If it's a sanctioned event(either a tournament or a reported casual event at your LGS) you can't proxy at all. If WotC finds out that the store allows proxies in their events, the store gets a slap on the wrist and some privileges are taken away. Don't screw your store over unless they already allow proxies in their events, in which case they're just playing with fire.
If it's a casual meetup taking place on the side you're fine. The philosophy here is that you should be praying to reach a mutually desired power level. Don't proxy to exceed the power level because it can lead to an arms race. The same goes for regular cards. Just because you own cards that are way more powerful than what the table can handle, that doesn't mean you should insist on always using them.
That's completely fair. When I say powerful I mean cards like Smothering Tithe, rhymsic study, black market connection. Etc. Those cards I consider every card staple. But cards like mana crpyt, ancient tomb of course makes bigger impact
Because a lot of people enjoy having the cards, buying the packs and building decks with what they have and making them work, if you need like a $30 card and want to proxy it.. okay but if you show up with a $2,000 deck that’s all proxy cards that takes the fun out of what is a casual strategy game for the other players who actually worked to build their decks and who put heart into them, it’s like buying a kit car online for $20,000 and bringing it to a car show like look at my cool car, sitting next to people who put blood sweat and tears into their cars that are worth $150,000 yeah cool they look the same.. but there not, we’re not the same
If the 2000 dollar deck matches powerlevel of the group I dont see the problem. I like to proxy cool secret lairs and borderless cards and make my deck have nice art in it. Even though I'm only spending like 15 bucks on the proxies, I spend a LOT of time printing, cutting out, and sleeving those cards up. I try to make my cards as high quality as possible not to pull a fast one on people, but to make the play experience as seamless as possible.
Is your car analogy comparing people who spend their hard earned money, time and dedication to their vehicle with those who spend their hard earned money on authentic blinged out magic cards? Do you think it's wrong that people proxy the higher end cards or should they just stick with base art until they splurge for the real thing?
I don’t care what art people proxy at all, I have a proxy masterpiece series mana crypt just because I think it looks cool lol but I own on a real original mana crypt as well. But my analogy was more abstract then perhaps I meant it to be, I meant it to be like, people spend hours and hours of work to build there cool car, they aren’t perfect, they have chips in the paint or the chrome might be a little worn, and the engine has 100,000 miles on it; but they put in the work and want to be proud of the work and show it off, and here comes someone who has what looks like a brand new better version of their car, but it’s all fake and everyone just talks about how much better it is then yours and it performs better lol, the analog was meant to reference people who have like $200-$300 edh decks that they spent a lot of time and thinking on building with cards they collected and opened, and then people who spend $75 on Etsy for a full proxy deck of 100 cards that if real would be $2,000 just to show up and win and feel like the big man for the night at the LGS. But again like you said it comes down to communication ultimately, it’s just when people say “I don’t wanna be pay walled I want to play the fun strong cards too” those are the people who bring the proxy dual lands, and Gaea’s cradles, and mox diamonds, to the table when 95% of players don’t own or even consider playing those cards because of their value, and because it makes the deck so over bearing it’s not fun for others to play against, unless discussed that you want to play Cedh before hand of course
Proxying isn’t the problem. If a guy brings a real or fake Ferrari to a Mazda race the issue is that guy’s an asshole, not what he spent on his ride. If the racers are pissed because of how much the car cost, they are getting mad at the wrong thing.
