You need to.
The magic and wizards forgeries used a very similar dot matrix and the tell-tale sign was that the rosettes were the wrong size. In yugioh, there is a very specific rosette size. You should be able to see it under 1200 dpi.
Do not make the mistake of assuming theyre real because of the lithography. The best yugioh forgeries use it.
A very common way that mtg forgeries are sold at conventions is by showing people the rosette pattern and black ink layer with a loupe. The simple existence of them often tricks people into thinking they are real, but the pattern does not match the authentic cards.
Whether this is because of the print files being built differently, as some Chinese fakes are built from scratch templates and high quality scans of artist releases of the artwork, or simply because different printers have different patterns I do not know.
Some lower quality ones are still offset printer but with high quality scans so they just show warping of the original pattern.
The check on the green mana symbol has always been a classic test though, and there are definitely some incredibly high quality fake mtg backs where it almost feels necessary to have that particular spot correct. There was a period years back when PSA was grading these Chinese fakes, whether from just a lack of thorough enough tests or because they were genuinely fooled.
I wonder if someone has purchased art files from Akabane, and this was just a very poor and fast attempt. It would be quite the disaster
Yes I understand that, but unfortunately the owner couldn’t provide super high resolution scans. Given the sloppiness of the other fake prototypes and the other uncut sheets coming from a non-offset printer, the fact that these are done on an offset machine leans more in the direction of being authentic.
As I said in my original post, the 100% way would be to have the sheet in hand along with another Snap card and compare them under magnification. This is what an authenticator like CGC should be doing when they have something like that in person.
I however, as some random guy on the internet without physical access to the sheets, can’t do that.
So while it’s possible that they could be fake, the context around the situation leans to them being real.
I wouldnt assume that at all. Its possible theyre also forgeries. Just because the analysis is hard, cant be done because it isnt in hand or whatever doesnt give anyone license to assume its real. I mean, if youre willing to spend the money - go ahead - but thats a big risk.
It can be done and its not exactly a terrible investment if the payoff is huge.
Edit to say, again, the magic and wizarda forgeries were far less profitable and they used exactly what youre saying is “difficult”
I think if the original owner were to ever sell the sheets to someone else, one of them would have to do this level of analysis to be comfortable with the sale.
Again, I’m just providing the details that the sheet is printed “properly” with offset printing, unlike all the other fakes that have come from the “Akabanepocalypse” which are sloppily done with improper equipment that also happens to leave metadata that confirms forgery. Given that context my opinion is that they’re authentic. I’m not saying it’s certain 100% fact.
Thats because the fskes from him didnt require it
Cmon man, comparing that case to this is like comparing apples to elephants. It’s so different it’s in a different stratosphere
Sorry if this isn’t the right place to ask, but this post Many of the Pokemon playtest cards were likely printed in 2024 - #904 by levu12 seems to suggest Akabane thought the trophy sheets are from a “design guide”.
What design guide? Do we know why these sheets are supposed to exist?
I do wonder whether people have started to sift through the gigaleak files and that’s why these are starting to come to market. My understanding is that some TCG artwork was included in the dump, but am only basing that on what I’ve been told (never seen any of the gigaleak files myself, and can’t even find a link to where I read that).
The sheets of the No.1 -3 Pikas and Illustrator should’ve also required offset printing, yet they weren’t. That’s why I mentioned the context is important here.
Why go through the trouble “faking it right” with these sheets and then sloppily print out 4 of the most desirable and expensive cards in the hobby on a Xerox laser printer?
This is 100% right.
More money was to be made with the No. 1-3 Pikas and the Illustrator sheets. Why put in low effort there if you had the resources to make near-identical replicas? It makes no sense at all.
Worth noting the Snap sheets were shared on Akabane’s original Instagram in 2023 while AFAIK the pika trophy sheets were never shared.
Would a high def pictures of a different snap help in this situation?
That’s what I wanted to know! Great analysis!
I’ve obtained a high res scan of a snap Bulba, but Chansey, Koffing, Magikarp, etc would all be nice to have to compare
I have v600 in the mail, I’ll get you koffing soon
Thanks for all your hard work @HumanForScale. I’m the owner of the Snap sheets. I also bought a v600 and will get it tomorrow. I will get the high resolution scans of the sheets to you soon.
Thank you to everyone who has reached out to provide scans. In particular, they need to be high-enough resolution to see the individual rosette dots.
Here’s an an example. Offset printing is done with 4 plates: cyan, magenta, yellow, and black. This is where the term “CMYK” comes from. “K” stands for black, don’t ask me why.
These 4 plates each print a small dot of ink which results in a full color image forming.
Here’s an example Pokemon card scan where you can see them all together:
You can see the 4 distinct color dots here combine to form a single image. Each dot has its own rotation angle. I have left the black layer on in each of these to better illustrate things, but if you isolate the layer to itself each one will appear black / white.
Cyan
Magenta
Yellow
Black
The rosette patterns could vary from production cards on these uncut sheets, but at the very least their spacing and such should be consistent since they are printers from the same era.
I also asked myself the same question about the “K” and here’s the answer:
Cyan (C), a bluish-green color
Magenta (M), a purplish-red color
Yellow (Y), a bright yellow
Key (K), black, represented by K
The letter “K” stands for “key,” a term used for the black plate in traditional printing. This key plate provided the sharpest details and defined the darkest areas of the image. As a result, the term “key” became associated with black in the printing industry. It also helps avoid any confusion with other colors or terms like blue.
1999 Tropical Mega Battle sold tonight on Yahoo auctions for ¥5,189,188. The card was graded in April of 2024 by BGS in mint condition.
Typically yahoo auctions gives buyers 5+ days to pay, however this seller has little feedback and insists that payment be made in 48 hours in their listing. The listing sold earlier last week but the buyer canceled the sale after the seller insisted on immediate payment of ¥6,000,000.
