"3 Reasons Why Proxying MTG Cards Now Makes Sense."

 "3 Reasons Why Proxying MTG Cards Now Makes Sense."

by:

Virgilio F. De Leon Jr., MD

If you have been following Magic: The Gathering for the past six years, then you are probably familiar with two things that have fundamentally changed the way we look at the game: Universes Beyond and Secret Lairs.

One is Wizards of the Coast's attempt to bring other fan bases into Magic by taking existing intellectual properties and turning them into Magic cards. Hence, Universes Beyond.

Secret Lair, on the other hand, is Wizards' way of selling directly to players. You get reprints, alternate art, and sometimes mechanically unique cards that don't necessarily follow the traditional aesthetic of a normal Magic set.

And at this point, almost everything seems to be on the table.

All but the Reserved List, apparently.

So here are three reasons why proxying MTG cards now makes perfect sense.

1. If Anything Can Be Anything, Then Art Is an Open Frontier

If you can convince yourself that a circle is a Sol Ring, then apparently any circle can now be a Sol Ring.

And if you've looked at enough Secret Lairs, you know just how far Wizards is willing to stretch the visual identity of Magic cards.

Don't get me wrong. A lot of these different art styles are fantastic. But they have also opened the door to something else:

Why not make the cards look exactly the way you want them to look?

This is where proxying becomes particularly fun.

I have, for example, an All-Hinata deck.

It is built around Hinata, Dawn-Crowned from Kamigawa. Of course, that Hinata is a Kirin.

The Hinata I actually like, however, is the Hinata who existed long before she became Naruto's wife.

So naturally, the deck features her.

Even the lands are themed around the world of Naruto.

Maybe someday we will get a Naruto x Magic: The Gathering Universes Beyond product. It wouldn't even surprise me anymore.

But I seriously doubt Wizards would ever make the exact Hinata-themed cards I have in my proxy deck.

For one thing, let's just say my version is a little more... niche.

And there certainly isn't going to be anything remotely resembling that particular interpretation in an official Universes Beyond product.

But that's precisely the point.

If anything can be anything now, why limit yourself to what Wizards decides to print?

Proxying allows you to take a card's mechanical identity and build an entirely different visual identity around it.

You can make it funny.

You can make it obscure.

You can make it personal.

You can even make it so specific that you are probably the only person in the world who understands why the card looks the way it does.

And honestly?

That's part of the fun.

2. The Price of Printing Can Beat the Price of the Real Thing

The first time I had cards proxied, I understood the concept very differently.

I was making proxies of genuinely expensive cards—things like Grim Monolith and the Moxen.

That made sense to me.

What I didn't understand was why people would proxy cards worth only a few cents.

Why would you spend money printing a common card when you could simply buy the common?

The card already exists.

Just buy it.

But I digress.

The reality is that even relatively inexpensive Magic cards aren't actually free.

Take something like a heavily reprinted shock land. Its price may have fallen dramatically compared to its original versions, but it is still not zero.

And if what you actually want is to play the card rather than own the collectible object, then the economics can start looking very different.

A proxy can cost a fraction of the actual card.

Now, obviously, this doesn't mean you should represent a proxy as an authentic card when selling or trading. That's simply dishonest.

But for casual play, testing decks, experimentation, and personal collections, the calculation becomes much simpler:

If I can play the same game without spending the same amount of money, why wouldn't I?

Especially when the alternative is spending hundreds—or even thousands—of pesos on a card simply because it has become expensive on the secondary market.

At some point, you're no longer paying for the game.

You're paying for scarcity.

And those are two very different things.

3. Savoring the Flavor

Nothing beats an original Magic card.

I'll say that.

There is something special about opening an actual card, feeling it in your hand, seeing the original artwork, and knowing that it is part of Magic's history.

But there is another kind of satisfaction that comes from building a deck exactly the way you imagined it.

If you're the kind of person who wants your lands to match the plane your Commander comes from, you already know how difficult completing an EDH deck can become.

Maybe your Commander is from Kamigawa.

So naturally, you want Kamigawa lands.

Maybe your deck is based on a specific character.

Now you want every basic land to reflect that character.

Maybe the deck has a particular story, joke, aesthetic, or fandom behind it.

And suddenly you're hunting for cards that Wizards may never print.

That's where proxies become incredibly liberating.

You can simply make them.

Instead of asking:

"What has Wizards printed?"

you can ask:

"What do I want my deck to look like?"

And that is a very different question.

For years, players have been limited by what Wizards chooses to print and, increasingly, by how much those cards cost.

Proxying removes that limitation.

It lets you experiment.

It lets you build the deck you actually want to play.

It lets you create something that could never exist as an official product.

And let's be honest: Wizards itself has pushed Magic further and further toward the idea that almost anything can become a Magic card.

When Magic 30 tried to pass off Alpha cards as a premium fan-service product, the message was pretty clear:

The line between Magic card, collectible, crossover, alternate art, and novelty has become increasingly blurry.

So why shouldn't players take advantage of that same creative freedom?

The Printer Equalizes Us All

I'm not saying proxies replace real Magic cards.

They don't.

There will always be something special about owning the real thing.

What I'm saying is that proxies give players something that Magic has increasingly made difficult to obtain:

creative freedom without an enormous price tag.

So brew to your heart's content.

Build the weird deck.

Make the ridiculous alternate art.

Turn that obscure anime character into your Commander.

Put whatever lands you want into the deck.

Create the card that Wizards will probably never make.

And don't worry too much about the elitists who insist that the only legitimate way to enjoy the game is to spend more money on it.

Because at the end of the day, we're still playing the same game.

And when it comes to making the Magic card you want?

The printer equalizes us all.