Hello Gentle Entities and Rum Spiced Skeptics!
For those who celebrate we wish you a wonderful new calendar cycle! May love, bravery, wisdom, contentment, health, patience, cleanliness be by your side. Nowruz Mubarak.
The Hipsters here at Hipsters of the Coast are also very happy to be celebrating National Roller Coaster Day as amusement parks are deeply connected to various forms of games and play. I personally think the invention of Roller Coasters is quite endearing and feels exceedingly Izzet to me. Like a little spot of home in a foreign plane.
Today’s conversations both concern the ways in which we deal with our affections for our associates when we have met them by sharing affections for particular activities and how to navigate the etiquette of addressing changing relationships to that activity.
It is an important thing to note that over time individuals and activities both can change and friendships that last over a lifespan or two require active acknowledgement of such shifts.
As this is our thirtieth column, we at Mizz Mizzet’s School for Complicated Lifeforms would like to remind you that we answer between 1-3 letters from our interrogative entities across the multiverse each week.
If you missed our initial column, you may peruse it at your leisure at this location.
Content Warnings
Mizz Mizzet’s Guide to Magical Manners is pleased to provide Content Warnings, given that solving bad behavior often means describing bad behavior.
Dear Mizz Mizzet,
I have a friend who was really deep into playing Magic, and that’s where we mostly got to see and hangout together before everything got really disrupted by world events and stuff. My friend is the one who brought me into the game and I loved playing with friends but they are burnt out now. I’d still like to play with them but mostly like the old days. I think they just burnt out because we all have to be online right now and keeping up with strategies and content seems like just too much and a lot of it has an edge of mean.
Is there a polite way to ask them if they want to play our old style decks and just ignore whatever part made them burn out? I don’t like pick up games with strangers – is it too much just to ask a friend to do it for me because I’m burned out in a different way but still want to play?
Thanks for your time,
Elder Deep Friend
Dear Friend,
One of the most important aspects of participating in the Multiplanar Civility Movement is to be aware of meeting one’s fellow entities where they are emotionally, physically or corporeally at the time you would like to interact with them.
Of course there is a polite way to ask your friends to play outside of the established rules of organized play. However, the proper etiquette (and the necessary surveillance) requires both active listening and supplemental conversations.
Before asking for the boon of playing with older decks and older rules, you should inquire of your friend what it was that made them burn out. You want to do this in such a way that you are asking from shared interest and support. You should also give your friend room to leave the question unanswered if the reason is a personal or unpleasant one.
“If you don’t mind sharing, may I ask what moved you to being done with Magic?”
Your friend will then either demur, or a conversation will begin about why they haven’t played or burnt out. If they demur, it is still polite to ask if they would be interested in playing with you sometimes without pressure using old decks. In such a case it’s best to center the request as a favor to you, as it is actually a favor to you. Center your request thusly:
“I get all the reasons you might want to step back, I feel at the edge of burnout myself but I’d really like to play with decks from say, before Kaldheim – would you be up for playing with me super casually like that every now and then?”
Be prepared for them to say no. This is where the etiquette part is non negotiable. Should they say no, the only next polite thing to do is open the discussion to what to do when you see each other next and attempt to schedule this next thing.
“It’s cool, I understand, so what would you like to do instead when we get together next week?”
This both puts the agency back on them and moves the discussion away from whatever is unshareable. It puts your social relationship back on neutral ground, and if your association is traditionally about participating in an activity together lets your friends know that the relationship is still the same as when Magic was it’s center.
Now if they are willing to share why they are burnt out that allows the two of you to have a reciprocal conversation about what is and isn’t working playing Magic the way you were, and you can then offer:
“I really don’t want to give up playing Magic with everyone, I’d just like to get off the roller coaster of state-of-the-art play myself. Really I’d miss playing with friends though – do you think you’d be willing to play with our older decks, no- changes or some kind of house rules for just us every now and then?”
If they say yes, set up a time for that and indulge in the lovely hobby of creating house rules! I might also suggest that you agree to how frequently you might play Magic together, as frequency of play might be one of the unvoiced reasons many burn out.
This is also an excellent time to mention other things you might want a compatriot to try with you.
The most important aspect of manners is the comfort of your compatriot, so if they seem to be feeling defensive or look as though they are agreeing just to make you happy you should reassure them that you will continue association with or without one specific game.
Whether they say yes or no, the offer of
“Great, what else would you like to do when we get together – I’d love to try new stuff too,”
is still an appropriate way to cap off a conversation that has led to mutual agreement!
