Image courtesy of Scryfall.com
Custom Proxies and Alternate Art in the Wilds of Eldraine
MTG players have long cherished the art of tailoring their battlefield storytelling through proxies and alternate art. In a set like Wilds of Eldraine, where fairy-tale vibes collide with red-hot tempo, a tiny 1/1 with Haste can swing a game as decisively as a dragon’s roar. Harried Spearguard enters the fray as a perfect canvas for discussing how custom proxies and art variants can amplify your casual play, your collection, and yes, your table talk 🧙🔥💎⚔️.
Harried Spearguard at a glance
- Mana Cost: {R} — a single red mana, punchy and urgent
- Creature Type: Creature — Human Soldier
- Power/Toughness: 1/1
- Keywords: Haste
- Set: Wilds of Eldraine (WoE); Flavorful and fast adventures abound in this release
- Rarity: Common
- Oracle Text: Haste. When this creature dies, create a 1/1 black Rat creature token with "This token can't block."
- Flavor Text: "Why're you vermin so daft? This is a warehouse full of bricks. BRICKS! You can't eat bricks." — a vignette that screams Eldraine’s rough-and-tumble charm
In the heat of a game, that 1/1 body is all about tempo. With Haste on turn one, Spearguard can pressure early life totals or force reactions from your opponent before they draw their first removal spell. When it finally dies to combat or interaction, the Rat token it leaves behind is a tiny, sneaky victory condition for red-heavy decks that love to swarm or outgrind the opponent with cumulative value. It’s a neat reminder of how a single card can seed a late-game threat even from the smallest stats 🧙🔥.
Why proxies and alternate art matter to players
Proxies aren’t about skirting the rules; they’re about democratizing play and enabling experimentation. A custom proxy can capture alternate art, splashes of color, or a thematic banner for a 60-card challenge night. For Harried Spearguard, an alternate art variant might reimagine the hurried hero amid a sprawling Eldraine marketplace, or reframe the Rat token as a more menacing or whimsical future version of the same inevitability. In a game where mood matters as much as mana, art variants become a storytelling tool 🧭🎨.
The practice also loves cross-pollination with collector culture. In WoE, Borja Pindado’s artwork brings a distinctive line and mood—compact, kinetic, and a bit mischievous. Alt-art or proxy variants often celebrate that energy, letting players display their personalities at the table. It’s no surprise that the community views proxies as a bridge between casual play, art appreciation, and deck-building experimentation. Just remember to keep proxies out of sanctioned tournament play and respect your venue’s policy on substitutes and transparent proxies.
Alt-art variants are more than pretty pictures—they’re windows into a deck’s narrative moment, a quick shorthand for how a player envisions the battlefield, and a fun way to spark conversation around a favorite card.
Design notes: the card in play, and how it fuels a red deck
Harried Spearguard embodies red’s core traits: speed, aggression, and “kill-before-you-die” urgency. A 1-mana 1/1 with Haste is a classic play out of the red tempo toolkit, pressuring an opponent’s life total before they stabilize. The death trigger—creating a 1/1 black Rat that can’t block—offers a surprising posthumous value that can compound with other red or sacrifice-oriented strategies. Think of it as a tiny assembly-line of pressure: you attack with the Spearguard; your opponent trades; you cash in a Rat, and the board continues to tilt in your favor, one burrowing vermin at a time 🐀⚔️.
In practical terms, you might slot Harried Spearguard into a mono-red or mono-red-based deck that wants to flood the board quickly. It pairs well with cheap removal, pump spells, or resurrection synergies that can recoup your life total while pushing through damage. It’s also a nice anchor for casual tribal or themed decks that lean into the “little soldiers, big mischief” vibe from Eldraine’s fable-inspired world. And if your meta leans into sacrifice or aristocrat elements, the Rat token can pick up new life in a late-game engine—even if the Spearguard itself has fallen to a well-timed block or removal spell 🧙♀️🎲.
Alternate art and proxy culture: practical guidance
When you’re considering proxies or art variants, a few practical guidelines help keep things fun and fair:
- Keep proxies clearly distinguishable from real cards—use a simple marker or a label to show it’s non-foil, non-collectible, or a custom art print.
- Match the card’s information accurately—the proxy should reflect the same mana cost, type line, and rules text to avoid any gameplay confusion.
- Respect your playgroup and venue rules. Some Local Game Stores (LGS) allow proxies in casual or draft nights, while tournaments typically require official printings or clearly labeled proxies.
- Celebrate the art. Alternate art prints, border variants, or fan-made pieces can be a great way to honor a favorite card while supporting the broader MTG art community.
For collectors and display lovers, the WoE common Harried Spearguard sits at an approachable entrypoint, with a current market footprint that reflects its common rarity—yet the allure of alternate art or foil variants can elevate its presence in a binder or on a display shelf. The card’s practical value in play is matched by its storytelling value in collector chats, and that combination is part of what makes MTG’s art and proxy culture so enduringly engaging 🎨💎.
Bringing it all home: a small cross-promotional note
If you’re curating a dedicated gaming desk or a quick-play space, a personalized neoprene mouse pad can be the perfect companion, echoing the same vibe as your favorite red haste-crier. The product below is a neat way to level up your setup while you draft, scoop, or sling spells with friends. It’s not a card, but it’s a thoughtful nod to the rituals around play—refreshing your surface, keeping track of tokens, and sometimes swapping stories between turns 🧙🔥🎲.