Frequently Asked Questions

A variation is caused when the card company introduces a change to the printing plate of a card after the printing process has begun, causing another distinct version of a card that differs from the original in some way. An example would be a situation where some cards are printed when they then notice a grammatical error. They fix the error and continue printing the cards using a corrected printing plate and both version of the cards make it into packs.

A printing error is the result of a misfire during the printing process. Some examples include cards with blank fronts or backs, cards with mismatched fronts or backs, mis-cut cards, cards with missing foil, cards with different color shades due to variances in ink levels, cards that miss a color layer completely, and cards with random splotches due to inking glitches or dust particles.

While the site does attempt to catalog variations, it does not attempt to catalog printing errors due to their random nature. Exception is granted to certain printing errors due to either their notoriety or prevalence in the hobby.

Members can still document printing errors in their collection by editing the details of the card and either adding a note or attaching a tag to the entry.