Read from TAG’s grading rubric. Back figures shown are TAG’s TCG figures; sports backs are looser. Checked 2026-10-28. Official page.
“Front image centered within a tolerance of ~62.5/37.5 and the back centered within ~95/5 (Sports) or ~85/15 (TCG).”
On the front line alone, a worst axis worse than ~60/40 and up to ~62.5/37.5 meets the 8.5 line but not the Mint 9 line.
| Grade | Front | Back (TCG) |
|---|---|---|
| Pristine 10 | ~51/49 | ~52/48 |
| Gem Mint 10 | ~55/45 | ~65/35 |
| Mint 9 | ~60/40 | ~75/25 |
| 8.5 | ~62.5/37.5 | ~85/15 |
| NM-MT 8 | ~65/35 | ~95/5 |
| 7.5 | ~67.5/32.5 | — |
| NM 7 | ~70/30 | — |
| 6.5 | ~72.5/27.5 | — |
| EX-MT 6 | ~75/25 | — |
| 5.5 | ~77.5/22.5 | — |
| EX 5 | ~80/20 | — |
| 4.5 | ~82.5/17.5 | — |
| VG-EX 4 | ~85/15 | — |
| 3.5 | ~87.5/12.5 | — |
| VG 3 | ~90/10 | — |
| 2.5 | ~92.5/7.5 | — |
| Good 2 | ~95/5 | — |
| Fair 1.5 | ~98.3/1.7 | — |
| Poor 1 | — | — |
“~” is the company’s own “approximately”.
8.5: ~62.5/37.5 front, ~85/15 back (TCG). TAG says "approximately", so the line carries grader discretion. The back figure is TAG’s TCG line; for sports cards it is ~95/5. As published: "Front image centered within a tolerance of ~62.5/37.5 and the back centered within ~95/5 (Sports) or ~85/15 (TCG)."
Mint 9 needs ~60/40 front, ~75/25 back (TCG), against ~62.5/37.5 front, ~85/15 back (TCG) for 8.5.
On the published front lines alone, a worst axis worse than ~60/40 and up to ~62.5/37.5 meets the 8.5 line but not the Mint 9 line. Corners, edges and surface can only hold or lower the grade.
Compare the two borders on each axis: a card whose left border is 57% of left plus right is 57/43. Services judge the worse axis, front and back separately. SlabbyPrep reads both from a photo and shows each border to a hundredth of a millimetre; on synthetic test photos, 97% of the readings it shows without a warning are within 1 percentage point (the methodology page has the full results).
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