May you and your friend have many types of adventures together with occasional old form games thrown in as a condiment instead of a meal!
MM
Dear Mizz Mizzet,
I keep seeing a lot of really intense discussions around proxy cards and I’m a little nervous about asking this question because things get really heated online – but why are proxies permitted in some places and not others? I’m really confused and I don’t want to ask at the store or at playgroups.
Anonymous
Dear Anonymous,
I am dismayed that you are in such circles that this very legitimate question cannot be answered for you without others being rude. And it was quite wise of you to ask anonymously so I would not be tempted to locate, and ingest such irritating individuals. Apropos of nothing did you know you can now acquire a spice mix called Italian Seasoning in a grinder? So Fresh! So Practical! Alas there are no acceptable, local, recipes for eating the rude on this plane….
Therefore permit me to answer your question in a way that allows you to make informed decisions about using proxies in peace.
Like many things in the Magic the Gathering community, the word “proxies” is used for things that are not proxies, and the official rules about proxies only apply to Sanctioned Organized Play.
This quite understandably causes a great deal of confusion. So we shall start with “what is a proxy? A proxy is any card that is substituting for an authorized card that is not in your deck.
The ONLY legal proxies are ones made by judges at events where a card becomes disqualified during play through damage. A judge will take a land card, write on the face of that basic land whatever the name of the card being proxied is. Make a note of it for the competition, and then allow play to continue without the competitor having to replace the damaged card.
No other cards that can be considered proxies are legal. Not even the Magic 30th anniversary set. The Magic 30th Anniversary set should best be understood as “card shaped collectable action figures of real cards” and not proxies. One must admit that not focusing on their “collectible” only status was a problem for the community.
The things that players may put in their decks on their own to playtest cards they do not yet have are “playtest cards” both in practice and according to Wizards of the Coast. You may have playtest cards in sanctioned spaces but you may not play them in Sanctioned Events.
The general public, and many creators, still call these proxies. It is important to remember that in terms of the various rules they are still “playtest cards” and part of fan usage.
Arcane ProxyThe other form of proxy that is sometimes used and varies per playgroup or store is a proxy that is in the deck that represents a card that you actually own that you do not wish to subject to wear and tear, or that you do not want to bring to a location because of security reasons.
Many kitchen tables accept that form of proxying if what they care about is having decks that *can* also participate in officially sanctioned events. These cards are the same as playtest cards for the legal definition used by Wizards, but they are proxies in the real and accurate sense – they are representing cards that do exist and are being played “by proxy” in the deck.
These proxies are still not allowed in Sanctioned Events – even if you have the original card with you.
There are however local events that sometimes allow playtest or proxy cards for special events that not-sanctioned by Wizards but still have prizes. Vintage and Legacy groups particularly have contests that allow proxies but they usually have limitations such as “you may only proxy 10 cards in your deck” (This usually allows eternal players to have key reserved cards in their deck without having to acquire or protect cards worth thousands of dollars.
One final note about proxies: it is a violation of both rules and copyright to create proxy or playtest cards that can be mistaken for legal versions of those cards. This means there are many proxies that become individual artistic expression. If someone is selling you “realistic copies” of printed cards that is quite illegal.
If someone is making playtest cards where they have commissioned original art and they are clearly marked that would be considered “acceptable community use”
I might gently suggest that if you would like to use proxies/playtest cards now that you have this knowledge you can safely assume that if your Player Number is being recorded, you may not use any proxies.
If your LGS or kitchen table is inviting you to play something where you might want to use proxies, I do hope this summary has given you enough information and confidence to politely ask “Are proxies allowed for this game, and if they are are there any special rules I should know before I bring a deck.”
If anyone is mean or offended about it they are rude, and should therefore be ignored since one cannot marinate them for later.
With affection,
MM
Thank you to Adrienne Reynolds, for her interplanar transcription services.
Mizz Mizzet Portrait by Andres Garcia
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Born a perfect dragon in an imperfect multiverse, Mizz Mizzet (she/her) is the pioneer broodmother of today’s multiplanar civility movement. She is now working to persuade Planeswalkers to participate in it.
Her tireless efforts to expand the understanding and exercise of etiquette beyond the stereotypical terror of too many pieces of silverware, and whether to use poisons or explosives at celebratory conquest dinners, have not escaped official notice.
She specializes as a consultant in seating arrangements for inter and intra planar political events as long as contracts include the option to eat the rude.
Out of respect for her relative’s delicate sensibilities regarding draconic rank, she does not reside on the plane of Ravnica.