Foil, Holo & Reverse: card finishes explained

Normal, foil, holo, reverse holo: what sets the shiny variants apart and how to collect them separately.

Many cards exist not only in the plain normal finish but also in a shiny variant. These special finishes are usually rarer, often pricier, and for many the real appeal of collecting.

The key terms

• Normal (non-foil): the matte standard finish.
• Foil: the whole card shimmers. In Magic the common term for the shiny variant.
• Holo (in Pokémon): only the artwork shines (the picture area is “holographic”), the frame stays matte.
• Reverse holo: the opposite, everything except the artwork shines. This gives almost every card a second, shiny version.

Collected separately

In TCG-Completist you switch between Normal and ✦ Foil within a set. Ownership is counted separately: you can show that you have a card in normal but are still hunting the foil version, or the other way round. Foil cards shimmer in the view, and the buy link goes straight to the foil variant on Cardmarket.

What to watch when buying

Shiny cards are more delicate: heavily played foils can bend slightly (“curling”) or the shiny layer gets fine scratches. So pay extra attention to the seller’s condition rating when buying. For display, sleeves and toploaders are worth it, especially for the pricier foils.

Whether you hunt complete sets in normal and treat single foils as highlights, or collect everything shiny, is up to you. TCG-Completist keeps both progresses cleanly apart.