Printing is where a custom set stops being a folder of images and becomes a deck you can shuffle. This guide covers the full route — exporting from Magic Set Editor, preparing the files, and the three realistic ways to get them onto card — for your own original designs, printed for personal use. Please read the originality note at the end before you order anything: it is a real boundary, not fine print.
Step 1 — Export at full quality from MSE
Print quality is decided before any printer is involved. Export finished cards as PNG images, as a whole-set batch, at the full resolution your template provides. Resolution in MSE comes from the template, not from a setting in the program, so if your exports look small or soft, fix that first with our high-resolution export guide and our guide to high-resolution templates — printing a low-resolution file larger only makes the softness bigger. Keep front and back images of double-faced cards clearly paired in your file names, and keep the set file and the exports together so you can re-export after corrections.
Step 2 — Think about bleed and colour before you upload or print
Two general print concepts apply on every route below. Bleed: cutters are never perfectly placed, so print files usually extend artwork slightly beyond the finished card edge, and important text and art are kept inside a safe area away from the trim line. Colour: screens show RGB light; printing lays down CMYK ink, and some bright screen colours will print duller — a small proof run is how everyone checks this. Exact file dimensions, bleed amounts and colour settings belong to the printer or service you choose: always follow their own current instructions, not numbers copied from a guide. Our print-preparation guide walks through the MSE side of this step in detail.
Route A — Print at home
Home printing is the fastest and cheapest way to playtest. The common playtest method is to print onto paper, trim, and sleeve the cut-outs over inexpensive backing cards so the deck shuffles and handles like real cards. For nicer home results, a photo printer and glossy photo paper give heavier, glossier stock than plain office paper. If you are shopping for that setup, these are our affiliate links to Amazon searches — the prices and models you will see there are Amazon’s current listings, and we link searches rather than naming a “best” model we have not tested:
- Photo printers on Amazon (affiliate link)
- Glossy photo paper on Amazon (affiliate link)
- Card sleeves on Amazon (affiliate link) — sleeves are what make paper printouts playable, and they protect finished prints afterwards.
Set expectations honestly: home output is for testing and casual play. Ink, paper and hand trimming will not match a factory-printed card, and chasing that last step at home usually costs more than ordering a proof from a service.
Route B — Use a professional print service
For real card stock, accurate cutting and a finished feel, custom-card designers commonly use print-on-demand card services and upload their exported files through the service’s own editor, following that service’s size and bleed instructions. The best-known name in this hobby is MakePlayingCards: MakePlayingCards (MPC). Transparency note: this site currently has no affiliate relationship with MPC — we do not earn a commission if you order there; we list it because it is a commonly used printing service for custom cards, nothing more. Other services in the same space, listed here as ordinary links with no commission relationship either, include BoardGamesMaker, PrintPlayGames and The Game Crafter. Compare each service’s own current card stocks, sizes and instructions on its own site, and — whichever you choose — order a small proof batch before a full set.
Route C — Publish or sell an original design through a print-on-demand ecosystem
A third path is for designers whose goal is not printing their own deck but offering an original game or card product to others. DriveThruCards (affiliate link) is part of the DriveThru family of print-on-demand and digital marketplaces, where creators publish card products that are printed or delivered when someone orders. That is a publishing route for original work, with the marketplace’s own publisher terms — read those terms on its site if this is your goal, and do not confuse it with ordering a private print run of your playtest deck.
Originality and personal use — the boundary
- Print your own original designs, fan designs and parodies for personal, non-commercial play — that is what MSE and this guide are for.
- Do not use a print service to reproduce official card artwork or to make copies intended to pass as genuine cards. Apart from the legal problem, reputable services can refuse or cancel such orders.
- If a card in your set reuses art, use art you made, commissioned with permission, or that is licensed for your use — and credit artists on the card where your template allows it.
Follow the order in this guide — full-quality PNG export, bleed- and colour-aware files, a proof on whichever route you pick — and the printed deck will look like the set you designed.