MTG formats are the different rule sets for building a Magic: The Gathering deck: which cards you may use, how many, and how many people sit at the table. The same cards play very differently in each. Most formats fall into two families. In constructed formats you build a deck at home and bring it. In limited formats you build a small deck on the spot from packs or a shared pool.
The quick answer: if you want to play with friends, start with Commander. If you want to learn the game fast and play at a store, start with booster draft. If you want Magic without buying cards at all, find a cube. Everything else can wait until you know what kind of player you are.
Below: every major format, a comparison table, and a pick for each kind of player, checked against Wizards of the Coast’s format pages in October 2026.
What is the difference between constructed and limited?
Constructed means you assemble a deck ahead of time from cards you own. Most constructed formats need at least 60 cards, allow up to four copies of a card, and allow a 15-card sideboard for swapping between games. The big question in each is the card pool: which sets are allowed. A small pool keeps things fresh and affordable. A huge pool lets almost every card ever printed come back.
Limited means everyone builds from cards they get at the event: packs opened in a draft or sealed event, or a cube. Decks are at least 40 cards, and the event gives you all the basic lands you need.
Commander is constructed, but it plays by its own rules, so it gets its own section.
Commander: the format most people play
Commander is the multiplayer format most Magic players play today. Wizards’ Commander page lays out the shape:
- Deck: exactly 100 cards, one of them your commander, a legendary creature.
- Singleton: one copy of each card, except basic lands.
- Color identity: every card has to fit within your commander’s colors.
- The game: usually 3 to 5 players, 40 life each. Your commander waits in the command zone, and you can cast it from there, paying 2 more each time you recast it. A player dealt 21 combat damage by one commander loses.
Card pool: nearly all of Magic’s history, minus a banned list.
Who it suits: groups of friends, people who like big swingy turns, table talk, and a deck that expresses their taste. The social side matters as much as the cards. Our Commander politics piece covers that part.
Cost: low to start, open ended after. A preconstructed Commander deck is ready to play out of the box. Upgrading is where people spend, and how much is up to you.
Who runs Commander now?
Commander grew from fans, and for years a volunteer Rules Committee managed it. In September 2024 that committee dissolved and Wizards of the Coast took over the format, later forming a Commander Format Panel of community members to advise it. Wizards also introduced Commander Brackets, five levels from casual (Bracket 1) to fully competitive (Bracket 5), so a table can agree on power before shuffling up. Wizards still labels the Brackets a beta. A short list of “Game Changers,” cards that push a deck’s power up, shapes which bracket a deck belongs in.
How to play Commander MTG for the first time
Buy or borrow a preconstructed Commander deck and tell the table you are new. When you are ready to build your own, the Academy lesson on how to build a Commander deck walks through a 100-card skeleton, step by step.
Standard: the newest cards
Standard is Magic’s rotating format, built from recent sets. Per Wizards’ Standard page:
- Deck: at least 60 cards, up to 15 in the sideboard, up to four copies of a card.
- Card pool: the most recent premier sets, plus Foundations.
- Rotation: once a year, after the first premier set’s Prerelease of the year, the six oldest sets leave Standard. Wizards announced in 2024 that rotation would move to the start of the calendar year, so there was no rotation in 2026. The next one comes with the first premier set of 2027.
Who it suits: players who love new cards and a changing puzzle, on MTG Arena or at Friday Night Magic.
Cost: medium, and recurring. Rotation means a deck slowly loses legal cards, so staying current means buying in again. On Arena, you can play Standard without buying paper cards.
Pioneer: a non-rotating middle ground
Pioneer uses every set from Return to Ravnica (2012) forward, and it does not rotate. Decks are at least 60 cards with a 15-card sideboard (Pioneer page).
Who it suits: players who want a deck that keeps working for years, without the much older cards of Modern.
Cost: medium to high. Competitive decks need specific rares, but a deck you build stays legal.
What is the MTG Modern format?
Modern is a non-rotating format built from cards printed from 2003 forward, starting with Eighth Edition and Mirrodin, plus newer sets like Modern Horizons that were made to go straight into it. Wizards’ Modern page puts it simply: the format does not rotate. Decks are at least 60 cards with a 15-card sideboard.
Who it suits: players who enjoy fast, powerful decks, combo kills, and mastering one deck for a long time. Many players stick with one deck for years.
Cost: high. Modern decks lean on sought-after cards, and older ones are in limited supply.
Legacy and Vintage: all of Magic
Legacy allows cards from every set in Magic’s history, minus a banned list. Vintage allows nearly everything too, but instead of banning the most powerful old cards outright, it restricts many of them to one copy per deck. That includes the famous early cards players call the Power Nine. Both use 60-card decks with 15-card sideboards.
Who they suit: players who love Magic history and the most powerful interactions in the game.
Cost: very high in paper, because the key cards are scarce. Many players get a taste through a cube, where one shared copy of each card serves the whole table.
Pauper: commons only
Pauper uses only cards released at common rarity. Per the Pauper page, any card that has had a common printing in paper or on Magic Online is legal in any version. Decks are 60 cards, up to four copies, 15-card sideboard. A community Pauper Format Panel helps Wizards manage it.
Who it suits: players who want deep, skill-testing Magic with a big card pool and small spending.
Cost: low. Commons are the cheapest cards in the game, though a few in-demand ones cost more than you would guess. The pauper cube guide shows the same idea as a draft.
Brawl: one-on-one Commander on Arena
Brawl is a Commander-style format built for MTG Arena. Wizards’ Brawl page describes it as 1v1, 100 cards including a commander, singleton, 25 life, and no sideboard, using cards available on Arena. Arena also offers Standard Brawl, a 60-card version that uses only Standard-legal cards.
