Card Recognition
How PowerList TCG identifies a card from a scan, what it reads off the card, and what you get once it has.
Where Recognition Sits in the Workflow
Identify the card once at scan time, and everything after it uses that answer.
What Recognition Reads from a Card
Five details, read from a single image, that together identify which version of the card you are holding.
| Field | What It Determines | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Card name | The base card and its artwork. | Charizard ex |
| Set | Which release the card came from. One card name can appear across dozens of sets at very different values. | Obsidian Flames |
| Collector number | Which card within that set. Read together with the set, which keeps reprints that reuse a number separate. | 125 / 197 |
| Rarity | The print tier. Feeds the price and fills the rarity field on your listing. | Special Illustration Rare |
| Finish | The foil treatment. Priced separately from the plain version, and read from the foil pattern not from any printed text. | Holofoil |
Getting all five right is what separates a card worth four dollars from the same card worth four hundred. Once they are set, the price, the images, and the listing details come with them.
How a Batch Runs
The same five steps whether the batch is twenty cards or two thousand.
Start a Batch
Name it, pick the game, and set the condition the batch is graded at. Near Mint by default, and you can change any card later.
Narrow It Down
Optionally limit the batch to certain sets, rarities, or finishes, or exclude ones you know are not in the pile. Sorted cards match better.
Scan the Cards
A card scanner is how a big pile gets done in an evening. A phone works too, and is fine for smaller batches. Capture the front only, or front and back if you want both images on the listing.
Check the Results
Most cards come back ready to accept. Ones it is unsure about wait for you with the likely alternatives listed, and you pick the right one.
Commit the Batch
Adjust condition or quantity on anything that needs it, then commit. The cards land in your inventory priced and ready to list.
Things Worth Knowing
Behaviors that affect what ends up in your inventory.
Holo, Reverse Holo, and Foil
The foil treatment is read off the card itself, because nothing printed on it says which one you have. A Pokémon regular, holo, and reverse holo can share one card number and sell for three very different prices. Magic foils, Yu-Gi-Oh! rarity tiers, and Lorcana enchanted cards work the same way.
Reprints and Shared Numbers
Anniversary runs and promos often reuse a set code and number from an older card worth far more, or far less. Set, number, and rarity are read together so a modern reprint does not get priced as the original.
Cards It Is Unsure About
When two printings are close enough that a wrong pick is likely, the card waits for you with both options shown instead of being confirmed on its own. That keeps the guesswork on your screen instead of in your listings.
Batch Filters
You can limit a batch to particular sets, rarities, or finishes, or rule out ones you know are not in the pile. It is the difference between scanning a sorted box and scanning a shoebox, and it is the biggest thing you control.
Duplicates Stay Separate
Five copies of the same card in three conditions are tracked as five items, not one pile of five. Each keeps its own condition and price, and when one sells you are told which copy to pull.
Cards It Does Not Know
Brand new sets, obscure promos, and regional printings occasionally fall outside the catalog. Those get flagged for you to report instead of being pushed onto the closest lookalike.
Supported Games and Catalog Coverage
Each game has its own catalog, its own rarity vocabulary, and its own rules for what counts as a separate printing.
Pokémon TCG
Regular, Holo, and Reverse Holo held as separate entries on every card, plus the promo and black star sets that reuse main-set numbering.
Magic: The Gathering
Foil and non-foil as separate printings across sets going back decades, where a single card name can span dozens of entries.
Yu-Gi-Oh!
Rarity tiers and edition printings held distinct, including reprints that reuse a card number from a set twenty years older.
Star Wars Unlimited
Full set coverage, with hyperspace and showcase printings tracked separately from the base card.
Disney Lorcana
Standard, foil, and enchanted printings identified separately. An enchanted card is never priced against the common version.
Dragon Ball Super CCG
Set, number, and rarity resolved together, since the number alone does not identify the printing.
Digimon Card Game
Alternate art and parallel rare printings held distinct from the base card, where most of the value sits.
One Piece Card Game
Alternate art, parallel, manga and event printings of the same number kept as separate entries, and the printing named in the listing title.
Riftbound
Runes and tokens read by their own numbers. A main-set card and its Organized Play promo share a number and name, so one that could be either waits for your review instead of being guessed.
Gundam Card Game
A plus-mark parallel shares its base card's number and set, so the rarity box picks the printing. A card that also exists as a promo with the same number waits for your review instead of being guessed.
Known Limits
What it does not do, none of it a surprise halfway through a box.
- Condition is not read from the image. You set it on the batch and adjust individual cards. Grading is a judgment buyers hold you to and it changes the price, which keeps it your call.
- The catalog covers English printings. A card in another language may match on artwork and number but land on the English version, so check those yourself.
- The card is identified from the front. A back image can be captured and added to the listing, but the front is what gets read.
- Unknown cards need you. Anything outside the catalog is flagged instead of forced onto a lookalike, and a handful of cards per batch may need a manual decision.
Card Recognition: Common Questions
How accurate is card recognition?
Better than 95% of cards match correctly on the first pass, measured on real seller batches, not a clean test set. Narrowing a batch to one set pushes it higher, because most of the cards it could confuse are ruled out before it starts.
How fast is it?
Under a second per card, and batches run many cards at once, so a few hundred finish in minutes. Most of your time goes to scanning and checking, not waiting.
Do I need a card scanner?
No. A card scanner is what makes volume practical, and it is what most sellers moving thousands of cards use. A phone works perfectly well for smaller batches. With a scanner you feed the stack and let it run. Shooting by hand works too: cards face up on a plain surface, or the phone parked on a stand while you work through the pile. Images you already have can be uploaded directly.
Can it tell a Reverse Holo from a regular card?
Yes, and it treats them as different cards. The same applies to Magic foils, Lorcana enchanted cards, and Yu-Gi-Oh! rarity tiers. The foil treatment is part of the identification. The price that follows belongs to the version you own.
What happens when a card is identified wrong?
Cards it is unsure about are never confirmed on their own. They wait for you with the likely alternatives listed. If a card you already confirmed turns out wrong, changing it updates your inventory and any listing built from it.
Can I scan cards in sleeves or toploaders?
Usually. Glare is the thing to watch. A glossy toploader under a direct overhead light can wash out the foil pattern, which is what separates a holo from a reverse holo. Angle the light or shoot the card bare.
Does it read the card condition?
No. You set a condition for the batch and change individual cards as needed. Grading is a judgment buyers hold you to and it changes what the card is worth, which keeps it your call.
What if the card is not in the catalog?
It is flagged instead of matched to the closest lookalike, and you can report it so the card gets added. The catalog covers more than 300,000 printings across ten games and grows as new sets release.
Can I scan cards printed in another language?
The catalog carries English printings, which is what scanning is built around. A non-English card may match on artwork and number but land on the English version, so check those before you list them.
Does scanning use up my plan allowance?
Each card scanned counts as one against your plan. A Starter trial includes 100 scans, and it ends at 100 scans or 14 days, whichever comes first. On a paid plan, scan packs cover a big buy that runs past your monthly count. Checking or re-confirming a card you already scanned costs nothing extra.
Keep Reading
Every feature below is included on every plan.
Stop Typing Card Names.
Scan a card and it identifies itself, down to the printing and the foil.
