TLDR
- A finished MTG-style proxy card should generally measure either 63 × 88 mm or 2.5 × 3.5 inches, depending on the printer’s template. Those measurements are close, but they are not identical.
- Use artwork at 300 pixels per inch at the final printing size. A 2.5 × 3.5-inch card requires at least 750 × 1050 pixels before bleed.
- A practical thickness target is approximately 0.30 to 0.33 mm, or about 12 to 13 points.
- Do not judge cardstock by GSM alone. Grammage, thickness, stiffness, core material, coating, and finish all affect how a card handles.
- Allow approximately 3 mm or 0.125 inches of bleed, and keep important text at least that far inside the cut line.
- A corner radius near 3 mm helps the cards fit sleeves and prevents sharp corners from catching.
- Standard 66 × 91 mm trading-card sleeves should comfortably fit properly cut proxy cards.
Most proxy artwork looks perfectly respectable while it is still glowing on a monitor. The real test begins after printing, cutting, sleeving, and shuffling. Good MTG Proxy Card Printing Specifications account for the entire physical card, not merely the number of pixels in the image.
A file can be sharp and still produce a poor card. It can be printed on thick stock and still feel wrong. It can use the correct dimensions and still arrive with uneven borders because the artwork had no bleed. Printing has a remarkable ability to punish anyone who assumes one correct number will solve everything.
MTG Proxy Card Printing Specifications: Quick Reference
| Specification | Recommended Target |
|---|---|
| Finished card size | 63 × 88 mm, or the printer’s 2.5 × 3.5-inch template |
| 2.5 × 3.5 inches in millimeters | 63.5 × 88.9 mm |
| Resolution | 300 PPI minimum at final size |
| Pixels at 2.5 × 3.5 inches | 750 × 1050 pixels before bleed |
| Standard bleed | 3 mm or 0.125 inches on every side |
| File size with 0.125-inch bleed | 2.75 × 3.75 inches, or 825 × 1125 pixels at 300 PPI |
| Safe area | At least 3 mm or 0.125 inches inside the cut line |
| Practical thickness | Approximately 0.30 to 0.33 mm |
| Approximate point thickness | 12 to 13 pt |
| Common cardstock range | Roughly 280 to 330 GSM, depending on construction |
| Corner radius | Approximately 3 mm or 1/8 inch |
| Standard outer sleeve | 66 × 91 mm |
| Typical inner sleeve | Approximately 64 × 89 mm |
These are practical production targets rather than official Wizards of the Coast manufacturing tolerances. A commercial printer’s supplied template should take priority whenever its dimensions, bleed, or safe area differ. MakePlayingCards, for example, distinguishes between a 63 × 88 mm standard card and a 63.5 × 88.9 mm traditional poker-size card.
Are MTG Cards 63 × 88 mm or 2.5 × 3.5 Inches?
Both measurements are commonly used, but they describe slightly different sizes.
- 63 × 88 mm equals approximately 2.48 × 3.46 inches.
- 2.5 × 3.5 inches equals 63.5 × 88.9 mm.
The difference is less than 1 mm in either direction, so both sizes fit ordinary trading-card sleeves. But that does not make the dimensions interchangeable during file preparation. Placing 63 × 88 mm artwork into a 2.5 × 3.5-inch template can subtly change border thickness, artwork cropping, and text placement.
The safest rule is simple: use the exact template supplied by the company printing the cards. Do not resize the finished file afterward, and do not let a print dialog automatically “fit” the artwork to the page.
For a home-cut paper insert placed over a basic land, a slightly smaller size can be useful. An insert around 62 × 87 mm is easier to slide into a sleeve without wrinkling at the edges. That recommendation applies to paper inserts, not professionally printed standalone cards.
How Thick Should an MTG Proxy Card Be?
A practical thickness target for a nonfoil proxy card is approximately 0.30 to 0.33 mm. That corresponds to roughly 12 to 13 points, because one printing point equals 0.001 inch.
Cards near this range generally feel substantial enough to shuffle, resist easy bending, and avoid being conspicuously thicker than the other cards in a sleeved deck. Minor variation is usually hidden by quality opaque sleeves. Larger differences become noticeable when cutting, shuffling, or comparing the deck’s edges.
Thickness should be measured with a caliper rather than estimated from GSM. For a more reliable home measurement, stack ten cards, measure the entire stack, and divide the result by ten. This reduces the effect of small measurement errors and slight surface texture.
