Many people have asked what substrate is? The substrate of a card is the material the design is printed on. Most cards are printed on clear substrate; however, a few different ones are printed on different color substrate. An obvious example are these teo cards from China:

Part of the substrate shows on the edges of the front of the card (organge on the left card, and green on the right). If looking at a stack of these cards end-on in alternating colors, it becomes very clear:

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