What MTG Cards Should I Proxy First?

TLDR

• Proxy lands first, especially fetch lands, shock lands, triomes, dual lands, and utility lands your deck needs to function.
• After lands, proxy expensive format staples like tutors, protection spells, token doublers, and high-impact card draw.
• For Commander, proxy cards that improve your deck’s consistency before proxying flashy finishers.
• Do not proxy banned cards unless your playgroup specifically allows them for casual use.
• Proxies are best for casual playtesting, deck building, cube, and budget Commander. They are not for sanctioned events.
• A good place to start is https://proxyking.biz/

“What MTG cards should I proxy first?” is really a question about value. Not just money value, either. The best first proxies are the cards that help you test more decks, fix more mana bases, and make more games feel like your deck is actually doing what it was built to do.

That is why I would not start with the flashiest mythic in your wishlist. I would start with the cards you will use over and over: lands, mana rocks, tutors, protection, and format staples. Those are the cards that quietly make decks work. A giant creature is fun. A good mana base lets you cast it.

For casual Commander players, cube builders, and people testing decks before spending real money, proxies can make Magic much easier to explore. The trick is knowing where to start.

Start With Lands

If you only proxy one category first, proxy lands.

Lands are the least exciting answer, but they are usually the correct one. A deck with weak lands does not get to play real games often enough. You miss colors. You enter tapped too often. You keep awkward hands. You blame the deck, but the mana base was the problem the whole time.

Good land proxies help you test the real version of your deck before you decide how much money to spend.

Start with these:

• Fetch lands
• Shock lands
• Triomes
• Battlebond lands
• Slow lands
• Check lands
• Pain lands
• Filter lands
• Utility lands
• Original dual lands for casual or cube settings

For Commander, fetch lands like Polluted Delta, Misty Rainforest, Scalding Tarn, Verdant Catacombs, and Windswept Heath are useful across many decks. Shock lands like Watery Grave, Breeding Pool, Steam Vents, Blood Crypt, and Temple Garden are also strong proxy targets because they work with fetch lands and support multiple formats.

If your playgroup is casual, you do not need to jam a perfect mana base into every deck. That can push power levels up quickly. But if you are testing a deck, building a cube, or trying to understand how much better a mana base becomes, lands are the best first proxies.

Proxy Commander Staples Next

After lands, proxy cards that fit many decks.

These are the cards you will move from deck to deck while testing. They help you learn which staples are actually worth buying and which ones are only good in certain shells.

Common Commander staple proxy targets include:

• Rhystic Study
• Smothering Tithe
• Esper Sentinel
• The Great Henge
• Dockside Extortionist, where legal in your format or allowed by your group
• Cyclonic Rift
• Fierce Guardianship
• Deflecting Swat
• Teferi’s Protection
• Heroic Intervention
• Jeska’s Will
• Skullclamp
• Sensei’s Divining Top

The important thing is not just price. It is repeat use.

A card that goes in ten decks is usually a better early proxy than a card that only goes in one. If you are trying to build smarter on a budget, proxy the flexible staples first. That gives you more useful testing.

Proxy Tutors Carefully

Tutors are some of the best proxy targets, but they also change how games feel.

Demonic Tutor, Vampiric Tutor, Enlightened Tutor, Mystical Tutor, Worldly Tutor, Gamble, Imperial Seal, and Finale of Devastation can make decks much more consistent. That can be good for testing, but it can also push a casual deck into a more repetitive play pattern.

That does not mean you should avoid tutor proxies. It means you should be honest about what they do.

Proxy tutors if:

• Your deck depends on a specific combo.
• You want to test a higher-power version.
• Your playgroup already uses strong tutors.
• You are deciding whether an expensive tutor is worth buying.
• You are tuning a cEDH or near-cEDH deck.

Skip or limit tutors if:

• Your group prefers swingy casual games.
• Your deck already wins the same way too often.
• You want more variety from game to game.
• You are building a low-power themed deck.

