@ You really need to let go of the hope that the RL will be abolished. I can literally promise you it's not going to happen. I have spoken to investors, lawyers, and the most prominent people in Magic about this and it's been clear for a LONG TIME that the Reserve List is never going away. After that became clear my focus went to the next step. What do we do about it? First step, is make your peace with that and perhaps get a little pissed at the other RUclipsrs and people stirring the pot on that one and giving people hope. Those other RUclipsrs are either ignorant or they know it's never going away and they are trying to piss you off. Next step, is decide if you want to ever play the formats which require those cards. If you do... then I can say from experience it's a FUN goal to work your way into old cards that hold their value or go up. The chase is fun and it's really nice knowing that the money and effort you spent is not going to get destroyed. Another option is to join me in my support of proxies (not counterfeits... proxies) for tournaments and games. Proxies let the players play, and makes card values go UP by bringing people into the format (which pleases collectors/investors).
was very apprehensive when i saw the length of the video but thank you so much for the amount of detail you went into on this video! even the small things like saying how you copy and past things using ctrl for my computing noobiness! brilliant video by far the best. Thank you!
This video is aging really well and it's an absolute life saver You've got to be one of the best low-key Magic channels I've seen. When my wife got pregnant and got motion sickness, we couldn't play video games together and found magic. I've got my own template saved and this is beyond useful to make actual high quality proxies. Now I don't have to buy literally 4-6 of the same 50$ card for all of our decks since I personally just don't like to proxy unless I have at least one real copy of the card. Love the channel and love the videos, keep it up!
This is great! Start the proxy revolution! Proxies will NOT destroy Old School MTG! I started proxying old cards a couple of years ago on my laserjet printer so I could jam some games with some friends. Now I've got a taste for it, I have started buying into the format (and like all OS players, my habit has got out of control quite quickly!). Proxies enable everyone to experience this awesome game without having to rob a bank. Is playing proxies the same as playing with a deck you've spent time saving and hunting down individual cards? Of course not. But it will give people a chance to PLAY the game and if they like it enough, they will quickly become an addict and will start trying to buy "real" cards. OS seems to take pride itself in calling itself "casual" but I strongly dislike some of the yacht club/ prep boy vibes I get from the finance side of the hobby. Playing with bits of card should not be an elitist pursuit; everyone has the right to pretend to be a wizard. It's pretty well known the company Edwin keeps and he knows by making this video it WON'T affect their business, livelihood or "investments". Old Magic cards are in a finite supply and will continue to rise in monetary value. Printing some copies off for your kitchen table will not change that fact.
Exactly! It's so nice when people get it. Your experience is exactly what I find most people doing. Proxy at first then start buying cards later. That's for sure how it happens. Yeah I'm sure my friends would get all over me if they thought I was going to destroy their business.
why would i buy these cards when i can make perfect proxies of them, sure if you play in places where it really matters but since i only play with friends at home, theres really no need to
It's wotc fault that the game is so expensive. They should stop printing lame cards and print more the stronger and usable ones. It would make the game better for everyone.
@@andrebenoit404 True, although when you pring cards out, you get access to the most broken cards and combos, so its totally worth it for kitchen table magic
Thanks for making this video. I still can't afford to spend money on MTG for at least another year, but I want to be able to keep creating decks. This tutorial will really help me out until I can finish school.
Thank you for such a thorough tutorial. I myself love owning the real cards much as everyone. I even take the time to smell and read each card I get. But let's face facts, even with $100 a booster box and now $125 for Zendikar Rising coming out, I don't have that kind of money to chase down rares. I personally was looking for a video like this and I am super glad you made this video. Cheers.
>$125 Boy, bet you were fuming about the $999 MTG 30th Anniversary reprints (that were four 15-card packs that you can't even play in a game of magic).
Thank you so much. This is a great project that will help me blind out my edh deck with cards I can't afford. Keep on rocking in the free world, Edwin.
MTGpress with the cards at 103% works great too IMO when you have a card and the proxy paper in a sleeve. It should cover the whole card and look seemless in the sleeve. You don’t get the proxy text like what edwin was showing here but it’s a really quick process.
Thank you for making this video. If I only had one copy of a card for a deck that needed four, I'd make 3 copies, slide them into sleeves and replace them as I acquired the real cards. I'd rather have real cards than proxies, but the most important thing is to be able to play.
That is absolutely my experience. MOST people would rather have real cards and proxies are just a stop-gap. It's very rare I find a person who would sell all their real cards and play with 100% proxies.
Me and my friends started proxing more than 20 years ago, we were not collectors, we just enjoyed the game and considering we were unenployed kids we couldn't afford 2,000$ each month for the decks we wanted to play, instead 20$ for the ink cartridges seemed much more reasonable to actually enjoy the game at its finest , it surprises me this has started to become a trend so recently, you kind of realize you've been scammed by Wizards all this time paying unreasonable amounts for a card , i know you can't play tournaments like this but MTG is essentially one of the first Pay 2 Win games ever , i think gaming culture has changed a lot since then, p2w was not only accepted but all the hoarding and effort of gathering the most wanted cards was praised , meanwhile Wizards of the coast made tons of money.
Really appreciate you taking the time out from family and work (agree they're more important, if only just.. j/k) to give us all a tutorial on proxys. I first thought, 33 minutes!?! But throughly enjoyed it, i think i was 28 minutes in when i realised what time it was, partly because i was trying to keep up with what you were doing by doing the same. I am very impressed by your very prepared and thought out video. I really enjoyed your soapbox as well, which was at least as good in it's own way. I don't think i'm the only one who will 100% support you when you give your opinions that are thoughtful and constructive on topics like this.
Thank you! You've really covered everything in the process in this video. It honestly felt quite easy and efficient to make some proxies after watching this. I really like that you've included a section on making a clear, and nice looking label of "PROXY" on the cards. It makes one feel less like a fraud. I can finally get stomped less by the expensive cards in my playgroup. Edit: Also really handy that you've done this all in one program. Very convenient.
Thank you for this video. One of the latest commander precons came with the wrong tokens and WotC never printed the correct ones, so they can't rectify the mistake, but they do exist on scryfall, so this has been massively helpful :)
Thank you so much for making this so many other channels just said "youll have to play around with the sizes until you find what works for your printer" but yours was spot on the money. Mine ended up being 710 base value to match a mtg size but it works all the same!
I have been using printed proxies for ages using a similar format (we use free uni credit to print out the colour copies ). There are a few guys in the play group who use modern proxie decks, as they are into commander and dont want to sink $1500 into a deck they hardly use. Yeah, this is a way of play testing and, providing that you like the deck, then you may buy the real things over time. I never understood the price argument, as a player within most play groups and even casually at a store, no one cares. If you want to play in tournaments/ FMN, well that is another issue... Nicely done and real nice proxies my man. As always i value your content and kind consideration for all parties. You engage in a wonderfull deliberative process with all sides :) Thank you as always Edwin :) Ps well done in the growth of the channel i know you dont care about subs, however its nice to see others are discovering your wonderful content, i dont know how you have the time!!
@@cameroncansler602 Well considering you play for prizes in a tournament you should have to have the real card printed by WOTC just because then everyone is playing with proxies and it upheaves the MTG economy. LGSs would go bankrupt because nobody would buy cards except as collectors. Now if you're talking non WOTC tourneys, then sure.
This video got me to build a new commander deck there were 4cards that i just couldn't afford and i made proxies and i am going to take it to game night tomorrow. Thanks a lot!
