Not sure if anyone is interested in paper in this forum, but I wanted to pass along some recent info regarding the development of counterfeit cards.
When I was buying into Legacy a couple years ago, a Reddit on bootleg mtg cards was just started and you could look at pictures and detailed reviews of counterfeits. This was useful because I was new to the format and wanted to avoid buying/trading into fakes (which I never encountered, luckily). Commonly available fakes were obvious, even through sleeves at the time.
Fast forward a few years: my deck of legit cards was banned (subsequently sold), and my backup of free-to-play Duels has the plug pulled. I consider buying back into Legacy ANT and check in on the bootleg forum...
Not sure how to describe what I read, without it sounding like an advertisement! People are reporting back successfully using new fakes in sanctioned tournaments. This has big implications as these guys ARE playing Legacy for the same price as Standard. I doubt I would have bought legit cards my first time around if I saw this was going on.
The other update was that US citizens are now part of the supply chain. This is big because they get volume discounts with foreign printers. They filter out defective print runs, thereby increasing quality. Additionally, transactions are faster and cheaper due to reduced shipping constraints.
I think it this new market will soon force deck checks and/or alter the reserve list agreement. Also, it was enough to convince me to stay away from buying back into paper, at the moment.
Obviously, don't recommend illegal activity in this forum. What are your thoughts on this issue?
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