Counterfeit Slifer Yu-Gi-Oh 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!

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.

Here is a 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

These flaws are present on the front of the card (not shown):

The brand name, "KONAMI" and trademark symbol (R) missing from upper-left corner
Trademark signature (TM) missing from Yu-Gi-Oh logo in lower-right corner
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).

About this article

This is article #240, posted by Perishable on Sunday, November 19, 2006 @ 05:58pm. Categorized as Graphics, and tagged with Graphics, images. Updated on March 05, 2008. Visited 45063 times. 49 Responses »

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49 Responses

1 • January 10, 2007 at 5:42 pm — Rick Beckman says:

Not a huge deal, but I did notice at work (I’m a toy department manager) that the first card in a package of Yu-Gi-Oh cards we carry contained a very obvious misspelled word. At this point, I can’t recall the card or the word, but the spelling thing isn’t unique to counterfeits. :)

2 • January 14, 2007 at 3:51 pm — Perishable says:

Interesting (although not too surprising)..
If you get another chance with such a card, jot down the mispelled word, card name, etc.. — or better yet, throw down a tuf scan or photocopy and hook us up.. :)

3 • February 26, 2007 at 9:45 am — jack frei says:

You are all yugioh nerds. Who cares about this stuff.

4 • February 26, 2007 at 9:50 am — jack frei says:

Why would you try to study it it’s obvious it’s fake you nerds. What parents go through so much anyways to find a fake card I mean you should have quit this game along time ago. Geez, i wonder how long your son will play it.

5 • February 26, 2007 at 5:46 pm — Perishable says:

By far, one of our most enlightening comments here at Perishable Press.. Thank you, jack frei, for amusing us all with your incredible wisdom.

6 • April 5, 2007 at 3:21 am — HKdaddy says:

Thanks for the article, Mr. Frei comments aside, this is useful for us nerds that continue to play the game. It seems a well branded dept store just sold me some fakes and I am researching to reinforce my claim. Now is that not worth pursuing. Thanks again Perishable.

7 • April 6, 2007 at 9:07 pm — Perishable says:

Definitely worth pursuing..
Us nerds would be very interested to hear more of your experiences with this as the process unfolds.. Keep us in the loop!

8 • April 6, 2007 at 10:06 pm — HKdaddy says:

I returned the cards to the well branded dept store in Thailand and incredibly the sales immediately said, yes these are copies and If I wanted the real cards, I need to pay double. They offered a one to one swop but I preferred to buy them where I know what I am getting. Being a well known store they immediately gave us our money back with no questions asked. It is not comforting to know there are formal channels to get these fakes to market and then onto sites like ebay. Thanks again for the guide to spotting fakes, this and the fact that my son said there is no such card as “Super Vehicle Drill” convinced me to return the cards.

9 • April 7, 2007 at 2:56 am — HKdaddy says:

sent this to the branded dept. store and Upper Deck, the email bounced to the store (I have resent) be interested in the response or lack of…

Dear Siam Paragon,

I recently purchase the captioned at the Paragon store’s toy department and after some investigation found that the product was indeed fake. Upon returning the product to the store the salesman without hesitation said it was a copy. I was given a full refund and without any questions asked.

While I appreciate the customer service at your store, I am quite taken back that you would be selling fake and illegal toys. As one of many foreigners/vacationers that visit your store and pay a premium for your products, I find this totally unacceptable. I am sure upon hearing of this, the situation would be corrected.

My intent in this email is not to bring publicity to this situation but to suggest to yourself and Upperdeck to be more vigorous in preventing such products to reaching the consumer.

Regards, Allen Kwan

10 • April 8, 2007 at 10:09 am — Perishable says:

"Super Vehicle Drill" — that’s hilarious!! I am not surprised that the store reacted as it did — nobody wants the Konami suits suing the family business. It almost sounds as if the store may be in on the scam, scoring cheap, counterfeit Yu-Gi-Oh cards on the side and then reselling them at full market price. I would not buy any more cards from their store(s), nor would I trust any of the cards already purchased as being legitimate..