I made proxy cards when i first started playing MTG. I was scared that the guys i was playing MTG with would tell me something cause i had proxy cards. They didn't care, as long as i was learning and playing with them. now i met some new people to play with but i'm not dropping a car payment or more on a piece of paper with ink. people over inflate the prices of cards making them almost hard to afford 1 decent deck. thanks for this information.
I play EDH and I proxy for two reasons. First reason would be short term for testing a deck (even 20 cent cards) before buying the cards for it. The second reason would be long term proxy so that I can keep older decks put together instead of tearing them down every time I build a new deck. I don't want to move a cyclonic rift between 5 different commander decks all the time, it's damaging for the card itself. I like to keep the real version of my proxied cards in a no trade binder. If I trade the original card, then I pull the proxies out of those decks. I like being able to come out to play with 5 decks ready to go and not 1 completed deck and 4 partial decks that I have to keep moving cards between while fumbling through a deck list.
Super valid reasons to proxy. I do the same thing with Old School cards. I proxied Tabernacles for a year before I finally committed $3600.00 to buy two English copies.
Thank you for your tutorial. I was after a card that is being sold exclusively in North America (I'm in the UK.) Now I can have a proxy version of it when I play with friends.
I usually own at least one copy of all the cards I proxy and have them with me in a folder anyway. Not that it should be a requirement, but I like to do it that way
This is super handy as I just got back into playing, and seeing how much the value of cards like my Judge Promo Doubling Season and Force of Will skyrocketed in price. I don't even want them in my decks so I'd rather just proxy them and leave them in their own cases to retain value
Just something you might be interested in: Wizards created a custom font that is used now on all Magic Cards that's called Beleren. Your lettering for Proxies would look even better if you can download that font for your labeling in the future :)
Cool idea, but remember I'm intentionally NOT trying to make these proxies indistinguishable to real cards. We don't want counterfeits, we want proxies. They only need to look good enough in a sleeve such that your opponent knows what card your proxy represents
Well stated (soapboxing at the end) on proxies vs counterfeits and collectors vs players topics and concerns. I believe they (proxies) help the game in those same aspects.
I really do think Proxies are THE solution to the eternal battle between collectors, investors, and players. If people just calmed down and thought about it... they would realize it's true. Yes the players must give a little and stop boycotting use of proxies for events where FAIRNESS is critical. Yes collectors and investors must give a little and trust that allowing proxies will not destroy their investment. If both factions accept these "truths" I'm laying out... we all win.
go proxies!! my father sold my original card set from when I was a child, and I just want my beta bayou back.. however it's currently going for $8k.. this will give me the art and card I want without having to ride my bike because I traded in my 2010 honda civic for. maybe one day I'll still be able to have a real one, but this satisfies me and my budget for now
Proxies are an amazing way to play with the more expensive cards. Anything $10 and up. As it would be wise for LCS to start allowing them. Some people just can’t afford it and need to pay for necessities such as food, clothes and shelter and daily living accessories. And as a college student I am focused on saving money for my future. I’ll drop 30-40 dollars on a deck but not more than that.
Great video, just a word of advice; try to put a "Limiter" on your audio track of the video in order to stop clipping. You can set it to something like -0.1DB to stop the clipping!
One thing I noticed was to set printer to "matte photo paper" even though I am printing on card stock the printer will slower and with a better resolution.
I'm strongly considering making nice proxies because I don't feel like I should have to own 5+ copies of a fetch land or shock land for 5 different Commander decks when I already own one copy, and Commander is a singleton format that encourages owning one of every card. This is where digital magic has a big advantage over paper magic, you can jam the same card into multiple decks with ease.
That's exactly what I do. I own enough copies of cards I play with to build a deck for a DCI tournament. Besides that I have lots of extra decks for testing that are filled with proxies.
Great video. The collectors mentality is with any card or board game. Table top games as well. I find proxies useful. More of a tool. Then again it’s just me and my wife who play games more for fun so proxies isn’t an issue. Like you mentioned proxies can be temporary that leads to the real thing later on. I see the arguments ppl have made when it comes to proxies but to each their own. I play a lot of board games that are the real thing and the print and play version. Maybe I’m just numb to it all. I used a PnP version to learn the game, to figure out how to build a deck, to figuring my play style, and I happen to have a good printer and plenty of ink so it was free. As far as others go, if the proxy cards are identical to the real thing then just play. If card text is changed then don’t play with that person or ppl. Custom art but all the text is the same, cool no problem. When I bought the real cards, I still bought some high quality proxies because the real versions of some of the cards needed were far too expensive. At some point I’ll get the real thing but at the moment I leaned towards a high quality proxy card. I recommend using a graphic design/illustrator program for your print and play proxies like Corel, Affinity, Illustrator or Photoshop. The cheapest of the four is Affinity if they’re still selling their program for 50 bucks. It’s a one time payment so no subscription. Maybe something to check out if you want. Idk if you use these programs or don’t know how, but for print and play purposes it’s not hard. I loved the video but I do use these programs and it heart my eyes and heart to see you use ms paint then watch your process. These programs make it so much easier.
hey man i know its quite an old video but i give it a shot: I made a full proxy deck without double sleeving but goin single sleeve + the real magic behind, it feels really big and chunky even to shuffle it. Before buying perfect sleeves, would it make that big of a difference? Great video btw super informative and well made even if now we got MTGPrint :)
i find that thickness and weight to be the same as dragon shiel plus inner sleeves. So it's fine if you are used to double sleeved cards Thx for the comments on the video
Thank u I can now make a flood set for mtg I'm so excited about it. Thank u for the help I know this isn't what u made the video for but u helped me out.
Download and install and open GIMP (Free for win and Linux), right click copy picture from scryfall, paste as new Image (shift+ctrl+v). Go to image -> scale, choose Millimeters, type in is 63 x 88 mm. select all (ctrl+a). New Image, type in 210 × 297 mm, then paste. Enjoy!
Then there's the scaling at print time because not all printers are created equal. Which is exactly the reason I spent time making a wire frame and helping people get the scaling right without wasting a lot of expensive printer ink :)
Very informative video Edwin, thanks for sharing! I have been slowly purchasing proxies off of an Etsy seller, between 5 to 8 dollars a piece, the quality is quite good, but I may just go this route to save money.
Really it kinda comes down to personal preferences regarding the art. I use the basic frame of the original card, but all my borders are RED, like STOP sign red. I also will use different card art that is similar to the original so I get the same function/flavor of what the card is, but is blatantly not trying to be the original or one of the official variations. Black Lotus is a good example; I literally just took a pic of a plastic Halloween skull and a fake black Rose sitting next to it, and used that image for the replacement card art. Following your guide, I've been able to build out a few decks with at least a few proxies for stuff I just can't afford, or has been out of stock at my LGS. The next one I really wanna make though is a giant sized Chaos Orb... I used to have one from when they were released in Skrye, but I gave it away to a friend years ago. Then might make a stack of Chaos Confetti as well, just for giggles.
Friend, I just watched your video, five years later and I tell you, you were right. But, I think that many collectors have never played and are not interested in playing, and I think it is valid. On the other hand, there are many children who get excited about having a Pokémon or magic card and playing, but it is impossible to think about an envelope, much less a deck of cards. If this game is called magic, then let there be magic and democracy, in the future those children will work and shop.
Thank you for circling back and taking the time to tell me your viewpoint. I'm an old dog when it comes to Magic. I've been deep in this area for decades and I went through every avenue to see if it made sense. The only answer that ever made sense at pleasing both the collectors/investors and the players was the proxy route. I literally spent years closely watching and testing the waters to see if the fear ever manifests... that fear being "why would anybody buy a card when they can print them for free?" It's a valid question and it makes sense on the first pass. But decades of experience made it completely clear that people don't want to be that guy with proxies. EVERYBODY with few exceptions wishes they had real cards and will eventually pay for them. The more they are willing to open their wallets is actually linked to their love and emotional investment into the hobby. It literally comes from the EXACT SAME PLACE that makes people open their wallets for a rare art variant or foil version of the same card.
