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During all the time I have spent doing Duel Masters, I have encountered many counterfeit cards. Here is what I know about identifying them, and I hope that you'll share yours as well. This is the same information I posted on Duel Masters Finland a few years back. It has lots of pictures since that's the best way to share information on the matter at hand.
For most, it comes without saying that the value of counterfeited cards is pretty much zero and we don't allow trading your fake cards as a real Duel Masters cards via our forum here. More about Trading on Duel Masters Reborn, you can find in our Trading Rules and our Trading Guide.
The font used for Mana Crisis is quite good but the mana cost number screams fake from a great distance. Pangaea’s Song is a bit better but the material has a very wrong feeling to it.
Counterfeiting a card is not as simple as you would first think. The quality of an end-product is determined by many factors: the flexibility, the thickness and the coating used for the cardboard as well as the ink used for printing on it and how the card is cut. The printing mechanics vary and some printers are better than others. This is the reason why counterfeits are very often very easily identified. Also, pay attention to the smell of the card. Counterfeit cards usually smell very strong due to different chemicals and printing ink.
In this picture you can especially see typos, wrong fonts and the infamous wrong letter N in the race text. Craze Valkyrie is looking good when photographed like this since it's a printout attached on a real card with plastic coating. Counterfeits have different kind of wear when compared to official cards.
Usually, there are numerous different small and/or big errors on a card and the fonts used both in the texts and the numbers are usually wrong. Be especially wary of the letter n used in the race text. Luckily many races include this letter. Although many races seem to be written using the correct font, the letter n seems to be almost always wrong. If a SR or VR is non-foil, it definitely is a fake.
In these pictures, the cards have more typos, wrong letter n and even wrong rarity (Dimension Gate).
The easiest way to identify counterfeits is to look at the back of the card. Counterfeits usually have less deeper colors, which makes the back side of counterfeits look more bland. This is true of every counterfeit I have seen thus far. See the picture below.
On the left you can see a good conditioned card, in the middle a counterfeit and on the right a damaged card.
A small difference between cards does not always mean that there's a fake among them. As you can see from the picture below, the reflections of light from the surface of both Kachua are different. This is most likely due to a different manufacturing place or time.
2 Kachuas. The one Kachua having a fainter shine is more worn-out, but it's not the only reason why the shine is different.
In Asia, there are lots of counterfeits and be especially cautious of cards with Korean texts. Still, keep in mind that there is this official licensed and some kind of spin-off product called Duel Legend. DL Cards are not allowed in official duels since the back side is different. I personally don't recommend buying those cards since it's probably a lot easier to just get Duel Masters cards. In addition to this, in America they rebooted Duel Masters as Kaijudo, but the production of it was discontinued in 2014, only 2 years after its release. I don't own any Kaijudo cards since I had moved on to the OCG, although I still play the TCG format.
On the left and on the pile there are Korean counterfeits and on the right are ordinary white-bordered Duel Legend cards.
Official Kaijudo cards. Instead of getting you should rather transfer to OCG or just play TCG.
Officially, Duel Masters cards are only produced in Japanese, so cards beyond DM-12 in any other language are most certainly counterfeits. German, Italian, French and Spanish Duel Masters cards were produced only for sets DM-01 - DM-07 and cards from sets DM-03 and DM-05 were released for specific theme decks only.
Duel Masters cards are pretty much on the same quality level as the other Wizard product and the big brother of DM, Magic the Gathering, and it very very hard if not impossible to duplicate it unofficially. That's why by being cautious and knowing all things said here, you should easily be able identify counterfeits. Always ask for pictures. Videos too can be useful, since it's a good way of evaluating the condition remotely.
Regards,
ELTP - Admin
For most, it comes without saying that the value of counterfeited cards is pretty much zero and we don't allow trading your fake cards as a real Duel Masters cards via our forum here. More about Trading on Duel Masters Reborn, you can find in our Trading Rules and our Trading Guide.
The font used for Mana Crisis is quite good but the mana cost number screams fake from a great distance. Pangaea’s Song is a bit better but the material has a very wrong feeling to it.
Counterfeiting a card is not as simple as you would first think. The quality of an end-product is determined by many factors: the flexibility, the thickness and the coating used for the cardboard as well as the ink used for printing on it and how the card is cut. The printing mechanics vary and some printers are better than others. This is the reason why counterfeits are very often very easily identified. Also, pay attention to the smell of the card. Counterfeit cards usually smell very strong due to different chemicals and printing ink.
In this picture you can especially see typos, wrong fonts and the infamous wrong letter N in the race text. Craze Valkyrie is looking good when photographed like this since it's a printout attached on a real card with plastic coating. Counterfeits have different kind of wear when compared to official cards.
Usually, there are numerous different small and/or big errors on a card and the fonts used both in the texts and the numbers are usually wrong. Be especially wary of the letter n used in the race text. Luckily many races include this letter. Although many races seem to be written using the correct font, the letter n seems to be almost always wrong. If a SR or VR is non-foil, it definitely is a fake.
In these pictures, the cards have more typos, wrong letter n and even wrong rarity (Dimension Gate).
The easiest way to identify counterfeits is to look at the back of the card. Counterfeits usually have less deeper colors, which makes the back side of counterfeits look more bland. This is true of every counterfeit I have seen thus far. See the picture below.
On the left you can see a good conditioned card, in the middle a counterfeit and on the right a damaged card.
A small difference between cards does not always mean that there's a fake among them. As you can see from the picture below, the reflections of light from the surface of both Kachua are different. This is most likely due to a different manufacturing place or time.
2 Kachuas. The one Kachua having a fainter shine is more worn-out, but it's not the only reason why the shine is different.
In Asia, there are lots of counterfeits and be especially cautious of cards with Korean texts. Still, keep in mind that there is this official licensed and some kind of spin-off product called Duel Legend. DL Cards are not allowed in official duels since the back side is different. I personally don't recommend buying those cards since it's probably a lot easier to just get Duel Masters cards. In addition to this, in America they rebooted Duel Masters as Kaijudo, but the production of it was discontinued in 2014, only 2 years after its release. I don't own any Kaijudo cards since I had moved on to the OCG, although I still play the TCG format.
On the left and on the pile there are Korean counterfeits and on the right are ordinary white-bordered Duel Legend cards.
Official Kaijudo cards. Instead of getting you should rather transfer to OCG or just play TCG.
Officially, Duel Masters cards are only produced in Japanese, so cards beyond DM-12 in any other language are most certainly counterfeits. German, Italian, French and Spanish Duel Masters cards were produced only for sets DM-01 - DM-07 and cards from sets DM-03 and DM-05 were released for specific theme decks only.
Duel Masters cards are pretty much on the same quality level as the other Wizard product and the big brother of DM, Magic the Gathering, and it very very hard if not impossible to duplicate it unofficially. That's why by being cautious and knowing all things said here, you should easily be able identify counterfeits. Always ask for pictures. Videos too can be useful, since it's a good way of evaluating the condition remotely.
Regards,
ELTP - Admin
Last edited by ELTP on 02.02.17 16:37; edited 4 times in total (Reason for editing : Typos)
