Fake Beta Black Lotus - Amazing Fake, read inside for more information

[CrashTest]

I recently came across an unbelievably good fake Beta Black Lotus, professionally done. I am going to post some information here for people to learn a bit more about how to tell fakes from real cards. Some of it people will have heard as it is common knowledge, but I have some insights from this particular card that can help even further.

I will try and put together the knowledge that I now on this subject, so it will be a bit long, but I think it is important as these are very expensive cards we are dealing with, and I want as many people to be educated about them as possible.

This will mostly deal with Beta for the moment, as Unlimited and Alpha are much less at risk for fakes. (Obviously, they happen, but are easier to catch.) I also suggest people read the following website, which has some useful information that ties in with what I am going to say.

http://www.apathyhouse.com/mtg/fake/index.php


As background, this particular Black Lotus was acquired from a presumably honest seller on eBay, albeit it one with good but low feedback (50 or so) who did not know enough information to discern the card as fake. (I don’t blame him, as you will see, some detective work is needed to come to the conclusion I did.) He refunded me and was completely honest as to the entire situation; the question at hand is why this Black Lotus was able to escape the eye of many people who otherwise know about fakes. I took a calculated risk, as you will see from the scan, there was no suspicion, the seller was pay pal verified, and I am confident in my ability to find fakes, so I had backup plans in case this happened. This card was almost $1,100, so I was very careful.

A quick moral- eBay is great to get stuff at good prices, but it is risky. Don’t buy expensive Beta cards from people with low feedback, even if the person seems trustworthy. Here’s why: Most likely they won’t have the information to tell a fake from a real card like someone with experience selling multiple high priced cards over a long period of time, like a dealer (Starcity for example) or collector. Here’s the other problem: you can’t tell if a good fake is fake just by looking at a scan. I thought you could before this, but I was wrong. You have to feel the card and test it in person.

Ok, now to the actual card itself. First, here is a high resolution scan of the front and back. Examine it, and try to find anything suspicious about it. It is very difficult to do so, as the print is perfect, and it looks more or less real. The nice condition is a possible issue, but definitely not the smoking gun. The scan was perfect as far as I, and many experienced people, were concerned.

Beta Black Lotus front

Beta Black Lotus Back

So I received the card, and here was my process for determining if it was real or fake. Just like the scan, it looked absolutely real to the eye- before I touched it. Here’s something that may shock you:

It passed the bend test.

     I bent it all sorts of ways, more than once. Nothing happened.

Here’s what else I did though, which makes the above seem even stranger. As reference, I used about 30 different cards; about 20 were Beta, and the rest older cards. Amongst these were Beta Moxes, Beta Duals, all which I know are real.

1.)   The card felt slightly thicker when I held it. The difference was so small, that at first I thought it was merely psychological- but it had a certain feel to it that was strange.
2.)   I did a light test. Here was my process, I used a bright flashlight and did the following:

Let’s assign a number, 20, to the brightness of the flashlight so that people can understand without seeing what happened.

I put this Beta Black Lotus next to a Beta Island, which I know is real. I dimmed the lights, and put the flashlight through both cards. The numbers below are approximations in terms of what I saw:

The Beta Island, out of 10 points, showed about 8 points of light through.

The Beta Black Lotus, showed about 1 point of light through.

Ok, so then I tested 30 different cards next to the Beta Black Lotus. Amongst these were Beta duals, Beta Moxes (One PSA that I had opened), and smaller cards like Beta Sol Ring, Mana Drains, etc.

     ALL cards showed through more or less exactly the same amount of light- 8 points out of 10 like the initial Beta Island. No exception. All did it uniformly.

      Except the Beta Black Lotus. Barely any light passed through. Something was wrong here. The evidence was overwhelming.

3.)   The next step gets a bit more complicated. I used a Jeweler’s loupe, about 10x magnification. Like this one below:

Loupe

Obviously, there is no point in further examining the print, as the resolution was determined to be less perfect. This was not a printed fake, but a rebacked CE – so it’d technically two real cards together.

 Here’s what the loupe did help with, though. I placed the Beta Black Lotus on it’s side, along with various real cards. I examined the edges at 10x magnification, under a strong light.

