This article details what the Matchprint cards are and reveals a set list with quantities, but also explains why I no longer want to acquire the Pichu card.

Quuador's Matchprint Pikachu (picture from Reddit).
Quuador's Matchprint Pikachu (picture from Reddit).

Introduction

On 29th April 2013, The_Charizard_Authority (more commonly known today as TCA Gaming) posted a thread on the PokeGym forums titled A few more unique cards “Match Prints”[1] which linked through to TCA’s personal PhotoBucket galary showing a few obscure square cut Expedition Base Set cards with white backs. This thread featured very little information and attracted little attention.

A month later he came back with a more informative YouTube video titled WORLD DEBUT of Pokemon “MATCH PRINTS” Color Testing Cards[2] which explains that he picked these up from a former Wizards of the Coast employee who had 2 copies of each of the rare cards along with a complete set of uncommon cards and a handful of the common cards from the set.

The first initial thought is that they're fake and they're not real cards. These cards were used for colour proofing. I got them from an official Wizards of the Coast designer.

— TCA Gaming

Fast forward to 10th January 2014, TCA posted another higher quality video titled Ebay Guide: MATCHPRINTS Color-Proofing Test Cards!”[3] where he explains that he has 2 of each of the rare cards, 2 of each of the uncommon cards, 2 of some of the common cards, up to 4 of some of the trainer cards and 1 Water Energy (see Original Set List with Quantities at the end of this article).

Motivation for this Article and why I’m No Longer Interested

ca-fada's Matchprint Pichu (picture from eBay).
ca-fada's Matchprint Pichu (picture from eBay).

This blog post has been spurred on by a Matchprint Pichu appearing on eBay from Canadian seller ca-fada[4]. I had already known about the existence of the Matchprint cards, but before making them an offer I decided to do some research into how these cards may have come to be.

Unfortunately what I discovered is that it’s very likely that anyone with the right tools and a relatively low budget can print these DIY style in such a way that would make them very difficult to distinguish from real copies.

What is “Matchprint” anyway?

The cards have become known as “Matchprint cards” because of a watermark which is partially printed on the back of them:

DIGITAL HALFTONE


IMATION MATCHPRINT
        COMMERCIAL BASE

In May 2000, Xerox and Imation formed a stategic alliance covering printing and proofing products[5]. Imation Matchprint™ was one of the first products they jointly launched in 2001, with Imation providing the proofing technology and Xerox providing the hardware. An enhancement to this, Digital Halftone, was released in September 2001.

Imation Matchprint™ Professional Server stock photo.
Imation Matchprint™ Professional Server stock photo.

Proofing works by feeding a sheet of Xerox Commercial White Color Laser Proofing Paper into a Xerox DocuColor™ 12 Copier/Printer then loading up the Imation Matchprint™ Professional Server software and configuring and calibrating how the print should work.

In the case of the Matchprint Pokémon cards, it’s likely that a sheet of Heavyweight 12″ by 18″ Commercial White Color Laser Proofing Paper would have been chosen due to its size. Cards would have been arranged side by side and top to bottom to fill up the space (presumably with around 20 cards per sheet).

The watermark mentioned above is printed diagonally in intervals along the back of the sheet, meaning most cards will end up with part of the watermark visible but not the full text.

Using Quuador’s Matchprint Pikachu pictured at the top of this article, on the back of the card you may be able to make out that it says “IMATION MATCHPRINT COMMERCIAL BASE” but doesn’t include the “DIGITAL HALFTONE”, that will have ended up printed on the cards adjacent to it on the sheet.

Why I’m no Longer Interested in the Matchprint Pichu

On eBay right now I can pick up a Xerox DocuColor™ 12 Copier/Printer for $450 and 100 sheets of Xerox Commercial White Color Laser Proofing Paper for $35. Even without the Imation Matchprint™ Professional Server software, this would give me the ability to print high quality images on the same watermarked sheets the Matchprint Pokémon cards use.

But what of the cards? It’s not like I have access to the high-resolution design files which would have been fed through to the printer originally.

If the Pokémon Matchprint set had featured completely unique artwork not available anywhere else then sure, it would have been difficult to replicate without having access to high-quality scans of the originals. Fortunately for a potential fraudster, however, the Matchprint set used mainstream set artwork which is already fully digitally imaged online.

A great source of Pokémon card images which I’ve used many times in the past is the Pokémon TCG Developers website which contains high-quality digital images of almost all English Pokémon cards to have ever been released. Their Expedition Base Set page features images that could simply be printed straight onto the Matchprint paper without even having to leave their website.

A screenshot of the Expedition Base Set card images shown on the Pokémon TCG Developers website.
A screenshot of the Expedition Base Set card images shown on the Pokémon TCG Developers website.

For $500 and a tiny amount of technical aptitude, anyone can realistically print their own Matchprint cards. But why stop at Expedition Base Set? With the printer and the paper, any Pokémon card could be printed in high quality onto Matchprint paper.

Conclusion

I have no doubt that TCA Gaming’s Matchprint cards were obtained exactly how he described from a former Wizards of the Coast employee, and furthermore I have no doubt that ca-fada’s Pichu is part of this original leak. Likewise I have no doubt that there are any fake Matchprint Pokémon cards out there at the moment as they’re such a niche thing.