Great video! By any chance do you recommend any specific kind of cardstock if I don't want to print on regular paper and have a sleeve in the back? I want to make a wedding gift for my friends that are avid players of customer cards with the pictures being pictures of them. Been having trouble finding which weighted cardstock to use and I want to make sure they look quality for the gift :)
Agreed. They should just make their own proxies with PROXY printed on them. Make them tournament playable as well. By doing that, it would open up all the formats and tournaments for new players, while maintaining the value of the non-proxy card for collectors. I think there would be a huge increase in new magic players and people testing other formats.
16:42 - its seems to work only with scryfall images. I have some arts that i found on google and pinterest (with some of those arts that even cooler than the original ones)but when i paste the image that i want, its doesn't fit and loose quality. Do you know why its happening ? Btw, you have the most complete tutorial that i found so far. Thanks
Scryfall images are a specific size (pixels) so they will alway scale the same as each other. Various images on the internet will be different sizes and quality
@EdwintheMagicEngineer the best one is by far mtgpress, they give high quality scans (they get them from scryfall) and save them on a pdf with the right size.
Is there any cardstock that anyone suggests, if they don't want to have a magic card in the sleeve with it? Also, might get a better look printed on cardstock.
2 thinks i would like to mentention here. 1. Use the download option, the picture there has around 10times better resolution as if you would just copy it from the website. 2. Set the DPI to 300, 72 is websites, 300 is painting. With these both things the card quality will be a lot better. If you just download the picture of the website, its 72dpi low resolution. You can only scale down, not up without loosing informations. Websites try to use lower resolutions, the goal is to have around 100-150KB each picture, if its higher you normly scale it down.
@@friendlyplayer92 No they are really not. I've seen them take down Ebay auctions and outwardly reject proxies. They also have not been legal for tournaments for decades.
@Jordy Yeah interesting isn't it? I have yet to sit down and have a discussion/debate with somebody whom hates proxies that can rationally and honestly defend their position. Many people HATE the idea of use of proxies... but when you dig... when you ask them why... they stumble and fail to come up with an answer that makes sense. They come up with answers... oh yes. But those answers crumble with just a few questions or logical statements.
@Jordy Are you asking why the Revised Edition was printed? Yes indeed it can be hard to compete with people using older expensive cards if you don't have them yourself. That's why I support proxies (not counterfeits) and made this video.
Anything in this world is worth what somebody will pay for it. That's just a truth that people eventually come to accept. Whether or not things in this world SHOULD be worth something is subjective to the person making the judgement. But whether or not they ARE worth something is determined by the market and the buyers. Having said that, a wonderful game and hobby being ruined by money and speculation is a terrible thing. My entire point for proxies is to let the players play, and let the investors invest.
Thank you for this video! It was super informative as I have always had trouble figuring out dimensions etc. I have been debating getting back into magic to play with my buddies, but didn't want to drop hundreds on cards for decks. (Don't want to be in the doghouse with the wife). This will ensure I finally get to wreck my friends ;)
I should have added a border around mine when I made my proxies a little over a year ago. Would have helped for when I cut them out by hand with scissors. I used old revised cards that were worth nothing and well played and just used a glue-stick to apply the proxy prints to the old card. The fronts look obviously like a proxy, but the backs you cant really tell the difference between them and some other old/school card. Thanks for sharing!
When I use a paper cutter with a long straight edge I find that I can get the job done with less cuts and good lines. Using scissors will yield a bad batch.
Very well made video, it's nice that you give people a more budget option to play since mtg can indeed be a very expansive hobby. However, I still think that proxies should never overtake the real cards in any way and should never be legal to play in official events. But if it's just to have fun with friends, why not.
I fully agree that proxies should not count in most official events. For almost all formats that makes sense. You should know though... having a tier 1 Old School deck with original print cards can be upwards of $100,000.00 per deck. I play a deck with LP condition cards that's probably worth 70k. Expecting all players in a tournament to have competitive decks at $500 each is not even in the same ballpark as expecting them to have decks worth upwards of $100k each. I do think there's a limit to which formats should absolutely require real cards. Note that I'm saying from the perspective of a person whom owns those expensive cards and shelled out HUGE money for them.
I am pretty sure I just saw you today while I was looking for mtg cards and I bought a Ulamog, the infinite Gyre. I am not positive but the person behind me looked like you.
A lot of public libraries these days have photoshop cs6 on their desktops. I would recommend doing this on one of those, as it is much much easier to do this sort of stuff on a photoshop console.
Easier? Compared to what? Every windows PC comes with mspaint. Most people have a printer. So you are saying that driving to the library, learning to use photoshop (not everybody knows how to use it), then doing the edits using photoshop (a separate step then first learning to use photoshop), then dealing with the hassel of public library printers, or emailing the edited images to yourself so you can print from home... THAT is easier then just using paint in your own home?
@@EdwintheMagicEngineer I dont know why you're being so hostile, as I'm really just making a suggestion to those who might not have a pc, or have the capability to do something else. And yes it would be much easier to open the images, resize them, copy and paste as many as you need, and print them wherever you need. MS Paint is extremely tedious, especially for doing any type of formatting and stencil work, when compared to photoshop.
@@mmonkeyman1403 Hostile? What about my reply was hostile? Seriously... what was hostile? I'm not disagreeing that Photoshop is a better image editing program. I'm saying that for most people whom don't have it... getting it and learning to use it makes that path not easier. I believe that's correct. For those whom already have it, and already know how to use it... they don't need to be told it's better. They already know. For those whom don't have it, I think you recommended something that actually takes more effort then what i showed.
@@EdwintheMagicEngineer the speed in which you replied and the substance, led me to believe that the tone you took wasn't so sincere. All I was doing is providing my opinion, and you essentially told me it was wrong, I assume because you were looking it at from a narrow, one-sided viewpoint.
@@mmonkeyman1403 Ah I see. Well let me be clear, I didn't mean to come off as hostile. My apologies for coming across like that. I do disagree with your comment about it being easier for those whom don't have Photoshop, but of course I agree Photoshop is a much better if not the best way to edit images. Generally speaking... this video was not made for the already up-and-running folk whom are using Photoshop to edit their own proxies. They are not the ones whom have been asking me for help on this topic for the last year. This video was made for the masses whom likely have a windows PC, but no Photoshop, and want to make proxies cheap and easy.
It might be easier to make a 3x3 proxy template with Google slides. More/easier control over image positioning and of course its networked and accessible on all of your devices, including mobile.
Why not just go to MTGPress.net and skip ALL of this? The only thing they don't have is the "proxy" on the card itself. In addition, you can add the entire deck at once and it will populate all the cards.
At the time I made this video I didn't know about MTGPress.net For sure that's a good option and likely better for many people. But like you said, those copies don't say "proxy" and that's a big deal to some people. Also, the method I showed helps you figure out the print scaling without wasting printer ink. My method will also leave you with local image copies and print sheets, making it easy to print out cards for friends or more decks for you later. So yeah, a bit of benefits each way. Thanks for the comment :)
@@EdwintheMagicEngineer I 100% Agree with you. If you are going to use the same cards over and over with multiple decks then your way is definitely beneficial. Mtgpress.net is great for people that have a pre-made deck from a deck building website that you can copy and paste. They also offer different prints as well, and cut lines (which I prefer). I think if you use Chrome as your browser, it's pretty darn close to near perfect on printing. I use "Print Preview" prior to printing to just make sure. I loved the video, it was very informative, keep up the good work!
