Everything we print is matte unless you ask for foil, and most people never ask. But foil proxies are the fun ones, and a few of them in the right slots change how a deck feels. Here is what each finish is like in hand, the three ways to add foil, and the sheet math that decides what it costs.
Matte: the default, on purpose
Matte is smooth, glare-free, and the closest thing to a real card we can make. Under a lamp at the table there is no hot spot on the art, text stays readable from across the pod, and the stock has a rigid snap when you riffle it. It's the finish we'd choose for our own decks, so it's the one we keep on the shelf. A full 100-card deck is matte unless you change it, and singles are too.
Foil: glossy front, matte back
Our foil has a glossy foil face and a matte back — the rainbow shifts across the whole art as you tilt the card (there are clips in the gallery so you can see the movement). Two honest caveats: foil shows fingerprints and light scuffs more than matte does, so sleeve it; and because the front is glossy it catches glare under a bright overhead light the way any foil does.
Three ways to get foil
- Whole deck in foil — +$20 per deck. Tick the box on that deck in the order form and all 100 cards and the tokens print foil. If you want more than a couple of sheets' worth, this is the cheapest way to get there.
- Some cards in foil — +$2 per sheet of 9. Put just the cards you want foiled — the commander, the lands, the win-cons — into their own MPCFill or Proxxied file and add it as the foil add-on. Those cards print foil instead of matte. You've already paid for them in the deck price, so the sheet charge is only the foil premium.
- Foil singles — $11 per sheet of 9. No deck, just foil cards from a foil-only file. The sheet price includes printing the cards themselves, which is why it's higher than the deck-upgrade rate.
Why everything is in nines
Cards print 9 to a sheet, and foil sheets can't be half-used. A foil-only file has to fill its sheets exactly: 9, 18, 27 cards, and so on.
The order form counts the cards in your foil file and sets the sheet number for you when it divides cleanly; if it doesn't, it tells you how many to add or drop before you can check out. Nine is also why singles orders start at nine cards.
How to decide
- You want the deck to feel like a real deck. Matte. It's the honest, grab-and-shuffle finish, and it's the price on the sheet with nothing added.
- You want a few bling pieces. Foil by the sheet. Nine cards covers a commander, a couple of lands, and the cards you cast every game, for $2.
- You want the whole thing to shimmer. Whole-deck foil at +$20 beats paying by the sheet well before you reach a full deck.
- You just want some foil cards, no deck. Foil singles, in multiples of 9.
Building the foil-only file
Same builder, same process as the deck — just start a new project with only the cards you want in foil, export the .XML, and add it in the Foil section of the order form. Keep the count to a multiple of 9. If a card appears in both files, it prints twice: once matte in the deck and once foil, which some people do on purpose for a foil swap.
Either way, sleeve them
Both finishes are standard size and fit any sleeve. If you want the deck table-ready out of the box, the clear deckbox + sleeves combo ($10 a deck, your choice of sleeve color) ships it sleeved; otherwise it arrives in our branded cardstock box. Foil in particular thanks you for the sleeve.
