A Practical Proxy Project Checklist From Decklist to First Shuffle

TLDR: Build version one, not the imaginary final version

This MTG proxy project checklist has one job: get your deck or Cube update from a messy idea to a playable first shuffle without losing cards, printing the wrong art, or discovering that your tokens are still on the other side of the room. Start by separating playable cards, retained official cards, accessories, and test-only options. Then freeze the list, verify the rules details, choose readable versions, proof every file, and organize the finished cards before game night.

The most important move is setting a version-one stopping point. A proxy project can expand forever if every uncertain slot, alternate illustration, token variation, and possible upgrade joins the order. Print what you can reasonably test now. Keep unresolved options in a separate test batch, and expect the first two games to produce revisions.

1. Define the project before cleaning the list

Decide what you are making. A ten-card test batch needs a different level of visual coordination than a finished Commander deck. A 540-card Cube needs stricter file organization and consistency than either one. Write the project type and stop point at the top of your working document.

• Quick test batch: uncertain cards, replacements, or a new mana package.
• Finished Commander deck: the complete playable list plus the accessories it actually creates.
• Cube update: a defined group of additions, cuts, replacements, or visual upgrades.
• Full Cube: the entire draft environment, including basics, tokens, markers, and storage labels.
• Revision batch: corrected files and proven upgrades, not an excuse to redesign every card.

For a new Commander brew, I would usually print the stable core and place the most uncertain five to ten slots in a visibly marked test group. That gets the deck onto the table sooner while preserving an easy route to revision.

2. Freeze a clean print list

Duplicate your working decklist before touching it. Name the copy “Print V1” and remove side comments, category headings, maybeboard ideas, and abandoned cards. Do not edit your only working list; you will want the original reasoning when the deck starts changing.

Create four separate lists or spreadsheet tabs: playable cards to print, official cards you are keeping, accessories, and test-only alternatives. This prevents a card you already own from being ordered again and keeps a Treasure token from being mistaken for part of the deck count.

1. Export or copy the current decklist into a clean document.
2. Remove notes, category labels, rejected cards, and accidental duplicates.
3. Record every official card that will remain in the finished deck.
4. Move tokens, emblems, dungeons, and similar aids to an accessory list.
5. Move uncertain swaps to a test-batch list.
6. Add a version number and date before selecting images.

3. Run the gameplay audit

A Commander deck contains 100 cards total: its commander plus 99 other cards. Commander is singleton apart from basic lands, and cards must fit the commander’s color identity. Wizards also identifies Gatherer and Oracle as its card database and official card-text reference, so check unusual, old, or rules-sensitive cards instead of trusting text copied from an image search. Wizards’ Commander format overview is the useful authority to keep open during this pass.

Count by function as well as by total. If the deck has 100 cards but a planned land was accidentally replaced by a maybeboard spell, the numerical check alone will not save it. Verify the commander, lands, singleton exceptions, color identity, and any card whose legality or wording you are unsure about.

Project component	Where it belongs	What to verify
Commander and main-deck cards	Playable print list	Correct count, identity, version, and card face
Basic lands	Playable list or separate land package	Intended quantity and visual consistency
Tokens and emblems	Accessory list	Which cards create them and how many are useful
Monarch, initiative, dungeons, counters	Accessory list	Readable reference information and enough markers
Companion	Separate labeled slot	Eligibility, intended use, and storage plan
Maybeboard tests	Test-batch list	Clearly marked and excluded from the active deck count
Retained official cards	Do-not-print list	Exact cards and quantities already covered
Double-faced cards	Playable list with pairing notes	Front and back files mapped to the same physical card

Tokens and other game aids should remain separate from the 100-card Commander count. The Magic Tournament Rules distinguish cards from tokens and related game aids, which supports treating these as a separate production and storage package rather than padding the decklist with them. If your deck makes several kinds of game pieces, use the dedicated token-package checklist to decide which recurring tokens deserve individual prints and where flexible markers are enough.

4. Choose versions for play, not just the gallery

Alternate art is part of the fun, but the best-looking image in isolation is not always the best game piece. Preserve a recognizable card name, mana cost, type line, power and toughness where applicable, and enough rules text to play without stopping for every trigger.

Spend your visual ambition where it will be noticed: the commander, signature spells, basic lands, and recurring tokens. For tutors, interaction, combo pieces, and cards that opponents must evaluate quickly, familiar framing and high contrast usually matter more than novelty. This is especially important for webcam play and Cube, where other players cannot rely on your memory of the card.

• Reject art that makes the card name or mana cost hard to find.
• Avoid tiny rules text when the card has several abilities or choices.
• Keep related cycles or land packages visually coherent.
• Use a consistent treatment for transformed faces and modal double-faced cards.
• Mark test-only cards subtly on the front or sleeve insert so they are easy to remove later.
• Check custom images at physical card size rather than judging only on a large monitor.

For double-faced cards, choose the physical routine before printing. You might use paired front-and-back production files, a separate reference card, or an opaque-sleeved card that can be removed and turned over. The supplied April 2025 Tournament Rules describe specific sanctioned-play methods, but a casual table can use a different practical solution with the group’s agreement. The important project detail is consistency: every double-faced card needs both usable faces and a known sleeve plan.