 The edges were different, but the difference was so minute that only the loupe brought it out. Here’s more or less what I saw, and I reference the Apathy house website:

Fake Edge – Just like the Lotus

Real Edge – Just like my 30 test samples (Some vary depending on wear, but it’s more or less uniform and discernable from the Lotus.)

If you notice, real cards seem to have a sort of closely-nit stitching around the edges. The fake edge, like the Black Lotus, was further apart and it looked like two thin cards on top of each other. This is consistent with my theory that it is rebacked. You can kind of see it with your eye only, but a loupe really helps.

4.)   The objective tests with the light and edges revealed the inconsistencies with the card, and now it is time for some circumstantial type evidence to help support the theory.


Notice in the scan, how this Beta Black Lotus is miscut. (The left black border is much shorter than the right border.)

       By itself, this means that the card is simply miscut. Beta cards have all sorts of shapes, and a cut like this is not unusual in a real card.

      Here’s the catch: Examine the CE (Collector’s Edition) Black Lotuses below, taken from various eBay auctions, or just about any CE Black Lotus you can find.

CE Black Lotus 1

CE Black Lotus 2

CE Black Lotus 3

   Notice how they are all cut to the left, exactly like the “fakeâ€� Beta Black Lotus in question? I examined this Black Lotus next to a CE one, and the length of the cut was extremely similar- I could barely find a difference, if there even was any.

        Like I said, Beta cards can be miscut. The issue here is why is this Beta Black Lotus cut exactly like the CE Black Lotuses above.

      Examine this ebay auction. This supposedly real Black Lotus looks exactly like the fake one in question, and exactly like a CE Black Lotus in the way it is cut.

The seller has 0 feedback, and I am 100% sure this Lotus is a rebacked CE card, not only by looking at it, but because various similar Black Lotuses that were rebacked were sold through the same picture and from this guy in Spain.

Fake Lotus on eBay

       The above CE cut makes the theory that this Beta Black Lotus is a rebacked CE card extremely consistent.

      To sum it up, here’s the evidence to make this rebacked:

1.)   Failed light test, indicating it is a thicker card
2.)   It feels thicker
3.)   The edges indicate a two layered affect, which looks like two thin cards on top of each other
4.)   It looks like a CE Black Lotus
5.)   The condition is fairly nice, and the wear, although seemingly real, is a bit odd.


Let me say a little bit more about number five. Minty Beta cards, especially expensive ones, are always suspect unless you get them from a very experienced dealer or they are PSA.

       Here’s something suspicious about the wear on this Beta Black Lotus. Notice the white marks on the bottom of the front. (Reference the initial scan.)

    These white marks are also apparent on a Beta Ancestral Recall, from the same seller:

Beta Ancestral Recall

My theory is that this white mark is potentially some sort of wear that happened when the fake was being made – i.e some type of glue coming off or something common in the process.

Also, notice how this Beta Ancestral Recall is also miscut to the side, just like the Black Lotus. Just like a CE Ancestral Recall. And the other scans I saw looked similar in the way they were miscut and in their wear.

Hopefully this can help people with their own cards so that we as buyers are safer. The level of accuracy in this Beta Black Lotus is so high, that I doubt 99% of people would be able to pick it out. Hopefully after this article, more people will be aware. Beta cards are extremely dangerous in this regard – honest people may not know what to look for.

   -CrashTest


End notes on things not included:

Some people pointed a few things out to me, but I have not included them because I have not found a strong correlation yet, or enough to be anything more than coincidence.

ThaGunslinga mentioned that CE Cards had a white dot on the upper right hand corner, but unfortunately some real cards do as well- so I am not sure what to make of it.

BillyBones thought that the text looked a bit strange on the lotus as compared to his Beta Sol Ring, but I could not find the inconsistencies, and attributed the difference to the different resolution of the scan.

I asked Myketog, coolio, Dan Bock, and a few other experienced people, and no one was able to pick anything out in the scan as being suspicious.


-CrashTest


 

[the19inchgecko]

Great article, as I am in the process of purchasing a beta lotus.  I hope you were able to get your funds back. 

[CrashTest]

Yeah, the seller was honest and refunded me right away, and I returned the card to him. Now he will either keep it for his own use, or try to get more opinions on it, but he's definitely honest and did not have any clue it could have been a fake.

