How to spot fake Gundam Card Game cards: six checks before you buy

The Gundam Card Game is a year old and its chase cards already cost enough to be worth faking. The fakes follow the pattern of every Bandai card game before it: the Legend Rares and the alternate-art parallels, sold singly at a price that is just low enough to tempt, or as a "complete LR set" that would be a steal if any of it were real. These six checks catch almost all of them.

Which cards get faked

The expensive ones. This is today's top ten by TCGplayer market price, rebuilt every morning. A listing for any of these at a fraction of the Market figure is a fake until the card proves otherwise.

#	Card	Set	Rarity	Market	7d
1	EX Base (EXBP-028) (1st Anniversary Event) (Serialized) EXBP-028	Promotional EX Base Tokens	Promo	$10,000	0.0%
2	Wing Gundam (LR+) ST02-001	Edition Beta	LR+	$9,999	0.0%
3	Wing Gundam Zero (EW) (LR++) GD05-067	Freedom Ascension	LR++	$3,910	0.0%
4	Freedom Gundam (Newtype Challenge 2026 Mission 1) GD01-065	Gundam Promotional Cards	Legend Rare	$2,714	0.0%
5	Strike Freedom Gundam (LR++) GD05-002	Freedom Ascension	LR++	$2,606	0.0%
6	Gundam (GD01-001) (LR++) GD01-001	Newtype Rising	LR++	$2,409	+8.6%
7	Char Aznable (C+) ST03-011	Edition Beta	C+	$2,300	0.0%
8	Nu Gundam (LR++) GD05-017	Freedom Ascension	LR++	$1,532	0.0%
9	Banagher Links (U+) GD01-088	Edition Beta	U+	$1,525	+4.3%
10	Amate Yuzuriha (Machu) (World Championship Regionals 26-27 Season 1) (Finalist) ST06-009	Gundam Promotional Cards	Common	$1,500	0.0%

The longer list is on the most expensive Gundam Card Game cards; counterfeiters also target the LR+ and LR++ parallels, which our rarities guide explains.

1. The card number and rarity must exist

Every card carries a number in the form GD01-001 (set code, then the card's number in the set) with its rarity beside it. The number tells you the exact printing, and this site lists every printing with its rarity. Search the card's name, open the result with the matching number, and compare: if the number is not in that set, or the rarity on the card was never printed with that number (an "LR" of a card that only exists as R, say), the card is not real. Counterfeit sets are full of parallels that were never printed.

2. The foil must match the rarity

Each rarity has a specific finish. The rare-plus parallels and LRs have a foil treatment with a fine, even pattern that shifts as you tilt the card, while the text stays crisp on top of it. Fakes most often show a flat rainbow sheen over the whole card, borders and text included, or are glossy with no shift at all. Tilt a known-real foil beside the suspect card: the difference is obvious in seconds. Bandai also prints a small holographic mark on the front of its cards; on a fake it is often a flat silver square with no image inside, or missing.

3. The back

The back of every card is identical, and it is the easiest comparison to make because any common from a pack you opened yourself is a perfect reference. Fakes are usually paler or more saturated, slightly blurred, or printed off-centre so one border is thicker than the other. The printing on a real back is sharp to the edge.

4. The stock

A real card is stiff and dense with a slight matte feel; it bends back flat and barely glows when held to a bright light. Fakes tend to be thinner, glossier or laminated-feeling, and often slightly off in size. Sleeve it with a real card and look at the edges: a size difference shows at once.

5. The price

Counterfeiters price to sell. Every card page here shows TCGplayer's market price, every store we track and the eBay listings for that exact printing, so a price can be judged in seconds. An LR at a third of market from a new seller, or a seller who happens to have every chase card in the game in perfect condition, is a warning. A "complete LR set" for the price of two real LRs is a box of fakes.

6. The seller

Buy from the stores we list, each a real card shop, or from marketplace sellers with a long record of card sales and photos of the actual card front and back. Stock images, shipping from a country the English game is not distributed in, and lots of ten or twenty chase cards together are the usual signs of a counterfeit listing.

If you already have one

Marketplaces refund counterfeit goods: open a case with photos beside a real card and point to the number check. Do not pass it on. A proxy among friends is one thing; a fake in a trade or a sale is fraud.