A question about proxies....
Asked by The_Kazekyo 10 years ago
I was wondering if i'm allowed to use harmless proxies like a basic land with a diferent art or customized tokens even if i have the original card inside the protector along with the proxy
Epochalyptik says... Accepted answer #2
I think the given answer could use some elaboration.
First, let's establish that proxies and altered art cards (not alternate art, which implies that the cards haven't been altered) are not the same thing. A proxy is a non-card placeholder for an actual Magic card. An altered card is a real Magic card that has had its appearance changed, generally through the use of acrylic paint, although other kinds of alters exist. The primary difference is that a true alter is a modification to an existing card that doesn't represent another card. A proxy is just a non-card object being used to represent a card.
Proxies are only legal if they have been issued by a judge to replace a card damaged over the course of play. Player-made proxies and proxies issued for any other reason are illegal.
Altered cards are legal at the approval of the head judge of the event. There is no official policy regarding alters; the decision is instead left to the discretion of the head judge.
Although the guidelines given by lordoftheshadows are indeed decent guidelines, there are some notable differences between the proposed guidelines and the things most judges actually consider.
Generally speaking, alters are permissible even if they obscure or change the original image. Many popular alters feature superheroes or other characters painted over planeswalkers. For example, Doctor Who instead of Venser, the Sojourner
. What alters cannot do is falsify the art of one card such that it appears to be the art of another card. For example, you could not paint a likeness of Mana Drain
onto Counterspell
.
GENERAL RULE: An alter must not misrepresent one card as another at a glance.
Further, judges are less inclined to favor alters that obscure too much of the important information on a card. Such information includes the name, mana cost, P/T, and loyalty costs. This factor arguably receives the most varied responses from judges. Some will allow a "full art" alter that covers everything except the name, and in some cases the mana cost and P/T, while others will only allow alters that preserve the name, mana cost, P/T (if any), and loyalty costs (if any). Some judges disallow any alters that cover any of the printed information.
GENERAL RULE: The less information the alteration covers, the more likely it is to be approved.
There is no rule stating that borders are not allowed to be covered. In fact, one of the most popular forms of alteration is the "borderless" style, where an artist extends the art of the card into the borders.
GENERAL RULE: Borders don't matter.
There is indeed a standard of decency to be upheld in sanctioned play. Just as judges are free to prohibit the use of playmats featuring lewd or questionable content (there was an infamous example involving a playmat that depicted Chandra and Liliana making amends), judges are free to prohibit alters featuring lewd or questionable content.
GENERAL RULE: Keep alters in good taste; nothing too edgy.
You should, as lordoftheshadows mentioned, always have enough unaltered copies of a card to make the necessary substitutions in the event an altered card is prohibited for any reason.
filledelanuit says... #1
I'm not sure exactly what you're asking but I'll give it a shot.
Proxies in magic are representations of real magic cards using anything else, including other magic cards. Tokens are not considered "real" magic cards so as long as the image is appropriate then you may use any art on tokens that you want.
If you are talking about alternate art cards then you you should ask a judge before an event if you can use them. Here are some general guidelines about alternate art cards.
The art has to resemble the original image. This is to keep people from thinking it's one card but it actually a different one.
The name, P/T, and mana cost must still be visible.
The original border must still exist. If it had a white border then the paint cannot cover it. In the case of basic lands most judges will not care if the border doesn't exist because you would be faking a $0.01 card.
The art must be appropriate, no naked people or profanity.
Those are the general rules. Make sure you ask the HEAD judge if you can use the cards before an event. It is wise to have back up copies of a card just in case the head judge doesn't allow them.
October 7, 2014 9:26 p.m.