How sad it is that there are unscrupulous bastards out there that insist on beating the system by ripping people off and stealing from children. Sadder still that their illegal business of choice doesn’t seem to rake in enough cash to hire a halfway decent counterfeit artist. Utterly pathetic.

Nonetheless, thank you for sharing this insightful information with us. Let us know if anything else develops. Good luck!

Best regards,
Jeff

11 • April 15, 2007 at 2:36 am — HKdaddy says:

Dear Jeff,

My email to the store bounced three times, at first I surmised that it was due to the recent ban of Google services, Gmail and YouTube for putting unpleasant video’s of the Thai King on the web but I tried from Hotmail as well and it also bounced (so ???). I got a response from Upper Deck, it is as follows:

“Upper Deck does not sell counterfeit cards. Upper Deck does have a team set up the follows up on the information that is provided to them by our customers. I would highly recommend that you visit our Fraud Investigation Page (www.upperdeck.com/fraud). On that site you will be able to locate the contact information for our Fraud Investigation Team.”

I replied that I will file a case.

In restropect, I was going just eat the cost and not waste another half day at the store to get a refund, but in looking at my son’s reaction, it seem the right thing to do. We were offered a store credit but everything was 200 to 300% more then what I know the price to be. As I walked out of the dept. store at the same level and there was the Lamborghini, Maserati, Lotus, and Jaguar dealership and it was then that I thought at least I should inform the store on what they were selling (the thoughts of your comment about someone suing the family business crossed my mind).

See what happens.

12 • April 16, 2007 at 9:39 am — Perishable says:

This is really fascinating stuff.. I wonder why the email to the store bounced. Smells like firewall to me, but it could be a super-strength spam filter or something similar. If you have their mailing address, you could always send them a quick note through the mail, although your efforts are perhaps better focused on Upper Deck, as they are most likely in a much better position to actually do something about it..

The response from Upper Deck (UD) sounds like a typical "It’s-not-our-fault-there’s-nothing-we-can-do" automated-type of defense. Too bad. Looking at their fraud page, it appears as if they realize how significant the Yu-Gi-Oh counterfeit problem has become:

When it comes to the Yu-Gi-Oh! TRADING CARD GAME, counterfeiters spare no expense.

You would think that the UD suits would take advantage of the opportunity to reach out, help their customers, and work with the media to educate consumers about the situation. Perhaps children, parents, and collectors would stop buying so many Yu-Gi-Oh cards if they realized that so many of them were fake. Regardless, I am stoked to hear that you will be filing a case. Good luck with it!

Jeff

13 • April 19, 2007 at 8:33 am — Allen says:

Jeff, nothing has comeback so I can assume that UD is doing somthing but I gather is does take time and money to do so. Re. super spam filter, my question, why set this up for your customer service email? Good way to avoid compliants. Feel free to try

Contactus@siamparagon.co.th

14 • April 22, 2007 at 9:11 am — Perishable says:

Yeah, that email address is bogus. My test emails didn’t even make it to their front door. Do they have it publicly listed somewhere (online)? I haven’t checked for a website yet.. Either way, I think the UD situation is far more relevant. Even though it may take centuries for them to respond, I am looking forward to hearing more about the case as it unfolds..

15 • May 25, 2007 at 12:11 am — Jonathan says:

Hmm…. if you one to check sometimes you can see on the lower right corner of the card which there is square thing on it but the false one won’t have , to see if it is real the square should be silver and there must be no 1st edition on the picture below or you also can know if it is real by seeing the square is gold but have 1st edition then is real

16 • May 27, 2007 at 2:54 am — HKdaddy says:

Dear Jeff,

I did another followup with UD with no response. I gather this is a small case not pursuing.

Having come back from China recently, I can see where “copies” can have a positive purpose. This is where local kids get to engage in intersting games at local prices. From what I saw virtually everything is copied which then brings a demand among the more affluent for the real stuff. It doesn’t explain or justify the copies in a high end dept store at Siam Paragon.

I will be going to Thailand shortly, be interesting if the same goods are on sales.

HKdaddy

17 • May 29, 2007 at 9:44 am — Perishable says:

Thanks for the tip, Jonathan!

