You’re here because you’re ordering today and you don’t want to accidentally print a “76-card vibe deck” where your maybeboard, tokens, sideboard, and “maybe I’ll cut this later” pile all got invited to the party.
Let’s make your Moxfield export boring, standard, and machine-readable—the exact kind of list importers love.
The goal: a decklist that looks like this
If you remember nothing else, remember this: one card per line, quantity first, card name after.
Example:
1 Sol Ring
1 The One Ring
2 Nature's Lore
10 Forest
That format is the closest thing MTG has to a universal adapter. It avoids 90% of import problems before they happen.
What you want to avoid:
- Category headers (“Creatures (23)”, “Ramp”, “Interaction”)
- Commentary (“this is my pet card”, “cut later”)
- Extra separators (tabs, bullets, emoji, fancy dashes)
- Version noise (set codes, collector numbers) unless you truly need it
If your export doesn’t look like the boring example above, we’re going to fix it.
Best Moxfield export option (and why)
Moxfield gives you multiple export options. For ordering proxies (and for basically any tool that needs to read your list cleanly), the safest choice is:
More (⋯) → Export → Copy for MTGO
Why “Copy for MTGO” works so well: it tends to produce a plain list that keeps cards from all printings in your deck, not just what exists in Arena’s card pool.
What you generally want to avoid for proxy ordering:
Copy for MTGA (Arena)
That export is designed for Arena importing. If a card isn’t in Arena (or isn’t legal in the format you’re importing to), it can get dropped or mangled. That’s how you end up short on cards and confused.
Moxfield also has “Copy for Moxfield” in some export menus. That can work too, but if you’re trying to minimize surprises across different importers, Copy for MTGO is the “works almost everywhere” pick.
Quick sanity check before you export
Before you export, do a fast pass on Moxfield so you’re not exporting a mess:
- Make sure your deck is in the right format (Commander vs 60-card, etc.)
- Confirm you’re looking at Mainboard, not a view that includes maybeboard by default
- If you’re using tags, packages, or custom categories: remember they’re great for brewing, but they can leak into some exports depending on settings
Now export using the option above and paste it into a plain text editor (Notes, Notepad, Google Docs in plain mode, etc.) so you can see what you’re really working with.
Commander decks: how to handle commanders (and partners)
Commander is where import mistakes multiply because the deck structure is different:
- Your “main deck” is 99 cards
- Plus 1 commander (or 2 if you’re using Partner)
- Plus possibly a Companion
The cleanest way to format commander(s)
You have two good options. Pick the one your printer/uploader likes best.
Option A: Include commanders as normal lines
This is the “least fancy” and most compatible method:
1 Thrasios, Triton Hero
1 Tymna the Weaver
98 other cards...
Option B: Use a Commander header (only if your importer supports it)
Some systems are smart enough to parse sections like this:
Commander
1 Atraxa, Praetors' VoiceDeck
99 cards...
If you’re not sure what your importer supports, Option A is the safe play because every parser understands “quantity + card name.”
Partners, Backgrounds, Friends Forever
Same rule: either list them as normal cards at the top, or use a header if supported.
Example (simple and compatible):
1 Karlach, Fury of Avernus
1 Flaming Fist
98 other cards...
Companions: don’t let them become “card #101 by accident”
Companions are the classic “why did my Commander deck import as 101 cards” problem.
Two clean solutions:
Solution A (simple): just include the companion as a normal line
This works if you’re printing the deck as a pile of cards and you don’t care about sectioning.
1 Lurrus of the Dream-Den
99 cards...
Solution B (sectioned): label it clearly
Only do this if your importer respects headers:
Companion
1 Lurrus of the Dream-DenDeck
99 cards...
If your uploader doesn’t recognize “Companion” as a real section, it may dump it into mainboard anyway—so if you get weird counts, revert to Solution A.
Sideboards: the #1 reason people print the wrong number of cards
If you’re exporting a 60-card deck, you usually have:
- 60 mainboard
- Up to 15 sideboard
Your export might include a “Sideboard” section or prefix sideboard lines with something like “SB:” depending on the format.
