What happened here?

[Celebrindor]

As I was discussing with Keith via IM, you can clearly see what could be a lowercase 'c' after the 'l' in Tidal, and a small thin vertical line to the immediate right of the middle line in the 'I'.  

You can also see several vertical lines in the copyright lines.  They are similar to the vertical lines in 'h'. 'H', 'T,' and so forth.  

Now, I worked under the assumption that the card that was underprinted could be an enchant creature from any set printed before Fallen Empires.  What I came up with was Tangle Kelp.  Now, I do realize that it comes from a back bordered set, but, the 'e' and 'K' in Tangle Kelp seem to fit with what I noticed in the title - the 'c' i though I saw could easily be an 'e,' and the vertical line I saw could easily be the vertical line in a 'K'.

Besides the black bordered thing, the main problem I see with the underlying card being Tangle Kelp is the copyright line.  FE has two lines, The Dark only has one.  

It is quite unfortunate that 'Enchant Creature' is the only thing that is longer that the word/phrase/name it is printed over, but this in itself provides a clue - the title and the artist name are shorter than that one Tidal Influence.

In the artist name, I see a circular mark which could be part of a capital 'C' near the 'T' in 'Tom', and several vertical lines above the 'n' 'e' and 's' in 'Wanerstrand.'  I believe there is also a vertical line on the left of the 'W.'  I believe there are also several other marks visible within the artist name.

What does everyone else see?  Any speculation on what card it could be?

Also, Keith sent me a higher-quality (1200 dpi) scan.  If anyone else wants to see it, i'll host it.

[flatmatt]

I wouldn't mind looking over the highest-res scan.  So if you want to host it or e-mail me with it, either would be great.

[Celebrindor]

I wouldn't mind looking over the highest-res scan.  So if you want to host it or e-mail me with it, either would be great.

http://www.shadowslayers.net/tidal1200.jpg

[Dilligaf]

I believe its a Viscerid Armor from Alliances.

Primarily, looking at the artist name, The shape behind the T in Tom is clearly the left side of a H, then looking over the N in Wanestrand is the top of another H.

Heather Hudson fits the spacing and the shape.

Also, in the title, there is clearly a 'e' at the end of Tidal, which spacing wise would line up with Viscerid.

also the layout at the bottom (artist/copyright) lines up perfectly with the layout of Alliances.

Unfortunatly, Hudson did both arts for Viscerid Armor, so its probably impossible to determine which version it is.

[Lasbrook]

Actually I think i'd more likely be Merseine.  As there don't seem to be any letters hiding behind the word Influence. With Viscerid Armor we would probably see the ghosting of at least the A.  Not to mention Mersiene is in the same set and is a blue Enchant Creature done by Heather Hudson.  

[Dilligaf]

Good call, i missed that one.

looking again, there is no ghosting around the expansion symbol, so you are probably right.

[Celebrindor]

Good call, i missed that one.

looking again, there is no ghosting around the expansion symbol, so you are probably right.

I'm not sure that the lack of ghosting around the expansion symbol means anything.  Do we have any reason to assume that the name, card type, artist name, and expansion symbol are printed at the same time?

[Mr.C]

Well, there are definetly two capital 'H' in the artist.

Maybe this immense scan, taken with the card unsleeved could help?

[flatmatt]

The artist name fits "Heather Hudson" perfectly, and she did a Merseine art.  Plus there's a serif to the left of the T in Tidal in the title, which looks like it's from an M.

[Celebrindor]

The artist name fits "Heather Hudson" perfectly, and she did a Merseine art.  Plus there's a serif to the left of the T in Tidal in the title, which looks like it's from an M.

Good catch!  I didnt notice that the first time, but its definately there.  'Merseine' does fit with the 'e' being visible between the two words in Tidal Influence, and I believe that the extra vertical line I noticed in the 'I' in Influence is simply part of the double line inherent in the capital 'I' in the Magic font.

[Mr.C]

Yeah, good eyes, matt.

Anyway, people were speculating Viscerid Armour, BUT, FE is from 1994, whereas Alliances is from '96, sooo...

[fvzappa]

I guess I need to research the exact time FE was printed, but due to its mass production it could be several sets that were being printed at the same time FE was.

Those high res scans are helpful, I sent Evan a 1200dpi scan (assuming the file wasn't too huge and went through).

And being the only person that is afforded the ability to hold the card itself, I unfortunatly cannot provide or debunk much more speculation on what card this is. My first guess was that it was a FE common that appeares on the same spot on the sheet, in which the printers may not have been cleaned properly. But keep up the detective work, hopefully some conclusion can be reached.

[Celebrindor]

I guess I need to research the exact time FE was printed, but due to its mass production it could be several sets that were being printed at the same time FE was.

Those high res scans are helpful, I sent Evan a 1200dpi scan (assuming the file wasn't too huge and went through).

And being the only person that is afforded the ability to hold the card itself, I unfortunatly cannot provide or debunk much more speculation on what card this is. My first guess was that it was a FE common that appeares on the same spot on the sheet, in which the printers may not have been cleaned properly. But keep up the detective work, hopefully some conclusion can be reached.

I did get the scan.  I hosted it on my webserver, and posted the link several posts ago.

[l0qii]

I did some heavy tweaking of the scan to try and pull out the underlying card more. First I wanted to identify exactly which parts of the card could show evidence. I believe the white ink ghost we are seeing only can only apply the the card name, type and illustrator, nothing else would show any evidence of ink.

The type is obviously Enchant Creature, I think we all agree there. After looking at my image, I have to agree that the Illustrator is Heather Hudson. There is still only trace evidence of the card name, but I'm going to go with Merseine. The letter seen between Tidal and Influence would be the 'e'.

Although other sets (Revised) were printed at the same time I don't think it makes any sense to look at them. No printing company in their right mind would intermix 2 separate orders like that, and presses are usually cleaned before the next job is started.

My vote is 100% for Merseine by Heather Hudson.

my tweak is here: http://www.apathyhouse.com/random/tidal ... -tweak.jpg

[MagicRumorMill]

Would this not be easier to just figure out where on the uncut sheet this card lies?  Then figure out all the other cards that were in print at that time and see what cards were on the same spot on their sheets?

Come on, out of all this information here, there has to be someone who has mapped out the sheets for each set.  Right?