I was thinking something similar. I just got back into Magic after a 8 year hiatus, and I still don't have a ton of time to play yet, so I hit up a card printing site to get a commander deck together. I only plan to play kitchen table games with it, but if I cared about the word "proxy" being on each card, it wouldn't be hard to get into GIMP, a free and open photoshop, and just add that to deck PDF. It should also be pretty easy to copy the proxy pattern into a template that could be applied to future prints. I would rather do this and save myself a ton of time. I skipped most of the video because the effort seemed like more work than it was worth, though I do appreciate the work from Edwin to do it.
If you want to get a photoshop template with all the cutlines and Action script to put cards in places = let me know. I spent quite a time to make it. What I made = A4 page emulation that works great with fullsize pictures from scryfall. You just copypaste 9 cards, push the action button and it arranges all of them in places in real size. Real size means = when you print the PDF = you get 100% exact size of cards.
Does the amount of ink left in printer cartridge have an outlook of the cards. I printed a couple but they turned out not looking great. I also had a very low amount of ink. Just wondering, thank you.
I have definitely seen some inkjet printers get very faded looking before running out of ink. And Magic cards are pretty colorful so that makes sense low ink would cause it.
The way to battle counterfeits is through the acceptance of proxies, outcasting those that would use proxies is counter productive as the person already has a inclination to not use the real thing and by driving them away for using proxies in a open and honest way people are only further pushing them to use counterfeits to gain acceptance, because let's be honest who is going to feel bad about lying to someone who has previously made them feel bad for being honest.
I understand your viewpoint. I agree that everyone should be able to play the game. I don't know a whole lot about vintage but in my experience the only reason people started playing proxies was because they felt like they were forced too. My friends and I all started playing commander together and built our decks on a budget. they were decent decks too. We went to an lgs and everyone was playing fake cards and proxies. Because it's casual it's allowed but we all felt really angry. Like we went out and tried to make good decks on a budget but it didn't matter. Now we just have to do what they're doing or it's pointless to play there. That is why I have a negative viewpoint on proxies. It's one thing if you do this and ask your friends if you can play test a deck of proxies. But I don't like to show up to a legitimate business to play random people that have cards that aren't real. Whether it's casual or not. I know I commented on your one other video before. I just thought maybe you would like to know why I had my viewpoint. I don't disagree with your reasoning but I also don't think it's that simple.
Why not play with your friends who made the decks with you? Why should I have to spend thousands of dollars on a deck made of literal paper just because a portion of the playerbase likes collecting, or just have certain cards be a complete NOPE because they cost too much?
At the time I made this video I didn't know about MTGPress.net For sure that's a good option and likely better for many people. But there are still benefits to the method I showed. Using the method I showed allows people to write "proxy" on the card. Also, the method I showed helps you figure out the print scaling without wasting printer ink. My method will also leave you with local image copies and print sheets, making it easy to print out cards for friends or more decks for you later. So yeah, a bit of benefits each way. Thanks for the comment :)
Hello there :) Thanks for the compliment. My proxies look great on video yes but they are very clearly proxies when you see them in person. The process I use to make them is exactly what you see in this video. For my printer I have to set the scaling to 35% to get the exact right size and I have to set the margins to 0.25" If you email me I can reply to your email with the frame and an image for the word "proxy" to get you started. edwinthemagicengineer@gmail.com
Im a collector of ie/ce and it was easier on eBay to win the cards I wanted before, but now i'm getting outbid like crazy. They have really heated up as playable and collectible cards.
The problem is that I have an incomplete deck where I just want specific cards but can't afford them, and this is just for casual games between friends. I don't play competitively, so just having the name of a card is enough for me. Proxies using official artwork is just nicer than writing in sharpie on a stand-in card.
How can you create proxies that don't require a sleeve at all nor other MtG cards as backing? What thickness of cardstock do you use? Wood-pulp or plastic cardstock?
Awesome video, thanks for the information. I've been wanting to do the same with proxys until getting real card. So do you or anybody else have any suggestions on getting a 200 lower end printer but still be able to print high quality ones?
I have a older (2008?) cannon printer I got for 90$ that works well. Just check on the ink cartridges before picking a printer they can be hard to find and expensive.
Who else is here after MTG30? 😂
I hope many... MTG 30th is a total rip off
I am!
Yeeeeessir
YEP! I wonder how high that view counter is going to climb after MTG30!!!
Hell yeah
After you saw that the card you want is worth more than a printer :
🤣
Lmao for real, friend spending $1000's and I'm paying like $200 for every kind of deck
I live in a 3rd world country who grew up with MTG cards in the early 90s...we have no choice but to print
Similarly, all the people here in the USA whom only recently discovered MTG and never had the chance to buy old cards cheap!
@ You really need to let go of the hope that the RL will be abolished. I can literally promise you it's not going to happen. I have spoken to investors, lawyers, and the most prominent people in Magic about this and it's been clear for a LONG TIME that the Reserve List is never going away.
After that became clear my focus went to the next step. What do we do about it?
First step, is make your peace with that and perhaps get a little pissed at the other RUclipsrs and people stirring the pot on that one and giving people hope. Those other RUclipsrs are either ignorant or they know it's never going away and they are trying to piss you off.
Next step, is decide if you want to ever play the formats which require those cards. If you do... then I can say from experience it's a FUN goal to work your way into old cards that hold their value or go up. The chase is fun and it's really nice knowing that the money and effort you spent is not going to get destroyed.
Another option is to join me in my support of proxies (not counterfeits... proxies) for tournaments and games. Proxies let the players play, and makes card values go UP by bringing people into the format (which pleases collectors/investors).
@ sorry, but league of legends is trash. Lolol but for real I get your point
@ I never got into it in the first place and played DotA 2 once for like a week so I can't really talk lol
Who else is here after Commander Masters?
was very apprehensive when i saw the length of the video but thank you so much for the amount of detail you went into on this video! even the small things like saying how you copy and past things using ctrl for my computing noobiness! brilliant video by far the best. Thank you!
Thanks for having enough faith to watch and then for taking the time to comment :)
I would've preferred a longer video.
This video is aging really well and it's an absolute life saver
You've got to be one of the best low-key Magic channels I've seen.
When my wife got pregnant and got motion sickness, we couldn't play video games together and found magic.
I've got my own template saved and this is beyond useful to make actual high quality proxies. Now I don't have to buy literally 4-6 of the same 50$ card for all of our decks since I personally just don't like to proxy unless I have at least one real copy of the card.
Love the channel and love the videos, keep it up!
This is great! Start the proxy revolution! Proxies will NOT destroy Old School MTG! I started proxying old cards a couple of years ago on my laserjet printer so I could jam some games with some friends. Now I've got a taste for it, I have started buying into the format (and like all OS players, my habit has got out of control quite quickly!). Proxies enable everyone to experience this awesome game without having to rob a bank. Is playing proxies the same as playing with a deck you've spent time saving and hunting down individual cards? Of course not. But it will give people a chance to PLAY the game and if they like it enough, they will quickly become an addict and will start trying to buy "real" cards. OS seems to take pride itself in calling itself "casual" but I strongly dislike some of the yacht club/ prep boy vibes I get from the finance side of the hobby. Playing with bits of card should not be an elitist pursuit; everyone has the right to pretend to be a wizard. It's pretty well known the company Edwin keeps and he knows by making this video it WON'T affect their business, livelihood or "investments". Old Magic cards are in a finite supply and will continue to rise in monetary value. Printing some copies off for your kitchen table will not change that fact.