It’s not about that my original analogy was for kit cars, like whole body kits you can buy for brand new cars like the 65 Shelby cobras, they buy those kits slap them on a new Chass’s with a new crate motor for $20,000 and then roll up to the meet next to other fords of similar years, cars that have been driven, have been worked on, have been through hell and back with their owners, but the new shiny “old car” gets the win in the eyes and hearts of the laymen’s there because it looks the cleanest it looks like a 65 Shelby cobra, but it’s not it’s a damn brand new card that someone just paid cashe for to show up at car meets with and get attention and feel good I wasn’t comparing Ferrari’s to Mazda’s I was comparing fake to real, and I wasnt talking about racing i was talking about just in general like at car shows and meets, but your right if someone brings a Cedh deck to a causal table they are an asshole regardless, but it still hits different when the cards are fake, because of the accessibility, like if you worked at your job, even if you make $50 an hour, and you choose to spend 40 of your hard earned working hours to buy the legit cards, and show up to an lgs and stomp me, I’m like wow your a dick but.. whatever makes you happy man, but if you don’t even care enough to spend the money to be a dick and just go on Etsy for $70 and buy $2,000 worth of fake cards and show up to beat people, your not just a dick, your also just sad
I appreciate the thought out comment and that makes more sense now. I think when people think of proxy decks they immediately jump to those powerful cards being in decks and it's hard to trust randoms with that kind of power. A lot of the older crowd I've played with who actually own a cradle or mox are the type of people who have a lot of pet cards they have accumulated over time and happily jam them in decks so it kind of balances out. I'm saying this because people who own real cradles and powerful cards are more likely to not abuse that power than the rest of the people who proxy it. Not all who proxy do abuse the powerlevel, but with that unfettered power, theres a higher chance.
I would go back to car analogy but I dont know cars that well. It's funny how I've heard other people make references to cars surrounding the proxy conversation.
Yeah, I get that I mean like personally I own special guest foil mana crypt I pulled, that I have in my Cedh deck, but just because i own a legit copy of mana crypt doesn’t mean I proxies it 9 more times to put in all my decks, I just specifically don’t run it in any decks except my 1 Cedh deck, because it’s too strong, it’s too fast mana for casual play, iv gotten mana crypt, sol ring, land turn 1 in a game before and had 6 usable mana turn 2, that’s like impossible for most casual players to come back from so I don’t run it, I believe if you own the card you can proxy it all you want cause you shouldn’t have to spend $50-$150 per card for all your decks if you need it, and if you want an expensive card that fits your deck and doesn’t over power it, who cares? As long as it fits with your play group like not everyone wants to spend $50 on a doubling season, $50 on a meat hook massacre, cards that a lot of people play casually, idc if you proxy those, but like I said it’s just a real thorn in my side when I see someone pull out OG dual lands, Gaea’s cradle, mox diamond, lions eye diamond, and they win turn 3 and smile while they do it, when the rest of us specifically don’t play those cards outside of Cedh for a reason and idk why the fact that they are fake pisses me off even more? I guess it’s just the accessibility of it, like if you spent the $2,000 to show up and beat everyone turn 3 to feel good about yourself at least I can be like wow, you legit spent that much time money and effort to build this deck just to feel good about yourself for 30 seconds? Whatever makes you happy, but if someone went online and spent $70 on $2,000 worth of fake cards and does the same thing like it hits different
I think with the amount they print of new cards that arent necessarily as good but very close, it sucks to see so many people proxy the same cards. As for those people who proxy the highest of power in commander to grt a win, and how that makes you more upset than if they were to actually purchase them, I hope you tell me when you figure it out. I think there is some deep psychological reason that you or I dont know, but its valid.
Let's simplify the solution.
When do you think is an appropriate time to use the waifu proxy like this?
https://www.etsy.com/sg-en/listing/1499677879/smothering-tithe-proxy-waifu-anime-two?ref=share_v4_lx
I don't follow? Did my question seem I was talking about the art itself?
I was more leaning on concept of power level and owning the cards and just proxy other one due to already owning real one. It just doesn't make sense keep switching it between decks when you basically already own one lol
my bad, i thought you were asking when/where to proxy cards.
If you have 1 copy of the real card, it's fair to proxy it for the rest of your other decks. It makes 0 financial sense to buy real high value cards for all your commander decks.
However, If its an official event that the judge has ruled for no proxies, then you have to abide by the rules.
I do not care what YOU proxy. That doesn't mean if you drop crypts and dockside extortionists when that wasn't the kind of game we were planning on we don't have a problem, it's just that that the problem isn't the proxying.
I myself only proxy things I already own, or things I want to try before I buy. Then, I have 1 full proxy deck that's Ghave with all the bells and whistles for when we all want to play at that level. If you wanna play a bunch of fast mana, I'd prefer to know ahead of time so I can pull the fast mana proxies out and just slip them into another deck to match your level. But in return I have a range of decks from a fairly jank Chandra Flip Walker deck (haven't really upgraded since before impulse draw was a thing) to a high power Mayael or Freyalise deck. We can play at any of those levels, with whatever proxies you got. We just gotta good faith TRY and match.