Who it suits: Commander fans who want quick games online, and new players who want to try the commander idea without a group.
Cost: low. You build from your Arena collection.
Booster draft and sealed: limited Magic
Booster draft
In a draft, up to eight players sit together and each opens a pack. You take one card, pass the rest, and keep going until the packs are gone. Then you do it twice more, three packs in all, and build a deck of at least 40 cards with basic lands added (Booster Draft page).
Since Murders at Karlov Manor in early 2024, stores draft with Play Boosters, which replaced the older Draft and Set Boosters. A recent Play Booster holds 14 Magic cards plus a token, so three packs give you 42 picks.
Who it suits: almost everyone. It teaches the whole game fast, and nobody can buy an edge.
Cost: a modest entry fee per event, paid each time. The cards you draft are yours to keep. Our beginner walkthrough, how to draft in Magic, covers a full draft night.
Sealed deck
Sealed skips the drafting. You open six packs and build a 40-card deck from what you get (Sealed Deck page). Prereleases use sealed, which is why a prerelease is a wonderful first event. The Academy’s prerelease survival guide explains how to build from a sealed pool.
Cost: a little more per event than a draft, since you open six packs.
Cube: the shared-collection draft
A cube is a curated set of cards, often 360 to 540, that one person owns and the group drafts again and again. It plays like a booster draft, but the cards are hand-picked, and nobody buys packs. Wizards does not run cube as a formal format; it belongs to the community. Our explainer on what an MTG cube is covers how it works, and cube vs Commander compares the two most popular ways to play with the same group every week.
Who it suits: groups who love drafting, and players who want Magic without a buying habit.
Cost: free for drafters. The cube owner pays once, and the cube lasts for years. The Academy’s Cube Draft course teaches the format.
MTG formats compared
| Format | Family | Deck | Card pool | Players | Cost level |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Commander | Constructed, multiplayer | 100, singleton | Nearly all cards | 3 to 5 | Low start, open ended |
| Standard | Constructed | 60+ | Recent sets, rotates yearly | 2 | Medium, recurring |
| Pioneer | Constructed | 60+ | Return to Ravnica forward | 2 | Medium to high |
| Modern | Constructed | 60+ | 2003 forward | 2 | High |
| Legacy | Constructed | 60+ | All cards, banned list | 2 | Very high |
| Vintage | Constructed | 60+ | All cards, restricted list | 2 | Very high |
| Pauper | Constructed | 60+ | Commons only | 2 | Low |
| Brawl | Constructed, Arena | 100, singleton | Cards on Arena | 2 | Low (digital) |
| Standard Brawl | Constructed, Arena | 60, singleton | Standard-legal cards | 2 | Low (digital) |
| Booster draft | Limited | 40+ | Three packs of one set | 2 to 8 | Entry fee each time |
| Sealed | Limited | 40+ | Six packs of one set | 2 | Entry fee each time |
| Cube | Limited | 40+ | A curated shared list | 2 to 8 | Free for drafters |
Arena also has digital-only formats, such as Alchemy, Historic, and Timeless.
Which MTG format should you play first?
- You have a group of friends who want to play together: Commander. Buy preconstructed decks and play. Or, if one person in the group will build it, a cube.
- You want to learn the game properly: booster draft. Every draft is a lesson in card evaluation and deckbuilding, and the course’s how to play Magic lesson gets you ready for it.
- You want to play online, today: Standard or Brawl on MTG Arena.
- You want competitive Magic that holds its value: Pioneer or Modern, after a few months in the game.
- You want depth on a budget: Pauper.
- You never want to buy a pack: cube.
The free Magic course runs from your first box to your first Commander night and draft, in that order, if you want a path to follow.
New to the format? Our guide on how to play Commander walks through a full turn and the Commander Brackets. A Commander precon or starter kit is the cheapest legal way in.
FAQ
What is the most popular MTG format?
Commander. It is the format most players play casually, and many stores run Commander nights every week.
What is the easiest Magic format for beginners?
A preconstructed Commander deck at a casual table, or a draft at a store. Both hand you a playable deck without needing a collection.
Do Commander and Modern use the same cards?
Partly. Commander allows nearly every card ever printed, so most Modern cards are Commander legal. Modern only allows cards from 2003 forward and uses 60-card decks with up to four copies.
Does Modern rotate?
No. Modern, Pioneer, Legacy, Vintage, Pauper, and Commander are all non-rotating. Standard is the format that rotates, once a year.
What is the difference between draft and sealed?
In draft you pick cards one at a time from packs passed around the table. In sealed you open six packs and build from whatever is inside. Both use 40-card decks.
Pick one and play
The best format is the one your friends already play. If you are still deciding, start with how to draft in Magic, or read about cube if you want the whole game without the buying. Ludarium Letters, just below, sends new Magic and cube guides as they publish.
The game is the reason. The people are the point.
Sources
- Formats (Wizards of the Coast, 2026)
- Commander (Wizards of the Coast, 2026)
- Standard (Wizards of the Coast, 2026)
- Pioneer (Wizards of the Coast, 2026)
- Modern (Wizards of the Coast, 2026)
- Pauper (Wizards of the Coast, 2026)
- Brawl (Wizards of the Coast, 2026)
- Booster Draft (Wizards of the Coast, 2026)
- Sealed Deck (Wizards of the Coast, 2026)
- Prerelease and Play Boosters Explained (Wizards Play Network, 2023)
- Collecting Star Trek (Wizards of the Coast, 2026)
- Wizards Reveals Major Change in Rotation Schedule (MTG Rocks, 2024)
- Commander Rules Committee Dissolves (Commander’s Herald, 2024)
- Wizards of the Coast Forms New Commander Panel (ICv2, 2024)
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Cube news, draft guides, and Cube Commonwealth updates from The Ludarium.