[Gabethebabe]

This is BAD. A dude un Badalona creating fake Beta cards. I know several players from Badalona and a magic shop.
This kind of information kinda sheds a bad light on our Metagame. If fake Beta cards are offered on eBay, it is likely that fake beta cards are used in our tournaments (non-proxy metagame).

I will spread the news on our local forum. Let´s see if I can accomplish that deckchecks include beta P9 reality checks. That will assure that those motherfuckers can´t use their cards to pollute our tourmanents.

Thank you very much Crashtest, for this useful, albeit worrying infromation.

[CrashTest]

It definitely is worrying information. Everyone knows there are fakes out there, but I never knew they were this good. I myself am very glad I ran into this card. It's better to know the truth and have the knowledge to avoid it and handle it, then to just be ignorant of the facts. The person I purchased the Lotus from was honest, he just did not know how to tell if it was fake. I don't blame him, it's an amazing fake. At least know a lot more people have information, and I can buy Beta cards knowing I can tell if they are fake or not, so it gave me more confidence.

       As for the guy in Spain, he used to have another user name, and selling cards exactly like in that auction. They are 100% fake, not only from the scan, but someone who bought one confirmed it on MOTL. (Magic online trading league) (He had left positive feedback for a Beta Mox Emerald, but then realized it was a fake.)

 

[Gabethebabe]

BTW a weighing test, would that be useful for determining re-backed cards ?

[CrashTest]

I thought about that, but you would need a very accurate scale. I am not sure if the difference would be  registered consistently, but in theory you should see a difference if you have a very accurate weigh to measure the cards.

        It may also not be very practical, I would be willing to get a scale, but I am not sure how many other people would. At least with the light test, any source of light will do as long as it is bright enough.

         I was surprised at how many people were not familar with the light test. Everyone knows about the bend test, but a lot less knew about the light test.

[LotusHead]

So I received the card, and here was my process for determining if it was real or fake. Just like the scan, it looked absolutely real to the eye- before I touched it. Here’s something that may shock you:

It passed the bend test.

     I bent it all sorts of ways, more than once. Nothing happened.

Here’s what else I did though, which makes the above seem even stranger. As reference, I used about 30 different cards; about 20 were Beta, and the rest older cards. Amongst these were Beta Moxes, Beta Duals, all which I know are real.

1.)   The card felt slightly thicker when I held it. The difference was so small, that at first I thought it was merely psychological- but it had a certain feel to it that was strange.
2.)   I did a light test. Here was my process, I used a bright flashlight and did the following:

Let’s assign a number, 20, to the brightness of the flashlight so that people can understand without seeing what happened.

I put this Beta Black Lotus next to a Beta Island, which I know is real. I dimmed the lights, and put the flashlight through both cards. The numbers below are approximations in terms of what I saw:

The Beta Island, out of 10 points, showed about 8 points of light through.

The Beta Black Lotus, showed about 1 point of light through.

Ok, so then I tested 30 different cards next to the Beta Black Lotus. Amongst these were Beta duals, Beta Moxes (One PSA that I had opened), and smaller cards like Beta Sol Ring, Mana Drains, etc.

     ALL cards showed through more or less exactly the same amount of light- 8 points out of 10 like the initial Beta Island. No exception. All did it uniformly.

      Except the Beta Black Lotus. Barely any light passed through. Something was wrong here. The evidence was overwhelming.

I have in my possession a VERY nice Beta Black Lotus proxy, one that a casual local aquired some years ago, and traded to a buddy of mine for the low price of a "page" of Lord of the Pits for his trade binder. I now have nice Unl Jet, Ruby, Emerald, Walk and Beta Lotus proxies.

My Lotus looks so real, I just can't tell the difference.

It passes the bend test (as much as I will press the matter) and when I tried out the light test, my results were reversed.

I holding up the Beta Lotus next to a real Sapphire/Pearl (both Unl), the light showed through the Lotus, but not through the moxes.  I passed the real mox behind the lotus and could see the outline of the mox, but could not see through the moxes when passing the fake Louts behind the mox.

Any Old School experts out here on the West Coast, feel free to check it out next time you see me at a T1 Tourney.