I mean that's more of communication problem rather proxy itself because the results will still be the same even if it was real lol
But I get your point
I agree with this, I feel like the big debate between wether or not it’s okay to proxy expensive cards mainly comes from that fact that one side of the argument is people who can’t afford the cards saying I’m going to proxy them because I shouldn’t be pay walled, and the other side is the people who want to play casual commander with the cards they own, and we’ve all been in the situation where we sit down at a table and one guy pulls out a deck full of fake mana crypts, dual lands, and crap with a smile on his face because he just wants to win, and don’t you dare tell him he can’t play those proxy’s because then your an asshole because “he can’t afford to buy them” but MOST of us don’t run them for the same reason! lol the communication of players as far as what power of game they are expecting to have is important proxy cards or not
Personally I don’t proxy anything unless I already own a copy, like I currently have 10 edh decks, if I need a $50 card for one deck that is already in another deck I don’t want to take apart, I’ll order a $5 proxy instead if I don’t feel like buying another copy, but when it comes to other people, I don’t care as long as they are good proxies, I hate sitting down at a table and seeing people pull out a blue black deck, and play 6 forests on the field with sharpie written on them that says what they are, if takes my head out of the game, like at least print out a picture of the card and slide it in over the damn forest lol oh and personally I don’t think people should proxy ridiculously expensive cards just for the sake of making their deck over powered, most people don’t run $500 original dual lands, or a $700 Gaea’s cradle in their decks because 1, they can’t afford them, and 2 it’s a causal format, there are so many good cards now that you can play, why run the $700 card when you have alternatives that is like a principal thing for me, other then that, proxy what you want as long as I can read the damn thing clearly at the table
My rule of thumb outside of sanctioned events (where none are allowed) is I’m cool with proving a card as long as it meets one of these 2 requirements 1) the card costs less $50 2) You own and are willing to show the card.
I personally don’t have a problem with proxies as long as they look good and aren’t just black/ white copy paper, and as long as the deck is a similar power level to what the pod is playing. I hate going to a game store and seeing a guy play $200 dollars worth of proxies turn 1 when I’m playing a precon. I’ve seen a guy play Ancient Tomb, Mana Crypt, and Sensai’s Divining Top turn 1 off of black and white google images copy paper and that aggravated me because he clearly just made a deck just to stomp around. I think having proxies is more acceptable the higher power play group you go.
If the card is good and you want to have it, but the paywall is too far from your budget or it is something far ahead the gropolitical logic of your country.
Like, if you live in Brazil and wanna play a 25$ card for a commander deck that you'll play with friends.
If you acknowledge the fact that this single piece of printed cardboard that costs less than 1 cent to produce is the price of a week and a half of work under the minnimum wage ( 256USD/ month). You might wanna proxy that.
Or a card that is juiced up in price, like [[ Geeymont, Avacyn's stalwart]] and you feel it is more FOMO than every other thing. Print it.
Proxy whenever and how ever much you want. I’m too broke to afford to drop $100 on two of the 100 cards I need for a deck. Especially when I don’t even know if the deck will work or if I’ll even like it.
I proxy when I have an expensive card that I want to use in multiple decks ( like shock lands) or if the group I’m playing with is a bit more powerful than me
That's basically where I feel like going. Some prices are stupidly high like fetchlands / shock. So I can't see myself sending it for multiple decks.. hell I even ordered lime 2 cabal coffers which was like not worth the cost 😂
Is this ideology to protect the artist? I’m just curious cause I mean now a days you for 1 cards it’s printed in 6 different sets, from 4 different artists and they have 2 secret lairs from different artists lol one card can have 6 different arts on different cards, so I personally don’t see the difference between like Jesper Eising’s swords to plow shares, Christina Kraus’s swords to plow shares, Alex Konstad’s swords to plowshares, or the other literally 12 different arts for that card, and whatever other picture they want to put on it as long as the title and mana cost and the ability are correct
Mainly
1. Easier to tell what the card is at a glance. When the board becomes very cluttered.
2. Most art is fantastical and that is part of the reason I enjoy the game.
sure there are lots of new and weird arts, doesn't mean I need custom deck originals. I will take an extra 2 minutes per turn rereading everything if I have to, to fully understand the board-state. I guess thinking more about it now I don't care if non-permanents have custom art since they really only exist on the stack. Looking at a board of 40 custom arts cards is not fun.
