a mtg proxy player’s story about playing proxy cards

I have been part of this community for the past 2 months now, most of it as lurker. I have spent already near to $300 and bought from suppliers such as VZ, Liquid Cocoa Club and WebsiteGuys (orders still incoming). But I am not here to talk about delivery or quality, there are more people who are better than me at that to do so.

I want to talk about the ‘WHY’ of the Proxies, and I will be doing so by starting at the beginning. I will try to make this short read as possible. I played Magic during 6th Edition up until Mirrodin Block, where I quit due to real life stuff. I was still a failed student, just starting a job, but somehow I made ends meet and was able to afford playing a lot of Limited and a decent time in Constructed, mostly Standard. I love the game to bits, but the real life part I mentioned kicked in, sold my collection and called it a day.

Fast forward to today, I have a good enough job which I thought would allow me to come back to the game, a game that I admit I love to bits, so much that I used to randomly go online and look at spoilers of upcoming sets. On a whim for Ixalan I took the opportunity and attended at three pre-releases in stores around me, I was so happy, dinosaurs and all. I can afford Limited without any kind of problem and I love playing the format. I was back in the game but unarmed without any information of the current state.

I met some old friends still playing and made new ones, and suddenly I started getting an idea of Constructed. Gone are Type 1, Type 1.5 and Type 2, in are now Vintage, Legacy, Modern and Standard. I got an immediate interest in Modern and Standard, until they told me about the clusterfuck of the secondary market, the overwhelming prices of key card components, the evergrowing reserved list which stubbornly never went away. I was faced with an entry fee to play Modern of more than a $1k and an entry fee of at least $300 to play Standard. Trading was dead in all stores, everyone only managed their collections and needs online.

I proxy because even though I am in a financially stable position I cannot afford to play the game which I love. I don’t have enough time to wheel and deal myself into decks, proxies provide me we a cheaper way to play the game and giving me the possibility to play different decks cheaper.

I don’t want and never will trade or cheat other people profiting off proxies. I am not interested in destroying Wizards of the Coast by taking away from them profit, I am not. I am unhappy with the secondary market and the overinflation of certain cards to do business. MTG Finance imho, should not be an actual reality. I am unhappy with the reserved list, which at this point I do feel it will be impossible to get rid off. Too many people already invested heavily in this. I have no idea what a possible solution to the bigger problem is, but for now, proxies help me play and that is all I care for.

TLDR: I proxy because it makes an expensive hobby more affordable.