HOW TO IDENTIFY FOIL MAGIC CARDS
Foil printings can be worth many times the non-foil version, so telling them apart matters before you price or trade a card. Here is what to look for - and how the scanner does it.
The four reliable signs
- Rainbow colour shift. Tilt the card under a single light source. A foil shows bands of green, pink and blue that move - colours that do not belong to the artwork itself.
- The holo stamp. Rare and mythic cards from Magic 2015 onwards carry an oval stamp at the bottom centre. On a foil it sparkles.
- Mirror sheen across whole regions. A glossy sleeve reflects a small bright patch; a foil lights up entire areas at once.
- Curling. Foils warp slightly over time because the foil layer and the card stock react differently to humidity.
What is not proof of a foil
Camera flash, a penny sleeve, a bright glare patch, a shiny set symbol or a scan of a card all produce shine without a foil layer. If there is no moving colour shift, treat the card as non-foil.
Every foil type
Traditional foil
The standard shiny printing. A soft, cloudy pastel rainbow drifts across the whole card and the set symbol and holo stamp light up when tilted.
Surge foil
Introduced with Warhammer 40,000 Commander. Irregular, organic diagonal streaks that look like an oil slick rippling from the top right to the bottom left.
Rainbow & double rainbow foil
A full spectral wash across the card. Double rainbow adds a second mirrored spectrum, so the colours repeat twice as you tilt.
Galaxy foil
Star-like circles of varying size sparkle across the card and shift hue depending on the viewing angle.
Etched foil
A matte, textured finish with metallic detailing rather than a full mirror sheen. Etched cards are priced separately from ordinary foils.
Gilded, halo, neon ink and oil slick
Premium treatments limited to specific sets: raised gold frames, halo swirls, single-colour neon ink and near-black oil slick raised foil.
Let the scanner check for you
Magic Mark reads the colour shift from your photo, cross-checks whether that printing was ever released in foil, and prices the correct finish. You can always override the call yourself before exporting to a binder.
Scan a card