Very high quality counterfeits of Magic:  The Gathering cards have been appearing in the U.S. for the last month or so, and they’re raising concern among Magic players, collectors, and retailers because of their quality and the disruption they’d cause to the market and the game if they become widespread. 

A variety of blogs and YouTube videos showing the new counterfeits appeared in January, including an exhaustive post by Chas Andres on the Star City Games sites.  He showed screenshots of an Alibaba subsite from Chinese printing company Shenzhen Wangjing Printing Co. offering sets of 55 Magic cards.   

The printer quickly removed the cards from its website, but there are still reports of high quality counterfeits circulating in the U.S.  It’s unclear if the cards that are appearing were sold by the printer before or after they were removed from its website or by another source entirely.

We asked Wizards of the Coast for comment on some key questions, and received these responses from a spokesperson.

Is Wizards of the Coast aware of the high quality Magic counterfeits that were exposed in January?  What, if anything, did Wizards do about it?
We cannot comment on the specifics or status of any ongoing investigation, but I can tell you that Wizards does not take counterfeiting activities lightly.

Given the increasing quality of the counterfeits, what can Wizards do about counterfeit cards once they are in the U.S. market?  And given that the source for at least some cards appears to be in China, what can Wizards do to stop the counterfeits at the source?
Wizards of the Coast has an extensive toolset to detect and stop counterfeit activity.  When those cases pop up, as in this case, Wizards works towards a swift resolution.

Any advice for retailers on distinguishing counterfeit singles from the real thing?
For retailers, we recommend that you pay attention to your business and character instincts and to use your best judgment when dealing with unfamiliar sellers.  You may want to ask questions about the card source before buying, verify seller ID, and carefully examine each card before concluding the deal.