A counterfeit card is a fake trading card. Most counterfeit cards in the context of Yu-Gi-Oh! are of OCG or TCG cards, or are made to mimic them. Counterfeit cards are usually made with the express purpose of selling them as real cards to make a profit, which distinguishes them from fan-created cards, which may be sold as art but not as real cards.

Many counterfeit cards can be easily recognized by such things as oddly colored or low-quality card backings or images, or very poor grammar in card names, effects, and other card text, which may use the wrong font or be incorrectly sized. Counterfeit Spell and Trap Cards may have ATK and DEF values and maybe even Level stars printed on them, and some cards may have their rarity printed following their effect or description due to copy-pasting description of websites that usually write the rarity after the effect. A few of the fake cards even have the words "effect unconfirmed", making the copy-pasting more obvious.

Fake trading cards are often sold in markets, non-legit stores, and online.

Fake booster packs/boxes Edit

Most fake boosters and booster boxes have the following tell-tale signs:

• Bad picture quality (Duel Terminal cards are often blurred because of their parallel coating and are much darker than other cards; as such, their artworks should not be confused with this)
• Reversed Konami logo or incorrect spelling of "Konami" (e.g. Konaini) or even a lack of a Konami logo.
• Incorrect Format
• The use of profanity or improper grammar
• Wrong card name, effect, Level, artwork, or stats
• The use of OCG names in what supposedly is a TCG card
• Brightly colored pictures
• Oddly colored borders
• White bordered text
• Very bright backs
• Incorrect terminology in card descriptions (e.g. one of the cards in the example pictures below uses "Adversary"/"Rival" instead of "Opponent", "Life score" instead of "Life Points", and "bout" instead of "Phase")
• On boosters, the seals at the top and bottom should be vertical, not horizontal.
• No "English Edition" sign on top of the booster.
• No Eye of Anubis, or the Eye of Anubis is not reflective (though OCG cards with the original layout all lacked the Eye of Anubis).
• Incorrect Type or Attribute
• Incorrect ordering of card type. Normally, the Monster's Type is listed first, followed by any subtypes, e.g. "Machine/Effect", "Warrior/Synchro/Effect", or "Dragon/Spirit".
• Incorrect Rarity (most fake cards has Common as the only Rarity) or Rarity that is not holographic (e.g. a card has gold letters that are not reflective).
• Strange logo, as in "New Yu-Gi-Oh!" or both "Yu-Gi-Oh! GX" AND "Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's" logo in one pack/box/tin.
• Card Number/Limitation Text missing from the lower left corner. However, do note that there are some real cards, such as "Labyrinth Wall", which do not have a Card Number.
• Sound, God or Land as an attribute. Also, some Spell cards will say "Devil" in the attribute symbol where it would normally say Magic or Spell.
• Copyright text (©1996 KAZUKI TAKAHASHI) missing from the lower right corner next to the Eye of Anubis.

• A misspelling of Kazuki Takahashi (ex. Kajuri Takahasei) causes by misinterpretation of the original script (高橋 和希)

• On boxes, the Cover Card does not match the set, or the set name given does not match any officially released set.
• Starter Deck that purely focus on 1 specific archetype, even going as far as printing anime-only cards that are related to the archetype and put it into the Deck. Note that official Starter Decks sometimes has cards related to an archetype in them, but they never purely focus on it.
• On a character's Starter or Structure Deck, the featured cover card is not related to the character (e.g. "Cloudian - Eye of the Typhoon" as cover card for a supposedly Jaden-based Deck)
• Decks in tins (note that there ARE real Yu-Gi-Oh! tins, but they are much bigger than the fake "deck tins", and always shows the cover card that match the tin. The real tins also contain only booster packs, not full decks.).
• Counterfeit cards sometimes feel waxy or have a thin layer of plastic over the card's surface.
• 1st Edition cards that don't have a gold hologram in the bottom right are fakes.
• Lack of the "Yu-Gi-Oh! Trading Card Game" logo on the card's backing (the Egyptian God Cards are the only exception; they have no logos on the back and have red, yellow, or blue-tinted backing designs. On that note, fake God Cards may have the normal coloring and logos on the back that all the normal cards have).
• "Machine" almost always written as "Maching", "Warrior" almost always written as "Fighter" and "Fiend" almost always written as "Insect". Some fake cards also has "Dinosaur" written as "Dragon", and angel instead of Fairy
• Incorrect writing of Type as well as Attribute (Attributes not written in capitals such as "fire" instead of "FIRE", or a type written with no capital such as "beast-type" instead of "Beast-type").
• Monster Cards which read "Family", "Junta", or "Race" after their Type (for example, "Dragon Family", "Warrior Junta", "Fighter Race").
• Spell Cards or Trap Cards have ATK/DEF or which have levels.
• Cards that claim to be Exodia in a single card (except "Exodia Necross" or "Exodius the Ultimate Forbidden Lord").
• Incorrect fonts.
• Card types which feature the type and sub-type being separated by a period rather than a slash (e.g. "Fighter.Effect").
• Fusion Monsters which list "Melting", "Amalgamation", "Mix" or "Combination" rather than "Fusion" in the type. Likewise, Ritual Monsters which list "Ceremony" instead of "Ritual". Synchro Monsters are often called "Homogenity" also the Tuner monsters are called "Adjuster".
• Attribute symbols which do not feature the kanji symbol for the appropriate attribute, instead just having the word, such as "Light" or "Fire".
• Most counterfeit cards have strange reflective star designs on them, somewhat similar to Duel Terminal cards.
• Some starter decks have a Yu-Gi-Oh logo that say Shonen Nump (shown at Australia).
• Incorrect color of Level/Rank.

Two Exodia counterfeits.

Note the unusual font and ATK/DEF values on what should be a magic card and the logo.

The only cards with official Chinese releases are "Blue-Eyes White Dragon" and "Dark Magician".

Often, fakes will have amusingly different card names to their legitimate counterparts.

These fakes are more convincing, but are still easily discernible to someone with an experienced eye.

More counterfeit cards. Note the errors in the background colors of the cards.

Other counterfeit cards with pictures from original cards but different names and descriptions. It is very easy to tell the real cards from the counterfeits.

If the packaging doesn't look official or is sold in small boxes, then it is most likely fake.

Fake Pieces of Exodia. Notice the horrible grammar.

Some parody cards found in a section of a magazine titled MAD Kids. As expected, they exist only to mock the card game (hence their being called Ug-ly-oh cards in this instance).

More of the same.

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