
By Peter Minten


If you're a new player you have to make a few decisions, of which IMHO
the most important one is whether you want to become a proxyer or a
non-proxyer. This guide is intended to help you make that decision.

First of all, it's easy to go from non-proxy to proxy, but the other
way around is a lot harder since most of your deck will be invalid and
having lot's of rare cards in your deck is addictive. For that reason
alone you might want to consider starting non-proxy, if you don't like
it you can always switch to proxy.

But, before I run ahead of myself, I'll explain what proxying
means. When you have cards in your deck that you don't own those cards
are called proxies. Thus proxying is playing with cards you don't
own. This is a perfectly accepted practice, however since proxying
gives you an advantage over players that don't use proxies most
non-proxyers will refuse to play against proxiers.

Proxying also has an effect on the gameplay. Proxy decks are usually
very well crafted and are made with a specific strategy in mind,
whereas non-proxy decks tend to be more of a 'the best cards I have'
kind. This means proxy games are usually much faster and meaner
whereas non-proxy games are more like the games you play in the
physical world.

Now that you know about what proxying is I'll summarize the two
styles:

Proxying    
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= Crafting your own deck, without the restrictions of owning the
  cards you use.
= Developing a strategy and then playing it.
= Fast and mean games.

Non-proxying
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= Getting the cards you hoped for, or not.
= Putting together a deck with limited means.
= A more realistic game experience (not as fast and mean as proxy).