[Moxlotus]

I've seen fakes that pass tons of light through, and some that don't pass any.  Best test is to just see if it is the same as a card you know is real. 

[CrashTest]

Yeah, but I have not seen a fake that passes most  other tests, and lets the exact same amount of light pass through as a real card. If you compare card to card, it should work fine.

                 Some fakes are too good to just compare card to card, that is why an objective test is needed - i.e bend or light test, or examining the edges.

[CrashTest]

I have some more information that may be helpful, concerning the card's weight. The seller of the card has access to an accurate analytical balance/scale at his school, and he weighed the cards.

               He weighed a lot of different cards that he knew were real, and stated that "The cards have varied weight from 1.65 to 1.76 averaging about 1.73, with the black lotus at 1.8532 grams."

      This shows that this Black Lotus was definitely heavier then everything else, so it may be possible to find out if a card is rebacked if the use of an accurate scale is utilized.

           

[Dozer]

Here’s something suspicious about the wear on this Beta Black Lotus. Notice the white marks on the bottom of the front. (Reference the initial scan.)

These white marks are also apparent on a Beta Ancestral Recall, from the same seller:

Beta Ancestral Recall

My theory is that this white mark is potentially some sort of wear that happened when the fake was being made – i.e some type of glue coming off or something common in the process. [...]

ThaGunslinga mentioned that CE Cards had a white dot on the upper right hand corner, but unfortunately some real cards do as well- so I am not sure what to make of it.

The white marks are normal wear on CE and some beta cards. I used to own CE power for a long while, and I noticed this pretty soon. The inner black border is printed on black cardboard, so the double edge is obvious. The corners are the weakest point of that; it's the space where CE cards are starting their wear first. If you have a spare, try rubbing it gently but evenly across a tabletop. That scratch wearing will show up on the "inner corners" first. Why that is, I don't know, but it happens.

Oh, and the glue that is used to glue Magic cards together is blue. On older cards, it's very difficult to see, because the edges are often frayed. Take one apart (just take any common and rip it up), and you'll see there is a hair-thin layer of blue between front and back which you can also discern if you look really closely at the side of a Magic card. That's the glue. If it ain't blue, the card can't be real.

Dozer

[orgcandman]

I will spread the news on our local forum. Let´s see if I can accomplish that deckchecks include beta P9 reality checks. That will assure that those motherfuckers can´t use their cards to pollute our tourmanents.

I don't think this is a good idea. Lets take a hypothetical (which also happens to be anecdotal):

- Little Billy works as a paper boy. He ends up with ~$50 a week.
- Little Billy also works hard shovelling driveways, mowing lawns, and doing other assorted jobs, earning an additional $50 a week (approx.)
- Little Billy saves and saves for a month, and buys himself a really awesome, but beat, beta mox pearl. Hooray Billy!
- Little Billy goes to a tournament.

At this point, if someone were to tell Little Billy that his card was a fake, I'm very certain that he'd be so shocked, and stupefied that finding out he couldn't play in a tournament would pale in comparison. Like, he'd probably be shocked for at least a week. Never mind the quandry he's now in about whether or not its ethical to sell the piece off as a real one, or eat the months work as a loss (imagine just setting fire to a months paycheck).

I'd rather not do this to little billy, especially since I know someone who was in this position.
Is it really worth it to have to go through each and every card in someone's deck just to crush the little billys?

[chrissss]

good article Crash test.

and yes, I agree with orgcandman. I know a guy who bought a fake lotus a few years back, he sold his real mox and juzam djinn for that lotus, and once he was in the shop playing, the owner of the shop asked him where he got that fake card, and the guy was like "fake?"

then he proved it with some tests mentioned in this article, and well.. the guy wasnt too happy with it. I think he stopped magic after that event, and I can still remember the look on his eyes. I really felt sorry for him.

anyway, what about someone making a thread about sellers on ebay? sellers that are genuine, good sellers, etc.

and offcourse the 0 feedback sellers trying to sell moxen to everyone.

is this a good idea? I dont mind making it, its just that I am rather new to ebay, and so I wouldnt know many trustworthy.

