Creating Realistic Proxies

[The Grim Reaper]

I was wondering some of the techniques people use the create realistic proxies. I want to do this for a 5 proxy tourney coming up in my area so that I have very realistic looking cards. I hate looking at some ugly paper glued on another card, so does anyone have any tips to make a really great proxy?

All advice and help is appreicated!

Thanks!

-Grim

[Ineffible]

1. It depends on what kind of printer you have. I would suggest a laser printer first. But inkjet works ok as well.

2. You have to either 1- peel the face off a foil card 9relatively easy but the card can get sticky, or 2 sand down the face of a common and print right over it. Again it depends on they quality of your printer but that is the basic jist of it.

good luck,

[The Grim Reaper]

How do you "print" on a card? I have a HP Inkject printer and I dont understand how you would actually print on the face of the card. Where would you align the card in the feeder?

[Jacob Orlove]

One way to get very nice proxies is to find someone with power, drag them to Kinkos or wherever, and get a color copy of the cards. It's generally $1 per page, and you can fit 8-10 cards on a page (depending on how easy you want to make cutting them out). These look really nice. Don't glue them to the cards, just slide them in the sleeve in front. They'll stay just fine.

[The Grim Reaper]

Yeah... i wish i knew people with power... lol

[Hi-Val]

Find a good site like magictrade.dk that has scans of everything. Rescale them to the right size (cards are 2.25" wide) and then go to the hardware store. Look for sandpaper that is 600 grit or more, and sand down the front of the card. If you get Gator paper or something else that is waterproof, you can just wash the paper when it is gunky. I still have my original one. Next, print out a copy of the card through your printer, using a fast black and white copy. Get out your straight razor and cut the card out precisely. This is your mask for the card. Tape the card on the back so that the white is showing through the mask and print it off.

IT IS IMPORTANT TO NOTE WHICH DIRECTION THE PRINTER PRINTS THE CARD! Otherwise the card will come out messed up and partly printed on the mask.

My UNL Ancestral looks better than real ones. Enjoy!

[The Grim Reaper]

Next, print out a copy of the card through your printer, using a fast black and white copy. Get out your straight razor and cut the card out precisely. This is your mask for the card. Tape the card on the back so that the white is showing through the mask and print it off.

I dont understand part of this. Ok so I go to the site and download the picture, resize it then print it out in black and white. What sort of paper do I print this on? Normal white paper? Also, I don't understand what a mask is. What is the point of the mask? could you please explain the part in the quote further? (eg. what kind of paper, what a mask is)'

I would be extremely greatful, as it sounds like you know what you are doing XD

Thanks!

[Jacob Orlove]

You print the card on the page, then cut out the printed image. This leaves a card-shaped hole exactly where your printer will print. You then use tap to fit the (now blank) card in that space, and print again, this time in color.

[wicked chicken]

try www.essentialmagic.com they are already sized for you just print 'em and cut them out

"B"

[The Grim Reaper]

Ahh thanks Jacob for clearing that up!

Edit: Should I Sand-down foils or non-foils? Are foils better?

[Jacob Orlove]

Sand down non-foils. With foils, if you can peel off the foil layer, you get a blank white card.

[Ineffible]

Sometimes however you get a sticky residue from peeling the foil. I have resorted to sanding down regular commons.

AS for which scans are best... I have used both essential magic and magictrade.dk and the latter is the better quality picture. (go to the Kort section)

All you have to do is print out a copy of the card you want to proxy. (after you resize it to fit a magic card.
I use microsoft word.
I copy the picture, paste it to word, then resize it.
Usually 2.37 wide x 3.37 high,
Print the card in greyscale..
cut out the printed version...
fit your sanded common on the back (you chould have a small border around the whole card)
tape it down (leave a little flap for you to take the tape off)
send it through the printer again. (settings- Highest quality print (non greyscale) and PLAIN paper.
Let it dry for a few hrs.
then spray it with polyeurothane to give it a gloss look.
let me know how it goes.

[The Grim Reaper]

I have a printer that goes around on a roller, will the card be able to bend this much without coming untaped?

[Ineffible]

mine goes around as well. The card should be fine as long as it is secure. Give it a try.

[TheSupaKorean]

Would be interesting to see how good some of these proxies look.  Seems some people are going beyond the normal proxy and more towards making a fake card that will pass as real.  

Dunno why someone would go through that effort when you can just print out from essential magic and slip it over a land card.  

Still that does strike my curiosity.  If you can create something that is soo  good of a copy you can't tell it is fake, does it essentially become real?

[The Grim Reaper]

Would be interesting to see how good some of these proxies look.  Seems some people are going beyond the normal proxy and more towards making a fake card that will pass as real.  

Dunno why someone would go through that effort when you can just print out from essential magic and slip it over a land card.  

Still that does strike my curiosity.  If you can create something that is soo  good of a copy you can't tell it is fake, does it essentially become real?

*whistles innocently*

[cssamerican]

Me and my friends play with unlimited proxies. This way everyone can play whatever deck they want to, and money isn't an issue. Since you might play with decks that consist of 30 proxies it is nice to have good looking proxies so that they do not distract from the play of the game.

I created a post 8th edition template in Photoshop (8th edition was easier to lay out in Photoshop, not to mention I don't have to worry about someone trying to sell one of my Black Lotuses as a real one), and I use high-res scan images that I downloaded for Magic Workstation for the image part of the card. This creates proxies that look like a real 8th edition card. Plus it is kinda of cool having power cards with the 8th edition look. Of course you need to print them on high quality card stock paper and with a high-res printer. I work for a reprographics company, so I sometimes have access to a $25,000 color printer...Life is sweet!

[TheSupaKorean]

I do agree that playing with unlimited proxies is great when playtesting with friends.   I have 18-20 current decks created because of essentialmagic.  It isn't practical for me to buy everycard for every deck so this makes it nice for my friends and I to play.

The problem i do see is that not all people will be honest and some will try to pass these "fakes" as real cards in trades  or selling.  With printers etc... getting better i guess we are all going to have to be extra careful when trading and buying cards,  especially online.

@ cssamerican   I need that printer for 8'10 pics from my digital camera

[Ineffible]

I do the realistic proxies because I don't want to have any or much discrepancy in the cards. Taped or glued on paper makes the cards heavier and therefor easier to tell when touching them. I also am somewhat of a perfectionist and need to have thenm as good as possible. (that may be just me though)

AS for the number of proxies my cirlce plays, We made a rule that we are allowed only to proxy what we physically own for other decks. Ie if you own a black lotus you can proxy a black lotus. I personally own 7 of the power 10 and do proxy those. I also own collectors edition of the other 3 power 10, that we also allow others to play and therefore proxy.
Anyways that is my reasoning for using and making the proxies I have, and our rules for proxying.