Grading Guide

At Crackerjack Games, we work to provide accurate grading to make sure you are happy with your purchase. Understanding that grading can be subjective, we are outlining our conditions grading guide here. 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 contact us directly and we will rectify the situation. 

 
Near Mint (NM)


Near Mint cards show negligible wear such as:

  • Scratches that can only be seen at an angle with a direct light source.
  • Foils may have surface fogging that does not show through a sleeve.
  • Borders may show minor or superficial wear or whitening.
  • Corners may show minor nicks or whitening on corners.
     

Lightly Played (LP)

 

Lightly Played cards show more significant wear than Near Mint, Such as:

  • Light Scratching of up to a quarter of the surface layer
  • May have surface scuffs/fogging that shows through a sleeve.
  • Borders may show wear or whitening, but not past the black border.
  • Corners may show nicks or wear.
  • Edge whitening may affect the black border and part of the white border.

 

Moderately Played (MP)

Moderately played cards may be afflicted with a wide range of wear and tear. These cards are tournament playable in sleeves and can be categorized as follows:

  • Deeper scratches of up to 50% 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.

 

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 from  extensive play, puffing and rippling.
  • Severe corner integrity that can be spotted when the card is sleeved.
     

Damaged

Cards in this condition will be likely be refused for purchase and may show the following:

  • Factory errors, such as crimp marks or ink blotches.
  • Advanced cardboard degradation such as, but not limited to, creases, punctures and tears.
  • Odors, such as cigarette smoke or moldy smells.
  • Water damage.