the wild. I think mid-value cards for instance a ripe for this kind of abuse thanks to the poor printing quality from the last few years.

When people print fake money they usually go after 10s and 20s. People are a lot more careful around 100$ bills.
I think the same applies to fake cards. Nobody is going to spend more than 5 seconds evaluating a 10$ card.

[RxPhantom]

Have any of the big vendors (SCG, Card Kingdom, etc.) ever announced any kind of effort to curb the proliferation of fakes?

Also, I'm gonna need everyone who can read this to go to CommandFest Richmond, and if you're not, you're probably going to get real sick of my presence on this site for the next ~5 weeks.

[Dunharrow]

Have any of the big vendors (SCG, Card Kingdom, etc.) ever announced any kind of effort to curb the proliferation of fakes?

Also, I'm gonna need everyone who can read this to go to CommandFest Richmond, and if you're not, you're probably going to get real sick of my presence on this site for the next ~5 weeks.

What can they say other than 'we very carefully look at all trade-ins to make sure there are no fakes in our inventory'? WOTC are the only ones that can do anything and the holofoil was supposed to be the solution. IMO the fact that they have printers with such varying levels of card feel makes it easier to fake.


Also, I am not going to Richmond. I have a bachelor party in Montreal that weekend, and I have a sales meeting starting on the Sunday in Toronto, and there will literally be a command-fest in my city in July.

[Hermes_]

I'm too poor to travel

[RxPhantom]

I'm too poor to travel

Don't you have winged sandals? Next you're going to tell me you're not the real Hermes.

[Hermes_]

I'm too poor to travel

Don't you have winged sandals? Next you're going to tell me you're not the real Hermes.

Well, I have some bad news for you......

[Legend]

And I just got another fake through TCG. Man.... the fakes these days are EXTREMELY convincing and have to be heavily scrutinized. This one was too thin, the bend was a off, and had an incredibly small but noticeable thickness increase over the holographic which real cards don't have.

I know some people go by a stance that if they can't tell its not a big deal but paying full price for fake cards that later will not be sellable is something I am not willing to do.

I think fake cards could be Hasbro's reason to do away with the reserve list.

[DirkGently]

I think fake cards could be Hasbro's reason to do away with the reserve list.

Do you know how much money wotc would make printing "secret lair: dual lands" alone? If all that sweet, filthy money isn't enough for them to break the RL, fake cards in formats they don't care about isn't going to do anything.

[Dunharrow]

I think fake cards could be Hasbro's reason to do away with the reserve list.

Do you know how much money wotc would make printing "secret lair: dual lands" alone? If all that sweet, filthy money isn't enough for them to break the RL, fake cards in formats they don't care about isn't going to do anything.

They wouldn't do it because they would have to price them for 500$ each. They are so afraid of devaluating cards with secret lairs that they never put too much value.

[DirkGently]

They wouldn't do it because they would have to price them for 500$ each. They are so afraid of devaluating cards with secret lairs that they never put too much value.

They could print them at $500 each and still sell them easily. And that's just the dual lands, the power nine would sell for huge money too. Yes, people would criticize it, but the collectors would schlorp them up in a heartbeat. The fact that they haven't leads me to assume that whatever legal threat exists would be catastrophic or else they would have taken it on the chin by now. They have enormous monetary incentive to break the RL, and money is the most important reason there is. Anything else is just noise. Them not having done it leads me to believe that the only thing that could cause them to break the RL would be a weakening of the legal threat, because that's clearly what's holding them in check now.

[Venedrex]

On an unrelated note, I've had an absolute blast playing the brand new format Explorer and testing out SNC!



Or at least I would've if MTG Arena allowed you play games on it today. Maybe tomorrow they can figure out how to put the yellow cable into the yellow port, or push the power button. I mean, how do you manage to shut down your entire game on the launch of a new set and a new format. Did they assume there'd be no increase in players trying to log in and just watched as the servers collapse? It just feels like inviting 200,000 people for a party and having 3 plates and and a granola bar for food.

[Dunharrow]

They wouldn't do it because they would have to price them for 500$ each. They are so afraid of devaluating cards with secret lairs that they never put too much value.

They could print them at $500 each and still sell them easily. And that's just the dual lands, the power nine would sell for huge money too. Yes, people would criticize it, but the collectors would schlorp them up in a heartbeat. The fact that they haven't leads me to assume that whatever legal threat exists would be catastrophic or else they would have taken it on the chin by now. They have enormous monetary incentive to break the RL, and money is the most important reason there is. Anything else is just noise. Them not having done it leads me to believe that the only thing that could cause them to break the RL would be a weakening of the legal threat, because that's clearly what's holding them in check now.

So the answer to that is to try to get people to opt into waiving the right to pursue legal action. Put it in the paperwork for Secret Lair - Reserved List Series.
And then to make a plan that makes them more money than they lose in settlements.
a kind of 'if you buy this product, you forgo the right to sue us' kind of deal.

[RxPhantom]

I mostly play Historic Brawl on Arena, and it just stopped working today and says "Network Error. Unable to join event. Please try again later."

[DirkGently]

So the answer to that is to try to get people to opt into waiving the right to pursue legal action. Put it in the paperwork for Secret Lair - Reserved List Series.
And then to make a plan that makes them more money than they lose in settlements.
a kind of 'if you buy this product, you forgo the right to sue us' kind of deal.

Whatever the "answer" is, I think it's very unlikely wotc hasn't considered it, with so much money on the table. All the speculation about how wotc could easily break the RL seem pretty silly to me.

