What a proxy card actually is

A proxy card is a physical stand-in for a card — either a recreation of an existing card, or something fully custom like original art, a custom DON!! card, or a one-off token. It's printed and finished to look and feel like a real card, then sleeved and played or displayed like one. It isn't an official product from the game's publisher, and it isn't trying to pass as one.

People commission proxies for all kinds of reasons: an official version is too expensive, a card doesn't officially exist yet, or they just want something custom — a portrait, an inside joke, a full custom deck — that no publisher would ever print.

The short version of how one gets made

Every card follows roughly the same path, whether it's a single custom token or a full deck:

It starts with a conversation about what you actually want. Then the artwork gets prepared and adjusted specifically for print, not just resized. You see a proof and approve it before anything gets printed for real. Once approved, the card prints, cures for a full day, gets assembled and laminated, is cut by hand, and gets sleeved immediately after.

The full, detailed version of every one of those steps — the exact printer, inks, materials, and timing — is on the Process page.

Why the process matters more than it sounds like it would

It's easy to assume any home printer and some cardstock gets you a proxy card. In practice, most of what separates a good proxy from a bad one happens in the steps nobody thinks about — full curing time before assembly, using the right stock for fronts versus backs, and cutting precisely enough that the card actually feels right in a sleeve. What Makes a Good Proxy Card goes through that in more detail.

Have a project in mind? Get in touch — or see finished builds in the Gallery.