Why You Should Proxy Your Vintage Cube

The Vintage Cube is widely considered the pinnacle of Magic: The Gathering gameplay. Playing with the most powerful spells in history—Black Lotus, Ancestral Recall, Time Walk, Dual Lands—is an adrenaline rush like no other.

However, owning a real Vintage Cube is almost impossible for 99.9% of players. A "powered" cube can easily cost $50,000 to $100,000. Unless you are a crypto millionaire or bought these cards in 1994, building this cube with real cards is a financial fantasy.

This is where proxying saves the day. Here is why you should proxy your entire Vintage Cube.

1. Safety and Peace of Mind

Even if you could afford a real Black Lotus, would you want to shuffle it?

• Wear and Tear: Every shuffle risks damaging the card. Even double-sleeved, accidents happen. Spilled drinks, bent corners during a draft, theft at a game store—the risks are massive.
• Stress-Free Play: With proxies, you can slam down that Time Walk without fear. If a card gets damaged, you just print another one for $0.10.

2. Accessibility for Friends

Cube is a social format. You need 8 players.

• Most people don't know how to handle $5,000 cards properly.
• Handing a deck worth more than a car to a stranger or a casual friend is terrifying.
• Proxies democratize the fun. Everyone can enjoy the Power 9 experience without the "museum curator" anxiety.

3. Uniformity and Aesthetics

Real Vintage cards are old. They are often beat up, yellowed, or have different borders.

• Marked Cards: A beat-up Alpha Mox Ruby stands out from a mint-condition Modern Horizons fetch land, effectively marking the cards even in sleeves.
• Visual Cohesion: When you proxy, you can make every card look brand new. You can choose a unified frame (e.g., all Retro Frame or all Beta Frame) for the entire 540-card cube. It looks stunning on the table.

4. Updates and Customization

Wizards of the Coast updates the MTGO Vintage Cube regularly. New sets release powerful cards constantly.

• With a proxy cube, updating is easy. Just print the 10 new cards you need.
• You can also test custom changes. Think White is too weak? Buff some cards or add custom "Power" cards to balance the colors. It's your game design environment.

How to Do It

1. Get the List: Download the current MTGO Vintage Cube list (or a variant you like) from a site like CubeCobra.
2. Batch Render: Use TCGCustom's bulk import feature to load the list.
3. Print: Use the bulk export to generate PDF sheets.
4. Sleeve: Buy 600 sleeves (Dragon Shield or Katana) and bulk lands.
5. Play: Invite your friends over for a draft night they'll never forget.

Don't let money gatekeep the best format in Magic. Proxy the Power 9 and start drafting!