Exactly! It's so nice when people get it. Your experience is exactly what I find most people doing. Proxy at first then start buying cards later. That's for sure how it happens.
Yeah I'm sure my friends would get all over me if they thought I was going to destroy their business.
@@EdwintheMagicEngineer I do it to enable me to test out cards before I buy them, to see if they work!! Fantastic Video, thanks for all the advice!!
why would i buy these cards when i can make perfect proxies of them, sure if you play in places where it really matters but since i only play with friends at home, theres really no need to
Proxies can't destroy old Mtg. The collectors know their shit, and the norms won't want to buy pricy stuff. Access is king
It's wotc fault that the game is so expensive. They should stop printing lame cards and print more the stronger and usable ones. It would make the game better for everyone.
I can't even afford a $100 deck. This video is a great help, now I can enjoy playing mtg to the fullest.
Have fun spending 100 dollars on ink :P
@@andrebenoit404 True, although when you pring cards out, you get access to the most broken cards and combos, so its totally worth it for kitchen table magic
There are tons of effective budget decks under 100 dollers bro. Buy single cards not boosters
@@andrebenoit404 ink printers are a crime. For the cost of printing 30 pages in color with ink you can print 7000 pages with a laser printer
Thanks for making this video. I still can't afford to spend money on MTG for at least another year, but I want to be able to keep creating decks. This tutorial will really help me out until I can finish school.
Great to hear :)
I pretty much only play kitchen table now so yeah proxies are fine with me.
I play all formats but yeah proxies are 100% cool with me. I just want to play and I want my opponent to have solid decks as well.
Thank you for such a thorough tutorial. I myself love owning the real cards much as everyone. I even take the time to smell and read each card I get. But let's face facts, even with $100 a booster box and now $125 for Zendikar Rising coming out, I don't have that kind of money to chase down rares. I personally was looking for a video like this and I am super glad you made this video. Cheers.
>$125
Boy, bet you were fuming about the $999 MTG 30th Anniversary reprints (that were four 15-card packs that you can't even play in a game of magic).
Thank you so much. This is a great project that will help me blind out my edh deck with cards I can't afford. Keep on rocking in the free world, Edwin.
Yeah, sell those to Rudy!!!
Rudy is quite good at spotting fakes.
Part of this process is all about making proxies which would fool nobody.
MTGpress with the cards at 103% works great too IMO when you have a card and the proxy paper in a sleeve. It should cover the whole card and look seemless in the sleeve. You don’t get the proxy text like what edwin was showing here but it’s a really quick process.
More options is a good thing! Thanks!
Thank u so much
Thank you for making this video.
If I only had one copy of a card for a deck that needed four, I'd make 3 copies, slide them into sleeves and replace them as I acquired the real cards.
I'd rather have real cards than proxies, but the most important thing is to be able to play.
That is absolutely my experience. MOST people would rather have real cards and proxies are just a stop-gap. It's very rare I find a person who would sell all their real cards and play with 100% proxies.
Me and my friends started proxing more than 20 years ago, we were not collectors, we just enjoyed the game and considering we were unenployed kids we couldn't afford 2,000$ each month for the decks we wanted to play, instead 20$ for the ink cartridges seemed much more reasonable to actually enjoy the game at its finest , it surprises me this has started to become a trend so recently, you kind of realize you've been scammed by Wizards all this time paying unreasonable amounts for a card , i know you can't play tournaments like this but MTG is essentially one of the first Pay 2 Win games ever , i think gaming culture has changed a lot since then, p2w was not only accepted but all the hoarding and effort of gathering the most wanted cards was praised , meanwhile Wizards of the coast made tons of money.
Really appreciate you taking the time out from family and work (agree they're more important, if only just.. j/k) to give us all a tutorial on proxys. I first thought, 33 minutes!?! But throughly enjoyed it, i think i was 28 minutes in when i realised what time it was, partly because i was trying to keep up with what you were doing by doing the same. I am very impressed by your very prepared and thought out video. I really enjoyed your soapbox as well, which was at least as good in it's own way. I don't think i'm the only one who will 100% support you when you give your opinions that are thoughtful and constructive on topics like this.
Thank you! You've really covered everything in the process in this video. It honestly felt quite easy and efficient to make some proxies after watching this. I really like that you've included a section on making a clear, and nice looking label of "PROXY" on the cards. It makes one feel less like a fraud. I can finally get stomped less by the expensive cards in my playgroup.
Edit: Also really handy that you've done this all in one program. Very convenient.
I'm very glad this worked for you! That was the whole point of the video!
Thank you for this video. One of the latest commander precons came with the wrong tokens and WotC never printed the correct ones, so they can't rectify the mistake, but they do exist on scryfall, so this has been massively helpful :)
We need to do more of THIS.
Thank you so much for making this so many other channels just said "youll have to play around with the sizes until you find what works for your printer" but yours was spot on the money. Mine ended up being 710 base value to match a mtg size but it works all the same!
I have been using printed proxies for ages using a similar format (we use free uni credit to print out the colour copies ). There are a few guys in the play group who use modern proxie decks, as they are into commander and dont want to sink $1500 into a deck they hardly use. Yeah, this is a way of play testing and, providing that you like the deck, then you may buy the real things over time. I never understood the price argument, as a player within most play groups and even casually at a store, no one cares. If you want to play in tournaments/ FMN, well that is another issue...
Nicely done and real nice proxies my man. As always i value your content and kind consideration for all parties. You engage in a wonderfull deliberative process with all sides :)
Thank you as always Edwin :) Ps well done in the growth of the channel i know you dont care about subs, however its nice to see others are discovering your wonderful content, i dont know how you have the time!!
Favorite comment! Pinned!
@@EdwintheMagicEngineer U are too kind my man, thank you kindly :)
Nah. Tournament should be fine. Go there to showcase skill and have fun playing in a more competitive environment. Not show off my bank account lol.
@@cameroncansler602 Well considering you play for prizes in a tournament you should have to have the real card printed by WOTC just because then everyone is playing with proxies and it upheaves the MTG economy. LGSs would go bankrupt because nobody would buy cards except as collectors. Now if you're talking non WOTC tourneys, then sure.
This is the best MS Paint tutorial I've ever seen
Definitely saving this video for whenever I want proxies. Video is very clear and instructive. Thank you!
This is truly amazing! From one Edwin to another, I give my greatest thanks! (y)
Thank you so much for this video. This is what I've been wanting to do for many years, but couldn't figure out how to do myself.
I have a huge box of proxy decks that I made this exact same way. It is actually what got me back into old school.
That's awesome!
This video got me to build a new commander deck there were 4cards that i just couldn't afford and i made proxies and i am going to take it to game night tomorrow. Thanks a lot!
Great Video!!. Here in Zimbabwe it is so hard to get MTG decks.
I made proxy cards when i first started playing MTG.
I was scared that the guys i was playing MTG with would tell me something cause i had proxy cards.
They didn't care, as long as i was learning and playing with them.
now i met some new people to play with but i'm not dropping a car payment or more on a piece of paper with ink.
people over inflate the prices of cards making them almost hard to afford 1 decent deck.
thanks for this information.
It's a good way to figgure out what deck you actually want to play
I play EDH and I proxy for two reasons. First reason would be short term for testing a deck (even 20 cent cards) before buying the cards for it. The second reason would be long term proxy so that I can keep older decks put together instead of tearing them down every time I build a new deck. I don't want to move a cyclonic rift between 5 different commander decks all the time, it's damaging for the card itself. I like to keep the real version of my proxied cards in a no trade binder. If I trade the original card, then I pull the proxies out of those decks. I like being able to come out to play with 5 decks ready to go and not 1 completed deck and 4 partial decks that I have to keep moving cards between while fumbling through a deck list.
