Card

In Magic: The Gathering, a card is the standard component of the game and one of its resources. The word card can refer to an individual physical or digital card, or the identity of a card by name without having a specific instance of it in mind. As a game entity, cards exist in most zones of play, but theoretically not the battlefield or stack. Official Magic cards conform to a specific style on their two faces, whereas other card-like objects like token cards are technically not Magic cards at all.
==Description==
Tournament-legal cards are sized like European playing cards because they were first printed in Belgium by Cartamundi. They measure 63 mm x 88 mm (approx. 2.5" x 3.5") and weigh 0.064 ounces (1.814 grams). Non-foil cards have 12 pt thickness equivalent to 12 mils (0.012" or 0.3048 mm). The corners of the card are cut with a radius of 2.5 mm (approx. 1/10")
Magic cards, like regular playing cards, are made from two layers of cardstock joined together by an adhesive polymer-core which gives the card "snap" and some opacity. The continued use of blue-core for Magic cards is an anachronism for product continuity as it is an inferior product (less opaque) to contemporary black-core which was not a cost-effective option back in 1992. Some contemporary cards are printed in Japan and will have a purple core ostensibly because it is more readily recycled as required by Japanese law. Foil cards have an extra layer on the card that highlights certain parts of the artwork over others, the "white under-print plate", or "WUP." A varnish coating - a very thin, clear protective finish - is applied over the top of printed materials. 
Official Magic cards always have a Magic card front and a Magic card back, unless they are double-faced cards or meld cards. Rules inserts and tokens lack these, so they are not technically cards. They're also made of different cardstock than gameplay cards, not having the opaque layer in the middle.
Magic cards pass global toy safety regulations for heavy metals and other hazardous chemicals. The cards are non-toxic and completely safe for normal use and foreseeable abuse for children 8 years and older.
Non-foil cards (including the blue adhesive "core") are fully recyclable.
==Rules==
A card is only referred to as a "card" by game rules or effects when in a player's hand, library, graveyard, exile, or command zones. Tokens are never considered cards, even if cards are used to represent them. When a card has been cast and is on the stack waiting to resolve, the game refers to it as a "spell." When a card is on the battlefield, the game refers to it as a "permanent," or simply by its type or subtype. Very old card text may refer to interacting with cards on the battlefield, but they have received errata to refer to "non-token permanents" instead since all non-token objects on the battlefield are indeed represented by cards.
==Parts of a card==
On a card face, several elements can be distinguished.
==Card legality==
==Misprints==
A misprint is a mistake in a printed card resulting from editorial or mechanical failures of some kind.
==Marked cards==
A marked card is a card in a deck that can be identified by some means other than looking at its face. Protective sleeves can also be considered marked similarly. Marked cards are illegal in all tournament play because there may be a chance that the player is cheating by knowing all the marks and may predict their draws. 
Some examples of features that make a card "marked" include excessive wear, patterned wear, pen markings, card curvature, or card-back color saturation. Card curvature can matter when using foiled premium cards, as early foil cards would warp differently than normal cards. Card-back color saturation can matter when using cards from different sets, especially when combining older and newer cards. Older cards tend to have a more varied and lower saturation to the card back while newer cards have a more homogeneous and higher saturation to them.
Card sleeves could also be marked, e.g. if the part of the sleeve is creased deliberately. A card in a marked sleeve is treated as a marked card.
==Altered cards==
Some players and collectors have their cards signed by artists, written on by celebrities, drawn on, or otherwise "embellished". In recent years it has become a popular pastime to erase parts of a card, leaving the name bar, P/T, or any other pertinent information intact, before applying layers of colored ink by hand with a wide variety of pencils, pens, or markers and thus creating extended or original art. Sometimes, the foil layer from one card is carefully peeled away, trimmed down, and glued onto another card for visual effect ("foil peel"). 
In tournaments, it is always the head judge's call as to whether a card is "disruptively" altered. Cards with just a signature on them are almost universally acceptable; the fuzziness starts when the whole text box is covered or if the art is obscured too much. Even if the card name is readable, altered cards can be ruled illegal if they seem deceptive to your opponent from a distance.
==Traditional vs nontraditional cards==
Nontraditional magic cards (like Schemes and Planes) are typically oversized as opposed to traditional magic cards. 
==Counterfeits==
If a non-foil Magic card is bent corner-to-corner (or top-to-bottom), it will not crease, and will bounce back to its original state instead.Warning: Magic Counterfeiting on the Rise, The Duelist #8, December 1995 This is one way in which people test for counterfeit cards, although it should be carried out with caution, as even a genuine card may fail after repeated bending. If you put the card up to a strong light, you should be able to see through the card. If no light passes through the card, the card is likely fake. Another test is the "Green Dot" dot test: You need a jeweler's loupe. Put it on the green dot on the card back of the card and look for an L-shaped set of red dots within that green dot. If the pattern isn't there, the card is likely fake.Detecting Fakes: Green Dot test
Illegal counterfeit boxes of Magic as well as counterfeit single cards have been produced and distributed. Most counterfeits are easily distinguishable as fakes by a different color, gloss coating, or texture. Wizards of the Coast takes legal action, when appropriate.
In November 1995, the Windsor, Ontario Police in Canada were informed that two men were running a counterfeiting operation in the area. The police seized 40,000 counterfeit Magic cards, as well as film plates for the reproduction of more. Eighteen rare cards (including moxes and dual lands) were printed 2,200 times each. The men were charged with eighteen counts under the Canadian Copyright Act.The Duelist 15 (February 1997), p. 17 In 2002, white-bordered versions of regular black-bordered cards were sold as exclusives. It turned out it was possible to "erase" the border off of a card using transparent tape and a good eraser.
==Authorized cards==
==Card Identification and Interpretation==
==Proxies==
A proxy is a card that represents another card in casual play. They are forbidden at DCI-sanctioned tournaments.
==References==
Cards