Here, at Face to Face Games, we strive to provide an accurate grading to make sure you are satisfied with your purchase. We understand that grading can be subjective on a personal level, so here is a visual guide to help you understand our criteria.
Please note that we do not guarantee any Gem Mint cards due to the sheer volume of cards handled daily.
Should you receive items not in the described conditions, please open a service ticket or contact us directly and we will rectify the situation immediately!
Near Mint (NM)
Near Mint cards show negligible wear such as:
- Scratches are not perceivable without tilting under a direct light source.
- May have surface scuffs/fogging that does not show through a sleeve.
- Borders may show superficial wear or whitening.
- Corners may show superficial nicks, but no more than two corners.
Played (PL)
Played cards may be afflicted with a wide range of wear and tear. These cards are tournament legal in sleeves and can be categorized as follows:
- Deeper scratches of up to 25% of the surface layer
- May have surface scuffs/fogging that shows through a sleeve.
- Borders may show wear or whitening of up to 25% of a card’s length, but not past the black border.
- Corners may show nicks or wear on up to all corners and can start to affect the white layer.
- Edge whitening may affect the black border and part of the white border.
- Factory printing defects that do not affect readability.
- Factory defects where scratches, or lines appear on the surface. Can be across the whole surface.
- Factory miscuts on corners or edges, such as scraped ink on foils or blunt cutter.
*If a card shows multiple categories of wear, it may be subject to a downgrading to Heavily Played (HP)
Heavily Played (HP)
Cards in this condition will likely be refused for purchase. Most of these are no longer tournament playable. These cards may show the following :
- Scratches and scuffing that passed the blue layer.
- Fogging or dirt that covers the majority of the surface.
- May have surface impacts or indentations that can be felt through a sleeve.
- May have cardboard degradation such as shuffle ripples, puffing or severe corner integrity that allows for shuffle tracking.
Damaged
Cards in this condition will be refused for purchase and may show the following :
- Factory production indentation such as mechanical crimping and seal/date imprints that are perceptible through a sleeve.
- Advanced cardboard degradation such as, but not limited to, creases, punctures and tears.
- Strong Odors, such as smoke or mold. These will be refused and may have cards in the same container be refused as well to prevent cross-contamination. Cards yellowed by cigarette smoke may be refused as well.
**Being phased out. Only valid for orders placed before July 30th, 2020.