TLDR
Your goal is a boring, consistent text decklist: Qty Card Name per line, nothing clever.
Do four quick passes before you import: Names, Counts, Faces, Extras.
If you care about specific art, add set codes only after the list imports cleanly.
Proxies are for casual play and testing. Sanctioned events are a different universe with a judge and a rulebook.
You can absolutely go from MTG decklist to printed proxies in a clean, low-drama workflow. You just have to resist the ancient human urge to “fix it later” and then act surprised when your 100-card Commander list turns into a 97-card mystery novel at checkout.
This article is the clean workflow I recommend: a repeatable, sanity-preserving pipeline that reduces mis-imports, missing double-faced cards, and the classic “why is there one random basic land I never added” phenomenon.
The real goal: one “boring” list that imports everywhere
A decklist is data. Treat it like data.
The best importing experience usually comes from a plain text list where each line looks like this:
1 Sol Ring
1 Fabled Passage
7 Island
Not because the world hates you, but because every extra flourish creates an extra way for a parser to trip. Set codes, collector numbers, special punctuation, sideboard labels, or “helpful” annotations like “(my favorite art)” all increase the odds something fails silently.
If you want an easy on-ramp, start your order from ProxyMTG’s Print MTG Proxies page and treat everything else as upstream list hygiene.
Step 1: Build your decklist in a tool that exports cleanly
Use whatever deckbuilder you actually keep updated. The “best” tool is the one you will not abandon after two edits.
That said, if you bounce between apps, prioritize tools that can export a simple text list without getting precious about formatting. If your export looks like a spreadsheet had a disagreement with punctuation, you’re going to spend your time doing list surgery instead of, you know, playing Magic.
Two practical notes:
If you’re brewing Commander, keep your commander clearly marked in your deckbuilder so you do not accidentally export a 99-card list and wonder where your commander went.
If you’re testing a 60-card format, confirm you are exporting the main deck only. Sideboards are where good intentions go to become chaos.
Step 2: Export to the simplest format first
Start with the simplest export your deckbuilder offers, usually something like “Text” or “MTGO” style.
If you care about exact printings, resist the temptation to lead with set codes and collector numbers. Get the list importing cleanly first. Then upgrade your list from “works everywhere” to “picks specific art.”
Think of it like this:
Phase A: make the list readable to computers.
Phase B: make the list aesthetically pleasing to your eyeballs.
Computers do not care that you want the version with the moon in the background. Computers care that you typed the name correctly.
Here’s an example of a “clean” list format that tends to behave:
Step 3: Run the Four-Pass Clean before you import
This is the part people skip. This is also the part that prevents 90 percent of list issues.
Pass 1: Names (make every card name boring and exact)
Your job here is to remove ambiguity and weirdness.
Check for:
Typos and missing commas or apostrophes
Extra spaces, strange quotes, or copied characters that look normal but are not
Split cards and cards with two names (people often paste these inconsistently)
Double-faced cards where someone pasted only one face name in a way the tool does not recognize
A quick sanity trick: if you would be annoyed hearing someone read the line out loud, fix it. Parsers are even less patient than you are.
Pass 2: Counts (prove the deck is the size you think it is)
Commander decks have a special talent for becoming 101 cards the moment you stop looking.
Do this:
Total the count in your deckbuilder and in your export. They should match.
Commander: confirm you have 1 commander plus 99 in the deck (or 98 if you have partners, etc.).
60-card formats: confirm you have the main deck count you expect, and that duplicates are correct.
If your count is wrong, fix it upstream in the deckbuilder, then re-export. Do not “patch” counts in the text list unless you enjoy living dangerously.
Pass 3: Faces (double-faced cards, meld, split, adventure, and other gremlins)
This is where clean workflows go to die, so we’re doing it on purpose.
Rules of thumb that work in real life:
If you are printing a card that has two faces, decide how you want to handle it before you import.
If your proxies will be sleeved (they should be), opaque sleeves solve a lot of practical problems.
If you need a reminder card or checklist method, be consistent across the whole deck or cube.
If you’re proxying a bigger environment (like cube), you may want a consistent DFC representation method. ProxyMTG’s cube workflow discussion is worth a skim if this is your world: MTG proxying a cube.
Pass 4: Extras (tokens, emblems, companion, sideboard, and the “I forgot this matters” pile)
Most decklists are missing the stuff you actually touch during a game.
Decide what you want to print:
Tokens you create frequently
Emblems your deck uses
Copy tokens or “on-board bookkeeping” pieces if your deck generates a mess
If you do not print them, that is fine. Just do not act betrayed when you are using an upside-down basic land as your tenth Treasure and someone asks, “So what is that, exactly?”
Step 4: Import into ProxyMTG, then do a reality check
Now you’re ready for the actual MTG decklist to printed proxies moment.
Use ProxyMTG’s Order Builder (it loads from the order flow) and import your cleaned list. Then do the three checks that catch almost everything:
Scan for “unknown” or missing items
If anything did not import, it is usually a name formatting problem or a weird-faced card issue.Verify quantities match your intention
Especially basics. Especially basics. People accidentally import “Island x 0” or “Island x 70” more often than you would think possible.Spot-check the weird lines
Split cards, MDFCs, anything with punctuation, anything with two names. If something is going to be wrong, it will be one of these.
If you want the policy and expectations side of proxying, it helps to read ProxyMTG’s legal reality check too: Are MTG proxies legal to own or print?
When you should include set codes (and when you should not)
Set codes are useful when:
You want a specific art or frame treatment
You are printing a deck for a theme night and aesthetics are part of the fun
You have multiple cards with similar names and you want to avoid accidental mismatches
Set codes are not useful when:
You are trying to get the list to import cleanly for the first time
You copied codes from somewhere unreliable
You are “optimizing” a workflow you have not successfully run once yet
Run clean import first. Then customize. This order is not glamorous, but it works.
A quick “do this, not that” workflow recap
Do this:
Keep one line per card, Qty Name
Clean names, confirm counts, handle faces, decide on extras
Import, then sanity-check before you pay
Not that:
Paste a decklist full of annotations and hope the site reads your mind
Add set codes everywhere before you confirm the list imports
Treat double-faced cards as “future you’s problem” (future you has enough problems)
FAQs
What decklist format should I paste for the cleanest import?
Start with a plain text list where each line is quantity + card name. Avoid extra columns and commentary until you know the list imports cleanly.
Do I need set codes or collector numbers?
Only if you care about specific printings or art. Get a clean import first, then add printing specificity if you want it. You can also manually choose the art for any card you've loaded.
How should I handle double-faced cards for proxies?
Pick one consistent method: fully opaque sleeves with your printed cards, or a checklist/substitute approach for hidden zones. Consistency matters more than perfection.
Should I print tokens too?
If your deck makes the same tokens repeatedly, printing them saves time and table confusion. If you rarely make them, you can skip and improvise.
Are printed proxies tournament legal?
Not for sanctioned events. Sanctioned play generally requires authentic cards, with limited judge-issued proxy exceptions for specific situations during the event.