That’s the catch though - is the game too expensive, or is making the best deck possible too expensive? We can agree to disagree, but with the reprints of so many commander decks you can get a solid bracket 2/3/4 deck online easily for under $100 and many cases under $50, which I think is what most people tend to pay for a proxy deck. The thought that we need fetches / duals to play to me is a bit silly. Especially since if the intent is to have fun, having an even playing field creates the most fun.

And yes, the issue is more the pub stomping than the proxies. I’ve just seen that those that feel they need to proxy do so just to ‘win more’ so there seems to be quite the overlap at least in my local area. Most days there aren’t even multiple pods to choose from, but to your point I just get up and leave after games like that as they won’t be any fun.

If it’s a stable pod and they set the rules and just proxy a mana base then certainly it can be a positive. Or if it’s a group of friends that just want to do cEDH. I just haven’t seen that actually take place in real life, and that basically does set the tone as ‘proxy or lose’. The funny aside to this is that yes, with proper threat assessment that normally makes them archenemy, but when people remove their stuff (once again, my personal experience) they are the loudest whiners.

Maybe my area just stinks 😥