Most people are just going to use proxies to test things out, or to be used in a Cube draft. There are also some Vintage tournaments that allow a certain number of proxies, because otherwise nobody would play. A good Vintage deck will run you…
Proxies aren’t bad. It all depends on how someone uses them. Most times, players will proxy cards in order to find out what works and what doesn’t in their deck. This prevents from needless spending and also allows faster results and statistics through play testing. However, all players know that proxies are forbidden in any tournament, save for Vintage, due to the Power 9 being mandatory and extremely expensive. No tournament would allow you to proxy a card, even if its for land.
In the casual setting, proxies are more or less accepted. It depends on your play group. For my friends and I, proxies are fine IF they are stated ahead of time and given a reason for it. However, if you plan on playing proxies simply to win, you’re guaranteed to be focus fired and then booted from the group. Other groups establish the same sort of house rule, inquiring why someone is proxying a card, especially in a casual free for all.
As for altered cards, I like’em. If MTG is all about personalization, then altering legitimate cards with the correct art can be both classy and impressive. Not only that, altered art is just that: its art. Depending on the quality of work and the card’s rarity, they can fetch a significantly higher price than their counterparts. Also, they’re not cheap. Anyone who’s able to run a deck full of altered art cards has lots of money to blow through.
Last thing. The most taboo and forbidden thing you can do is play a made up card in a casual public setting. I don’t care how cool your Jedi Planeswalker card is. If it doesn’t exist in the game, you can’t play it. At least, I’ll refuse to play you, as many others will. It doesn’t matter if you tell people you have the card and how balanced it is for your deck and the game. Playing a made up card is like playing a 60 card deck full of lands that says “Tap: Win Game”. So ya. Just don’t. Just… don’t.
(Source: buryme--marryme)