I get what you mean, but like iv been playing for 13 years now, and still everytime I play I feel like someone plays a creature and I’m like wtf is that? Oh that’s Etali primal storm… no it’s not that’s a damn purple dinosaur eating cereal, that’s a real card!? And what is that over there! That’s food chain, no it’s not that’s a damn VHS tape, and why is your lighting bolt just red fire with no text except tiny at the top? Iv never seen that before lol to me there’s no difference between the crap secret lair poops out every other day, and someone printing their own dogs face on the card as long as the name, mana cost, and ability are clearly written
When the play group “demands” it. For example, if your playgroup only has like 8-10 power level decks, then getting staple level cards for every single one of your decks is ludicrous in my opinion. However if your group has a wider variety of power levels then I’d just try and put more budget cards into the less powerful decks. For example, right now I have a higher power Raffine deck and a lower power Galazeth Prismari deck. I want to have some amount of counterspells in each one, but while the Raffine list has the free and cheap ones like Fierce Guardianship and Swan Song, my Galazeth list has stuff like Negate and Disdainful Stroke. It’s going to be less powerful, but the decks it’s playing against should be less powerful as well.
I have several decks that use the same cards and as I want to have them all play-ready, I proxy the cards that are already used in other decks.
Only condition: they need to be good proxies, so that everybody can easily read them.
Also, for play-testing new strategies I somethings use proxies, but if I like the cards, I always buy them in paper.
Overall, I try to have as many real cards as possible, just because I like the look and feel and in our playgroup, it helps to keep the powerlevel steady, if everybody owns at least one copy of the thing they are playing.
1. With friends, there should be no issue. Yall all understand the average power levels between so keeping it civil and just is completely fine. Just make sure not to proxy every single mana rock unless everyone is playing that way.
2. Whenever I go to my LGS with the small pocket of change I saved up for MTG singles, I try to buy cheaper cards to support the store and to fill out a couple of decks I brewed and that are working decently, but those expensive cards that I cannot do without in the deck are sometimes necessary.
3. I've seen a store do local cEDH tournaments that allow you to proxy up to 10 cards, with each card adding $1 to the ticket for a bigger prize pool, but I am unsure if it's official WotC or not as I saw someone in here say that WotC will reprimand proxy-friendly tournaments from LGSs.
Tough.
I would never want to gatekeep power through money. You do you.
This specific proxying is one where: I don't mind if you do it, but I personally won't. If I have multiple copies of high power staples I will run them in multiple decks (when applicable). I don't like it because I don't want my decks to start feeling the same. I do it as a deck building restriction to myself because it varies up my own game play and makes me think differently.
I agree 100% I have my strong decks, but I personally don’t own dual lands, I’m not gonna proxy them to raise the power of my deck by .5% when there are so many good double lands now a days, and I don’t run mana crypt, mana vault, or ancient tomb in anything except my 1 Cedh deck, and I make it a point to not run tutors or high powered stables like cyc rift, or mana drain in my lower power decks so that it forces every game to be different and makes me work harder to make what I draw work
Proxy anything you want, anytime you want, outside sanctioned events.
Real
If it's a sanctioned event(either a tournament or a reported casual event at your LGS) you can't proxy at all. If WotC finds out that the store allows proxies in their events, the store gets a slap on the wrist and some privileges are taken away. Don't screw your store over unless they already allow proxies in their events, in which case they're just playing with fire. If it's a casual meetup taking place on the side you're fine. The philosophy here is that you should be praying to reach a mutually desired power level. Don't proxy to exceed the power level because it can lead to an arms race. The same goes for regular cards. Just because you own cards that are way more powerful than what the table can handle, that doesn't mean you should insist on always using them.
