On Proxy Cards

Proxy cards are interesting indeed. There are several varieties of proxy cards that I have seen, but they are generally used in the same manner.

A proxy card can take many forms. I have seen cards from the same game being used as place holders, a printout of the desired card being used in its place, and even a pure counterfeit. Each of these methods will give you a cheap alternative to using the desired card and help you develop decks without having to shell out money for a card that you may not need.

Of course, the varying forms of proxy cards are also subject to varying forms of legality (both in tournaments and otherwise). Using a stand in card is great at home, but it is not exactly tournament legal. Printout cards can be legal in tournaments for some games if you can prove that you actually own the card (this can be a great way to protect your expensive power cards). Using a counterfeit card is not only illegal in tournament play, but the selling of such cards is straight up illegal.

Now, I support the first two forms of proxy cards. The third... not so much. I plan on using the second method a lot for the purpose of reviewing games. Many of the games I want to review are no longer on the market, but I have been able to dig up archives of card images.

Some games are kind enough to give prospective players printable playable .pdfs (sorry, I couldn't help myself ). I have all of the one's that I have come across saved on my hard drive, one of which is from a game that was canceled before it was ever released. I will post all of those urls once I review the games (I do not want you guys getting ahead of me...). There is one game that I must start archiving now, since the site is dead and I do not know if the domain name will be renewed in the future. I would not want the game to disappear into the aether.

My preferred method for using proxies is to take an extra card from the game I am playing and a printed card. I then place them in a sleeve (note: if you are using opaque sleeves, just use a spare card from any game) with the proxy facing out (I know that is common sense. I am rambling, not insulting your intelligence). This helps add rigidity to the proxy and allows me to shuffle and play easily.

Before I call it quits for today, I just want to tell you that I do not endorse counterfeit cards. There have been many cases of counterfeit card dealers being arrested. Generally, only fad games have to worry about counterfeit cards. Magic has many security measures in place, but Yu-Gi-Oh! has to deal with tons of counterfeit cards coming into the country from foreign printers. Maybe I will rant about that soon, but other sites already have and I want to be original. I'll bet if you check your local flea market you will find some.

Until next time. I hope to bring you a real article next week. We'll see how that goes.