Tutors are powerful because they reduce randomness. That is exactly why they are useful. It is also why some tables dislike them.

Proxy Fast Mana Only If The Table Wants That Game

Fast mana is one of the biggest power-level signals in Commander.

Cards like Mana Vault, Grim Monolith, Chrome Mox, Mox Diamond, Mox Opal, Lion’s Eye Diamond, and Ancient Tomb can change the speed of a game fast. Some playgroups love that. Some absolutely do not.

Before proxying fast mana, ask what kind of game you are trying to play.

Fast mana is a good proxy target for:

• cEDH testing
• High-power Commander
• Vintage cube
• Legacy cube
• Artifact combo decks
• Decks where fast starts are part of the expected power level

Fast mana is not a great first proxy target for:

• Precon-level games
• Battlecruiser Commander
• Newer playgroups
• Theme-first casual decks
• Tables trying to avoid early snowball games

If you are asking what MTG cards should I proxy first for normal casual Commander, I would usually put lands and broad staples ahead of fast mana. Fast mana is strong, but it does not make every table better.

Proxy Deck-Specific Expensive Cards

Once your lands and core staples are covered, move to the expensive cards that matter for your specific deck.

This is where proxies are especially useful. Some cards look perfect on paper and feel clunky in actual games. Others look optional until you test them and realize the deck needs them.

Good deck-specific proxy examples include:

• Doubling Season for token or planeswalker decks
• Anointed Procession for white token decks
• Parallel Lives for green token decks
• Craterhoof Behemoth for go-wide green decks
• Eldrazi titans for colorless ramp decks
• The One Ring for artifact, control, or value decks
• Yawgmoth, Thran Physician for sacrifice decks
• Gaea’s Cradle for creature-heavy green decks
• Serra’s Sanctum for enchantress decks
• Urza’s Saga for artifact shells
• Cavern of Souls for typal decks
• Agatha’s Soul Cauldron for combo and counter decks

The best deck-specific proxies answer one question: “Does this card actually make my deck better?”

Not “is this card expensive?” Not “is this card famous?” Better.

If a proxy proves itself over ten games, then you can decide whether to buy the real card, keep the proxy for casual play, or replace it with a cheaper alternative.

Proxy Protection And Interaction

Many players proxy splashy threats first. That is understandable. Big cards are fun.

But if you want your decks to improve, proxy protection and interaction earlier than you think.

Good protection and interaction proxy targets include:

• Teferi’s Protection
• Fierce Guardianship
• Deflecting Swat
• Flawless Maneuver
• Deadly Rollick
• Heroic Intervention
• Force of Will
• Force of Negation
• Mana Drain
• Cyclonic Rift
• Toxic Deluge
• The Meathook Massacre
• Farewell

These cards help you learn how your deck performs against real resistance. They also prevent games where you build a nice board and lose to one removal spell with no answer.

In Commander, protection is especially important for creature decks, token decks, enchantress decks, artifact decks, and commanders that need to stay on the battlefield.

Proxy Cards For Your Cube

Cube is one of the best reasons to use proxies.

A cube often needs many expensive cards at once. If you are building a Vintage cube, Legacy cube, Commander cube, powered cube, old-border cube, or themed cube, proxies let you create the environment first and worry about collecting later.

Strong cube proxy targets include:

• Power Nine for powered cubes
• Original dual lands
• Fetch lands
• Shock lands
• Wasteland
• Strip Mine
• Force of Will
• Mana Drain
• Sneak Attack
• Survival of the Fittest
• Gaea’s Cradle
• Tolarian Academy
• Fast mana artifacts
• Iconic planeswalkers
• Format-defining build-around cards

Cube proxies should be clear and readable. That matters more than fancy art. Players need to draft quickly, read cards across the table, and understand what each card does. A beautiful proxy that nobody can read is not helping the cube.

Proxy Cards You Are Considering Buying

This is the cleanest use case for proxies.