[Harkius]

I will spread the news on our local forum. Let´s see if I can accomplish that deckchecks include beta P9 reality checks. That will assure that those motherfuckers can´t use their cards to pollute our tourmanents.

I don't think this is a good idea. Lets take a hypothetical (which also happens to be anecdotal):

- Little Billy works as a paper boy. He ends up with ~$50 a week.
- Little Billy also works hard shovelling driveways, mowing lawns, and doing other assorted jobs, earning an additional $50 a week (approx.)
- Little Billy saves and saves for a month, and buys himself a really awesome, but beat, beta mox pearl. Hooray Billy!
- Little Billy goes to a tournament.

At this point, if someone were to tell Little Billy that his card was a fake, I'm very certain that he'd be so shocked, and stupefied that finding out he couldn't play in a tournament would pale in comparison. Like, he'd probably be shocked for at least a week. Never mind the quandry he's now in about whether or not its ethical to sell the piece off as a real one, or eat the months work as a loss (imagine just setting fire to a months paycheck).

I'd rather not do this to little billy, especially since I know someone who was in this position.
Is it really worth it to have to go through each and every card in someone's deck just to crush the little billys?

It is unfortunate, but it is part of the collectibles market. Little Billy bought something that was very expensive and he should have done research first.

Here's a counter example. When I was young, I really, really wanted a Tyco Ricochet. I saved up the seventy dollars that it would cost, and then I asked my parents to take me to the toy store. There, I did a little research. I read the back of the box. I read the battery pack that cost another 25-30 dollars. Eventually I found a line on the car that said it was normal for the battery pack to power the car for 8-11 minutes. And for it to recharge for 4 hours. This meant that to play with my car for 45 minutes (about how long I was willing to bet I could play with it at one stretch), I would need four battery packs.

This was bunkum. I decided not to buy it. I went home and wrote a letter to Tyco. Their response? TS. I don't blame them, but I certainly didn't ever buy any of their products. It wasn't worth it to me.

Little Billy is in the same boat with the same responsibility. He bought a fake card. He is obligated to tell anyone that he sells it to that it is fake.

Harkius

[jazzykat]

Hmmm...apparently no one got to this thread in time...be very careful with a bend test. Real cards bend too, if you test them too many times. Some fake cards bend like reals cards and others do separate front from back. I think that the light and the blue glue are the most definitive tests. Thicknesses vary a hair from the older cards but translucency is relatively uniform and they ALL have a blue line around them (as dozer said).

[chrissss]

I just tried a bend test on a common, and I wouldnt recomend bending a 300$ + card. its not good for them, and you might not ever get it flat again.

but wouldnt it be an idea of making an ebay thread, where people write sellers where they had positive experiences with, and vice versa about negative people?

especially power sellers who sell the 50$ + cards.

[CrashTest]

I don't like the bend test too much either, I will only do it once as a last resort, if all other tests pass and I feel there is a chance the card may be fake.

         Most of those creased Unlimited cards you see on eBay or in people's binders were damaged by the bend test. This is silly, since Beta is what is rebacked, and bend testing an Unlimited piece of power is superflous and often not needed. If the card is fake, you will be able to tell by the print or the feel of it. Beta is a different story, thus why the bend test is used there to reveal CE fakes.

[chrissss]

where can I buy one of those blacklights so you can tell if a card is real or not?

[Tha Gunslinga]

Ebay.  Jesus fuck, can't you people look things up?  We have this wonderful new invention called the INTERNET.

[AngryPheldagrif]

It's not even as hard as loading eBay.

[chrissss]

although I like buying online, I dont buy breakables online, because I only have bad experiences with it. if the package is broken, then the member of ebay blames it on the mailman.

does every blacklight do the fake/real magic card trick?

[orgcandman]

Here's a counter example. When I was young, I really, really wanted a Tyco Ricochet. I saved up the seventy dollars that it would cost, and then I asked my parents to take me to the toy store. There, I did a little research. I read the back of the box. I read the battery pack that cost another 25-30 dollars. Eventually I found a line on the car that said it was normal for the battery pack to power the car for 8-11 minutes. And for it to recharge for 4 hours. This meant that to play with my car for 45 minutes (about how long I was willing to bet I could play with it at one stretch), I would need four battery packs.