18 • May 29, 2007 at 10:37 am — Perishable says:

HKdaddy,

So are you going to drop the case or continue pursuing? Sounds like Upper Deck is ignoring their customers (again). I think you should send another copy of your letter to UD, and then another, and another, and… Then again, perhaps it’s just not worth the time, effort, and money to do so. I would not be surprised if a majority of big business completely disregarded customer service (complaints, tech help, etc.) as a way of increasing profits. Anyway, sorry for the rant..

I totally understand your point about the potential usefulness of counterfeit cards. Unfortunately, I would imagine that the entire process is a bit of a vicious circle: high-priced originals lure the counterfeiters into business, counterfeit cards then reduce legitimate sales, so the original manufacturers must then elevate prices to accommodate for the loss.. lather, rinse, repeat..

The whole thing is just a mess, really. But it is what it is, in either case. Nonetheless, I think it is great that “local kids” also receive opportunities to share in the fun, whether it be cards, games, software, music - whatever! Very neat, indeed.

Have a great trip to Thailand - let us know how it goes..

Regards,
Jeff

19 • June 4, 2007 at 10:14 am — kk123254 says:

yu gi oh cards are always facked all my mates have fakes and i want somneone 2 get rid of them as they are anoying as all my friends have them . so i say get rid of them for good.

20 • June 4, 2007 at 3:48 pm — Perishable says:

Amen to that, kk123254!

21 • August 6, 2007 at 5:05 pm — Retroman says:

Im afraid this is nothing in comparison to some of the counterfeit cards produced…

This one is obviously fake.
But some out there are really well done, including everything the original has, such as the holo symbol at the bottom right corner.

If you find a genuine god card with a spelling error, that’s 100% official, it’s worth quite a lot of money believe it or not.

So don’t always discard a card as fake right away (except when it’s as obvious as with this one).

22 • September 2, 2007 at 10:32 am — Alec says:

thanks!this helped cause i couldnt know if my god card which i got on ebay for 8 bucks was real or not and it turned out it was real!

23 • September 2, 2007 at 3:53 pm — Perishable says:

Sounds like you got a sweet deal there, Alec! Glad you found the article useful. Thanks for the feedback!

24 • September 3, 2007 at 10:34 am — Alec says:

Yeah it was a good deal and currently my mom is winning me 440+ yugioh cards on ebay for me!it also comes with a tin i hope she wins em i already have 480

25 • September 3, 2007 at 2:34 pm — Perishable says:

Good for you, Alec! Let us know if you stumble upon anything that looks fishy as you grow your collection. Cheers!

26 • September 3, 2007 at 4:24 pm — Alec says:

i have i just went on ebay and i found this person selling exodia and it was all fake so i hope no one buys from him:) and i just created a deck its awesome!

27 • October 2, 2007 at 8:02 pm — KAKz says:

yes it is fake and i would find it hard to beleive that it would be that easy to get a god card. I have all 3 of the real god cards and i worked very hard to get them so anyone that does that does not know the work people go through to get real rare cards. I thank you for your consern on helping us yugioh fans out on fake cards. if you want anything else to say email me at ssj4bankai@yahoo.com

28 • October 3, 2007 at 7:37 am — Perishable says:

Thank you for the feedback, KAKz. I agree with you completely. Especially with all of the counterfeit cards, it is extremely difficult to obtain a complete set of the god cards. Nevertheless, I am glad that Yu-Gi-Oh fans continue to find this article useful.

29 • October 3, 2007 at 9:10 am — KAKz says:

yes it is true to get a set of the god cards. and it gets harder caz now there are fake god cards that can appear to be real to many people. they look almost real exepted for the fackt that
1. they say first edtition, god cards are not first edition
2. the atribute says gold, a real god card says divine.
3. on the botton of a real god card it says this card cannot be used in a duel.
4. it is fake because people sail a set for 15 dollars.
5. the most important a set of real god cards comes in a silver package and if there not in a package or a shownin jump then they are fake.

i paid 100 dollars for my set from a real shop that sells them.

30 • October 3, 2007 at 10:06 am — Perishable says:

Excellent tips — thank you for sharing them with us!

