Grading Standards
Published. Versioned. Deterministic.
These are the exact standards the engine grades against. A grade issued is a grade kept — improvements to the standards apply to new gradings only and are never applied retroactively to cards already registered on the CardFax.
The Grade Scale
| Grade | Name | Requirement |
|---|---|---|
| 10 | Gem Mint | Subgrade average above 9.5 |
| 9 | Mint | Subgrade average of 9.0 or higher |
| 8 | Near Mint-Mint | Subgrade average of 8.0 or higher |
| 7 | Near Mint | Subgrade average of 7.0 or higher |
| 6 | Excellent-Mint | Subgrade average of 6.0 or higher |
| 5 | Excellent | Subgrade average of 5.0 or higher |
| 4 | Very Good | Subgrade average of 4.0 or higher |
| 3 | Good | Subgrade average of 3.0 or higher |
| 2 | Fair | Subgrade average of 2.0 or higher |
| 1 | Poor | Subgrade average below 2.0 |
The Final Grade Formula
final_grade = min(
preliminary_grade, // average of the 4Q
lowest_subgrade_cap, // the weakest subgrade caps the ceiling
floor(surface_grade) // surface sets a hard floor cap
)
- The lowest subgrade caps the grade. A card averaging 9.1 with an 8.9 subgrade tops out at 8 — one weak dimension can never hide behind three strong ones.
- Surface sets a hard cap. The overall grade can never exceed the floor of the surface grade. A surface of 8.7 caps the card at 8.
- Corners and edges are averages capped by their lowest member. Four corner grades of 9.5, 9.3, 9.0, and 8.7 average 9.125 — but the 8.7 caps the subgrade at 8.
- Gem Mint 10 requires an average above 9.5. There is no rounding up.
Centering Standards
Front
60/40
Buffer standard — up to 10% deviation still measures a perfect 10.
Back
75/25
Buffer standard — up to 25% deviation still measures a perfect 10.
- Weighting: front centering counts for 80% of the centering subgrade, back for 20%.
- Graduated deductions: the first 10% of excess deviation deducts lightly, the next 10% deducts more steeply, and beyond 20% deductions are unlimited — severe miscuts fall off the cliff they deserve.
- Diamond-cut detection: a corner-to- corner measurement delta above 3% flags a tilted cut and applies a tilt penalty.