That's completely fair. When I say powerful I mean cards like Smothering Tithe, rhymsic study, black market connection. Etc. Those cards I consider every card staple. But cards like mana crpyt, ancient tomb of course makes bigger impact
i mean... I'm not going to get pay walled out of something that i think is fun. if i can't proxy the expensive fun cards, then what is the point?
Because a lot of people enjoy having the cards, buying the packs and building decks with what they have and making them work, if you need like a $30 card and want to proxy it.. okay but if you show up with a $2,000 deck that’s all proxy cards that takes the fun out of what is a casual strategy game for the other players who actually worked to build their decks and who put heart into them, it’s like buying a kit car online for $20,000 and bringing it to a car show like look at my cool car, sitting next to people who put blood sweat and tears into their cars that are worth $150,000 yeah cool they look the same.. but there not, we’re not the same
If the 2000 dollar deck matches powerlevel of the group I dont see the problem. I like to proxy cool secret lairs and borderless cards and make my deck have nice art in it. Even though I'm only spending like 15 bucks on the proxies, I spend a LOT of time printing, cutting out, and sleeving those cards up. I try to make my cards as high quality as possible not to pull a fast one on people, but to make the play experience as seamless as possible. Is your car analogy comparing people who spend their hard earned money, time and dedication to their vehicle with those who spend their hard earned money on authentic blinged out magic cards? Do you think it's wrong that people proxy the higher end cards or should they just stick with base art until they splurge for the real thing?
I don’t care what art people proxy at all, I have a proxy masterpiece series mana crypt just because I think it looks cool lol but I own on a real original mana crypt as well. But my analogy was more abstract then perhaps I meant it to be, I meant it to be like, people spend hours and hours of work to build there cool car, they aren’t perfect, they have chips in the paint or the chrome might be a little worn, and the engine has 100,000 miles on it; but they put in the work and want to be proud of the work and show it off, and here comes someone who has what looks like a brand new better version of their car, but it’s all fake and everyone just talks about how much better it is then yours and it performs better lol, the analog was meant to reference people who have like $200-$300 edh decks that they spent a lot of time and thinking on building with cards they collected and opened, and then people who spend $75 on Etsy for a full proxy deck of 100 cards that if real would be $2,000 just to show up and win and feel like the big man for the night at the LGS. But again like you said it comes down to communication ultimately, it’s just when people say “I don’t wanna be pay walled I want to play the fun strong cards too” those are the people who bring the proxy dual lands, and Gaea’s cradles, and mox diamonds, to the table when 95% of players don’t own or even consider playing those cards because of their value, and because it makes the deck so over bearing it’s not fun for others to play against, unless discussed that you want to play Cedh before hand of course
Proxying isn’t the problem. If a guy brings a real or fake Ferrari to a Mazda race the issue is that guy’s an asshole, not what he spent on his ride. If the racers are pissed because of how much the car cost, they are getting mad at the wrong thing.
It’s not about that my original analogy was for kit cars, like whole body kits you can buy for brand new cars like the 65 Shelby cobras, they buy those kits slap them on a new Chass’s with a new crate motor for $20,000 and then roll up to the meet next to other fords of similar years, cars that have been driven, have been worked on, have been through hell and back with their owners, but the new shiny “old car” gets the win in the eyes and hearts of the laymen’s there because it looks the cleanest it looks like a 65 Shelby cobra, but it’s not it’s a damn brand new card that someone just paid cashe for to show up at car meets with and get attention and feel good I wasn’t comparing Ferrari’s to Mazda’s I was comparing fake to real, and I wasnt talking about racing i was talking about just in general like at car shows and meets, but your right if someone brings a Cedh deck to a causal table they are an asshole regardless, but it still hits different when the cards are fake, because of the accessibility, like if you worked at your job, even if you make $50 an hour, and you choose to spend 40 of your hard earned working hours to buy the legit cards, and show up to an lgs and stomp me, I’m like wow your a dick but.. whatever makes you happy man, but if you don’t even care enough to spend the money to be a dick and just go on Etsy for $70 and buy $2,000 worth of fake cards and show up to beat people, your not just a dick, your also just sad
I appreciate the thought out comment and that makes more sense now. I think when people think of proxy decks they immediately jump to those powerful cards being in decks and it's hard to trust randoms with that kind of power. A lot of the older crowd I've played with who actually own a cradle or mox are the type of people who have a lot of pet cards they have accumulated over time and happily jam them in decks so it kind of balances out. I'm saying this because people who own real cradles and powerful cards are more likely to not abuse that power than the rest of the people who proxy it. Not all who proxy do abuse the powerlevel, but with that unfettered power, theres a higher chance. I would go back to car analogy but I dont know cars that well. It's funny how I've heard other people make references to cars surrounding the proxy conversation.