31 • October 3, 2007 at 10:46 am — KAKz says:

sure thing anything to help out yugioh fans

32 • October 5, 2007 at 5:32 pm — Alec says:

Mine is real except the part that says it cant be used in duel i think and also…im not using my yu-gi-oh cards for a while cause im using my skyrail rollercoaster set

33 • October 5, 2007 at 9:17 pm — KAKz says:

the god card must say this card cannot be used in a duel.
how much did u pay for the cards

34 • October 6, 2007 at 11:22 am — Alec says:

Actcually i just found it on the god card i payed 8 bucks

35 • October 6, 2007 at 12:21 pm — KAKz says:

wow thats really interesting. who would sail a god card for 8 bucks. unless it was a used one. how many did u get 1 or the hole set.

36 • October 6, 2007 at 8:03 pm — Perishable says:

Help! My site has been hijacked by Yu-Gi-Oh fans!! :)

37 • October 7, 2007 at 12:10 pm — Alec says:

It was 1 card

38 • October 7, 2007 at 1:36 pm — K.A.Kz says:

coll thatz a good prize. witch one is it is it abelisk, ra, or slither.
obelisk is my favorite one

39 • October 8, 2007 at 6:10 pm — Alec says:

Obliesk:)

40 • December 26, 2007 at 10:35 am — Waseem says:

Lol it is easy to create fakee cards yugiohcardmaker.net lol easy then just taske a screenshot and resize then lol print it out and stick it on old card easy to make but alot easy to buy.

41 • December 26, 2007 at 11:14 am — Perishable says:

Yes, that sounds easy, but as anyone with even an iota of experience within the scrutinizingly articulate and detail-oriented world of desktop publishing will tell you, it’s a little more complicated than that, especially if you intend to convince retailers and dealers to buy your spoofed turds. For example, decent printing requires a decent color-laser printer and card-matte paper. Then, cropping the prints to fit the card base requires great precision. If you are planning on faking more than one or two hundred cards, this process needs to be automated to make the whole operation worthwhile. Even then, you aren’t done yet, because you also need to reproduce the reverse side of the card. Your site may work well for hobbyist purposes, but would almost seem counterproductive to a serious counterfeiter, especially if they are serious enough to automate the process with their own gear.

42 • December 31, 2007 at 6:53 pm — YCMaker says:

I’m the creator of the Yugioh Card Maker website, and I just wanted to let everyone know that it was never intended to be used to create counterfeit cards, and as Perishable said before, it would probably be counterintuitive to a real counterfeiter. While I tried to make the cards look as real as possible, the resolution is small enough (and because the text isn’t printed separately from the image) that if one tried to print it out, it would look just like that - a card that had been printed out from the internet.

43 • January 1, 2008 at 9:48 am — Perishable says:

Hello YCMaker, thanks for clarifying that your site is not intended for Yugioh counterfeiting. Excellent point about the screen-resolution images — that fact alone should eliminate any confusion about the purpose of your site.

By the way, I like your site and think it would be very keen to be able to browse a gallery of successfully generated cards. There may already be something like that, but I didn’t happen to see it during my visit..

44 • January 2, 2008 at 6:20 am — Alec says:

The site rocks but its not meant to be making fakes like you two said

45 • January 12, 2008 at 6:49 am — jason says:

haha i once found a TRAP card with STARS and ATK and DEF values! counterfeiters are stupid, and even stupider

(unless of course you’re a kid and get tricked by some sunnuva)

46 • January 13, 2008 at 9:28 am — Perishable says:

Insanity reigns! Fortunately, professional counterfeiters tend to focus on mediums other than trading cards.. :)

47 • February 18, 2008 at 12:26 pm — Koneko says:

Yeah, I just got a counterfeit FMR-001 Red-Eyes Black Metal Dragon in the mail. When I contacted the seller about it, she swore up and down that it was a legit card because her grandson said so. But the way the card looks, I mean, how could you NOT notice? D=

48 • February 19, 2008 at 11:38 am — Perishable says:

That’s hilarious, Koneko! You should send me a scan so I can post it online! ;)

49 • May 10, 2008 at 4:45 am — RJ says:

I remember these cards. Heck, the descriptions of the card and the attributes are very laughable, I have to say. Those idiots, thinking that they can fool many kids because they’re selling “real” cards.

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