Which format to play
A format decides which cards are legal and how a deck is built. Pick the one your table plays.
7 min read
After this guide you can
- Choose a format from the size of a group, its budget and its cards.
- Name the rules that only Commander has.
Start here
Advice, not a rule
Captain Marvel, Earth's ProtectorLegendary Creature — Human Kree Hero · 5/4
Captain Marvel, Earth's Protector, Marvel Super Heroes, illustrated by Victor Adame Minguez. Card images from Scryfall. Magic: The Gathering is a trademark of Wizards of the Coast. Marvel and all related character names are trademarks of MARVEL. BinderLoot is unofficial Fan Content and is not approved or endorsed by Wizards or by Marvel.
Commander is the format most tables play. Four players, 100 cards, one copy of each card, and 40 life. A preconstructed Commander deck costs about 30 dollars and plays out of the box.
Standard is the smaller format for one against one. Sixty cards, four copies of each, and only sets from about the last three years.
The formats BinderLoot checks
- Commander: 100 cards exactly, one copy of each, one legendary creature leads the deck.
- Standard: 60 cards or more, four copies each, sets from about the last three years.
- Pioneer: 60 cards or more, four copies each, sets from 2012 onward.
- Modern: 60 cards or more, four copies each, sets from 2003 onward.
- Legacy and Vintage: every set. Vintage limits some cards to one copy.
A Commander deck has exactly 100 cards, the commander included, with one copy of each card except basic lands. Commander uses no sideboard.
CR 903.5a, 903.5b, 903.5e
Formats you open in packs
- Draft: eight players open packs, take one card, and pass the rest. You build a deck of 40 cards or more from what you took.
- Sealed: you open six packs and build a deck of 40 cards or more from them. A prerelease event runs this way.
- A limited deck of 40 cards wants about 17 lands.
A limited deck, built from packs opened at the event, has at least 40 cards.
CR 100.2b
Worked example: a format for a group of four friends
- Captain Marvel, Earth's ProtectorLegendary Creature — Human Kree Hero · 5/4
Captain Marvel, Earth's Protector, Marvel Super Heroes, illustrated by Victor Adame Minguez. Card images from Scryfall. Magic: The Gathering is a trademark of Wizards of the Coast. Marvel and all related character names are trademarks of MARVEL. BinderLoot is unofficial Fan Content and is not approved or endorsed by Wizards or by Marvel.
- 1Ana plays at home with three friends, so she wants a format for four players.
- 2Her friends own old cards from many sets, so a format that allows every set fits. Commander allows every set and plays four at a table.
- 3Her budget is about 30 dollars, so she buys a preconstructed Commander deck.
- 4The deck has exactly 100 cards, one copy of each, led by a legendary creature. Every card uses only the colors of that creature, so the deck is legal out of the box.
A card's color identity is every mana symbol in its cost and its rules text. A Commander deck holds only cards inside the commander's color identity.
CR 903.4, 903.5c
Before a Commander game
Advice, not a rule
Tables talk about the power of their decks before they start. Players call it the Rule Zero conversation.
Say what your deck does, how fast it wins, and its bracket. Wizards of the Coast grades Commander decks on five brackets, 1 to 5, and a deck in bracket 1 or 2 plays none of the cards on the Game Changers list. A table that agrees first has a better game.
Your turn: choose a format
Ben plays one against one at a store on Friday nights. He wants to play with cards from the newest sets only.