GSM Does Not Tell You the Whole Story
GSM measures the mass of paper or cardstock per square meter. It does not directly measure thickness, stiffness, durability, or shuffle feel.
International paper standards treat grammage and thickness as separate properties for good reason. Two stocks with the same GSM can have different thicknesses because of fiber density, compression, coatings, surface treatments, and core construction. One may feel firm and snappy, while another feels soft despite carrying the same impressive number in the product description.
A commercial proxy card may use stock somewhere around 280 to 330 GSM, but the number should be treated as a starting point rather than proof of quality. Evaluate:
- Measured thickness
- Stiffness and recovery after bending
- Surface friction
- Core opacity
- Coating or lamination
- Edge durability
- Consistency across the full order
A seller can advertise 330 GSM and still produce cards that feel poor. Cardstock, unfortunately, does not become excellent merely because the product page uses bold type.
Black-Core and Blue-Core Cardstock
A colored core sits between the printable outer layers of playing-card stock. Its primary purposes are opacity, structure, and resistance to light showing through the card.
Black-core cardstock is frequently preferred for higher-end proxy cards because it provides strong opacity and a construction associated with commercial playing cards. It can help prevent bright artwork on the front from becoming visible through the back under direct light.
Blue-core cardstock can also perform well. It is commonly used for game cards and can provide good snap, shuffle feel, and opacity at a lower cost.
MakePlayingCards describes its S33 stock as a smooth black-core option and its S30 stock as a smooth blue-core option. Those descriptions are useful for understanding construction, but the core color alone does not guarantee better printing, more accurate cutting, or a superior finish.
Bleed, Cut Lines, and Safe Areas
Bleed is artwork that extends past the intended finished edge of the card. It exists because commercial cutting is never perfectly motionless. A small shift during cutting should reveal more artwork, not an unprinted white strip.
A practical setup is:
- Bleed: Extend backgrounds 3 mm or 0.125 inches beyond every card edge.
- Trim line: The line where the finished card is intended to be cut.
- Safe area: Keep important text, mana symbols, collector information, and essential border details at least 3 mm or 0.125 inches inside the trim line.
Simple Card Layout Diagram
Outer File Edge
┌──────────────────────────────┐
│ Bleed │
│ ┌──────────────────────┐ │
│ │ Trim Line │ │
│ │ ┌──────────────┐ │ │
│ │ │ Safe Area │ │ │
│ │ │ Text and key │ │ │
│ │ │ card details │ │ │
│ │ └──────────────┘ │ │
│ └──────────────────────┘ │
└──────────────────────────────┘
For a 2.5 × 3.5-inch finished card with 0.125 inches of bleed on every side, the working document becomes 2.75 × 3.75 inches. At 300 PPI, that equals 825 × 1125 pixels.
Adobe identifies approximately 0.125 inches or 3 mm as a common bleed amount, while also recommending that designers verify the printer’s specific requirements. PrintMTG uses the same 0.125-inch bleed and safe-area guidance in its current card-preparation instructions.
Resolution and Pixel Dimensions
Use 300 PPI at the final printed size as the baseline for MTG proxy artwork.
For a card sized at 2.5 × 3.5 inches:
- Width: 2.5 × 300 = 750 pixels
- Height: 3.5 × 300 = 1050 pixels
- With 0.125-inch bleed: 825 × 1125 pixels
For a 63 × 88 mm card, the exact 300 PPI dimensions are approximately 744 × 1039 pixels before bleed.
Printing a 500 × 700-pixel image at 300 PPI does not create missing detail. Changing the resolution metadata or enlarging the image merely spreads the same information across more pixels. This often produces soft rules text, rough diagonal lines, and muddy set symbols.
Higher resolutions such as 600 PPI can help when the source artwork and text are genuinely available at that resolution. They do not rescue a low-resolution image downloaded from a thumbnail. Adobe continues to recommend 300 PPI as a standard target for high-quality printed images viewed at close range.
For file formats:
- Use PNG for individual raster card files when lossless image quality matters.
- Use a properly exported PDF for complete print sheets.
- Use JPG only when compression is kept high enough that small text and borders remain clean.
- Preserve vector text and symbols in PDF files whenever the production workflow supports them.
Color Mode and Surface Finish
Monitors display color using RGB light. Most conventional printing processes reproduce color using CMYK inks or toner. Some bright blues, greens, reds, and fluorescent-looking screen colors cannot be reproduced exactly in ordinary CMYK printing.