Super valid reasons to proxy. I do the same thing with Old School cards. I proxied Tabernacles for a year before I finally committed $3600.00 to buy two English copies.
Thank you for your tutorial. I was after a card that is being sold exclusively in North America (I'm in the UK.) Now I can have a proxy version of it when I play with friends.
I'm very glad this helped! Thanks for the feedback :)
What card was it?
I usually own at least one copy of all the cards I proxy and have them with me in a folder anyway. Not that it should be a requirement, but I like to do it that way
Really good way of setting this up in paint, nice vid!
Thanks for this!
Now, I can *_create_* irl my created decks from a modded Magic Dotp 2014.
This is super handy as I just got back into playing, and seeing how much the value of cards like my Judge Promo Doubling Season and Force of Will skyrocketed in price. I don't even want them in my decks so I'd rather just proxy them and leave them in their own cases to retain value
Just something you might be interested in: Wizards created a custom font that is used now on all Magic Cards that's called Beleren. Your lettering for Proxies would look even better if you can download that font for your labeling in the future :)
Cool idea, but remember I'm intentionally NOT trying to make these proxies indistinguishable to real cards. We don't want counterfeits, we want proxies. They only need to look good enough in a sleeve such that your opponent knows what card your proxy represents
Well stated (soapboxing at the end) on proxies vs counterfeits and collectors vs players topics and concerns.
I believe they (proxies) help the game in those same aspects.
I really do think Proxies are THE solution to the eternal battle between collectors, investors, and players. If people just calmed down and thought about it... they would realize it's true.
Yes the players must give a little and stop boycotting use of proxies for events where FAIRNESS is critical.
Yes collectors and investors must give a little and trust that allowing proxies will not destroy their investment.
If both factions accept these "truths" I'm laying out... we all win.
go proxies!! my father sold my original card set from when I was a child, and I just want my beta bayou back.. however it's currently going for $8k.. this will give me the art and card I want without having to ride my bike because I traded in my 2010 honda civic for. maybe one day I'll still be able to have a real one, but this satisfies me and my budget for now
Great video Edwin! Time to prank my friend with my "original all alpha" deck
LOL
Proxies are an amazing way to play with the more expensive cards. Anything $10 and up. As it would be wise for LCS to start allowing them. Some people just can’t afford it and need to pay for necessities such as food, clothes and shelter and daily living accessories. And as a college student I am focused on saving money for my future. I’ll drop 30-40 dollars on a deck but not more than that.
Great video, just a word of advice; try to put a "Limiter" on your audio track of the video in order to stop clipping. You can set it to something like -0.1DB to stop the clipping!
One thing I noticed was to set printer to "matte photo paper" even though I am printing on card stock the printer will slower and with a better resolution.
I'm strongly considering making nice proxies because I don't feel like I should have to own 5+ copies of a fetch land or shock land for 5 different Commander decks when I already own one copy, and Commander is a singleton format that encourages owning one of every card. This is where digital magic has a big advantage over paper magic, you can jam the same card into multiple decks with ease.
That's exactly what I do. I own enough copies of cards I play with to build a deck for a DCI tournament. Besides that I have lots of extra decks for testing that are filled with proxies.
Great video. The collectors mentality is with any card or board game. Table top games as well. I find proxies useful. More of a tool. Then again it’s just me and my wife who play games more for fun so proxies isn’t an issue.
Like you mentioned proxies can be temporary that leads to the real thing later on. I see the arguments ppl have made when it comes to proxies but to each their own. I play a lot of board games that are the real thing and the print and play version. Maybe I’m just numb to it all.
I used a PnP version to learn the game, to figure out how to build a deck, to figuring my play style, and I happen to have a good printer and plenty of ink so it was free. As far as others go, if the proxy cards are identical to the real thing then just play. If card text is changed then don’t play with that person or ppl. Custom art but all the text is the same, cool no problem.
When I bought the real cards, I still bought some high quality proxies because the real versions of some of the cards needed were far too expensive. At some point I’ll get the real thing but at the moment I leaned towards a high quality proxy card.
I recommend using a graphic design/illustrator program for your print and play proxies like Corel, Affinity, Illustrator or Photoshop. The cheapest of the four is Affinity if they’re still selling their program for 50 bucks. It’s a one time payment so no subscription. Maybe something to check out if you want. Idk if you use these programs or don’t know how, but for print and play purposes it’s not hard. I loved the video but I do use these programs and it heart my eyes and heart to see you use ms paint then watch your process. These programs make it so much easier.
Let's make a Llanowar Elves proxy then !
Yup this is planned. Even basic lands.
hey man i know its quite an old video but i give it a shot: I made a full proxy deck without double sleeving but goin single sleeve + the real magic behind, it feels really big and chunky even to shuffle it.
Before buying perfect sleeves, would it make that big of a difference? Great video btw super informative and well made even if now we got MTGPrint :)
i find that thickness and weight to be the same as dragon shiel plus inner sleeves. So it's fine if you are used to double sleeved cards
Thx for the comments on the video
Love the honesty man, thanks for the tips.
Thank u I can now make a flood set for mtg I'm so excited about it. Thank u for the help I know this isn't what u made the video for but u helped me out.
Download and install and open GIMP (Free for win and Linux), right click copy picture from scryfall, paste as new Image (shift+ctrl+v). Go to image -> scale, choose Millimeters, type in is 63 x 88 mm. select all (ctrl+a). New Image, type in 210 × 297 mm, then paste. Enjoy!
Then there's the scaling at print time because not all printers are created equal. Which is exactly the reason I spent time making a wire frame and helping people get the scaling right without wasting a lot of expensive printer ink :)
This is awesome thank you. My play group allows proxies of cards you own so this is super helpful
Pro tip: Make the border for the print sheet a colour other than black, so you can more easily see when you've covered it.
Very informative video Edwin, thanks for sharing! I have been slowly purchasing proxies off of an Etsy seller, between 5 to 8 dollars a piece, the quality is quite good, but I may just go this route to save money.
You will indeed save a ton of money :)
Really it kinda comes down to personal preferences regarding the art. I use the basic frame of the original card, but all my borders are RED, like STOP sign red. I also will use different card art that is similar to the original so I get the same function/flavor of what the card is, but is blatantly not trying to be the original or one of the official variations. Black Lotus is a good example; I literally just took a pic of a plastic Halloween skull and a fake black Rose sitting next to it, and used that image for the replacement card art. Following your guide, I've been able to build out a few decks with at least a few proxies for stuff I just can't afford, or has been out of stock at my LGS.
The next one I really wanna make though is a giant sized Chaos Orb... I used to have one from when they were released in Skrye, but I gave it away to a friend years ago. Then might make a stack of Chaos Confetti as well, just for giggles.
Friend, I just watched your video, five years later and I tell you, you were right. But, I think that many collectors have never played and are not interested in playing, and I think it is valid. On the other hand, there are many children who get excited about having a Pokémon or magic card and playing, but it is impossible to think about an envelope, much less a deck of cards. If this game is called magic, then let there be magic and democracy, in the future those children will work and shop.
Thank you for circling back and taking the time to tell me your viewpoint.
I'm an old dog when it comes to Magic. I've been deep in this area for decades and I went through every avenue to see if it made sense. The only answer that ever made sense at pleasing both the collectors/investors and the players was the proxy route.
I literally spent years closely watching and testing the waters to see if the fear ever manifests... that fear being "why would anybody buy a card when they can print them for free?" It's a valid question and it makes sense on the first pass. But decades of experience made it completely clear that people don't want to be that guy with proxies. EVERYBODY with few exceptions wishes they had real cards and will eventually pay for them. The more they are willing to open their wallets is actually linked to their love and emotional investment into the hobby.
