What Is a Foil Card?
A foil card is a trading card with a thin metallic layer - usually aluminum - applied to its surface, creating a reflective, mirror-like sheen. Unlike holographic cards that display rainbow diffraction patterns, foil cards produce a uniform metallic reflection. The terms are often used interchangeably by casual collectors, but they're technically different processes.
Why It Matters
Foil treatment is one of the most common ways card manufacturers signal "this card is special." In Magic: The Gathering, every rare and mythic rare can appear as a foil variant - and foil versions typically command a 2-5x price premium over their non-foil equivalents. Pokemon uses reverse foil (where the card body is foiled but the artwork isn't) as a standard inclusion in modern booster packs.
By the Numbers
Every modern Pokemon booster pack (since the Diamond & Pearl era, 2007) includes at least one reverse foil card. That's a non-holographic card with the foil treatment applied to the card body rather than the artwork. In a 10-card pack, you'll typically get 1 reverse foil + 1 rare (which may or may not be holographic). So foil is common; holo is the chase.
Going Deeper
The manufacturing difference matters. Foil uses a flat metallic layer - think aluminum wrapping paper. Holographic adds a micro-embossed diffraction pattern on top of that metallic layer, splitting light into spectral colors. MakeACard's digital rarity system uses CSS to simulate both: Uncommon cards get a subtle metallic sheen, while Holo Rares get the full animated rainbow shimmer.
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