also, what's the story with you and your proxies? do you sell them at all, they are quite well done.
The Story of My Proxies:ELD Proxies began back in 2006 as my solution to the only unique problem of proxy tournaments - unclear proxies. I decided to make what would end up being 50 limited edition ELD Proxies of each of the 12 most expensive, most used cards in Vintage. Nearly 600 hand made proxies in all! I gave one to each player in my first 12 ELD's Mox Tournaments a free proxy just for entering. Myriad Games gave out copies at their events starting very early on in the process too. This was a massive undertaking, which took hundreds of (if not over 1000) hours of work and countless dollars of art supplies. Luckily, while it may take me up to two hours to make a single proxy, making multiples allows for assembly line efficiency. This ensured I wouldn't be spending a full 100 hours a month working on proxies to give away. Even with constantly optimizing my methods, it was still a massive time commitment. Bazaar of Baghdad was the most time consuming. I was very fortunate that my methods were refined by the time I tackled that one, otherwise it would have been undoable. When I look around at the many tournaments we have in New England, and see so many players using my proxies, it reaffirms it was worth it. Theses are the ELD Proxies:
The Power 9, Imperial Seal, Mishra's Workshop and Bazaar of Baghdad are so commonly proxied that they should never be confusing. By making the art simple interpretations of the originals, my goal was to have cards that are immediately recognizable as the card they are proxing. I used actual Magic cards, erasing the art and text, and then adding art and text by hand. The cards art is done with marker, so they avoid the current controversy about the legality of acrylic paint. The text is done in type writer, as to be clearly readable. I followed the strictest of proxy guidelines when making these proxies, to ensure that they would be legal anywhere proxies are allowed.
These ELD Proxies were immersed in the New England Vintage Community, and I gladly customized ELD Proxies when people pre-registered early enough. The modifications started simple, such as hiding "508" or the Myriad Logo in the background, and moved forward as I become more comfortable working in such a ridiculously small medium. As time went on, I was taking some really fun requests. Some of my favorites came from the final ELD Proxy - Black Lotus. I especially enjoyed making the Yoda! The Hollywood Lotus was meaningful because it was made for The Gooch in celebration of his making Pro Tour Hollywood. These unique modified ELD Proxies are no different in terms of proxy limit/legality.
I still add slowly the the total amount of ELD Proxies in circulation by giving away a single Foil ELD Proxy at my events. So far, I have made Foil ELD Proxies of 4x Mishra's Workhop, Mox Pearl, Mox Ruby, Mox Jet, Mox Emerald and Time Walk. This is the only way additional ELD Proxies are created in the USA. The only exception to this is when I went to Europe to run ELD's Grand Prix Madrid Weekend. I made a special one time batch of 8x Textless Mishra's Workhops, and 8x Future Shifted Bazaar of Baghdad to give out to the Top 8's of my Friday and Sunday Vintage events. These "Mythic Rare" ELD Proxies are the most scarce versions, as there are only 8 of each Spanish ELD Proxy, and 1 of each Foil ELD Proxy. I have seen Foil ELD Proxies trade as high as a Foil Merchant Scroll at the height of it's value ($50 full retail)
Early on in the process, I started to work with other TO's to spread the use of the ELD Proxy. When I first started, I stated they would not count towards the proxy limits any ELD events. Very soon, Myriad too was on board, giving players two venues where they could effectively proxy cards without eating into their limit of 15 proxies. Other TO's started to get on board, and now all events at ELD, Myriad Games, Scholars Books, Stillpoint Card and Comics, Batter Up and Over the Edge Games do not count ELD Proxies towards the proxy limits. Travis's last event marked the largest event to not count ELD Proxies towards the proxy limits. I look forward to more TO's making this move, as it gives players so many more options, and makes the format so accessible.
With the task of making 50 ELD Proxies a month behind me, I looked to see how I could still give back to the New England Community, but this time without taking potentially 100 hours a month. After talking to many players and TO's, I settled on making Custom Proxies. I now do Custom Proxies for ELD events, as well as other TO's including Myriad and Batter Up. Custom Proxies are different than ELD Proxies, in that they
do count towards proxy limits. I make Custom Proxies in cycles which begin and end with each ELD Event, at which the Top 8 each get a gold numbered and dated in Custom Proxy. The number denotes the placement in the tournament, and the date is of the event. This is like Top 8 pin, in that it is a sign of a significant achievement, but you can also use it to actually play the game.
Custom Proxies are also used as door prizes at events in New England. These are signed in Silver. Custom Proxies are given out as a Carpool prize at ELD, Myriad and Batter Up events. On Top of that Myriad gives out an additional Custom Proxy as a Pre-Registration prize. The current cycle of Custom Proxy is Strategic Planning. The first chance to get one will be at Myriad Games this Saturday. The last chance will by my next event (which will probably be in October)
I've been receiving a lot of inquiries about custom work. Commissioned Proxies are not considered ELD Proxies, so they
do count towards your proxy limits. ELD Proxies and Custom Proxies start at $15 each. Foils begin at $30. Below are some of my favorite Commissioned and Custom Proxies. A lot of players have lobbied to have Commissioned and Custom Proxies not count towards the proxy limits. As it stands now, we have 15 Proxies, with the ability to run up to 20 ELD Proxies. The consensus with TO's right now is that is plenty of proxies to build any deck. By having these proxies count towards the limit, it gives me the freedom to make any proxy.
even cards I have previously made as ELD Proxies.
