Proxying is not the be-all end-all solution to every pod’s problem

This is by no means an ode to giving WotC/Hasbro hundreds of dollars for FOMO products, I proxy stuff myself all the time.

Ever since the community openly embraced proxying this has come up in every discussion in this sub. Whether it’s to avoid buying copies of expensive cards for multiple decks you want to run them on, to get a card that hasn’t been reprinted in the last 5 years, test out new cards in a solid build you already have, or to simply match your playgroup’s meta, proxying can go a long way.

That being said, multiple topics here touch on power level imbalance within a pod/LGS, and there’s always a ton of replies stating that OP should proxy some high power staples or w/e to stand up to their spooky bully. Every single “I play a precon-only pod with my buddies but X player runs Atraxa super friends” post has dozens of proxy advices in comments, missing a huge point of magic as a game: sometimes people want to play a lower powered game. Sometimes you want to run a dimir reanimator build that cheats in [[sepulchral primordial]] or [[noxious gearhulk]], and not [[sheoldred the apocalypse]] or [[hullbreaker horror]]. Sometimes you just wish that player in your pod wouldn’t play [[Consecrated Sphinx]] and [[Koma, cosmos serpent]], and being told you should proxy some matching expensive staples feels really bad.

Magic is a huge game with a near-infinite variety of decks and strategies, and there definitely has to be room for energy crab tribal decks too.