Just so you know, sites like magiccards.info all use the images from Slightlymagic. Most sites that have quality images do, actually. I'm fairly certain that was where ark42 got his images from as well.
Thanks. I just don't see a link for a master torrent. Like A-Theros or soemthing. I'll just have to search the form for each individual set?
I've been struggling to find a replacement for Ark42. It was a really great site to see price trends and grab stock photos that met ebay's ridiculous 500px size requirement. MTG.info, goldfish, mtgstocks, and the half dozen other sites I've come across can't meet the pixel requirements.
Have you been able to find another online or offline database that has images at least 500px?
Sylvan Safekeeper became an important piece of many top Type II decks when it came out. While not necessarily integral, if it wasn't in the main deck, it was definitely in the sideboard. The card helped end games by protecting finishers and other key creatures.
Yeah I won a few PTQs during that time. Like I said mediocre. I rarely used it and mostly played green. It's worthless now
Interesting to note that Olle Rade's card, Sylvan Safekeeper, was the fifth card to see print even though he won the first tournament. Apparently he left MTG shortly after winning, then came back and asked for his card. Also worth noting is the substantial time between Tiago Chan winning in 2007 and the card seeing print (4 years). Most other gaps were 1-2 years, as you would expect.
All in all, some pretty sweet cards here. I like that several of them have been reprinted.
Haha, yeah. I have three boxes of Champions tournament packs. Their value has been going up quite a bit in the past 6 months. I'm just debating on if I should crack a few or sell them all sealed.
I know ONS tournament packs have 1 guaranteed foil. I've opened probably 30 of them. All had foils as the first card.
I'm not going to say these do or don't look fake without high resolution, ten-times magnification scans of the backs and fronts, and without a properly displayed light test.
None of this evidence has been provided, or their results transcribed adequately to this thread. There are a lot of indicators to prove these cards real or fake upon close examination, but we can't look at them like the OP can, and he has no idea what he's looking for.
We have one low resolution copy of a single cards from each play-set. We have a poor examination of the backs of "some" magic cards. We have the difficult to distinguish "side" view of a card. None of this is nearly enough to determine if these are real or fake. Heck, the most peculiar attribute could be attributed to poor scans of the berserk.
I did some more reasearch about the light tests and I can say that every single card from both playsets looked even less clear than the fake card in http://www.apathyhouse.com/fake/page331.php Which was the most prescribed site to visit from various other forums.
I also looked at the corners even more carefully and noticed one of the corners of a berserk was slightly split into two parts.
Edit: After seeing the light test. You need a better contained light source, as the glare and having the cards on top of each other makes it very hard to see reasoanble details. You should also compare the Berserk with maybe a beta land and the Void with another black Legends card. Here you can easily see which cards they are, from the amount of light the Voids lightly coloured art lets through, but almost none come from the darkish art of Berserk.
The Nether Voids look completely real, even more so with the edge picture.
As for the Berserks (definately not alpha btw), the pics don't have enough detail, but I couldn't see the second part of the black borders. In old cards the black border is made up from two slightly different colours, with the outer edge being darker and inner lighter. This along missing white 'dots' on the card indicates inking. If you look at the edges of the Berserks, ink often bleeds into the edge and you should see some blackening on them.
The print quality looks comparable of a/b/u cards, but you will need a slightly better scan (600 dpi or so) to go in on the details. But I would hazard guessing inked unlimited cards, as the edges don't show wear, that would make people ink betas.
I also recomend the light test. Have a reasonably bright light source behind the card and compare the how much light the card passes through with a known real card from the same era. Notice that the colour of the card (different inks) does affect the results, so it would be best to check the text box, of other cards from either beta or unl. Also check the Berserk borders against beta land, as inking will affect the opaqueness of that area.
Light ang good magnification will also show inking. Notice that this is my thoughts on these, from your scans. I would need the better scans to be really certain on the Berserks, but all the small details outside the dot pattern, which you would need the better scan to see, match with real cards.
I posted a picture of the light test. The thing is it looks grainy and I can't make out any pictures or text from the berserk or the nether void. I did the light test on over a dozen other cards ranging from beta/legends to some more recent ones and I can see the outlines of the pictures and text fine. The big problem is I'm not keeping these they were bought to resell. I'm sure if I played with them nobody would ask me to verify their authenticity, but if I sell them to someone or 8 different people (4x of each were included in the lot) then there could be a huge issue if they are fake.
Did the light test again looking at the quality of the images showing through. The picture is the berserk (L) V terror (R), both beta. Did the same with nether void and pendlehaven. FAIL
Thanks for all the help. Hopefully I can get my money back.
Thanks. I just don't see a link for a master torrent. Like A-Theros or soemthing. I'll just have to search the form for each individual set?
Hrm...I guess you would have to search the forum for everything? CCG tradepost seems promising @680px. Not sure if they have all images yet.
Have you been able to find another online or offline database that has images at least 500px?
Yeah I won a few PTQs during that time. Like I said mediocre. I rarely used it and mostly played green. It's worthless now
Lol is that why it was mediocre?
i.e. Kai Budde= Voidmage Jon Finkel= Shadowmage Infiltrator
WOTC is already tanking the Ravnica shocklands value by releasing them all in DMZ. Don't even get me started on Modern Masters.
It should have been COK, but WOTC thought ahead.
I know ONS tournament packs have 1 guaranteed foil. I've opened probably 30 of them. All had foils as the first card.
TY!
I did some more reasearch about the light tests and I can say that every single card from both playsets looked even less clear than the fake card in
http://www.apathyhouse.com/fake/page331.php Which was the most prescribed site to visit from various other forums.
I also looked at the corners even more carefully and noticed one of the corners of a berserk was slightly split into two parts.
I posted a picture of the light test. The thing is it looks grainy and I can't make out any pictures or text from the berserk or the nether void. I did the light test on over a dozen other cards ranging from beta/legends to some more recent ones and I can see the outlines of the pictures and text fine. The big problem is I'm not keeping these they were bought to resell. I'm sure if I played with them nobody would ask me to verify their authenticity, but if I sell them to someone or 8 different people (4x of each were included in the lot) then there could be a huge issue if they are fake.
Thanks for all the help. Hopefully I can get my money back.