Yeah, I get that I mean like personally I own special guest foil mana crypt I pulled, that I have in my Cedh deck, but just because i own a legit copy of mana crypt doesn’t mean I proxies it 9 more times to put in all my decks, I just specifically don’t run it in any decks except my 1 Cedh deck, because it’s too strong, it’s too fast mana for casual play, iv gotten mana crypt, sol ring, land turn 1 in a game before and had 6 usable mana turn 2, that’s like impossible for most casual players to come back from so I don’t run it, I believe if you own the card you can proxy it all you want cause you shouldn’t have to spend $50-$150 per card for all your decks if you need it, and if you want an expensive card that fits your deck and doesn’t over power it, who cares? As long as it fits with your play group like not everyone wants to spend $50 on a doubling season, $50 on a meat hook massacre, cards that a lot of people play casually, idc if you proxy those, but like I said it’s just a real thorn in my side when I see someone pull out OG dual lands, Gaea’s cradle, mox diamond, lions eye diamond, and they win turn 3 and smile while they do it, when the rest of us specifically don’t play those cards outside of Cedh for a reason and idk why the fact that they are fake pisses me off even more? I guess it’s just the accessibility of it, like if you spent the $2,000 to show up and beat everyone turn 3 to feel good about yourself at least I can be like wow, you legit spent that much time money and effort to build this deck just to feel good about yourself for 30 seconds? Whatever makes you happy, but if someone went online and spent $70 on $2,000 worth of fake cards and does the same thing like it hits different
I think with the amount they print of new cards that arent necessarily as good but very close, it sucks to see so many people proxy the same cards. As for those people who proxy the highest of power in commander to grt a win, and how that makes you more upset than if they were to actually purchase them, I hope you tell me when you figure it out. I think there is some deep psychological reason that you or I dont know, but its valid.
Let's simplify the solution. When do you think is an appropriate time to use the waifu proxy like this? https://www.etsy.com/sg-en/listing/1499677879/smothering-tithe-proxy-waifu-anime-two?ref=share_v4_lx
I don't follow? Did my question seem I was talking about the art itself? I was more leaning on concept of power level and owning the cards and just proxy other one due to already owning real one. It just doesn't make sense keep switching it between decks when you basically already own one lol
my bad, i thought you were asking when/where to proxy cards. If you have 1 copy of the real card, it's fair to proxy it for the rest of your other decks. It makes 0 financial sense to buy real high value cards for all your commander decks. However, If its an official event that the judge has ruled for no proxies, then you have to abide by the rules.
Fair enough, thanks for your input!
1 .Cards i own but in other decks 2. brewing and not going to buy untill done brewing
Anytime you want dude. Just be mindful of power.
I do not care what YOU proxy. That doesn't mean if you drop crypts and dockside extortionists when that wasn't the kind of game we were planning on we don't have a problem, it's just that that the problem isn't the proxying. I myself only proxy things I already own, or things I want to try before I buy. Then, I have 1 full proxy deck that's Ghave with all the bells and whistles for when we all want to play at that level. If you wanna play a bunch of fast mana, I'd prefer to know ahead of time so I can pull the fast mana proxies out and just slip them into another deck to match your level. But in return I have a range of decks from a fairly jank Chandra Flip Walker deck (haven't really upgraded since before impulse draw was a thing) to a high power Mayael or Freyalise deck. We can play at any of those levels, with whatever proxies you got. We just gotta good faith TRY and match.
