Suppose your playgroup has $100 to spend. At Proxy Foundry, four copies of a land you want to test cost $8. At MPC, $94.80 buys room for up to 396 cards of your choosing on standard smooth stock. At PrintACube, the full $100 buys a ready-made 540-card cube. All three prices are before delivery. Which one gets you the most Magic for your money?
I’d start with who gets to pick the cards. If you need four particular lands, a box of 540 mostly unrelated cards is a lousy bargain. If eight people are coming over to draft, spending Saturday picking 540 individual pieces of art might also be a lousy bargain. Here’s how I’d shop these three budget MTG proxy printing services for the orders they handle best.
Proxy Foundry for Singles, Playsets, and Cube Updates
Proxy Foundry makes the most sense when you can name exactly what’s missing. Say you’re testing a blue-white deck and want four copies of Hallowed Fountain. Search for the card, select the printing you like, and set the quantity to four. Proxy Foundry lists one card at $3 and two through nine at $2 each. Your playset comes to $8 before shipping. You can also paste a list if the four cards you need have four different names.
That small-order pricing is especially handy for an existing cube. After draft night, perhaps your group agrees that white needs two more one-drops and red needs a better pair of two-mana creatures. An $8 order changes four draft slots. You can try the new package, hang on to the four cuts, and put them back if the old version played better.
Proxy Foundry also prints double-faced cards on both sides. If one of your additions is Delver of Secrets, order one copy and you get its transformed face on the reverse. That’s a small detail until somebody attacks with a transformed Delver and the player trying to block it needs to know whether it flies.
How MPC Prices a Custom Proxy Order
MakePlayingCards sells custom decks in size brackets. On its 63 × 88 mm game-card page, you choose the stock, the maximum number of cards in each deck, and how many copies of that finished deck you want. For a group of players who all want different decks, that last field matters. Ordering three copies of one project gives everyone the same cards.
MPC’s price table gives a good sense of what a custom batch costs. These are the listed US dollar prices for one project on the default S30 Standard Smooth stock, checked November 10, 2026. Shipping, taxes, and optional upgrades are extra where applicable.
| MPC project size | Base print price | One way to fill it |
|---|---|---|
| Up to 108 cards | $29.70 | One Commander deck and eight tokens |
| Up to 216 cards | $57.55 | Two Commander decks and 16 extras |
| Up to 396 cards | $94.80 | A custom 360-card cube and 36 test cards |
| Up to 504 cards | $116.85 | Five Commander decks and four extras |
| Up to 612 cards | $139.00 | Six Commander decks and 12 extras |
MPCFill helps with the time-consuming part. Paste in your list, choose the images and card backs, and export the project file. Its desktop tool downloads your selections and places them into the MPC project. I’d have each player settle on their art before handing the list to whoever is placing the order. Looking through six versions of a favorite commander is fun. Doing it for the other five players is how you end up running a small print shop for free.
When Combining Commander Decks Actually Saves Money
Three friends each want a different 100-card Commander deck. Three separate 108-card projects cost $89.10 in printing. Combine all 300 cards into one project and they fall into the 396-card bracket at $94.80. Keeping the decks separate saves $5.70 on the print subtotal and makes it easier to check each player’s list. Both approaches still need a shipping quote.
Now invite two more friends. Five separate 108-card projects cost $148.50. All 500 cards fit into one 504-card project for $116.85, a print saving of $31.65. The five players could split the base price evenly at $23.37 each, then divide the delivery charge. That’s the kind of group order where doing the file setup starts paying for itself.
PrintACube for an Eight-Player Draft Night
A conventional eight-player draft uses 360 cards: three packs of 15 for each player. PrintACube’s ready-made 360-card Modern and Legacy cubes are $75 each. Split the printing eight ways and that’s about $9.38 per person. Draft the same cube three times with the same group and the printing works out to about $3.13 per player per draft. Bring your own basic land box and budget for sleeves if you need them.
Read the list before picking a format. PrintACube’s 360-card Legacy list includes Mother of Runes, Stoneforge Mystic, and Swords to Plowshares. That tells me more about what drafting white will feel like than the word “Legacy” on the box. If those are cards your group gets excited to see come around the table, the $75 version already does its job.
The 540-card Modern and Legacy cubes are $100. For the extra $25, you get 180 cards that can sit out each eight-player draft, so nobody can count on seeing a particular card every time. The powered and unpowered 540-card Vintage cubes are also listed at $100. If your group likes to draft with Black Lotus, the powered list is the one to look at.
What If You Already Have Your Own Cube List?
This is where I’d get two quotes. PrintACube’s $75 price is for its own 360-card list. Its custom cube product is listed separately at $125–$190 across the available sizes. MPC’s 396-card bracket is $94.80 and can hold your exact 360 plus 36 alternatives. If you’ve spent months tuning a Peasant cube, those spare slots could hold the cards that narrowly missed the cut. You can try them after the first draft without placing another order.
The difference is who prepares the job. With MPC, you choose and check the images. With PrintACube’s custom option, you supply the decklist. If particular editions matter, PrintACube asks for set and collector numbers in its specified export format. I’d pick a handful of cards where the art matters most and check those entries first. A generic Swamp is easy to replace. A whole cycle of mismatched lands in a cube you built around the original art will bother you every draft.
Budget MTG Proxy Printing Questions
Can I order just one proxy from Proxy Foundry?
Yes. Proxy Foundry lists a single card at $3 before shipping. Its two-to-nine-card rate is $2 each, so a pair costs $4 before delivery.
Can each player choose different cards in a shared MPC project?
Yes. You can assign different card faces throughout a single custom project. Add each player’s list, preserve the required quantities, and check the backs on double-faced cards. Use the deck quantity field when you want duplicate copies of the entire project.
Does a 360-card cube include the basic lands for deck building?
PrintACube says basic lands and tokens are separate from its standard cubes. The 360 cards make up the draft pool. Bring Plains, Islands, Swamps, Mountains, and Forests so everyone can finish their decks after the draft.
Where I’d Put the First $100
For a deck with four empty sleeves, I’d place the $8 Proxy Foundry order and keep the change. For a group with five finished Commander lists, I’d get everyone into the same MPC project. And if the invitation just says “draft at my place,” I’d order the $75 PrintACube list. I’d spend the extra $25 on a larger cube once the group starts remembering which cards are still going around in pack three.
References
- Proxy Foundry pricing, order minimums, and double-faced cards
- MakePlayingCards 63 × 88 mm custom game cards and price table
- MPCFill project setup and artwork selection
- PrintACube catalog and ready-made cube prices
- PrintACube’s 360-card Legacy cube list
- PrintACube custom cube prices and decklist requirements
- PrintACube FAQ on basic lands and tokens