It literally comes from the EXACT SAME PLACE that makes people open their wallets for a rare art variant or foil version of the same card.
Great video!
By any chance do you recommend any specific kind of cardstock if I don't want to print on regular paper and have a sleeve in the back?
I want to make a wedding gift for my friends that are avid players of customer cards with the pictures being pictures of them.
Been having trouble finding which weighted cardstock to use and I want to make sure they look quality for the gift :)
I would love to hear if you were successful with this! I am trying to do exactly the same gift idea but could definitely use help.
Wizards should just make their own proxies releasing another product like Collector's Edition at this point.
Totally yes.
they should just reprint these fucking cards
Agreed. They should just make their own proxies with PROXY printed on them. Make them tournament playable as well. By doing that, it would open up all the formats and tournaments for new players, while maintaining the value of the non-proxy card for collectors. I think there would be a huge increase in new magic players and people testing other formats.
16:42 - its seems to work only with scryfall images. I have some arts that i found on google and pinterest (with some of those arts that even cooler than the original ones)but when i paste the image that i want, its doesn't fit and loose quality.
Do you know why its happening ?
Btw, you have the most complete tutorial that i found so far. Thanks
Scryfall images are a specific size (pixels) so they will alway scale the same as each other. Various images on the internet will be different sizes and quality
@EdwintheMagicEngineer the best one is by far mtgpress, they give high quality scans (they get them from scryfall) and save them on a pdf with the right size.
Yeah I didn't know about MTG Press when I made this video. But there are still other benefits doing it the way I showed.
Is it the right size exactly?
Is there any cardstock that anyone suggests, if they don't want to have a magic card in the sleeve with it? Also, might get a better look printed on cardstock.
2 thinks i would like to mentention here.
1. Use the download option, the picture there has around 10times better resolution as if you would just copy it from the website.
2. Set the DPI to 300, 72 is websites, 300 is painting.
With these both things the card quality will be a lot better. If you just download the picture of the website, its 72dpi low resolution. You can only scale down, not up without loosing informations.
Websites try to use lower resolutions, the goal is to have around 100-150KB each picture, if its higher you normly scale it down.
Damn, I was hoping this video would explain a process of cutting the corners nicely.
Ty, we dont need to sell mother liver and house anymore to buy a good deck !
Great job, This is why I subscribe!
Thanks man, I appreciate that
What sleeves do you use?
Dragon Shield Classic black outer sleeve, KMC Ultra inner sleeves.
2 wotc employees disliked this video.
LOL probably.
xD Wotc is ok with proxies tho :)
@@friendlyplayer92 No they are really not. I've seen them take down Ebay auctions and outwardly reject proxies.
They also have not been legal for tournaments for decades.
@Jordy Yeah interesting isn't it? I have yet to sit down and have a discussion/debate with somebody whom hates proxies that can rationally and honestly defend their position.
Many people HATE the idea of use of proxies... but when you dig... when you ask them why... they stumble and fail to come up with an answer that makes sense. They come up with answers... oh yes. But those answers crumble with just a few questions or logical statements.
@Jordy Are you asking why the Revised Edition was printed?
Yes indeed it can be hard to compete with people using older expensive cards if you don't have them yourself. That's why I support proxies (not counterfeits) and made this video.
Thanks Edwin I agree with what your doing here. No piece of cardboard is worth $50+ ,Even $5+ honestly.
Anything in this world is worth what somebody will pay for it. That's just a truth that people eventually come to accept. Whether or not things in this world SHOULD be worth something is subjective to the person making the judgement. But whether or not they ARE worth something is determined by the market and the buyers.
Having said that, a wonderful game and hobby being ruined by money and speculation is a terrible thing. My entire point for proxies is to let the players play, and let the investors invest.
Thank you for this video! It was super informative as I have always had trouble figuring out dimensions etc. I have been debating getting back into magic to play with my buddies, but didn't want to drop hundreds on cards for decks. (Don't want to be in the doghouse with the wife). This will ensure I finally get to wreck my friends ;)
nice way to play one of the best format and having fun!
I'm a little late. I'd love it it you would share the template with us. You'd be a hero to give us that head start
Hey Jarred, my public facing email is listed in the video description. Shoot me a message and I'll reply with the files.
Love the tutorial and appreciate the hardwork that it took into making these. Now I just need to find someone to play with.
If you have Magic Arena, i'm your man x)
I should have added a border around mine when I made my proxies a little over a year ago. Would have helped for when I cut them out by hand with scissors. I used old revised cards that were worth nothing and well played and just used a glue-stick to apply the proxy prints to the old card. The fronts look obviously like a proxy, but the backs you cant really tell the difference between them and some other old/school card. Thanks for sharing!
When I use a paper cutter with a long straight edge I find that I can get the job done with less cuts and good lines. Using scissors will yield a bad batch.
@@EdwintheMagicEngineer yea I didn't have a paper cutter at the time. It makes the fronts look more proxy like. :)
Very well made video, it's nice that you give people a more budget option to play since mtg can indeed be a very expansive hobby. However, I still think that proxies should never overtake the real cards in any way and should never be legal to play in official events. But if it's just to have fun with friends, why not.
I fully agree that proxies should not count in most official events. For almost all formats that makes sense.
You should know though... having a tier 1 Old School deck with original print cards can be upwards of $100,000.00 per deck. I play a deck with LP condition cards that's probably worth 70k.
Expecting all players in a tournament to have competitive decks at $500 each is not even in the same ballpark as expecting them to have decks worth upwards of $100k each. I do think there's a limit to which formats should absolutely require real cards. Note that I'm saying from the perspective of a person whom owns those expensive cards and shelled out HUGE money for them.
At scryfall you can download the image at the bottom right corner menu.....it had better quality and you avoid the white corners!
What kind of paper do you print them on? Yours look higher quality than mine and my printer has same dpi.
I was just using standard print paper
I think you have a great take on it. Make proxies but don't make counterfeits.
Exactly
I am pretty sure I just saw you today while I was looking for mtg cards and I bought a Ulamog, the infinite Gyre. I am not positive but the person behind me looked like you.
I was only at work and then home yesterday so it was not me. But that's interesting I might have a doppleganger!
A lot of public libraries these days have photoshop cs6 on their desktops. I would recommend doing this on one of those, as it is much much easier to do this sort of stuff on a photoshop console.
Easier? Compared to what?
Every windows PC comes with mspaint. Most people have a printer. So you are saying that driving to the library, learning to use photoshop (not everybody knows how to use it), then doing the edits using photoshop (a separate step then first learning to use photoshop), then dealing with the hassel of public library printers, or emailing the edited images to yourself so you can print from home...
THAT is easier then just using paint in your own home?
@@EdwintheMagicEngineer I dont know why you're being so hostile, as I'm really just making a suggestion to those who might not have a pc, or have the capability to do something else. And yes it would be much easier to open the images, resize them, copy and paste as many as you need, and print them wherever you need. MS Paint is extremely tedious, especially for doing any type of formatting and stencil work, when compared to photoshop.
@@mmonkeyman1403 Hostile? What about my reply was hostile? Seriously... what was hostile?
I'm not disagreeing that Photoshop is a better image editing program. I'm saying that for most people whom don't have it... getting it and learning to use it makes that path not easier. I believe that's correct.
For those whom already have it, and already know how to use it... they don't need to be told it's better. They already know.
For those whom don't have it, I think you recommended something that actually takes more effort then what i showed.
