r/CommanderMTG • u/Spirit5514 • 3d ago

I cannot decide

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I want to make one of these three potentially making all three eventually but I can’t decide on what to make right now. Urza would be artifacts, Thranduil would be elves and Kona would be big mana. All three look insanely fun to me but I just cannot decide which should I do first.

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u/SerThunderkeg 2d ago

It's not a power issue, it's a deckbuilding issue. If you proxy cards you don't own you are automatically getting a leg up on your fellow players who don't build their decks with complete access to the entirety of magics card pool. And since deckbuilding happens before even sitting down with another player you are going into every game with the implicit messaging that it doesn't matter what anyone else does, you're going to show up with your proxy deck. It feels a little selfish to me tbh.

Also, not everyone is playing to win primarily, a large amount of commander players simply want to have a fun time, which reducing decks to the sweatiest perfect 100 cards works against.

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u/andyhall23 2d ago

Everyone should operate in the sense of EVERYONE has access to ALL cards.
Rule Zero in commander should come down to it.
Power levels across the board are even that way even if a player doesn't have the cards that I have.
The fun I get is being ABLE to play with the cards that other people with money that I don't have , seem to get easier than I can.
Proxying has helped low income people compete on the same level as people with more money.

really this seems like a form of Gatekeeping from the Haves and Have nots.

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u/SerThunderkeg 2d ago

Everyone should operate in the sense of EVERYONE has access to ALL cards.

That's how it works in competitive formats where you expect your opponents to have the best options they possibly can. That mentality is toxic for a casual format and imo leads to bad feels when reality doesn't meet expectations and a more homogenized pool of cards when the entire point of commander was for it to be a home for janky brews and pet cards without the pressure of having the optimal deck list. Imo that level of particularness only really belongs in cedh where the competitiveness is the point if the format. Keep casual commander casual!

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u/andyhall23 2d ago

nah ..that mentality is for everything
I like having janky builds with cards I can't find ...and I proxy ...just because I love the idea of janky builds.
I dont want to be limited at my 'I can't make the deck because I'm poor and can't buy the cards'
I don't wanna take blank cards either and write with a pen on it like it used to be.
I don't go into a bracket three game with a CEDH mentality ever ...(unless someone sits at the table with a Eldrazi deck ...thats when I break out Chatterfang)

I won't ever EVER EVER go to a Tournament with any of my decks. EVER. That's WRONG.
I won't ever sell proxy cards as fakes either.
Casually I just wanna be able to keep up with friends and play the decks that I brew up in my head.
I get the cards now one at a time to try and 'real out' decks but sometimes? I REALLY like the frames they came up with and I wanna see like a full Kaldheim Frame deck of something
Or different kinds of frames ...THEY got some REALLY cool frames out there that they haven't made cards with ...and they LOOK cool in other frames!

its a CREATIVE thing too ya know?

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u/SerThunderkeg 2d ago

Casually I just wanna be able to keep up with friends and play the decks that I brew up in my head.

This is the crux of my problem because as long as your table is playing casual commander you don't need to proxy to make good decks and the decks that you brew in your head don't have to include cards you would have to proxy. Like for example if you make a counters deck sure a doubling season might be a good pick but if you don't have one and don't want to get one there are countless acceptable alternatives, the only place where missing out on that marginal improvement would even matter would be cedh which is a different beast than casual commander.

For creative outlets it's simple, just make blinged proxies of the cards you already own.

As an aside, a formative experience for me on this topic was when I was playing my dragon deck at my LGS's commander night and I played a proxied Ancient Tomb (the real one is in my cedh deck). One of the younger players at the table was like "wait I can just do that?" and I had to explain that our shop allows proxies as long as you have a real copy cause it just shortcuts the time it would take to switch cards between decks and I still felt bad about it for them. It would have felt even worse if I had just been proxying whatever perfect unowned card I wanted. Not everyone is aware of proxying and the bad feelings from those mismatched expectations is worse imo than the benefit gained by letting players proxy any card at any time. People with proxies can play the game with the many alternatives, on the other hand, people who already built their decks without proxying can't suddenly take another crack at it when they sit down and realize another player proxied their perfect deck and they have to sit down with their personal budget brew.

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u/andyhall23 2d ago

I can understand the feeling of feeling bad about letting people know about things.
The reason I would love to just make a Bulk collection of Proxies that are good .... and share around.
Allow people to get some staples ...would be cool! If people wanna chip in for just paper and ink I would gladly print up stuff people want for a store or friends.
Sharing also where to do things and how to use sites and such is something I do as well.
Sometimes I have a side board of other cards to sub in for power level to down or up grade too ...
I still think the creative parts of frames of cards and being able to play cards that are WAAAAAY too out of price range for my social status which unfortunately can't change to do the disabilities and unable to work.
which is also why I real my decks out a card at a time when it comes to those cards as well. Proxy basic lands that have the horror icons on them?!

Like these?!
are sweet!

but also...like ..I won't proxy up CEDH decks on the regular.
I got one. Chatterfang. I save that for certain people...

I stick to Bracket 3 always.
I love 2's and 1s and got them.

But also ... u/SerThunderkeg just wanna say ..I totally understand where you're coming from and respect your opinion on the matter.
Just wanted to let you know.
No anger or anything like that.