Before buying an expensive card, proxy it for a few games. See if it actually belongs in the deck.

This works well for cards like:

• Rhystic Study
• The Great Henge
• Doubling Season
• Cavern of Souls
• Ancient Tomb
• Mana Drain
• Force of Will
• Survival of the Fittest
• Mox Diamond
• Gaea’s Cradle
• Wheel of Fortune
• Jeweled Lotus, only where legal or allowed casually

Sometimes the result is obvious. You play the card and it is excellent. Other times, the card sits in your hand or does less than expected. That is useful information.

A proxy can save you from buying a card because the internet said it was a staple, only to learn it is not right for your deck.

Cards You Probably Should Not Proxy First

Not every expensive card should be an early proxy.

I would not start with cards that are:

• Banned in your format
• Only useful in one very narrow deck
• Expensive mostly because of collectibility
• Too strong for your regular table
• Hard to explain or track
• Custom versions that are hard to read
• Cards you already know your group dislikes

A proxy should make games better, not just more expensive-looking.

For example, if your table plays relaxed mid-power Commander, proxying a full cEDH package may make your deck more powerful but less welcome. If your deck is a casual Dinosaur deck, proxying a perfect five-color mana base might be useful for testing, but it may also make the deck much smoother than the table expects.

The goal is not to win the arms race. The goal is to play the games you actually want to play.

A Good First Proxy List For Commander

If I were building a practical first proxy package for casual-to-high-power Commander testing, I would start here:

Priority	Card Type	Examples
1	Mana base	Fetch lands, shock lands, triomes, Cavern of Souls, Ancient Tomb
2	Broad staples	Rhystic Study, Smothering Tithe, Esper Sentinel, The Great Henge
3	Protection	Teferi’s Protection, Heroic Intervention, Fierce Guardianship, Deflecting Swat
4	Tutors	Demonic Tutor, Vampiric Tutor, Enlightened Tutor, Worldly Tutor
5	Deck payoffs	Doubling Season, Craterhoof Behemoth, Anointed Procession, Yawgmoth
6	Cube cards	Dual lands, Power Nine, Wasteland, Force of Will, Mana Drain

This order gives you the most useful testing first. It starts with consistency, then moves into power.

Proxy Ethics: Keep It Clear

Proxies work best when everyone understands what is happening.

A healthy proxy conversation is simple:

“I’m testing a few expensive cards before buying them. They’re clearly proxies. Is that okay for this game?”

That one sentence solves most problems.

A few good rules:

• Tell the table before the game.
• Use clear, readable proxies.
• Do not pass proxies off as real cards.
• Do not use proxies in sanctioned events.
• Match your table’s power level.
• Avoid banned cards unless the group agrees.
• Be willing to swap cards if the table is not comfortable.

Wizards’ public proxy policy separates casual playtest cards from sanctioned-event legality. For sanctioned events, authentic Magic cards are required, except in narrow judge-issued cases when a card is damaged during an event. Casual playtest cards are a different conversation, and your playgroup or event organizer gets the final say.

Where ProxyKing Fits

ProxyKing is useful if you want cleaner MTG proxies than handwritten slips or printer paper in front of a basic land.

Home

For casual deck testing, a cleaner proxy can make games easier because the card is more readable at the table. That matters more than people think. If a proxy constantly needs to be explained, it slows the game down. If it looks clear and has the information people need, the game flows better.

Just keep the purpose clear. Proxies should be used as proxies, not counterfeit cards.

Final Recommendation

So, what MTG cards should I proxy first?

Proxy lands first. Then proxy staples that move between many decks. After that, proxy tutors, protection, deck-specific payoffs, and expensive cards you are seriously considering buying.

That order gives you the most useful testing for the least confusion.

Here is the practical version:

Start with your mana base. Add the staples your deck actually wants. Test the expensive cards before buying them. Keep the proxies clear. Talk to your playgroup. Do not use proxies where they are not allowed.

That is the cleanest way to make proxies improve your games instead of complicating them.