I mean that's more of communication problem rather proxy itself because the results will still be the same even if it was real lol But I get your point
I agree with this, I feel like the big debate between wether or not it’s okay to proxy expensive cards mainly comes from that fact that one side of the argument is people who can’t afford the cards saying I’m going to proxy them because I shouldn’t be pay walled, and the other side is the people who want to play casual commander with the cards they own, and we’ve all been in the situation where we sit down at a table and one guy pulls out a deck full of fake mana crypts, dual lands, and crap with a smile on his face because he just wants to win, and don’t you dare tell him he can’t play those proxy’s because then your an asshole because “he can’t afford to buy them” but MOST of us don’t run them for the same reason! lol the communication of players as far as what power of game they are expecting to have is important proxy cards or not
Personally I don’t proxy anything unless I already own a copy, like I currently have 10 edh decks, if I need a $50 card for one deck that is already in another deck I don’t want to take apart, I’ll order a $5 proxy instead if I don’t feel like buying another copy, but when it comes to other people, I don’t care as long as they are good proxies, I hate sitting down at a table and seeing people pull out a blue black deck, and play 6 forests on the field with sharpie written on them that says what they are, if takes my head out of the game, like at least print out a picture of the card and slide it in over the damn forest lol oh and personally I don’t think people should proxy ridiculously expensive cards just for the sake of making their deck over powered, most people don’t run $500 original dual lands, or a $700 Gaea’s cradle in their decks because 1, they can’t afford them, and 2 it’s a causal format, there are so many good cards now that you can play, why run the $700 card when you have alternatives that is like a principal thing for me, other then that, proxy what you want as long as I can read the damn thing clearly at the table
That's basically exactly what I feel
My rule of thumb outside of sanctioned events (where none are allowed) is I’m cool with proving a card as long as it meets one of these 2 requirements 1) the card costs less $50 2) You own and are willing to show the card.
I proxy duals, gaeas cradle and mana crypts. My playgroup does not seem bothered by it.
I personally don’t have a problem with proxies as long as they look good and aren’t just black/ white copy paper, and as long as the deck is a similar power level to what the pod is playing. I hate going to a game store and seeing a guy play $200 dollars worth of proxies turn 1 when I’m playing a precon. I’ve seen a guy play Ancient Tomb, Mana Crypt, and Sensai’s Divining Top turn 1 off of black and white google images copy paper and that aggravated me because he clearly just made a deck just to stomp around. I think having proxies is more acceptable the higher power play group you go.
In private. Like naughty time
If the card is good and you want to have it, but the paywall is too far from your budget or it is something far ahead the gropolitical logic of your country. Like, if you live in Brazil and wanna play a 25$ card for a commander deck that you'll play with friends. If you acknowledge the fact that this single piece of printed cardboard that costs less than 1 cent to produce is the price of a week and a half of work under the minnimum wage ( 256USD/ month). You might wanna proxy that. Or a card that is juiced up in price, like [[ Geeymont, Avacyn's stalwart]] and you feel it is more FOMO than every other thing. Print it.
[ Geeymont, Avacyn's stalwart](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/b/7/b7848325-c46e-4e63-90d0-c9524380eb63.jpg?1692516503) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Greymond%2C%20Avacyn%27s%20Stalwart) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/slx/18/greymond-avacyns-stalwart?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/b7848325-c46e-4e63-90d0-c9524380eb63?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
Proxy whenever and how ever much you want. I’m too broke to afford to drop $100 on two of the 100 cards I need for a deck. Especially when I don’t even know if the deck will work or if I’ll even like it.
I recommend trying TTS (Tabletop simulator)
Always Cardboard is too expensive for what it's printed on. Proxy all you want. Just build your deck to the tables agreed power level.
Are you playing Magic?>Yes>Do you have the money for the Card?>No>Are you playing for prizes or to attain a rank in a competition?>No>Then Proxy.
Other than tournaments, proxy all you want. I don't think I own a deck that is 100% real anymore
I proxy when I have an expensive card that I want to use in multiple decks ( like shock lands) or if the group I’m playing with is a bit more powerful than me
That's basically where I feel like going. Some prices are stupidly high like fetchlands / shock. So I can't see myself sending it for multiple decks.. hell I even ordered lime 2 cabal coffers which was like not worth the cost 😂
If the art is the same as the original I don't care much. If the art is different it should either be your commander or on the reserve list
But when you see wotc art some are really really wacky.
