Mo’ Fakes, Mo’ Problems
Rumors are being passed around of an “Official Card Game Bonus Pack -2025-” supplied with fake cards to support it exists. This product is claimed to be released December 23rd, 2025.
So how do I know this is fake?
Before even looking at the cards themselves.
A) This product was not announced via Yu-Gi-Oh!.jp. This is the main website Konami and its business partners use to announce major Japanese product releases, and is used by both stores and consumers to know there is upcoming product to order and purchase.
If there was such a product, we’d post such a product here. I mean. We regularly post even about Rush Duel products.
B) December 23rd, 2025 is a Tuesday. Yu-Gi-Oh! product in Japan officially goes on sale on Saturdays. There are very rare exceptions against this but a pack this big would. Again. Be. Announced. And likely go on sale.
For the weekend.
And probably be distributed at Jump Festa. On the 20th-21st.
Bold Mefist
To start with.
The effect text looks wrong. It’s very simply formatted wrong. It looks too mechanical and copy pasted from a website without consideration to the font.
Konami’s official font on their official proxies has a much more natural feeling ‘bounce’ to them.
Compare the way the text is written here feels much more stylized with its own specialized font.
Next. It says 「ボールド・メフィスト」のこの効果は１ターンに１度しか使用できない。in its effect text. The way Konami writes monster effects on its effects and proxies for a monster that has one effect like this is “このカード名の効果は１ターンに１度しか使用できない。”. このカード名の効果は１ターンに１度しか使用できない。should also be at the start of the Monster Effect.
Also, very simply, its text lacks a ① for the Monster Effect. It also lacks a ① and ② in the Pendulum Effect.
And you know the most damning part. Its name in the text box is 大胆なメフィストDaitan-na Mefist. The monster effect text lists ボールド・メフィスト Bold Mefist in Katakana, i.e. Boorudo Mefisuto.
And 大胆 doesn’t have the hiragana だいたん above it. I know people might scream this to my face, but the Yu-Gi-Oh! Official Card Game (and Rush Duel) is aimed at little children in Kindergarten and Elementary School and has its text written for them to be able to read.
Hiragana and Katakana are the characters little children in Japanese read. When Hiragana or Katakana is above a card name, it’s so a child can read the text. Because certain complicated characters (i.e. Kanji, an import from China) only start being taught at certain grade levels due to complexity reasons.
and you know, none of the actual effect text has furigana.
Mulcharmy Abysato
Let’s hit this:
多多迷宝 is the Simplfied Chinese for a Mulcharmy. Doesn’t have マルチャミー in the Name Text Box.
Effect Text is badly formatted and lacks Furigana.
Lacks a ① .
The text at the bottom should be at the top of the text box. The OCG puts conditions on effects before the effects.
Good Night, Nemleria!
Badly formatted name (uses wrong font)
Badly formatted effect text (uses wrong font) and lacks Furigana.
Lacks a ① in the effect text.
It uses (速攻). The OCG does not clarify if an effect is a Quick Effect (it’s a bit of a minor guessing game).
Does not have このカード名の効果は１ターンに１度しか使用できない.
Pink Resonator
Badly formatted name (uses wrong font)
Badly formatted effect text (uses wrong font) and lacks Furigana.
Does not have このカード名の効果は１ターンに１度しか使用できない.
Lacks a ① in the effect text.
Magikuriboh Apprentice
Name lacks Furigana and is badly formatted.
Badly formatted effect text (uses wrong font) and lacks Furigana.
It does have ① and ② in the effect text and the right condition string. But the ① would on the same line as the condition text string.
Solo Polymerization
Name does not have Furigana and is badly formatted.
Badly formatted effect text (uses wrong font) and lacks Furigana.
Lacks a ① in the Japanese effect text.
Does not have proper condition string and name references a different card (
There is no ポリメリゼーション in Yu-Gi-Oh!. Polymerization in Japan is 融合 (i.e. Yuugou). The 4kids localization was very Cute when they localized the card name.
Serious Possum
Name does not have Furigana and is badly formatted.
Badly formatted effect text (uses wrong font) and lacks Furigana.
Does have 1: 2: and 3: but this is wrong. it should be ① ② ③
Name does not have Furigana and is badly formatted.
Badly formatted effect text (uses wrong font) and lacks Furigana.
Condition Text is at the end of the card text.
38 Comments
Cool read 🙂
I still remember when World of Nightshroud everyone was excited only to found out it was fake.
I remember years ago about a fake B.E.S. Structure Deck that literally fooled everyone, including YGOrg’s top brass.
That takes me back. I’m sad now.
Poor Nemleria. It’s such a cute pic, too.
AI has definitely gotten out of control. Also Solo Poly art tho 😳.
These feel too thoughtful to be generated or mainly generated, too many moving parts and a certain artsyle fidelity. They’re definitely closer to someone’s art project put forward as a prank.