Do not blindly convert artwork to CMYK unless the printer requests it or provides a profile. Some digital printers prefer RGB files because their production software performs the conversion for the specific machine. Ask which color space the service expects and, when available, use the supplied ICC profile.
Adobe recommends managing RGB-to-CMYK conversion according to the intended output process because conversion can change saturated colors and shadow detail.
Finish also affects how the card looks and handles:
- A very glossy surface can increase glare and sleeve friction.
- A matte or smooth satin surface is usually easier to read under overhead lighting.
- Heavy lamination can make cards feel thicker and less flexible.
- An uneven coating can cause cards to stick together or shuffle inconsistently.
Corner Radius and Sleeve Fit
A corner radius of approximately 3 mm, or close to 1/8 inch, is a sensible target for MTG-style cards. Corners that are too square can catch on sleeve openings, while excessively rounded corners make the card look visibly different from other trading cards.
Properly sized proxies should fit standard 66 × 91 mm sleeves without forcing the card, bowing the sleeve, or leaving excessive movement around the edges. Ultra PRO lists 66 × 91 mm as its standard sleeve size for Magic-sized cards, and Ultimate Guard describes the same sleeve dimensions for 63 × 88 mm cards.
Opaque sleeves are strongly recommended when proxy backs differ from official cards. Custom or clearly marked backs also reduce the risk of a proxy being confused with an authentic card outside the deck.
Practical Quality Thresholds
The following are MTGProxyReviews.com editorial inspection targets, not official manufacturing tolerances.
| Attribute | Good Practical Result | Warning Sign |
|---|---|---|
| Finished size | Consistent throughout the order and fits sleeves normally | Some cards require force to sleeve or visibly protrude |
| Thickness | Approximately 0.30 to 0.33 mm and consistent across the batch | Thin, floppy cards or obvious thickness changes |
| Cutting | Borders appear reasonably even and no unprinted edge is visible | White slivers, angled cuts, or noticeably different card sizes |
| Corner radius | Smooth, consistent corners near 3 mm | Square corners, rough corners, or sleeve snagging |
| Resolution | Rules text and fine symbols remain clean at normal reading distance | Jagged text, pixelated art, or fuzzy mana symbols |
| Registration | Front and back remain consistently positioned | Back design shifts visibly toward one edge |
| Opacity | Front artwork is not visible through the back during ordinary handling | Card identity can be inferred through the back |
| Finish | Cards separate and shuffle without unusual sticking | Tacky coating, heavy glare, peeling, or surface scratches |
For a 100-card order, inspect cards from several positions in the stack rather than measuring only the cleanest-looking example. Cutting and registration problems can drift during a production run.
Common File-Preparation Mistakes
Mixing Different Card Templates
Do not place 63 × 88 mm artwork into a 2.5 × 3.5-inch template without checking how it scales. A small dimensional mismatch can alter border widths across the entire deck.
Submitting Artwork Without Bleed
A background ending exactly at the trim line leaves no protection against cutting movement. Extend all full-bleed artwork past the edge.
Treating DPI Metadata as Image Quality
A small image labeled “300 DPI” is still a small image. Check the actual pixel dimensions at the intended print size.
Relying Only on GSM
A heavy stock can still be too thick, too soft, badly coated, or poorly printed. Ask for thickness and construction details whenever possible.
Allowing Automatic Page Scaling
Disable “fit to page,” “shrink oversized pages,” and similar settings when printing at home. Print at 100 percent or actual size.
Placing Text Too Close to the Edge
Even a cleanly cut card can look poor when rules text or frame details sit directly against the trim line. Keep essential information inside the safe area.
Print-Ready Checklist
Before submitting a deck, confirm:
- The artwork uses the printer’s exact template.
- The finished card dimensions are clearly defined.
- Background artwork extends through the full bleed area.
- Important text remains inside the safe area.
- Each file has enough pixels for 300 PPI at final size.
- Cards are not being enlarged from low-resolution thumbnails.
- Fronts and backs are paired correctly.
- Double-faced cards are clearly identified.
- The requested cardstock thickness is appropriate for ordinary sleeves.
- The corner radius matches trading-card proportions.
- The printer will not automatically resize the files.
- Proxy or custom backs are clearly distinguishable from authentic cards.
