Cards 110, 111 and 112: Bluer than Blue

This Jace, Architecht of Thought comes from Matti Hämäläinen, a prominent player in Tampere.

These cards were given to me by other players at my local game store. Unfortunately I do not remember from whom each card came from.

In today's haul we have a few moderately bent cards in Gideon's Reproach and Siege-Gang Commander and a beautiful deep dark blue Jace, Architect of Thought. The Reproach and Commander have been bent in use and do not have particularry interesting stories to them.

The Jace on the other hand had been lost on Matti's floor for a while until it was discovered under his kitchen sink. It should go without saying that the card was no longer in mint condition by then. It has been soaked in various mysterious liquids and the current best guess for the dark colour and the slight smell is cooking oil. Let this be a lesson that kitchens are not safe places for collectible cards.

Card 109: Introducing the Chew Test

This card was sent to me by Jouni Saikkonen, a local player here in Jyväskylä. Many thanks to him!

This Swift Warkite has been thoroughly chewed and the blue inner layer found inside Magic cards is both visible and has had its blue ink practically sucked out. The reason for its condition is that the card has undergone a new method for detecting counterfeit cards.

Jouni's toddler daughter cares for him a great deal and is understandably concerned about the value of the Magic collection she will eventually inherit. To make sure her father does not get scammed by shady Magic dealers, she has done extensive Research and Development and is now ready to introduce the Chew Test to the Magic community. This method for spotting counterfeit cards is absolutely infallible, simple to perform and is roughly as invasive as many other popular card testing methods.

To perform the test, you should hand a suspicious seeming card to a nearby toddler. Then all you need to do is patiently wait for them to chew on it until the test is complete and they are ready to let go of the card. It is important to not interrupt this process, as an interrupted test will not give reliable results. Once the toddler indicates that the process is complete, all you need to do is inspect their mouth.

If their lips have turned vivid blue, the card is genuine. If the colour indicator does not change from pink to blue, you have found a counterfeit card. This test is very easy to perform and is very reliable. The best thing is, the Chew Test is unlikely to leave your cards in any worse condition than the famous Bend Test would!