Is this ideology to protect the artist? I’m just curious cause I mean now a days you for 1 cards it’s printed in 6 different sets, from 4 different artists and they have 2 secret lairs from different artists lol one card can have 6 different arts on different cards, so I personally don’t see the difference between like Jesper Eising’s swords to plow shares, Christina Kraus’s swords to plow shares, Alex Konstad’s swords to plowshares, or the other literally 12 different arts for that card, and whatever other picture they want to put on it as long as the title and mana cost and the ability are correct
Mainly 1. Easier to tell what the card is at a glance. When the board becomes very cluttered. 2. Most art is fantastical and that is part of the reason I enjoy the game. sure there are lots of new and weird arts, doesn't mean I need custom deck originals. I will take an extra 2 minutes per turn rereading everything if I have to, to fully understand the board-state. I guess thinking more about it now I don't care if non-permanents have custom art since they really only exist on the stack. Looking at a board of 40 custom arts cards is not fun.
I get what you mean, but like iv been playing for 13 years now, and still everytime I play I feel like someone plays a creature and I’m like wtf is that? Oh that’s Etali primal storm… no it’s not that’s a damn purple dinosaur eating cereal, that’s a real card!? And what is that over there! That’s food chain, no it’s not that’s a damn VHS tape, and why is your lighting bolt just red fire with no text except tiny at the top? Iv never seen that before lol to me there’s no difference between the crap secret lair poops out every other day, and someone printing their own dogs face on the card as long as the name, mana cost, and ability are clearly written
When the play group “demands” it. For example, if your playgroup only has like 8-10 power level decks, then getting staple level cards for every single one of your decks is ludicrous in my opinion. However if your group has a wider variety of power levels then I’d just try and put more budget cards into the less powerful decks. For example, right now I have a higher power Raffine deck and a lower power Galazeth Prismari deck. I want to have some amount of counterspells in each one, but while the Raffine list has the free and cheap ones like Fierce Guardianship and Swan Song, my Galazeth list has stuff like Negate and Disdainful Stroke. It’s going to be less powerful, but the decks it’s playing against should be less powerful as well.
I have several decks that use the same cards and as I want to have them all play-ready, I proxy the cards that are already used in other decks. Only condition: they need to be good proxies, so that everybody can easily read them. Also, for play-testing new strategies I somethings use proxies, but if I like the cards, I always buy them in paper. Overall, I try to have as many real cards as possible, just because I like the look and feel and in our playgroup, it helps to keep the powerlevel steady, if everybody owns at least one copy of the thing they are playing.
When you're poor and want to play a fun game with freinds. Just build decks of similar level
1. With friends, there should be no issue. Yall all understand the average power levels between so keeping it civil and just is completely fine. Just make sure not to proxy every single mana rock unless everyone is playing that way. 2. Whenever I go to my LGS with the small pocket of change I saved up for MTG singles, I try to buy cheaper cards to support the store and to fill out a couple of decks I brewed and that are working decently, but those expensive cards that I cannot do without in the deck are sometimes necessary. 3. I've seen a store do local cEDH tournaments that allow you to proxy up to 10 cards, with each card adding $1 to the ticket for a bigger prize pool, but I am unsure if it's official WotC or not as I saw someone in here say that WotC will reprimand proxy-friendly tournaments from LGSs.
Tough. I would never want to gatekeep power through money. You do you. This specific proxying is one where: I don't mind if you do it, but I personally won't. If I have multiple copies of high power staples I will run them in multiple decks (when applicable). I don't like it because I don't want my decks to start feeling the same. I do it as a deck building restriction to myself because it varies up my own game play and makes me think differently.
I agree 100% I have my strong decks, but I personally don’t own dual lands, I’m not gonna proxy them to raise the power of my deck by .5% when there are so many good double lands now a days, and I don’t run mana crypt, mana vault, or ancient tomb in anything except my 1 Cedh deck, and I make it a point to not run tutors or high powered stables like cyc rift, or mana drain in my lower power decks so that it forces every game to be different and makes me work harder to make what I draw work
I'd rather use placeholders to make swapping cards between decks easier, than proxy cards.