This was bunkum. I decided not to buy it. I went home and wrote a letter to Tyco. Their response? TS. I don't blame them, but I certainly didn't ever buy any of their products. It wasn't worth it to me.

Little Billy is in the same boat with the same responsibility. He bought a fake card. He is obligated to tell anyone that he sells it to that it is fake.

These have no relation. Your toy car wasn't actually made of feathers, or a Tyca Rico-Suave 4000 relabelled as a Tyco Ricochet. It was the product that it was advertised as. Just because it also happened to suck for the cost doesn't compare. Little Billy purchased under the assumption that he was purchasing a Mox Pearl, printed by Wizards of the Coast, for inclusion with the Beta set. The seller misrepresented the product. In your case, the seller didn't misrepresent the product. It just happened to be a terrible product for the cost. While you could argue that a fake Mox is ALSO a terrible product for the cost, no one is gonna show you a fake mox and say "Oh, this is really a mox that I've faked, but since a real one gets $400, this one should too."

I don't see how your argument that "Oh, he should be aware" has any bearing on the fact that if he does happen to get burned, isn't it painful enough that he has lost a lot of money? Why then penalize him more. Sure, this gives lots of other people carte blanche to print up their own moxen and run them in tournaments and say "Oh, I got burned in an online deal" but so what? In the best case scenario, you've caused someone to "lose" $3.50 for the fake they made. In the worst case scenario, you not only have branded some kid as a cheater, unjustly, but you've also cost him $400 that he didn't know about. So that you can feel better about....what, exactly?

[Tails]

Great article, CrashTest. Really useful information for anyone in the market for buying Beta power. As you stated, I didn't think there were fakes as convincing as the one you've described floating around out there. However, even the light test might not be accurate on some cards, as even better fakes might exist somewhere.

Also, as stated, the bend test is kind of risky for cards that expensive, and not always 100 percent accurate. I don't know if i'd go around possibly wrecking my 900 dollar investment to check for it's authenticity.

[chrissss]

Ok, I just received my ancestral recall

I used th elight test, water test, comparison tests etc.

its from Unlimited btw, so I am pretty sure It is real.

I dont want to try the bend test, because I prefer no to bend cards like that.

anything else I can do? I will buy a black light soon somewhere to test that also.

[CrashTest]

It should be fine, check the print pattern closely and make sure it looks right too.

[Annorax]

Ok, I just received my ancestral recall

I used th elight test, water test, comparison tests etc.

its from Unlimited btw, so I am pretty sure It is real.

I dont want to try the bend test, because I prefer no to bend cards like that.

anything else I can do? I will buy a black light soon somewhere to test that also.

You'll put water on a $400 card, but won't do the bend test? What next, you'll start driving at double the speed limit and refuse to use a radar detector?

[ashiXIII]

Ok, I just received my ancestral recall

I used th elight test, water test, comparison tests etc.

its from Unlimited btw, so I am pretty sure It is real.

I dont want to try the bend test, because I prefer no to bend cards like that.

anything else I can do? I will buy a black light soon somewhere to test that also.

You'll put water on a $400 card, but won't do the bend test? What next, you'll start driving at double the speed limit and refuse to use a radar detector?

How is that even almost a valid analogy? Wouldn't something like "What's next? You'll start driving at double the speed limit but insist on wearing your seatbelt?" actually make sense?

[Annorax]

Ok, I just received my ancestral recall

I used th elight test, water test, comparison tests etc.

its from Unlimited btw, so I am pretty sure It is real.

I dont want to try the bend test, because I prefer no to bend cards like that.

anything else I can do? I will buy a black light soon somewhere to test that also.

You'll put water on a $400 card, but won't do the bend test? What next, you'll start driving at double the speed limit and refuse to use a radar detector?

How is that even almost a valid analogy? Wouldn't something like "What's next? You'll start driving at double the speed limit but insist on wearing your seatbelt?" actually make sense?

It's not. It was intended to be as retarded as putting water on an Ancestral.

[Mantis]

Cards don't absorb water in small quantaties and if you remove it short after. I'm not sure how the test works though and I wouldn't want to put water on my cards anyway. But you make it sound like he's intentionally destroying a $400 card which is exaggarated quite a bit.