These MTG Proxy Card Printing Specifications will not guarantee excellent cards by themselves. They will, however, eliminate many of the avoidable problems that cause blurry text, uneven borders, awkward sleeve fit, and a Commander deck that handles like 100 tiny restaurant menus.
FAQs
What Is the Exact Size of an MTG Proxy Card?
Use either 63 × 88 mm or the printer’s 2.5 × 3.5-inch template. Because those measurements are slightly different, always follow the dimensions supplied by the printing company.
How Thick Should an MTG Proxy Card Be?
Approximately 0.30 to 0.33 mm is a practical target for a standalone nonfoil card. Consistency across the deck matters almost as much as the precise measurement.
Is 300 DPI Enough for MTG Proxy Printing?
Yes. Artwork at 300 PPI at the final printing size is normally sufficient for sharp card art and readable text. Higher resolution helps only when the original file contains genuine additional detail.
What GSM Is Best for MTG Proxies?
Roughly 280 to 330 GSM is common, but GSM should not be used by itself. Compare measured thickness, stiffness, core material, coating, and finish.
Do MTG Proxies Fit Standard Sleeves?
Properly cut proxies should fit standard 66 × 91 mm trading-card sleeves. A card that requires unusual pressure to insert may be oversized, too thick, or poorly cut.
Is Black-Core Stock Required?
No. Black-core stock is desirable for opacity and commercial card construction, but a well-made blue-core stock can also perform well. Print quality, cutting, coating, and consistency still matter.
References
MakePlayingCards
Custom Game Cards, 63 × 88 mm
https://www.makeplayingcards.com/design/custom-blank-card.html
Accessed July 15, 2026. Supports listed standard card dimensions and available stock options.
S33 Superior Smooth Cardstock
https://www.makeplayingcards.com/s33-card-stock.aspx
Accessed July 15, 2026. Supports black-core construction and smooth-finish description.
S30 Standard Smooth Cardstock
https://www.makeplayingcards.com/s30-card-stock.aspx
Accessed July 15, 2026. Supports blue-core construction and handling description.
Adobe
Resolution Specifications for Printing Images
https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/desktop/crop-resize-transform/resize-adjust-resolution/resolution-specs-for-printing-images.html
Accessed July 15, 2026. Supports the 300 PPI print-resolution recommendation.
Set Up Print Bleed
https://helpx.adobe.com/indesign/desktop/print/page-set-up-and-printer-marks/print-bleed-and-slug-areas.html
Accessed July 15, 2026. Supports common bleed measurements and printer-template guidance.
Process Colors and CMYK Overview
https://helpx.adobe.com/indesign/desktop/print/ink-and-color-management/process-colors-cmyk-overview.html
Accessed July 15, 2026. Supports RGB, CMYK, and print color-conversion guidance.
International Organization for Standardization
ISO 536:2019, Paper and Board, Determination of Grammage
https://www.iso.org/standard/77583.html
Accessed July 15, 2026. Defines grammage as mass per unit area.
ISO 534:2011, Paper and Board, Determination of Thickness, Density, and Specific Volume
https://www.iso.org/standard/53060.html
Accessed July 15, 2026. Establishes thickness as a separate measured property.
Sleeve Manufacturers
Ultra PRO Small Standard Sleeves
https://support.ultrapro.com/en-US/small-standard-sleeves-380727
Accessed July 15, 2026. Supports the 66 × 91 mm standard sleeve size.
Ultimate Guard Katana Sleeves
https://ultimateguard.com/en/Card-Sleeves/Card-Sleeves/Katana/
Accessed July 15, 2026. Supports compatibility between 63 × 88 mm cards and 66 × 91 mm sleeves.
PrintMTG
How to Make Proxy MTG Cards That Look Clean, Read Well, and Shuffle Smoothly
https://printmtg.com/how-to-make-proxy-mtg-cards-that-look-clean-read-well-and-shuffle-smoothly/
Accessed July 15, 2026. Supports 2.5 × 3.5-inch templates, 300 PPI, bleed, safe-area, and export guidance.
What Card Stock Does Magic Use?
https://printmtg.com/what-card-stock-does-magic-the-gathering-use/
Accessed July 15, 2026. Supports practical thickness and cardstock-range guidance.
Understanding PT, GSM, and LB for MTG Proxy Printing
https://printmtg.com/understanding-pt-gsm-and-lb-for-mtg-proxy-printing/
Accessed July 15, 2026. Supports the distinction between point thickness and grammage.
