You’re probably trying to playtest a deck, build a cube, or stop your Commander night from turning into “who owns the most Reserved List cardboard.” All reasonable goals. Slightly cursed, but reasonable.
This guide covers two things: how to actually make proxies that shuffle like real cards, and the basic legality line so you don’t show up to a sanctioned event with a stack of home-printed dreams and a judge’s thousand-yard stare.
What an MTG proxy is (and what it is not)
In casual MTG, “proxy” usually means “a stand-in so i can play the game.” That can be:
- a printed card front slipped into a sleeve over a basic land
- a clean, professionally printed playtest card
- a custom design you made because you’re a creative menace (compliment)
What it is not: a counterfeit. If the goal is to pass as an authentic Magic card, sell it as real, or “accidentally” trade it later, that’s not proxying. That’s you auditioning for a bad time.
A good proxy is obvious outside gameplay, readable during gameplay, and boringly honest about what it is.
How to make MTG proxies: pick the method that matches your life
There are a lot of “methods” online. Most of them boil down to three.
Option 1: Paper-in-sleeve (fast, cheap, works tonight)
This is the classic: print the front, cut it out, put it in a sleeve with a real card behind it (usually a basic land). It’s not glamorous, but it’s how a shocking number of decks are born.
What matters:
- Use opaque sleeves if you can.
- Use the same backing card thickness across the whole deck so nothing feels “marked.”
- Make sure the card name and key text are readable. If your proxy requires a group squint, it’s not a proxy, it’s a literacy event.
This is the best answer when Commander night is in two hours and your printer still smells like regret.
Option 2: Print-on-demand (consistent, durable, less scissor-based)
If you want proxies that feel like a real deck, print-on-demand is the easiest path. The big advantage is consistency: size, corners, cut, and color usually come out the same across the whole order. That means your deck shuffles like cards instead of like arts-and-crafts.
This is also the route people take when they’re building a cube or maintaining a reusable “staples pool” they can drop into multiple decks.
If you’re comparing services, you’ll probably also want to read:
Option 3: Custom designs (for when you want to be responsible and unhinged)
Custom frames, alt-art, custom tokens, fan cards, “my playgroup as planeswalkers,” etc. Great. Just keep two rules in mind:
- Readability beats aesthetics. Always.
- If you’re using custom backs, do not use an official card back. Custom backs reduce confusion later and make accidental “mixing” with real cards way less likely.
Printing basics that actually matter
You can go very deep here. We’re going to stay shallow on purpose.
Size: close is fine, exact is nicer
MTG cards are standard TCG-sized. If you’re printing at home and sleeving, you mainly need the proxy to fit cleanly inside a sleeve without weird edges. If you’re trimming by hand, aim for consistency more than theoretical perfection.
Resolution: stop feeding your printer tiny images
If your source image is low-res, the result will be muddy, and rules text will look like it’s been through a dishwasher. Most print workflows behave well around 300 DPI for card fronts. More than that is fine, but not magic.
Bleed and borders: why everything gets accidentally cropped
Printers and cutters are physical machines, and physical machines do physical-machine things. If your design goes right to the edge, you want bleed so small shifts don’t create a white halo on one side and a decapitated mana symbol on the other.
Practical advice:
- If you want full-bleed art, include extra margin and trim area.
- If you want a border, make it thick enough that tiny cut drift does not make it look lopsided.
Color: your proxy should not look like it lived in a fireplace
The most common “my proxies look bad” issue is that everything printed too dark. Screens lie. Printers lie differently. If you can do a small test print before committing to 300 cards, do it.
Cutting, sleeving, and avoiding marked cards
Marked cards are not just a tournament thing. In casual play, they create weird vibes fast.
Keep it simple:
- Use the same sleeves across the whole deck.
- If you’re doing paper-in-sleeve proxies, use real cards as backing for every proxy, not some with backing and some without.
- Don’t add labels or Sharpie marks on the front of sleeves where you can feel them while shuffling.
Legality: where proxies are allowed (and where they are not)
Here’s the shortest honest version:
- Casual play: usually fine if everyone agrees.
- Store casual nights: depends on the store and event. Ask.
- Sanctioned tournaments: bringing your own proxies is not allowed. “Proxy” there means judge-issued replacements in specific situations.
Sanctioned MTG events and “judge proxies”
In official Magic tournament policy, a proxy is something a Head Judge can issue when a card becomes damaged or otherwise unplayable during the event. Players do not get to make their own and bring them in. So even if you own the real card at home, that doesn’t convert your home print into a tournament-legal card. The policy does not care about your binder’s feelings.
Commander pods and the real rule: consent
Commander is where proxies are most common, and also where people forget the social part. Some groups are fully proxy-friendly. Some are fine with a few. Some want “real cards only.” None of those are morally shocking. You just need to match the table.
If you want to use proxies with strangers, your best tools are:
- clear labeling
- clear communication
- not acting like the table is wrong for having preferences
Quick notes for other games (because ProxyFoundry is not MTG-only)
Different games treat proxies differently, and it’s usually the same pattern: casual is flexible, sanctioned play is strict.
- Netrunner (Null Signal Games era): unusually proxy-friendly. Print-and-play is a normal, supported path, and home-printed cards can be accepted at tournaments if they’re cut neatly and used with opaque sleeves and backing cards.
- Disney Lorcana: sanctioned events generally only allow judge-issued proxy replacements for damaged cards during the event.
- Flesh and Blood: similar story. Proxies are not generally allowed unless officially issued by the Head Judge under the tournament policy.
- Pokémon: official tournament rules are strict about fake or proxy cards, with limited judge-approved exceptions when a card is accidentally damaged during an event.
Translation: if you’re going to a real tournament for any of these, assume “no” unless the policy explicitly says otherwise.
A boring, practical proxy ethics checklist
This is the part people skip, then act surprised when problems happen later.
- Label proxies as proxies (at least “PROXY / NOT FOR SALE” somewhere).
- Avoid official card backs for anything meant to live long-term.
- Never sell, trade, or represent proxies as authentic cards.
- Don’t bring self-made proxies to sanctioned events and argue about it.
- Support the games you like when you can. Proxies are about access and testing, not about turning the hobby into a piracy speedrun.
And yes, this is still how to make MTG proxies in a way that doesn’t create a future mess you have to clean up.