Last updated on February 18, 2024
Hard Cover | Illustration by PINDURSKI
We all love to show off our personal style when playing Magic. Sleeves, deck boxes, and dice all show our friends and foes who we are. But the biggest way to flex on an opponent and show your true colors is through a custom playmat. Something nobody but you has.
But not all custom playmat manufacturers are cut from the same cloth. Who do you go to if you want a truly unique mat? Today I’m going to show you some of the best playmat makers out there and what to look for in a bad product.
Ready? Let’s get started!
Best Overall
It's hard to make this list without recommending Inked Gaming. They’re the original custom playmat retailer, and they offer great products to this day.
Their products are excellent quality, and they make much more than just playmats! They also offer tons of gaming accessories and home decor.
How Much Should a Custom Playmat Cost?
Most custom playmats come in at around $25 to $30, which is a little under double the price of a regular playmat. I feel like this is a fair price since these custom mats are generally of higher quality.
The Fanciest Custom Playmat You Can Get
If you really want to bling out your mat, there’s not much more you can do than a foil playmat. The only retailer I could find that does custom foil playmats is Your Playmat, but the quality is great!
These are pretty pricey coming in at a little under $100, and that’s before you add custom editing and stitched edging.
Best All-Around Deal
Inked Gaming wins best all-around dead by a country mile for a good reason. Their quality is consistently fantastic and the prices are fair. They offer plenty of customization options, they have excellent customer service, and they’re just a solid brand overall.
I’ve had a few friends who bought playmats from Inked Gaming, wished they had a discount code, and noted they’re much better quality than Ultra PRO. Their products are unreal, and they fit nearly any budget.
Best Cheap Custom Playmats
You still have options if you’re trying to ball on a budget. Etsy offers some custom playmats for a lower price, but the quality can be mediocre. You can also find playmats on Amazon if Etsy isn’t your favorite.
Regardless of where you pick, make sure you check recent reviews to make sure the quality is up to snuff.
Buyer’s Guide
There are a lot of things to look for in a playmat. Mass market playmats are an excellent baseline for what a good quality playmat should be, but they’ve gone through countless product revisions to ensure a consistent quality, which isn’t something you can do for a single playmat.
Here are some things to keep in mind when shopping around for and ordering a custom playmat:
- Picture quality is by far the most important part of ordering custom playmats since the picture is the whole reason you decided to get a custom mat in the first place. You can usually upload whatever you’d like to these sites but they may come back blurry or pixelated, so don’t be afraid to pay for premium editing if they offer it.
- Stitched edging is a nice touch that’s becoming more common on new playmats. It's usually around $5 to add to a playmat but it improves the quality by a good margin. It also helps make sure your playmat lasts longer.
- Play zones are an optional feature and not one that I’m personally keen on. They aren’t for everyone, but some players like to have a level of organization for their space, and it can help new players too.
What To Look For
- Ideally your manufacturer should offer some sort of editing service alongside their playmats. This helps make sure your final image looks good on the mat itself and that it isn’t too low-resolution.
- You should always check recent reviews from these sellers to verify that they maintain a good level of quality and don’t cut any corners.
- The final factor that should concern you is the quality of the rubber material. Cheap, poorly-made playmats feel like a Dollar store mousepad from 2007. Look through pictures and information to see if they’re made of neoprene or rubber. Rubber is thinner and flimsier compared to neoprene.
Wrap Up
Dramatic Finale | Illustration by Steve Argyle
Custom playmats are a stellar way to show off your personal style and a luxury most Magic players don’t splurge for. If you want to show off who you are or at least have something funny to look at, you should check out Inked Gaming’s custom MTG playmats.
What are your thoughts? Do you have a custom playmat you wanna show us? Tag us on Twitter with #CustomPlaymat and let us know!
As for me, I’ve got a meme playmat to print. See ya!
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