What is the Forstle Forensics Resource?

The Forstle Forensics Resource (FFR) was created because of the lack of good information that is out there on the Internet regarding how to determine the lineage of a card. In other words... what set does the card that you have really belong to? There are two main sections that will start you on your way: Cards with Set Symbols and Cards without Set Symbols. The majority of the cards that are in existence today have a Set Symbol on them so that is the easy part to explain and is the first section that is covered. The harder part comes into play when the cards do not have Set Symbols as in the case of sets like: Alpha, Beta, Revised, 4th Edition, and 5th Edition.

Cards with Set Symbols

In most cases, the answer is easy... the symbol that appears between the card picture and the card text that is right justified tells you which set it is from. For example, these are some of the symbols that appear on Magic the Gathering cards that you may recognize:

- Tempest    - Urza's Legacy    - Mirage

Each symbol uniquely defines which set the card you are examining is a part of. For a complete list of these symbols, you can check out our Set Symbol Index and Set Summary Index.

  • If your card has two set symbols on it, click here.
  • If your card has a gold date on it, click here.

    • Cards without Set Symbols

    This is the section that most people will find interesting and it is also the section that most people really need to read. It is broken down into sub-sections so that you can choose, based on the card you are researching which section you need to read more about.

    Read the following statements and follow the FIRST one that is applicable to your card. If you do not follow read these statements in the order they are shown here, your results will be incorrect and you will most likey be telling people you have one type of card when it may very well be another.

  • If the back of your card is blank, click here.

  • If your card has a set symbol, click here.

  • If your card has a year at the very bottom of the card, click here.

  • If your card is has a white border, click here.

  • If your card is has a black border, click here.

    If you are at this point, you did not choose one of the above options and most likely you are holding either (A) something that isn't a Magic the Gathering card or (B) something that is a non-standard card, possibly a promotional card.

    • Cards with Issues!

    Sometimes you get special reprints, promotional cards, fake cards, etc... These do not conform to any of the rules above and make it hard to determine where the cards really come from. The following are some examples of cards that have been provided by our visitors with explainations (or not) of where they came from: