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Counterfeit Slifer Yu-Gi-Oh Card

Authentic Slifer card
Authentic Slifer Card
Recently, my son traded three common Yu-Gi-Oh cards for the coveted Slifer god card. He was very excited, thinking he worked the deal of a lifetime. Indeed, Slifer cards sell for around $35.00 apiece, depending on the dealer.

Nonetheless, trading three worthless cards for a Slifer god card seemed like a phenomenal deal.. What we discovered next nearly dropped us to the floor — the Slifer card was a counterfeit! Within moments of checking it out, Mom immediately recognized the unusual coloring, odd syntax, and heavy gloss on the card.

Upon closer examination, many errors were discovered — spelling mistakes, missing graphics, and misaligned text — all pointing to one inescapable reality: an illegitimate Slifer card!

Absolutely pathetic

Counterfeit Slifer Card
Counterfeit Slifer Card
Amazed by the idea that someone would actually produce a fake Slifer card, I quickly confiscated the card and began scrutinizing the various details and differences.

After studying the card, carefully comparing it to other Yu-Gi-Oh cards and several legitimate Slifer cards (via dealer sites, etc.), the extremely poor quality of the counterfeit became laughably obvious. This is sad for at least two reasons.

First, it is sad that there are scumbags who steal from children. Second, it is sad that a counterfeiter would perform such an absolutely pathetic rendition of the very popular Slifer Yu-Gi-Oh god card. Seriously such a weak attempt at a counterfeit it just makes me laugh out loud.

Real vs. Fake

Nonetheless, discovering and studying the counterfeit card provided such a thrill that we thought others might benefit from a critical online analysis. Hopefully, this article will serve as a reference for others to compare against in order to avoid the purchase or trade of other fake Yu-Gi-Oh cards. If nothing else, we hope that you will enjoy a hearty laugh upon discovering the amateur nature of this particular counterfeit.

Side-by-side comparison of the authentic vs. counterfeit Slifer cards »

Summary of errors

Here is a summary of the obvious errors on the front of the fake Slifer card:

  • [a] Card title is in lowercase text; “sky dragon” is not capitalized
  • [b] The text, “GOD”, has replaced the original symbol and text
  • [c] Incorrect number of stars: ten stars on the real card, eleven on fake
  • [d] Missing serial number below image of Slifer, on right-hand side
  • [e] DIBINE .BEAST is misspelled and is typographically incorrect
  • [f] Description contains numerous errors in spelling, grammar, punctuation, and typography
  • [g] Misaligned text for “ATK” and “DEF” characters
  • [h] Missing japanese characters in the lower-left corner of the card
  • [i] Missing copyright and japanese name in lower-right corner of card
  • [j] Missing reflective authenticity decal in lower-right corner of card
  • [k] Image resolution/quality is poor — out of focus, grainy, pixelated
  • [l] Overall coloring of the card is too pale, or otherwise inaccurate
  • [m] Placement of the description text is misaligned, too low
  • [n] The card itself is overly glossy — way too much gloss

And here is a summary of the flaws present on the back of the fake Slifer card:

  • The brand name, “KONAMI” and registered symbol (R) missing from upper-left corner Apparently, authentic god cards display neither brand name nor registered symbol on the back of the card.
  • Trademark signature (TM) missing from Yu-Gi-Oh logo in lower-right corner Apparently, authentic god cards do not display a trademark signature on the back of the card.
  • Front of card lacks proper card gloss — surface similar to paper
  • Colorization is too pale, or otherwise inaccurate

We hope this article is helpful to someone. If you have other examples of counterfeit Yu-Gi-Oh cards, we would love to hear about them.

About the Author
Jeff Starr = Fullstack Developer. Book Author. Teacher. Human Being.
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86 responses to “Counterfeit Slifer Yu-Gi-Oh Card”

  1. Alex Stockero 2008/08/03 1:34 pm

    God cards do not have logos on the back as they are not allowed in the game.

  2. no theres more than 12 i live in nritain and i have a real english winged dragon of ra and its not fake ps: what is the worlds best yugioh card( seal of orecelchose????)

  3. mario arango ossa 2008/10/29 10:26 am

    me gustaria saber como fue o como surjio la idea de crear la historia de yu-gi-oh! por que estoi muy interesado o si hay algo oculto tras de esto att:un fiel admirador

  4. i got a yugioh game that came with all 3 god cards and the back did not say yugioh or konami and my or real so please change your mistake

  5. Hi avery, I appreciate your concern over the accuracy of this analysis; however, as you can see, many Yu-Gi-Oh enthusiasts have examined this post and seem to agree on its current level of accuracy. Are you sure that your cards are genuine? And, if so, how did you verify their legitimacy? Please help us to understand the situation. Thanks and regards!

  6. alex stockero 2008/11/16 5:25 pm

    i didnt say the whole was real i it said nothing or had colors on the back, i just said real cards have different colors on the back (Slifer red, Ra yellow …), and say nothing on the back.

  7. Jeff Starr 2008/11/16 9:17 pm

    @avery, @alex: Thank you both (and others) for pointing this out. I have updated both of the Yu-Gi-Oh articles on this site to reflect this information. Thanks for your help! :)

  8. my cards are real because it came in the yugioh world wide edition and if u buy one u will see it is the exact one when u put above to showing the differents from a real god card and a fake on
    ps a god card can say the text at the bottom in english in sted of jappenese the jappenese one is from the world wide game the exact one i have

  9. Jeff Starr 2008/11/24 6:07 pm

    @avery: thanks for the update! As you can see, the article has been updated to reflect the correct information. Cheers! :)

  10. Georgine Lazinski 2008/12/02 3:42 pm

    First,I would like to say that I also purchased a set of the “error” YuGiOh God cards from a seller on eBay. I was not certain of the authenticity of this set of cards at the time of purchase. However, I did know that God Cards DO NOT have ANY logos on the back. I also figured that since most websites for YuGiOh Cards charge more than tripple for Authentic cards, that I was making a purchase for something less. I am not defending people for selling this set of cards while saying they are authentic. The seller I purchased from NEVER said the cards were REAL. I guess what I am trying to say, is that it doesn’t take a “rocket scientist” to figure out, that if you are purchasing a set of “anything” for less than 1/3 normal cost…it is NOT going to be the REAL deal. I purchased them at a lower cost so that I did not have to worry about the children messing them up.

    To conclude, I feel as though the buyer needs to take responsiblity for the purchase as well as ANY/ALL sellers that tell the public that the cards ARE authentic when they aren’t.

  11. R1 Fairings 2008/12/12 4:53 am

    I’m sorry about this. How is your son? Is he ok? Just tell him that soon or later the person who trade this cards will have his own dissaopintment and he will loose more than just 3 cards.

  12. The anonymous man 2009/01/13 8:56 pm

    Ha, I actually have a counterfeit silfer card from quite a few years ago (i was unaware at the time). It’s worse than the one you have here, for example:

    .) The title on the card simply says ‘Dragon-Sky’

    .) This is the description of the card: At the moment of sky’s thunder slowly became chaos. The string lock tied a archaian leading book of blackart . Inside it show-off limitless divinity’s power.

    If you can translate gibberish into english, please give it a try.

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