Is the CEDH community proxy friendly?
Commander (EDH) forum
Posted on Oct. 6, 2020, 12:33 p.m. by shadow63
In recent youtube videos I herd that the cedh community is ok with the use of proxies is this true? If so what are the general rules with it? Can I show up to a game with a deck made out of all proxies or is there a limit? Any details would be cool
EleshNornsFs says... #3
As long as you establish it with them beforehand, a lot of groups will allow anything. It is usually considered impolite to proxy everything, use them in moderation if possible, but the general consensus is that wallets shouldn't be a barrier to the game, especially when the cost can be more than most people's life savings.
October 6, 2020 12:48 p.m.
There are countless iterations of allowing proxies, with all manner of different rules. Each playgroup is a little different, so it is important to check with your playgroup before you bring your deck to the table.
While it is impossible to provide the "general rules" since they can vary greatly between playgroups, here are some that are relatively common:
- Limitations on what type of card you can proxy--some groups allow proxying cards over certain dollar amounts, but the rest of your deck must be real.
- Requiring you to own the real card, but being allowed to use a proxy in the deck itself so you don't have to risk damage to your real, expensive card.
- Placing some limit on the number of cards you are permitted to proxy.
- Allowing proxies only if you intend to purchase the original card at some point in the near future. Some groups are more restrictive and only allow a proxy if you have already purchased the card, but are waiting for it to ship to you.
- Allowing you to proxy cards you are playtesting, but only for the purpose of a playtest. If you decide to keep said card in your deck, then you'd have to purchase a real version.
Any number of those could, or any combination of them, could be the "general rule" for a particular playgroup. Hence the need to speak in advance to try and figure out what the group's limitations might be.
October 6, 2020 1:06 p.m.
RNR_Gaming says... #5
They're not true cedh players if they're more interested in what you can spend on cardboard rather than how well you can play. Play the player not the wallet. Though any sort of sanctioned events it'll be a no go cause a store could lose wpn status over it. - yes even if its logged as a casual event most stores won't allow it; especially if theres prize support.
October 6, 2020 2:50 p.m.
cEDH is inherently proxy friendly. Exceptions should be stores, where they frown upon proxies.
October 6, 2020 3:48 p.m.
My LGS and playgroup are pro proxy so long as you either own it or are actively seeking to purchase/trade for it. This applies to all eternal formats including leagues, so long as the proxy cannot be picked out of the deck based on a difference in size, thickness, weight, etc. then it’s all good.
October 6, 2020 4:04 p.m.
Azdranax: This isn't the question though. cEDH groups/pods should and would allow proxies regardless of ownership of the real card, they're not really cEDH if they have a problem with proxies.
October 6, 2020 4:10 p.m.
Good point, my answer there was truncated based on a short window of time when I posted so I clearly lost context that I could have better conveyed. My mention of eternal formats and leagues (in addition to cEDH) was to note that a larger player pool should be encouraged to grow those formats much more so than Limiting players based on finances, which is what allowing proxies does, even when prize support is offered (specifically with legacy for my LGS). In terms of owning the card or looking to trade or buy, I’m specifically talking about leagues with prize support...sitting down week after week with 60 or 100 proxies wouldn’t be acceptable for the league, although it would be totally fine for unsupported cEDH or eternal format game play, but if you’re building it and whittling down the 20 or so proxies you started with week after week, then everyone is accepting and encouraging. Hope that helps clarify my initial thoughts.
October 6, 2020 6:46 p.m.
Our play group plays almost exclusively with proxies. There’s no point in using our actual multi thousand dollar 25 year old cards for playtesting or large numbers of games. That’s way too much value to lose to wear and tear depreciation. Every once in a blue moon we’ll use real ABUR duals, vintage staples, and the like, but this is exceedingly rare. 99.9% of our games are played with full proxies to preserve card value.
October 6, 2020 8:11 p.m.
RNR_Gaming says... #11
Also, it would not be beneficial to you as a player to play with people who care about such trivial things. Play with people who want to improve and play against the best possible iteration of a deck; anyone else should just be considered prize support fodder.
October 6, 2020 10:17 p.m.
I have never seen a LGS okay with proxies for a sanctioned event.
Sure, for casual playgroups and even playtesting but not in the deck you submit for the event.
October 7, 2020 1:36 a.m.
As someone who plays CEDH the only gripe I have against proxies are low effort proxies. If you have a slip of paper on the card that only lists the name of your proxy and nothing else its going to be rather annoying for people to play with you. If you must play with proxies its 100% preferred you play with print-outs of the cards where the text is highly eligible. If you don't have access to a printer I'd suggest taking the time to write down all the information on a piece of paper with your absolutely best hand-writing. Not too many people like searching on their phone to see what any given card does. Even if you can recite the card's information entirely by memory there will be some people like myself who will still need to see the text just to be able to process all the information.
So long as your proxy card quality is good then I have no problems with you using proxies. In fact I would rather play against people running proxies than people who only build their decks out of their spare cards. Winning games is nice, but I'd rather play against evenly matched decks just so I can have a better idea about what aspects of my own deck I should try to improve. Playing against group hug or budget decks don't help me in this regard and it almost makes me feel like I'm some sort of a tryhard when in that kind of environment, so please proxy up the nastiest decklist you can think of. All that matters is proxy quality. I don't mind what ridiculously expensive or gross cards you proxy. Its fair game so long as I can read it.
October 7, 2020 11:47 a.m.
StopShot I'd be using high end proxies that almost look like real mtg cards.
MagicMarc I have zero intention to use them at an lgs casual or otherwise
October 7, 2020 3:41 p.m.
Im with StopShot about the card text. If you are going to proxy, the least you can do is have the oracle text nearby so people don't need to hassle with looking it up on their own. I don't need a high quality art card but I do like seeing the oracle text. And making people in your pod look it up on their own seems kind of selfish and/or rude to me.
For a while, a person in our playgroup kept a little booklet of the oracle text for his proxies with him during games so he could pass it to people. Very considerate.
October 7, 2020 4 p.m.
I don't frequent cEDH matches all that often, however my Group has little to no issue with proxies for casual play. We often brew with creativity as the forefront priority, so we don't tend to look at proxies too negatively. Personally, I vouch for the "if it's a readable, authentic card, then all good. The go to in group tends to be really welcoming in the case of more expensive cards, (in the likes of the duals, or some select EDH favorites, like Craterhoof Behemoth.
For FNM play though, we like to see that if a proxy is being used, you do own a copy of the card, and you just don't wish to play with it on the table.
October 8, 2020 10:42 a.m.
My LGS is great with proxies. cEDH wouldn't be as popular as it is if everyone had to pay full price for every card.
Pyrra says... #2
depends what you heard from your playgroup. some do, some don't. my own playgroup allows unlimited proxies. we're not really playing competitive commander, just whatever we feel like brewing and so we don't want creativity being hampered by budget. especially when it comes to 4 or 5 color decks and land bases.
October 6, 2020 12:36 p.m.