What to do with sideboards for proxy ordering
Decide what you actually want printed:
- If you want the full tournament-style package, keep the sideboard.
- If you only want the main deck, remove the sideboard section entirely.
If your list includes this:
Sideboard
2 Mystical Dispute
1 Pithing Needle
…and you only meant to print the 60, delete the sideboard section before uploading.
If it uses something like:
SB: 2 Mystical Dispute
SB: 1 Pithing Needle
Many importers handle that fine, but if yours doesn’t, convert it to a header-style sideboard or just remove those lines.
Tokens: print them on purpose, not by accident
Moxfield can surface tokens in a few ways depending on how you’ve built and viewed the deck. Tokens are also the sneakiest “extra cards” problem because people forget they were included.
Here’s the rule: either print tokens intentionally, or strip them entirely.
If you DO want tokens printed
Keep them in a clearly separated block so you can confirm what you’re ordering:
Tokens
2 Treasure
1 Food
1 Soldier
(Your exact token naming may vary depending on how your tool expects tokens to be labeled.)
If you do NOT want tokens printed
Delete the token section. Don’t assume the importer will ignore it. Some tools will happily treat “Treasure” like a card name and try to match it.
MDFCs and DFCs: get the naming right once, avoid pain forever
Modal double-faced cards (MDFCs) and other DFCs are where decks get “mostly imported” but a few cards go missing.
Examples of cards that commonly trip importers:
- MDFCs (Zendikar Rising style)
- Transform cards (werewolves, etc.)
- Some special-frame / special-name variants
The safe naming approach
Most importers recognize the front-face card name.
So instead of trying to be clever, keep it clean:
1 Valakut Awakening
1 Agadeem's Awakening
1 Boseiju, Who Endures
Some exports (or some people) use the full double name:
1 Valakut Awakening // Valakut Stoneforge
That’s fine if your importer supports it. If you notice those cards fail to match, switch back to front-face name only.
A quick DFC troubleshooting trick
If a specific DFC won’t import:
- Remove everything after
//if it exists - Make sure there aren’t extra spaces or weird punctuation
- Try front-face name only
Nine times out of ten, that fixes it.
Common Moxfield mistakes (and how to fix them)
This is the “76-card vibe deck” hall of fame.
1) Using the Arena export
Symptom: missing cards, wrong counts, or an import that “mostly worked.”
Fix: export again using Copy for MTGO, not MTGA.
2) Export includes headers/tags/categories
Symptom: importer chokes, or you see weird lines that aren’t cards.
Fix: delete every non-card line until the list is only quantity + name.
If you see lines like:
Creatures (26)#ramp===Maybeboard
Delete them.
3) Weird separators and formatting
Symptom: cards don’t parse even though the names look correct.
Fix: normalize to plain text:
- One card per line
- No tabs
- No bullets
- No extra columns
If your lines look like a table, you’re asking for trouble.
4) Set codes used as nicknames / extra text in the name field
Symptom: importer can’t match “the card” because the name isn’t the actual card name anymore.
Fix: strip anything that isn’t the real name.
Bad:
1 Sol Ring - Secret Lair Cool Art
1 Lightning Bolt (my favorite)
Good:
1 Sol Ring
1 Lightning Bolt
If you want a specific printing, handle that in proofing/version selection—not by mutating the name.
5) Sideboard or maybeboard got included unintentionally
Symptom: your 60-card deck becomes 75+, or your Commander deck becomes 110+.
Fix: remove any section that isn’t part of what you’re printing today.
Your final pre-upload checklist (fast, not annoying)
Before you upload your list:
- Count check: does the number of lines add up to what you expect?
- Commander: 99 + commander(s)
- 60-card: 60 main + optional sideboard
- Basics included: did you include your lands if you want them printed?
- Tokens intentional: either keep them on purpose or delete them completely
- No junk lines: headers, tags, notes—gone
- DFC sanity: if you used
//names, confirm those cards match; otherwise use front-face only
Want the full “order from decklist” workflow?
If you want the broader, end-to-end version (not just formatting), link readers to your decklist ordering walkthrough and your proofing checklist. Those two pages cover the “okay, now what?” part after your list is clean.