@@EdwintheMagicEngineer the speed in which you replied and the substance, led me to believe that the tone you took wasn't so sincere. All I was doing is providing my opinion, and you essentially told me it was wrong, I assume because you were looking it at from a narrow, one-sided viewpoint.
@@mmonkeyman1403 Ah I see. Well let me be clear, I didn't mean to come off as hostile. My apologies for coming across like that.
I do disagree with your comment about it being easier for those whom don't have Photoshop, but of course I agree Photoshop is a much better if not the best way to edit images.
Generally speaking... this video was not made for the already up-and-running folk whom are using Photoshop to edit their own proxies. They are not the ones whom have been asking me for help on this topic for the last year.
This video was made for the masses whom likely have a windows PC, but no Photoshop, and want to make proxies cheap and easy.
This is a fantastic video thank you, sir!
I love MTG 3rd edition and would def buy official reprints if I could, proxies to relive elementary school for now.
It might be easier to make a 3x3 proxy template with Google slides. More/easier control over image positioning and of course its networked and accessible on all of your devices, including mobile.
Why not just go to MTGPress.net and skip ALL of this? The only thing they don't have is the "proxy" on the card itself. In addition, you can add the entire deck at once and it will populate all the cards.
At the time I made this video I didn't know about MTGPress.net For sure that's a good option and likely better for many people.
But like you said, those copies don't say "proxy" and that's a big deal to some people.
Also, the method I showed helps you figure out the print scaling without wasting printer ink.
My method will also leave you with local image copies and print sheets, making it easy to print out cards for friends or more decks for you later.
So yeah, a bit of benefits each way. Thanks for the comment :)
@@EdwintheMagicEngineer I 100% Agree with you. If you are going to use the same cards over and over with multiple decks then your way is definitely beneficial.
Mtgpress.net is great for people that have a pre-made deck from a deck building website that you can copy and paste. They also offer different prints as well, and cut lines (which I prefer). I think if you use Chrome as your browser, it's pretty darn close to near perfect on printing. I use "Print Preview" prior to printing to just make sure.
I loved the video, it was very informative, keep up the good work!
I was thinking something similar. I just got back into Magic after a 8 year hiatus, and I still don't have a ton of time to play yet, so I hit up a card printing site to get a commander deck together. I only plan to play kitchen table games with it, but if I cared about the word "proxy" being on each card, it wouldn't be hard to get into GIMP, a free and open photoshop, and just add that to deck PDF. It should also be pretty easy to copy the proxy pattern into a template that could be applied to future prints. I would rather do this and save myself a ton of time. I skipped most of the video because the effort seemed like more work than it was worth, though I do appreciate the work from Edwin to do it.
If you want to get a photoshop template with all the cutlines and Action script to put cards in places = let me know. I spent quite a time to make it. What I made = A4 page emulation that works great with fullsize pictures from scryfall. You just copypaste 9 cards, push the action button and it arranges all of them in places in real size. Real size means = when you print the PDF = you get 100% exact size of cards.
Now you can buy 60 proxies from Hasbro for the low price of $1000!!!
yeah its shameful of them. MTG 30th should have been $99 for a full set
I was about to make a video on the same thing - well done Edwin! Great vid!
Thanks man, did I leave anything out that you were going to mention?
Does the amount of ink left in printer cartridge have an outlook of the cards. I printed a couple but they turned out not looking great. I also had a very low amount of ink. Just wondering, thank you.
I have definitely seen some inkjet printers get very faded looking before running out of ink. And Magic cards are pretty colorful so that makes sense low ink would cause it.
@@EdwintheMagicEngineer Thanks for the reply, subbed to your channel
The way to battle counterfeits is through the acceptance of proxies, outcasting those that would use proxies is counter productive as the person already has a inclination to not use the real thing and by driving them away for using proxies in a open and honest way people are only further pushing them to use counterfeits to gain acceptance, because let's be honest who is going to feel bad about lying to someone who has previously made them feel bad for being honest.
Logic!
Thanks for your tips ! as a budget mtg player, I can now play with super strong decks with my friends and family :D
I understand your viewpoint. I agree that everyone should be able to play the game. I don't know a whole lot about vintage but in my experience the only reason people started playing proxies was because they felt like they were forced too. My friends and I all started playing commander together and built our decks on a budget. they were decent decks too. We went to an lgs and everyone was playing fake cards and proxies. Because it's casual it's allowed but we all felt really angry. Like we went out and tried to make good decks on a budget but it didn't matter. Now we just have to do what they're doing or it's pointless to play there. That is why I have a negative viewpoint on proxies. It's one thing if you do this and ask your friends if you can play test a deck of proxies. But I don't like to show up to a legitimate business to play random people that have cards that aren't real. Whether it's casual or not. I know I commented on your one other video before. I just thought maybe you would like to know why I had my viewpoint. I don't disagree with your reasoning but I also don't think it's that simple.
Why not play with your friends who made the decks with you? Why should I have to spend thousands of dollars on a deck made of literal paper just because a portion of the playerbase likes collecting, or just have certain cards be a complete NOPE because they cost too much?
what abut mtgpress it dose the compiling of the cards into printable format you only need the name
At the time I made this video I didn't know about MTGPress.net For sure that's a good option and likely better for many people. But there are still benefits to the method I showed.
Using the method I showed allows people to write "proxy" on the card.
Also, the method I showed helps you figure out the print scaling without wasting printer ink.
My method will also leave you with local image copies and print sheets, making it easy to print out cards for friends or more decks for you later.
So yeah, a bit of benefits each way. Thanks for the comment :)
@@EdwintheMagicEngineer and thanks for the vid because i made fack cards and i want to play wift them
Hello, i am having a hard time to make that paint with correct grid for cards, is it possible for you to attach the Print Frame? thank you
Sure just email me and I will reply with the image files.
edwinthemagicengineer@gmail.com
Just getting into MTG. Can you do other card games? Is it possible to grab a background image so that you can change words up?
Please engineer talk to me. People say your proxies are so good they look like the real ones.
Hello there :)
Thanks for the compliment. My proxies look great on video yes but they are very clearly proxies when you see them in person. The process I use to make them is exactly what you see in this video. For my printer I have to set the scaling to 35% to get the exact right size and I have to set the margins to 0.25"
If you email me I can reply to your email with the frame and an image for the word "proxy" to get you started. edwinthemagicengineer@gmail.com
Edwin! Thanks for the awesome content. What’s your thoughts on CE or IE cards for Old School 93/94? As always, thank you.
Im a collector of ie/ce and it was easier on eBay to win the cards I wanted before, but now i'm getting outbid like crazy. They have really heated up as playable and collectible cards.
Thanks!
I'm very happy that CE and IE are allowed in those formats.
i just want to create my own cards and have them look good... i have magic set editor 2 but the cards look a bit shitty, low res. what else can i do?
doing what I show in this video should be a solution.
You are so damn good at explaining. I love you.
The problem is that I have an incomplete deck where I just want specific cards but can't afford them, and this is just for casual games between friends. I don't play competitively, so just having the name of a card is enough for me. Proxies using official artwork is just nicer than writing in sharpie on a stand-in card.
How can you create proxies that don't require a sleeve at all nor other MtG cards as backing? What thickness of cardstock do you use? Wood-pulp or plastic cardstock?
Basically, you can't. That cardstock is not for sale commercially. And that's probably a good thing to avoid counterfeits.
Awesome video, thanks for the information. I've been wanting to do the same with proxys until getting real card. So do you or anybody else have any suggestions on getting a 200 lower end printer but still be able to print high quality ones?
I have a older (2008?) cannon printer I got for 90$ that works well. Just check on the ink cartridges before picking a printer they can be hard to find and expensive.