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Textured Foil

Also written: Texture foil

A premium Magic finish with a raised, physically feelable texture worked into the foil surface.

Physical formThe card itself is made differently

Textured foil is a premium Magic: The Gathering finish in which the foil surface carries a raised, physically feelable pattern. Unlike every other foil treatment, you identify this one with a fingertip before you identify it with your eyes — the texture is a real relief on the card, often shaped to echo something in the artwork or the frame.

How to tell the three foil finishes apart

Textured

You can feel it. A raised pattern under a fingertip. This is the only one of the three that changes the card physically.

Surge

You can see a large ripple travelling across the face at an angle, but the surface is smooth.

Etched

A fine grain in the shine across the whole card, flatter stock, far less curl.

Condition

A raised surface takes wear on its high points and holds oils in its low ones, and neither is recoverable. Textured cards should be sleeved directly out of the pack and handled by the edges. The same physics applies to Yu-Gi-Oh!'s Ultimate Rare and to Pokémon's Special Illustration Rares — anything you can feel, you can also scuff.

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