PSA (Professional Sports Authenticator) Each company seals the card in a tamper-evident plastic holder, often called a slab, with the grade and certification number displayed
First of all, he can't be the target of spells and abilities your opponents control, meaning he's pretty tough for your opponent to deal with
All other requirements still need to be met, though, with the ability to unleash a Benched comrade's Dark Tentacle, Giant Tail, or Mind Shock, it is often worth the price
When Cardsmith MTG is the right tool (and when it isnt) Cardsmith MTG shines when you want speed and a clean layout: Mocking up a custom commander Making a token that actually matches your deck theme Prototyping a cube card Building a fan set for your group When its not ideal: You need extremely precise templating for complex rules interactions (you may want to sanity-check wording against real cards)
PSA-graded cards are vastly more valuable and desirable than ungraded ones because they have gone through the grading process