I doubt the people who would sue them (assuming that's what the threat is) would be willing to waive those rights to buy the product that undercuts their investment. I have no idea what the dollar amounts look like, positive and negative, but wotc probably does, and they aren't doing it.

Personally I'm fine with the RL. I've got the cards I want already, and it's nice to have a fat nest egg in case I need some emergency cash, especially with how expensive this flight training is. I can sympathise with legacy/vintage players since expensive cards are mandatory to play the format there, but nobody needs RL cards to play commander.

[Dunharrow]

So the answer to that is to try to get people to opt into waiving the right to pursue legal action. Put it in the paperwork for Secret Lair - Reserved List Series.
And then to make a plan that makes them more money than they lose in settlements.
a kind of 'if you buy this product, you forgo the right to sue us' kind of deal.

Whatever the "answer" is, I think it's very unlikely wotc hasn't considered it, with so much money on the table. All the speculation about how wotc could easily break the RL seem pretty silly to me.

I doubt the people who would sue them (assuming that's what the threat is) would be willing to waive those rights to buy the product that undercuts their investment. I have no idea what the dollar amounts look like, positive and negative, but wotc probably does, and they aren't doing it.

Personally I'm fine with the RL. I've got the cards I want already, and it's nice to have a fat nest egg in case I need some emergency cash, especially with how expensive this flight training is. I can sympathise with legacy/vintage players since expensive cards are mandatory to play the format there, but nobody needs RL cards to play commander.

I was being tongue in cheek. RL is not going away. WOTC can print these cards digitally and people can use them digitally. So why mess with a good thing for little benefit? To support Legacy better?

[duducrash]

Got plane tickets and an air B&B to command fest sao paulo, ordered a bunch of cards for the new Raffine, Scheming Seer and then got laid off yesterday. Timing is always right. Worst thing is that over here we have a plethora of benefits to receive when fired and my former employer made it known we (4 of us got the axe) would have a hard time seeing this money. Im calm because I have a decent emergency fund and I know I'll see my money, be it from him or by legal meAns, but it always sucks to be unemployed

[TheAmericanSpirit]

Got plane tickets and an air B&B to command fest sao paulo, ordered a bunch of cards for the new Raffine, Scheming Seer and then got laid off yesterday. Timing is always right. Worst thing is that over here we have a plethora of benefits to receive when fired and my former employer made it known we (4 of us got the axe) would have a hard time seeing this money. Im calm because I have a decent emergency fund and I know I'll see my money, be it from him or by legal meAns, but it always sucks to be unemployed

It does suck, but the silver lining is you now have unimpeded free time for as long as you can sustain it. Use it wisely! Do some things you couldn't do otherwise. And get that money, collect it like a pimp if you have to.

[RxPhantom]

Got plane tickets and an air B&B to command fest sao paulo, ordered a bunch of cards for the new Raffine, Scheming Seer and then got laid off yesterday. Timing is always right. Worst thing is that over here we have a plethora of benefits to receive when fired and my former employer made it known we (4 of us got the axe) would have a hard time seeing this money. Im calm because I have a decent emergency fund and I know I'll see my money, be it from him or by legal meAns, but it always sucks to be unemployed

I'm so sorry. That really, really sucks. I hope you get some good luck soon.

[materpillar]

Man, I'd love to have gone and actually met some of you guys. That's the same weekend as Colossalcon, in Sandusky, Ohio which I'd already locked into attending. Bah!

[RxPhantom]

Man, I'd love to have gone and actually met some of you guys. That's the same weekend as Colossalcon, in Sandusky, Ohio which I'd already locked into attending. Bah!

I've done the research, and I've concluded that you'll have a better time with us at CommandFest. Please change your plans accordingly.

[duducrash]

Got plane tickets and an air B&B to command fest sao paulo, ordered a bunch of cards for the new Raffine, Scheming Seer and then got laid off yesterday. Timing is always right. Worst thing is that over here we have a plethora of benefits to receive when fired and my former employer made it known we (4 of us got the axe) would have a hard time seeing this money. Im calm because I have a decent emergency fund and I know I'll see my money, be it from him or by legal meAns, but it always sucks to be unemployed

It does suck, but the silver lining is you now have unimpeded free time for as long as you can sustain it. Use it wisely! Do some things you couldn't do otherwise. And get that money, collect it like a pimp if you have to.

Every new beginning comes from some other beginning end, right? Yeah, I wont be left in the dust for long, thank god I just dont have it in me to stay put, I have to be doing something and thankfully I am a good worker. Its just astonishing that working relations suck and employers treat employees so badly. am looking foward to growing though because at my last work put me doing so much stuff out of my area it didnt let me grow much. I'll spend a week applying to good jobs on LinkedIn and binge watching all the shows im behind and then I'll get whatever job I can get.

Excited to whatever comes in the future for sure! Thanks for the kind messages

[TheAmericanSpirit]

Man, I'd love to have gone and actually met some of you guys. That's the same weekend as Colossalcon, in Sandusky, Ohio which I'd already locked into attending. Bah!

I've done the research, and I've concluded that you'll have a better time with us at CommandFest. Please change your plans accordingly.

Damn, Mr. Phantom, are you sure you're a pharmacist? You remind me of an intellectual carnival barker with how commited you are to promoting this get-together.

"Howdy sir, boy are you lucky to have such a beautiful edh deck by your side on this auspicious evening! But gee, sir, it looks like just the kinda deck that would love a little gameplay. Why don't you step right up, yessir you sir, step right up to Commandfest Richmond and experience a weekend of camaraderie, elation, and thrills that'll give that lovely edh deck the whirl of its dreams?"