However where they’re now fetching 4-digit prices it’s only a matter of time before fraudsters who currently make “proxy” and “flash” cards pick up on this and are able to easily sell something which is indistinguishable from the real thing. Unlike regular Pokémon cards, these are nothing more than the fronts of the cards printed on readily-available paper, and what’s more their corners are not even rounded.

As of today, the Matchprint Pichu is no longer on my buylist nor featuring in my collection spreadsheet.

Original Set List with Quantities

The original Matchprint set leaked by TCA Gaming is incomplete - none of the holofoil cards have surfaced (although those are very unlikely to have existed in the first place) and most of the common cards are missing along with one missing trainer card and all energy cards except Water also being missing.

Card (Number) Quantity
Alakazam (33/165) 🟊 2
Ampharos (34/165) 🟊 2
Arbok (35/165) 🟊 2
Blastoise (36/165) 🟊 2
Blastoise (37/165) 🟊 2
Butterfree (38/165) 🟊 2
Charizard (39/165) 🟊 2
Charizard (40/165) 🟊 2
Clefable (41/165) 🟊 2
Cloyster (42/165) 🟊 2
Dragonite (43/165) 🟊 2
Dugtrio (44/165) 🟊 2
Fearow (45/165) 🟊 2
Feraligatr (46/165) 🟊 2
Feraligatr (47/165) 🟊 2
Gengar (48/165) 🟊 2
Golem (49/165) 🟊 2
Kingler (50/165) 🟊 2
Machamp (51/165) 🟊 2
Magby (52/165) 🟊 2
Meganium (53/165) 🟊 2
Meganium (54/165) 🟊 2
Mew (55/165) 🟊 2
Mewtwo (56/165) 🟊 2
Ninetales (57/165) 🟊 2
Pichu (58/165) 🟊 2
Pidgeot (59/165) 🟊 2
Poliwrath (60/165) 🟊 2
Raichu (61/165) 🟊 2
Rapidash (62/165) 🟊 2
Skarmory (63/165) 🟊 2
Typhlosion (64/165) 🟊 2
Typhlosion (65/165) 🟊 2
Tyranitar (66/165) 🟊 2
Venusaur (67/165) 🟊 2
Venusaur (68/165) 🟊 2
Vileplume (69/165) 🟊 2
Weezing (70/165) 🟊 2
Bayleef (71/165) ◆ 2
Chansey (72/165) ◆ 2
Charmeleon (73/165) ◆ 2
Croconaw (74/165) ◆ 2
Dragonair (75/165) ◆ 2
Electabuzz (76/165) ◆ 2
Flaaffy (77/165) ◆ 2
Gloom (78/165) ◆ 2
Graveler (79/165) ◆ 2
Haunter (80/165) ◆ 2
Hitmonlee (81/165) ◆ 2
Ivysaur (82/165) ◆ 2
Jynx (83/165) ◆ 2
Kadabra (84/165) ◆ 2
Machoke (85/165) ◆ 2
Magmar (86/165) ◆ 2
Metapod (87/165) ◆ 2
Pidgeotto (88/165) ◆ 2
Poliwhirl (89/165) ◆ 2
Pupitar (90/165) ◆ 2
Quilava (91/165) ◆ 2
Wartortle (92/165) ◆ 2
Abra (93/165) ● 2
Charmander (97/165) ● 2
Clefairy (101/165) ● 2
Corsola (102/165) ● 2
Cyndaquil (105/165) ● 2
Diglett (106/165) ● 2
Ekans (108/165) ● 2
Gastly (109/165) ● 2
Geodude (110/165) ● 2
Goldeen (111/165) ● 2
Hoppip (112/165) ● 2
Krabby (115/165) ● 2
Machop (117/165) ● 2
Magikarp (118/165) ● 2
Meowth (121/165) ● 2
Pikachu (124/165) ● 2
Ponyta (126/165) ● 2
Rattata (128/165) ● 2
Shellder (129/165) ● 2
Squirtle (132/165) ● 2
Bill’s Maintenance (137/165) ◆ 4
Copycat (138/165) ◆ 4
Dual Ball (139/165) ◆ 4
Energy Removal 2 (140/165) ◆ 4
Energy Restore (141/165) ◆ 4
Mary’s Impulse (142/165) ◆ 3
Master Ball (143/165) ◆ 3
Multi Technical Machine 01 (144/165) ◆ 2
Pokémon Nurse (145/165) ◆ 2
Pokémon Reversal (146/165) ◆ 2
Power Charge (147/165) ◆ 2
Professor Elm’s Training Method (148/165) ◆ 2
Professor Oak’s Research (149/165) ◆ 2
Strength Charm (150/165) ◆ 2
Super Scoop Up (151/165) ◆ 2
Warp Point (152/165) ◆ 2
Energy Search (153/165) ● 2
Moo-Moo Milk (155/165) ● 2
Darkness Energy (158/165) 🟊 4
Metal Energy (159/165) 🟊 2
Water Energy (165/165) 1