Buying proxies and playing with proxies
The Kitchen Table forum
Posted on July 2, 2016, 8:49 p.m. by shadow63
Recently i stumbled upon high quality proxies you could buy. I want to hear your opinions on playing with them with your friends. I'm going to ask my play group how they feel on the subject before I buy any. I only plan on buying a few for a few decks of cards that i will never be able to afford. The main card im looking at is Phyrexian Obliterator which seem to go for around $7 for the proxies compared to $30ish for the normal card. Does anyone have any recommended sites i could buy them from. I want them to look like the normal card. Tanks in advance
Nebulocity says... #3
If you're just playing casually, ask your friends before you commit to purchase. That said, it's actually incredibly cheap to make your own proxies, especially if your friends would like a few also. I proxied pretty much every card worth more than $50 in my Cube (Power 9, most of the expensive Legacy/Modern staples, etc).
July 2, 2016 9:19 p.m.
PistonGolem says... #4
Wait, is there an easy way to proxy. Can you just de ink a magic card and paste a print on it? How would it not weigh the same?
July 2, 2016 10:34 p.m.
The point is that if it mattered that it was slightly different in weight then maybe it would be a case for carefully considering the use of a proxy.
If it is a situation where it didn't matter then for simplicity's sake, literally writing rules text and things on copy paper is probably just as well. Make a picture of your favorite cat, character, or meme. Have fun with it.
The exceptions to this guideline are few.
July 2, 2016 10:43 p.m.
guessling i want a high quality proxy though. its something i plan on using long term.
Nebulocity and PistonGolem i dont have a steady hand or enough attention to detail to do something like that
July 2, 2016 11:26 p.m.
I use proxies when I'm waiting or wanting some cards. Always with approval of my friends/playgroup, and just a couple (fixes and upgrades). Therefore, the proxies are done just with paper and pen, tucked in the cards that are gonna be replaced. More of a representative thing than trying to be faithful to the card.
In this case I made a couple of Captain's Claws
July 3, 2016 4:20 a.m.
Or you can just print them and tuck them into the sleeves or paste them to the cards (usually useless lands). Forgot to mention that obvious option.
Cheers!
July 3, 2016 4:31 a.m.
The higher quality the proxy is, the more likely someone will mistake it for real, and the more questionable or becomes.
Printing and producing your own obvious proxies is fine in my book as a long as it's exceedingly clear that that is what they are. However when you start supporting (paying) organisations that produce proxies that could be confused for real cards then you become really complicit in fraud in a way that isn't the same if you make your own bad ones
July 3, 2016 5:09 a.m.
ChiefBell how is it fraud if I buy a proxy to just play with my friends. I'm not even gonna be bringing these to my lgs.
July 3, 2016 9:38 a.m.
Under copyright law you're reproducing an image you have no right to reproduce.
Under fraud laws you are passing a fake product off as something that's real.
Taking a pen and piece of paper and writing "black lotus" is fine. Reproducing the artwork in a similar manner and supporting an organisation that produces products that could reasonable be assessed to pass as the real product when in reality they're fake is really not ok.
July 3, 2016 9:52 a.m.
You can use a color printer and some scissors to produce decent quality proxies. Just be careful in cutting the paper out and then put it in a sleeve in front of some other card. It works surprisingly well and there isn't that much of a weight difference. This method is great for casual playgroups.
July 3, 2016 10:29 a.m.
ChiefBell I see what your saying but wouldn't all the legal blame fall on the people selling the product?
ojmandias I want high quality proxies. I plan on using them long term
July 3, 2016 11:31 a.m.
ojmandias is right, shadow63, that method of printing your own proxies is ONLY limited by your skill. If you paste the proxies on lands, and then get them into sleeves... those could last years.
July 3, 2016 2:10 p.m.
To make my own cards I'd have to get special printer paper special glue and then painstakingly cut and glue every single individual card
July 3, 2016 2:18 p.m.
Yep. And just color printer. Normal paper. Normal glue. And a couple of hours, I guess. I'm not sure how long would it take though... As you see, I draw mine.
Some friends of mine proxied an entire deck; Pretty acceptable... till the day he started printing Moxes...
And you can print like 12-20 cards per page of paper
July 3, 2016 2:56 p.m.
you can print 9 at the absolute most before they get too small to look nice. And I generally proxy whole decks which takes me around 15-20 minutes to cut out 60 cards 5 minutes to sleeve 60 lands and 5 minutes to put the proxies in the sleeves over lands. These look pretty real and last as long as the sleeves do.
guessling says... #2
I would be extra careful with the waves of news stories about counterfeit cards, honestly.
I used to make prettier proxies with magic set editor but they were mostly custom sets I made up and a few very purposefully bad b/w power nine/dual proxies that I never tried to pass for a tual cards (and a poxy of Brimaz, King of Oreskos with a pic of my pet kitty.
It suffices for any venue that is cool with proxies for the most part to print/type clearly on just a piece of paper.
July 2, 2016 8:57 p.m.