How to scan foil Riftbound cards without glare

Topic: Scanning & identifying cards

Why foils are harder to scan

A foil surface reflects the room. A lamp or window reflected in the card turns part of the text white, and text recognition cannot read what the camera cannot see. The part that matters most is small: the collector line in the bottom-left corner and the card name along the top.

Set up the light

• Use a large, soft light source (a window on an overcast day, or a lamp bounced off a wall) rather than a bare bulb.
• Place the light to the side of the card, not above the camera, so its reflection does not return to the lens.
• Avoid mixed lighting: a warm lamp plus a cool window makes colours and contrast uneven.
• Put the card on a dark, matte surface such as a playmat so the card edges stand out.

Position the card and the phone

1. Hold the phone parallel to the card, about as far away as it takes to fill the on-screen frame.
2. Keep the card flat and upright. A curled or tilted card bends the text.
3. If the live hints report glare, tilt the card slightly away from the light until the white patch moves off the text.
4. Hold still for a second. Motion blur is the most common reason a scan fails.

Sleeves and top loaders

Glossy sleeves add a second reflective surface. If a scan keeps failing, take the card out of the sleeve or switch to Manual mode so you can wait for the best moment instead of letting Auto trigger on a glare frame. If the card is in a rigid top loader, tilt the whole holder rather than the card inside.

Choose the finish after the scan

A camera cannot reliably tell a foil from a normal card, so RIFT SCAN never guesses the finish. Pick Foil on the result to see the foil price. The two prices can be far apart: foil versus normal prices shows the gap across 1,632 priced printings as of 26 October 2026.

If it still will not read

Read the set code and number yourself using the collector line guide and type it into search. Search does not use the camera at all, so glare never matters. For the full step-by-step process see how to scan Riftbound cards.

How RIFT SCAN reads your cards

RIFT SCAN is a free, unofficial fan project. Text recognition runs inside your browser, matches the card name and collector line against the public RiftHunt card catalog, and looks up the daily TCGplayer price for the exact printing. Camera frames are never uploaded or stored. Read about RIFT SCAN for the full picture, or open the scanner to try it.

Common questions

Why will my phone not read a foil Riftbound card?

Foil reflects light, so a lamp or window can turn part of the text white. Move the light to the side, put the card on a dark matte surface and tilt it slightly until the glare leaves the collector line.

Can the scanner tell if my card is foil?

No. A camera cannot reliably see the finish, so you pick Normal or Foil on the result. As of 26 October 2026, the median foil costs 3.3 times the normal version, so the choice matters.

Is it better to scan with the card in a sleeve?

Take it out if you can. A glossy sleeve adds a second reflective surface and makes glare worse. If the card has to stay in a top loader, tilt the whole holder instead of the card.

Keep reading

• Foil vs normal priceAs of 26 October 2026, the median foil Riftbound card has a market price 3.3× the price of its normal version, across 609 printings that have both prices. The median normal card is $0.10 and the median foil $0.28, but the gap varies enormously from card to card.
• Scanning a whole collectionTurn on automatic adding to your binder, sort the cards by set, and scan them one after another in Auto mode on a plain surface under even light. Fix any card flagged as uncertain as you go, set foils to Foil, then export the binder to CSV as a backup. A few hundred cards take well under an hour.
• Fixing a wrong scanA wrong Riftbound scan almost always comes from a misread character, glare over the collector line, or two printings that share a name or number, such as a Metal promo and its standard card. Compare the set code and number on the card with the result, then choose the right printing from the list or search by number.