A competitive Commander deck is built from the strongest cards ever printed, and several of them cost more than the rest of the deck put together. The cEDH community has an answer to that, online and in paper, and it’s the playtest card, a stand-in that lets you play the format without owning a Gaea’s Cradle! Below, you’ll find what a table will accept, what it won’t, and the one extra thing the online game asks of you.
What a playtest card is
Wizards of the Coast’s own definition is a basic land with another card’s name written on it in marker. It’s obviously not the real card, and it doesn’t try to be. The cEDH community’s working definition is more demanding, however, as a competitive table needs to read your card at a glance:
- It uses the official art of a real printing, with the real card’s text and frame, so every player recognises it instantly.
- It doesn’t pass as authentic, thanks to a playtest overlay, a non-real set symbol, a plainly non-authentic back, or all three.
- It’s on card stock that shuffles like the rest of the deck, so nobody can find it by feel.
The first two are about respect for the game and the players, and the third is about fairness. A playtest card that’s thicker or glossier than its neighbours counts as a marked card, even if that was never the intention.
What a table won’t accept
- Counterfeits, meaning cards made to pass as real, including “high quality proxies” sold as indistinguishable. Tournaments refuse them, communities ban them, and we don’t link to anyone selling them.
- Cards with altered text or art that changes what the card does, or that a player at the other end of a webcam can’t recognise.
- Blank cards or hand-written names for anything that matters at cEDH speed. Wizards’ definition allows them, but a competitive table asking “what is that?” three times a turn doesn’t.
Why online is stricter: card recognition
SpellTable and Convoke identify cards from your camera when a player clicks on them. When we checked SpellTable’s FAQ in September 2026, it said recognition depends on lighting, focus, angle and the card itself. It also said proxies aren’t in its database, so don’t count on a playtest card being recognised. Test yours on camera before a game, as Proxies and playtest cards on camera describes.
A hand-written basic land will never be read, and the table then depends on you to read it out every time. That’s the practical reason the community’s definition asks for official art and frame. At an online table, a card nobody can read at a glance is a card the other three players can’t check.
The same goes for sleeves and lighting. The camera guide covers glare, which defeats recognition on real cards and playtest cards alike.
What to say at the table
If you’re joining a server for the first time, check its rules channel. Most cEDH communities allow playtest cards without limit, which is great news if you’re starting out! Some, however, ask for a proportion of the deck to be authentic for their own events, and a few tournament organisers on the calendar publish a limit per deck. That’s the organiser’s call.
Where to get them
Several services print playtest cards to the community’s standard. What you need at the table names the ones we’ve checked, and the directory lists them under tools, with the date each was last checked. You’ll want one that prints on stock matching a standard card and marks the card as a playtest card. Steer clear of any that advertise their cards as indistinguishable from the real thing. That’s the counterfeit line, and a table that finds one won’t have you back.
Where to go next
Once your playtest cards are sorted, What you need at the table has the rest of what you’ll want in hand, from dice to a notepad. When you sit down to play, Your first online pod walks you through the conversation at the table.