Arena promo and German/French misprint test prints

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the_phoenix
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Arena promo and German/French misprint test prints

Post by the_phoenix » Sat Sep 20, 2003 7:39 pm

Hi members. I noticed something about my misprints recently, and I think it would apply to Magic Rarities. Let me intoduce this by taking a quote from Squt's Misprint Page:

http://members.tripod.com/~squt/MainError.html

"Real" fakes:

For a while now, I have known about some really crazy picture misprints that have been floating around on the secondary market. They all have German text, the wrong picture, and a FRENCH copyright date. They also do not use the standard 'Magic' Font for the name of the card. I never have published anything on these cards, because I just couldn't figure out where they were from. I have recently aquired a copy of one, and with it a little more info.

First of all, let me preface this by saying that these cards are fakes. They do not feel as sturdy as a real card, and indeed they do not stand up to the bend test (they crease). However, I aquired one of these cards from a former WOTC employee, who insists that multiple copies of each exist, and that they are from WOTC. My best guess is that these cards are test print cards of some kind, made on an inferior card stock. They can't be just plain old mistakes, because the number of errors and the consistancy of the errors between the cards. There may be many more of these floating around out there, but to my knowlege, these three are the only ones that have turned up on the secondary market:


He goes on to list "Raised Wurm", "Scryb Pegasus", and "Dark Island", and provide a scan of the front for each. I'm sure that you are all familiar with these Drudge/Swamp kinds of misprints.

However, looking at my own, I've noticed that (among the ones I own), in addition to the three mentionned above, all the following are also "fake":

Samite Healer / Grizzly Bear
Healing Salve / something Elephants (a 3/3 for [3]G)
Paralyse / Wall of Wood
Plains / Wall of Wood
Phantasmal Terrain / Raise Dead? (one black, no P/T)
Pestilence / some Treefolk (a 3/5 for [4]G)
Shanodin Dryad / a white card that I do not know
Swamp / green creature (a 2/4 for [3]G)
Wall of Wood (again!) / Plains

There are likely others out there as well. The only three that I own that are not "fakes" are the three most well known, namely the Strip Mine / Burrowing, the Plains/Forest, and the Drudge/Swamp, and these all have copyright dates in the appropriate language.

Furthermore, there is more difference between these and regular cards than just a different card stock and font. Most noticeable is that they are like two cards glued on to each other, like what people often do when making fakes. This can be seen easily when looking at the side of the card; you will see two layers. However, the backs are also different: there are white or black lines around the border, and the colours are sometimes off.

In light of this, I think it is safe to conclude that these are *not* fakes since, if they were, the maker would surely choose to stick the fake fronts onto cards with unflawed magic backs. Although I don't think they are "test prints" as Squt described them, since they seem to be present in the market in a rather large quantity, it does seem clear to me that they are an alternate form of printing. Looking at it this way, I think they would deserve a spot on Magic Rarities.

Here are some scans of what I'm talking about:

http://www.angelfire.com/extreme4/mtg1/misprint.html

This also raises another question, by the way. I often hear of fake Arena promo (non-foil) Disenchants, Counterspells, Incinerates, and Fireballs, the ones with an "M" as set symbol. Rumour has it that many fakes of these cards are circulating. I happened to have one that is said to be fake (it is also an albino, which is why I picked it up ;)). I looked at mine, and it has two layers, just like these alternate misprints, and the back shows some black on the borders, again like these alternate misprints...although not enough to draw any positive conclusions (I only have one). Today at the pre-release, I looked at some more, and all were double-layered and had flawed backs, which leads me to believe that these also used this strange alternate printing method.

Thoughts?

EDIT: I tried to make things more clear, and scans added.
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Re: Arena promo and German/French misprint test pr

Post by dragsamou » Sat Sep 20, 2003 9:18 pm

Hi.
"Real Fakes"
I get totally lost in your Fake Conspiracy Post,sounds like X Files to me  ::)
I'm sure many of you are familiar with the fake DCI Arena promo non-foil ....
I really do not know what you talking about,can you explain?
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Re: Arena promo and German/French misprint test pr

Post by the_phoenix » Sun Sep 21, 2003 6:53 am

dragsamou, which part confuses you? I will attempt to explain. "I'm sure many of you are familiar with the fake DCI Arena promo non-foil ...." I was reffering to the old Arena promos: Incinerate, Fireball, Counterspell, and Disenchant are all of them I believe. They have a little M as their set symbol. I've heard from many people that fakes of these cards have flooded the market, but I am now wondering if people didn't confuse them for fakes as a result of this new printing process.

At the pre-release today, I looked at about ten of these promos, from various people, and all of them had seemingly two layers and strange backs. Are they all like this? If so, then they also used this different printing process.
Passion, life's nostalgia, is such a fool sheepishly disguised as a man or a woman. Or a beast, cleverly veiled in ancient rites, is such a pity lost. Down the straight the two grate, paling in comparison, constantly freightening hate with their endless gait. Such poetic magic at stake!

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Re: Arena promo and German/French misprint test pr

Post by l0qii » Mon Sep 22, 2003 4:08 am

I think this confusion came because there was a flood of uncut sheets of these sent to stores "recently" and some people who recived them, tried to cut them and sell the individual cards, and did a really bad job. seriously, I've seen some of these that look like they were cut by a 5 year old.
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Re: Arena promo and German/French misprint test pr

Post by dragsamou » Mon Sep 22, 2003 7:15 pm

I think this confusion came because there was a flood of uncut sheets of these sent to stores "recently" and some people who recived them, tried to cut them and sell the individual cards, and did a really bad job. seriously, I've seen some of these that look like they were cut by a 5 year old.
Hi.
It was exactly what I have in Mind,I did not see the point of making Fake Arena. For the last 3 years,I've seen hundreds of Uncut Arena Sheets on Ebay.
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Re: Arena promo and German/French misprint test pr

Post by Gryfalia » Mon Sep 22, 2003 11:33 pm

I ended up selling my sheets after I gave up trying to get a local printing company to professionally cut them for me.  They said they would have to purchase a die of the precise type and it was gonna cost more than the cards were worth, and that was when they were still worth quite a bit..;-)

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Post by Crazy Cat Guy » Fri Oct 21, 2005 2:41 pm

..... I would've bought a pen knife and miscut + square cut one. And maybe crimp it, too. =p

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