In January of 2025, CGC Grading announced that they had received playtest cards for the first set release in Japan (October 1996). Discussed with a person close to the creation of the Japanese game, the cards were deemed "the real thing" and the grading process begin.

As linked, and discussed in the episode CGC subjected these cards to a bevy of tests to assure their authenticity but it wasn't until they made it into public hands that they were found to be counterfeit.

Is this episode we discuss what happened and what has happened to the reputation of CGC. How we view them currently. How we would handle their slabs. And most importantly, if we would trust them again.

https://www.cgccards.com/news/article/13730/
https://www.elitefourum.com/t/many-of-the-pokemon-playtest-cards-were-likely-printed-in-2024/52421
https://web.archive.org/web/20250116144948/https://www.cgccards.com/news/article/11742/pokemon-prototype-cards/