5. Match the production path to the project

A small revision batch may be fastest to print and cut at home. A complete deck or large Cube creates enough repetitive file handling that an ordering workflow may be more practical. If you want professionally printed cards for a conventional full-deck project, a complete MTG proxy deck order can reduce the amount of home cutting and assembly. Verify the live product options, file requirements, quantities, price, and delivery estimate before committing, because those details can change.

Custom-art and token-heavy projects deserve extra proofing time because every image-to-card mapping is another chance for a mismatch. Large Cubes add a different problem: consistency across hundreds of cards matters more than making each card individually spectacular. For Cube-specific decisions about sleeves and draft recognition, see the Cube readability guide.

6. Proof every file before spending money

Proofing is not a quick scroll through thumbnails. Check the import against the frozen list one card at a time, then check the visual files as a separate pass. PrintMTG’s published design guidance emphasizes readable text, trim, bleed, safe areas, and small proof prints before a large project. That is vendor guidance, but it is sensible practice for any custom print workflow.

1. Count the imported cards and compare the total with each project list.
2. Confirm every card name maps to the intended art and treatment.
3. Check quantities, especially basics, repeated Cube cards, and tokens.
4. Pair both faces of every double-faced card correctly.
5. Inspect borders, bleed, crop, and safe areas on custom files.
6. Confirm the card-back and opaque-sleeve plan.
7. Print a sample page at actual size when preparing files yourself.
8. Review the final cart or print folder after all edits, not before them.

Use three short passes instead of one exhausting review: list accuracy, image accuracy, and physical production. Different mistakes become visible in each pass. If possible, step away between them; staring at 100 thumbnails in one sitting is how the second copy of a staple starts looking completely normal.

7. Inspect, sleeve, and sort on arrival

Do not dump a new order directly into sleeves. Count it against the frozen list, inspect double-faced pairings, and spot-check names, rules text, crop, and cut consistency. Shuffle a small sleeved sample to catch handling or sleeve-fit problems before processing the whole project. Document material defects before the cards receive heavy play.

For a more detailed arrival workflow, follow the finished proxy order inspection checklist. Once the cards pass inspection, sort immediately. Put the commander, companion, tokens, emblems, and reference cards in clearly separate locations. Hidden-zone cards should use consistent opaque sleeves so their backs, wear, or production differences do not identify them.

Cube projects benefit from dividers labeled by color, section, or update batch. Commander decks need less infrastructure, but a small token pouch and one labeled compartment for test cards can prevent ten minutes of scavenging before every game.

8. Treat the first shuffle as a test session

Goldfish several opening hands before the first multiplayer game. You are not trying to prove the deck is powerful. You are checking whether the mana, sequencing, physical organization, and card recognition work well enough to begin real testing.

During the first two games, keep notes in three buckets: deck construction, individual card performance, and physical usability. A card can be strategically excellent but annoying to read. Another can look beautiful yet be the wrong effect for the deck. Do not confuse either problem with a printing defect.

• Record cards that repeatedly sit dead in hand or fail to support the plan.
• Note missing tokens, counters, transformed faces, and reference aids.
• Flag artwork that slows recognition or makes text difficult to read.
• Track mana problems separately from exciting or disappointing single draws.
• Ask opponents whether any proxy was unusually difficult to identify.
• Revise the smallest useful batch instead of reflexively reprinting the deck.

If you want to compare replacements without changing the whole shell, use a controlled Commander card A/B testing process. Ten organized swap slots will teach you more than rebuilding half the deck after one dramatic loss.

A compact MTG proxy project checklist

• Define the project type and version-one stopping point.
• Freeze a clean dated copy of the playable list.
• Separate retained cards, accessories, and test alternatives.
• Verify count, singleton rules, color identity, and current Oracle wording.
• Choose readable versions and a consistent double-faced-card method.
• Confirm the production workflow and live order requirements.
• Run list, image, and physical-production proofing passes.
• Count and inspect the finished cards before heavy use.
• Sleeve hidden-zone cards consistently and sort accessories separately.
• Goldfish, play two games, log issues, and revise only what the evidence supports.

Know where proxies can be played

Proxy acceptance is not universal. Under the supplied April 21, 2025 Magic Tournament Rules, sanctioned events generally require genuine Magic cards, with narrow exceptions such as judge-issued proxies for cards damaged during that tournament. Casual Commander nights are governed by the expectations of the playgroup, store, or organizer. Ask before arriving, explain what the deck is trying to do, and bring a non-proxy option if the event requires one.

Your next step

Make the clean “Print V1” copy now. Give yourself one focused session to separate accessories, retained cards, and test slots, then schedule a second session for visual proofing. Once those jobs are separated, the project stops feeling like an endless deckbuilding cloud and becomes a stack of cards you can actually shuffle, test, and improve.

References

1. MTG Commander Format | Magic: The Gathering
2. MAGIC: THE GATHERING® TOURNAMENT RULES
3. PrintMTG