I personally want every single player who sits down to play across from me or at an event that we host to not only feel comfortable and safe, but to feel downright welcomed. As such, with the recent bannings, there’s been a lot of conversations going on about how to achieve that state. Many players see the bans as a gradient from “obviously” to “that’s a stretch”, and I don’t feel like it’s my role to determine right or wrong there, when it’s easy enough to listen to those who are actually impacted by these decisions. As such, I think it’s awesome how quickly the community has been able to come up with high quality proxy replacements for problematic cards.
The first ones I came across are entitled New Dawn and reprints all seven cards in the first wave of WotC bannings. These have the benefit of including playsets of each, making for easy drop in replacements. I’m not sure about the art on the pieces, which look great, but there were some revisions to remove an Alex Grey piece, making me curious about the legality of the art used, however, I feel like this is a fantastic way to handle this, and all profits go towards BLM Atlanta, thus continuing the Old School history of charitable donations.
The other ones are a touch more niche as they consist of six cards to replace the most commonly played cards with art by Harold McNeill. I’ve often felt ashamed to drop a Sylvan Library, or for my love of Darkness, not because of the art but because it’s a Fog, and that’s my jam, due to the history and ideology of the artist. Well, now we have an option with Cards for a Cause’s proxy line. Just like New Dawn, these are also donating money to BLM or similar charities, but instead of buying the cards, a receipt of donation is all that’s required, with a suggestion of a buck per card. Very reasonable, and these also look great.
Another option that most groups would be aok with is to support alterists and get some rad, personalized proxies made up for any of the banned cards. Let your imagination flow, and help us all make a more welcoming old school environment.
Thank you to the creative folks out there making these sorts of cards. One day, who knows, they might end up on Librarities.