One question is how much; another is what kind
Lockbox's overall grade summarizes four condition subgrades. The wear system uses those numbers, plus a visual treatment, to draw the collectible. Grade and wear belong together, but they do different work.
A lower grade gives the rendering more room to show damage or distortion. The style determines the character of that treatment. This is why two copies can sit near each other on the grade ladder while one looks handled and the other feels like an old reproduction.
Real grading services also distinguish observable condition from the overall result. Beckett's discussion with its graders explains that a low subgrade can strongly influence the final grade. Smash & Grab uses its own explicit formula and then gives the recorded condition a digital appearance.
Read the wear name as art direction
The current wear vocabulary includes Handled, Cold storage, Sun bleached, Smoke stained, Photocopied, Faxed copy, Water damage and Corrupt scan. These names describe designed looks. They aren't a historical record of real events that happened to a physical card.
| Treatment | What to notice | What not to infer |
|---|---|---|
| Handled | A restrained sense of contact and wear | That playing more Jobs caused it |
| Sun bleached | Loss of contrast and color in the print | That the browser tracked time in sunlight |
| Photocopied or Faxed copy | Reproduction artifacts in the image | That it is a different playable character |
| Water damage or Smoke stained | A particular paper-and-image treatment | That the name is an ownership-history certificate |
The grade puts limits on the story
Style doesn't have permission to override the condition. A 10 has no generated wear. The highest grades restrict intensity and dramatic incidents, while lower grades allow more visible treatment.
Think of two controls working together. One sets the allowed strength; the other chooses the nature of the effect. Turning down saturation and adding corner whitening aren't the same visual operation, even when the final copies occupy a similar condition band.
That distinction prevents an easy but dull solution: cover every lower-grade card with the same brown wash. If every worn card looked equally dirty, the subgrades and style names would give you more vocabulary than the images could support.
Compare two cards without flattening their differences
Start with the same character and variant. If you change the artwork at the same time, it's harder to know whether you're responding to condition or composition. Next read the four subgrades, then the overall result.
Suppose one copy's weakest category is Corners and another's is Surface. Even if both finish at 7.5, you'd expect different areas to deserve attention. A matching grade isn't an instruction for every mark to appear in the same place.
Finally inspect the wear treatment. Is the portrait faded? Does the print have a hard, reproduced quality? Are the edges the thing you notice first? Use visible descriptions before deciding which you prefer.
Your collection doesn't decay between sessions
The current game creates condition when the collectible is generated. Taking the character into another Job doesn't lower its subgrades, and leaving the game closed doesn't age the card. The model uses stable information to keep the copy's appearance consistent within the current implementation.
That gives you room to enjoy the worn look without taking care of a fragile object. It also keeps condition separate from gameplay: the same character retains its Haul, Heat and role regardless of the wear treatment.
A useful Stash comparison therefore has two parts: “This copy grades higher,” and “This is the look I prefer.” Sometimes they'll point to the same card. When they don't, you have an actual collecting decision to make.