Custom Proxies for August

[ELD]

At Myriad on August 16th, Batter Up on the 23rd, and ELD's Mox XVIII, I will be giving away Custom Proxies.  I have traditionally used a vote at my events to determine the next proxy.  Now that I am giving away Custom Proxies at Myriad and Batter Up, these proxies will be reaching people who might not be able to attend my events.  I want to include all of the New England Vintage community in this choice.  Feel free to put forth new ideas in this thread.  Even if your idea doesn't get the nod this time, I can keep it around for the September vote. 

[Cavius The Great]

Not to knock what you're doing I think it's great, but aren't proxies meant for cards people can't afford? Maybe proxies of Moxen and Black Lotus would seem more valuable to people. I may be overlooking your intentions, so feel free to correct me.

[Luecifer]

Eric has been gracious enough to make full power proxies, mishra's workshop, bazaar of baghdad, textless tarmogoyf, and mana drain proxies already, all of which have been tremendous, to give out to the community.

[Zherbus]

Yep.

FYI, so there are no more questions:

ELD Proxies do not count towards the proxy limit at ELD, Myriad Games, Batter Up, or Pandemonium events.  These are the ELD Proxies:

I've been receiving a lot of inquiries about my proxies and custom work.  ELD Proxies are available at $15 each at ELD, Myriad Games, Batter Up, or Pandemonium events.  I also take commissions to make any proxy.  Commissioned proxies are not considered ELD Proxies, so they do count towards your proxy limits.

[Cavius The Great]

Nice!  I would pay money to own that set. ELD, PM me with prices. Maybe we can set something up.

I'm willing to buy x4 Bazaar of Baghdad proxies as well as 5 Moxen, 1 Recall, 1 Timetwister, 1 Time Walk and a Lotus, if possible. 

We can set something up through the mail or meet in person if you live near Massachusetts.

Are these proxies tournament legal? if so, I'm all over it.

Please do not conduct business on TMD. Use email for that.

Rich

[moxpearl]

Given the results at the Championship and the unavailability of the card, you might just have to add Strategic Planning to your list!

[Cavius The Great]

I just looked up Strategy Planning and it's a $100 card. I'm totally clueless. What deck exactly runs this card?

[ELD]

That's a great suggestion.  Strategic Planning is exactly the kind of card that I like to make proxies for. 

It is crazy expensive.
It is really hard to find.
It is obscure enough that not everyone knows the exact text. 
People will be playing it.

It is a lot of time and money to make these proxies, but it is worth the effort if the cards actually sees play in tournaments.  Proxies can be a great thing, allowing for the highest level of competition possible, or they can be a train wreck of misinterpreted gamestates.  I'll be closing the poll on Wednesday, so get your votes in. 

[diopter]

Can you make it so we can change our votes?

[LordHomerCat]

Can you make it so we can change our votes?

Same.  Someone added planning after I voted, and I would very much like to change as that card is insane.

[T00L]

Can you make it so we can change our votes?

Same.  Someone added planning after I voted, and I would very much like to change as that card is insane.

QFT

[ELD]

I apparently can't edit that option without resetting the poll.  If any Mods can edit the poll without losing the votes, that would be great.  If not, it looks like you it's time to get your friends to vote for Strategic Planning if you want it to win.  The poll will close at 11:59 pm Wednesday night. 

[Nefarias]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but the ELD proxies that you're making now do count towards proxy total, correct?

Give it a month or two, and Strategic Planning could very well meet the criteria that you used in making the initial proxies (Power, Shop, ImpSeal, Bazaar), the ones that you gave out to everyone that attended your first dozen ELD Mox tourneys and that don't count towards proxy totals. Any thoughts on that Eric?

[Cavius The Great]

Why wouldn't they count towards proxy limits? They're not the real thing.

[mike_bergeron]

Why wouldn't they count towards proxy limits? They're not the real thing.

Eric has made several hundred proxies at this point, for the people who come to his tournaments.  If you re-read Zherbus' post, you will see that several local tournament organizers have also allowed Eric's proxies to go above and beyond the normal proxy limit.  SO I could have 15 proxies, and 10 ELD proxies and still be all set.  You are right, they are not the real thing. However, the expanding vintage scene in New England sees this as an oppurtunity to get new players into the fold, where someone like me can lend out ELD proxies just like other people lend out power. 

Why don't they count?  Because a complaint against vintage for a long time was that new players could not get in the format without spending a lot of dough on cards.  I take no stance on the issue, I don't want to argue about it, but that was a feeling.  Eric decided to make proxies for all his event attendants that would not count towards future events. (marketing)  His tournaments were well attended, and many people soon had playsets of 'ELD' power.  Other organizers saw an oppurtunity to allow these proxies for free as well, and soon enough we had a consistent means of being able to play any deck we wanted without spending a lot on new cards.

Virtually any deck is playable in this 'New England' format, AND they have clear and easy to understand proxies as well. For other specific info, look up the UTOG thread, and also read one of Eric's tournament announcements, where 99% of this is announced and explained.  I literally only own 1-2 of my own proxies at this point (lotus + timetwister) , only because I missed those tourneys Eric held. 

tl;dr: They are not real, but accepted by most tournament organizers in the New England scene to allow players to be able to play any deck they want, with reasonable costs to obtain them.

[Cavius The Great]

You cite the New England scene, but are these proxies legal nationwide?

P.S. - Are these proxies done with card stock only? No glued paper attached to the card or anything? If so, how do you get the printer quality text on the card?

[ELD]

Yes, these proxies are legal world wide.  Anyplace that allows proxies allows my proxies.  They are made by erasing the ink from a Magic card and all the work I do on them is also with ink.  They are completely indistinguishable from a regular Magic card because they are only made Magic cards. 

ELD Proxies
Moxen and Lotus are made from Welding Jar
Ancestral Recall and Time Twister are made from Compulsive Research
Time Walk is made from Train of Thought
Imperial Seal is made from Cry of Contrition
Shop and Bazaar are made from Ravnica Guild Lands

Custom Proxies
Metroid Mana Drain is made from Muddle the Mixture
Textless Tarmogoyf is made from Nessian Courser
Library of Alexandria, Texless Mishra's Workshop, and Future Shifted Bazaar of Baghdad are made from Ravnica Guild Lands

[The Atog Lord]

Personally, I'd much rather have Grim Tutor than Strategic Planning as a proxy. We know that Grim is going to be worth something going forward, unless it gets reprinted in 11th or restricted. Strategic Planning? It's on fire right now, but that may not last. It's entirely possible that the hype will fizzle and the value will drop. Besides, Grim Tutor is a card that gets proxied a lot in either case.

[ELD]

Grim Tutor it is!  I'll be posting an image of the first completed Grim Tutor some time next week in my tournament announcement thread.  Thank you to everyone who voted.  From now on, I'll be using TMD to determine the Custom Proxies. 

[Anusien]

What card are you using to make the Grim Tutor proxies?