Who knows they might be real at this point, knowing Konami. Really desperate at the moment.
Who knows… Literal anyone who is up to recent news around here.
Not gonna lies, i quite like pink resonator lol
now i want blood mefist support 🙁
All these effects read like bad custom cards. Even the english part is full of errors, like 2 semi-colons on the same effect, something I often see in bad custom cards.
Yeah but people could excuse that on lazy translation of an actual card, so I didn’t bother on that end.
The effect themselves are fineish, I’ll say they’re more interesting and thoughtful than what 99% of customs circulating in mainstream platforms think to offer. To play advocate though, you cannot really jauge quality of an OCG card byway of the English translation, because the card itself is in/designed to be in Japanese; so under respectful scrutiny, a messy translation doesn’t reduce legitimacy any more than human mistake can.
“doesn’t reduce legitimacy any more than human mistake can.”
The person downplaying something for” circulating in mainstream platforms think “
@devil’s advocate
I don’t understand your point? What exactly do you think you’re getting at? These two claims are not even slightly relates to each other, are you okay?
A card can be fake and have thought and effort put behind it, as much as it can be a complete miss. You very clearly have never seen what people believe to be realistic custom cards if you even think to compare them to this batch of cards.
The legitimacy comment was about the fact that despite the translation being shaky, it doesn’t make them any less fake if they’re primarily written in Japanese. Which is what Arkadia, and the article as a whole was getting at; notice how they didn’t break down the PCST of the English side? A translation from Dueling Nexus can be different from Ygorg’s, which can itself be different from the eventual TCG localization. Because, if you had any knowledge on how card news information circulates, you would know that Konami only puts forward what’s on the left of the image in 99% of cases.
Thus, a Google Translated English translated of a Japanese card is not making these obligatory fake, because this is something you see often in small circles and other news outlet that aren’t Ygorg. You have to be joking with that reply, really.
People who make these and trick others into thinking they are real, are just awful.
I saw only the resonator, which actually I believed it was real referering to Carly, Jack’s love interest
so it got me by surprise to know its all fake
but lord I have fake cards, thank the lord it was’t HERO cards … I would be pretty mad …
anyway, thank you a lot for this and I always check you before anyone else (sometimes it does pop on my facebook page in all honesty) but I definitely come back to you to check it
keep up the amazing work you do
Vision Resonator is based on Carly, as it shares design elements with her fortune faries, as well as her glasses.
I couldn’t fake cards because it was too hard
Looks like someone else tried
Almost all of these are obviously fake
Honestly, the possible confusion with 50% of these cards is understandable; the others are a little more obvious, but if you’re not very familiar with Yugi, it might go unnoticed
This isn’t AI Slop
Shame those are fake cards, a lot of them look surprisingly good. Not every day you find fake cards with appropriate artworks instead of awkwardly cribbed pics from the internet.
THANK YOU! I fell for one of these posts earlier myself the “mulcharmy” I thought it’s effect strange compared to others of the series but great arts in most of these fakes but I kept noticing the lack of 1) 2) 3) I’m used to seeing on Asian cards……one reason we have trouble reading TCG cards is they lack that simple method.
BONUS PACK with no sky striker cards, of course it has to be fake.
I deadass thought we were actually getting a Goblin Calligrapher archetype/series that supported Fake Trap for the game before reading on lmao
The last one (Eternal Friendship) also has an artwork that looks like it has been AI generated
i dont think they are real cuz there is no way pink resonator doesnt strict you to only synchro summon
How has nobody brought up yet that the effect of Bold Mefist is either obviously AI generated or at the very least written by somebody who has no idea how Yugioh works?
How tf are you summoning Pendulum Monsters from the GY? *Buh huh, G.B. Hunter* yeah dude for sure I bet that’s totally an interaction Konami would print card support for.
Pendulum monsters still go to the GY if they are sent from anywhere other than the field. Discarded, milled, detached from Xyz, etc. The pendulum summon from GY is entirely something they could do if they wanted to.
The immediate tell for me that these were fake, just being given the effects and not seeing the card mock-ups, was the Kuriboh. The Japanese used for “Magician” in Dark Magician and the “Magician” in Pendulum Magicians are entirely different words, which is why all of the Magician support is specifically templated to only work on Pendulums. They couldn’t print anything that blanket works with “Magician” monsters like that without going way out of the way to. Then I saw the mock-ups and had to ask my friends if they seriously believed these.
I want Solo Poly to be real so badly
They should make this a thing. It could be like the Unglued set from MTG.
Konami shouldn’t take itself too seriously.
Fake Cards that are real, could be fun.
I’ve no idea how anyone would think these were real. Their designs scream fake and the text is clearly wrong even to non-JP readers.
Thought that DMG Kuriboh is adorable and I’m sad that’ll never be a thing. Solo Poly sounds like a fun anime card too.
* looks like
noooo Magigirl Kuriboh D: