Authenticity check Greninja mega battle promo

[fredza]

Hi guys, I recently bought this greninja mega battle promo and I’m wondering if it’s a legit copy or not.

Looking at other listings online my main concern is the background behind Greninja. The blue beams seem of a darker tint than the copy I have. Everything else looks the same, but I might be wrong.

What do you guys think? Hopefully I’m just paranoid.

[mrbubbles]

Looks good to me. Great card, congratulations on the pickup.

Cheers!

Edit: I cannot conclusively say after comparing it to the ungraded card I have. Pictures posted below.

[fredza]

That’s great to hear. Appreciate it a lot!

[Dyl]

The background on your copy does look unusually light. Can you take pictures without the card saver and sleeve, and with different strengths of light if possible?

PSA Graded Copy:

The back also looks very saturated in the current photos.

[koala]

@Dyl

The background on your copy does look unusually light.

Compared to the official image it’s not light at all, probably due to poor lighting. I think it matches the 2 PSA 10 listed on ebay

[Dyl]

That’s the problem. It’s likely a fake printed from the official image. The actual card does not look that light. Do you see the difference between OP’s picture and the PSA 10 listed? The image that I uploaded in the post above is from a PSA graded copy.

OP’s Copy

PSA Graded Copy

[bbobrob]

Just another more thing to note is that the centering on the official image and the card in the OP looks different to my eyes. The OP is right and bottom heavy on the front, and the back borders seem to match the top-bottom and left-right skewing on the front. The official image seems to have close-to-perfect centering.

[fredza]

To be honest i have the exact same worry you are describing. It exactly matches the colors on tcg player, but the PSA copies seem way darker. I also did a side by side with another newback and the back looks ok, i think. (Greninja is the one on the right)

[bbobrob]

The back looks a bit off. There are places where the black/dark blue splotches on top of the lighter blue don’t seem to as dark as they should be. The splotches might exist there in the closer image of the Greninja back, but they’re still not quite right in coloration or how they appear on the back.

Also, the light streaks in the attack box of the Greninja also seems just unusually light colored (and the same color as the image online). Shown on the right is some random image I found of a raw one on Google images. The lighter streaks also have these seemingly pixelated horizontal lines, which potentially seems like an artifact of scanning or digitalizing the art. Maybe you can check what the pattern looks like for similar-era dark-type cards, but the pixelation seems a bit odd at first glance and without comparisons to another card.

[mrbubbles]

My apologies for probably jumping the gun. Very sorry. I also had an old photo which I referred the image to and it looked ok to OP’s picture. I also thought the differences were because of the card angle and lighting. Also, I was clouded in judgement thinking why would someone fake this particular card. But I should know better to not assume.

I have taken images on my card. Based on what @Dyl and @bbobrob have pointed, the background at all angles seems darker and it also does not have those white splotches in the text area below. This is in line with the reference images of the card which does not seem to be present in my card.

Please find images for reference

Based on these I cannot conclusively say regarding the card authenticity.

Cheers!

[fredza]

Thanks everyone for the help. Regarding the provenance the seller bought it in 2018 during a card show in Kyoto. The story seems believable to me. Honestly, to me it would be surprising to have fakes of such a particular promo back then. (Not sure how much the Greninja was worth)

He also has a second copy which he sold earlier and is waiting for pictures. He also bought other promos, including the Sylveon beneath.

[fredza]

No worries, appreciate you taking the time either way. Also thank you for the pictures, the differences seem pretty clear, I’m afraid.

[fredza]

That would be great! Thanks in advance!

[fredza]

Thanks a lot! Does yours also have the lighter patches in the attack area at the front? It seems to be fully black like the other legit copies, no?

[fredza]

I’ve decided to grade the card, then I’ll know for sure. As I’m from Belgium, I’ll give you all an update in about 5-6 months.

[expedition]

Here is hq images of mine before and after grading if it helps:

iirc the card has a slight holo sheen to it (like a reverse foil), that would be hard to replicate.

[Dyl]

This type of very sparkly PSA logo is known to be on forgeries.

Do you mind sharing more of your slab so that we can determine if it’s also a forgery?

Here are examples of what I’m talking about. They’re sold relentlessly on Mercari. Left is real, right is fake.

@expedition is right, there is a slight reverse foil sheen that is hard to miss on a real copy. If it doesn’t have that (completely matte), you have a fake.

It’s good to check for these anti-forgery indicators on PSA slabs.

Looking for a second opinion on this PSA graded Leafeon VMAX

I’ll try to be a little more helpful than “Slab is authentic” (love you @eeveeteam), because if you had this question, it’s likely that many other lurkers are wondering too. Here are a couple of things that I always look for: First and most importantly, does the certification number show up in the PSA database on their website? Is it deactivated or active? On the front and back PSA logos, is it just sparkly or do you see “PSA” (on newer slabs) or “NASDAQ-CLCT” (on older slabs)? Counterfeit sl…

[A.P.Speeze]

This is what pops up for me when I scanned the barcode of that Greninja on the PSA app.

[Dyl]

Looks like the book is closed on this one.

OP’s card is fake. Frans1997’s slab is fake. Forgeries everywhere. Welcome to 2025.

[fredza]

Very unfortunate, thanks everyone. Ill contact the seller.