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!
Amazed by the idea that someone would actually produce a fake Slifer card, I quickly confiscated the card and began scrutinizing the details. 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.
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.
Authentic Slifer Card
Counterfeit Slifer Card
Click here for a close-up, side-by-side comparison of the authentic vs. counterfeit Slifer cards.
Summary of the obvious errors on 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 the fake.[d]Missing serial number below the image of Slifer, on the right-hand side[e]"[DIBINE .BEAST]" is misspelled, contains a period, 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
Flaws present on the back of the 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. Update: new article posted highlighting Deana’s experience with a counterfeit Slifer card she had purchased on eBay (Originally posted on: 03/05/2008).
86 Responses
Alex Stockero – August 3, 2008 •
God cards do not have logos on the back as they are not allowed in the game.
zac – August 4, 2008 •
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????)
mario arango ossa – October 29, 2008 •
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
avery – November 14, 2008 •
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
Jeff Starr – November 16, 2008 •
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!
alex stockero – November 16, 2008 •
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.
Jeff Starr – November 16, 2008 •
@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! :)
avery – November 24, 2008 •
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
Jeff Starr – November 24, 2008 •
@avery: thanks for the update! As you can see, the article has been updated to reflect the correct information. Cheers! :)
Georgine Lazinski – December 2, 2008 •
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.
R1 Fairings – December 12, 2008 •
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.
The anonymous man – January 13, 2009 •
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.