Formats & Ways to Play
Magic isn't ONE game — it's many: a format defines which cards a deck may be built from, how big it has to be, and which special rules apply. The core rules are the same everywhere — the Comprehensive Rules define Constructed (your own deck, at least 60 cards) and Limited (a deck built from freshly opened product, at least 40 cards); which sets are allowed in a Constructed format is governed by Wizards' tournament formats.
Constructed — bring your own deck
You build your deck ahead of time from your collection: at least 60 cards, with no more than 4 copies of any card other than basic lands. You may add a sideboard of up to 15 cards, swapped between the games of a match. Play is classic one-on-one at 20 life. The formats differ almost entirely in their card pool — and each maintains its own ban list.
100.2aIn constructed play (a way of playing in which each player creates their own deck ahead of time), each deck has a minimum deck size of 60 cards. A constructed deck may contain any number of basic land cards and no more than four of any card with a particular English name other than basic land cards. For the purposes of deck construction, cards with interchangeable names have the same English name (see rule 201.3).
100.4aIn constructed play, a sideboard may contain no more than fifteen cards. The four-card limit (see rule 100.2a) applies to the combined deck and sideboard.
103.4Each player begins the game with a starting life total of 20. Some variant games have different starting life totals.
Standard
- Deck
- 60+ cards, max. 4 copies
- Starting life
- 20 life
- Card pool
- the newest sets (~3 years), rotating
The entry-level and premier tournament format using the newest cards. Once a year the oldest sets rotate out — so decks change every fall. Ideal for getting started with current product.
View ban list →Pioneer
- Deck
- 60+ cards, max. 4 copies
- Starting life
- 20 life
- Card pool
- all sets since "Return to Ravnica" (2012)
The middle ground: a much bigger card pool than Standard, but without the expensive classics of the oldest years. No rotation — your deck stays legal unless something gets banned.
View ban list →Modern
- Deck
- 60+ cards, max. 4 copies
- Starting life
- 20 life
- Card pool
- all sets since "8th Edition"/"Mirrodin" (2003)
The big eternal format for competitive one-on-one: over twenty years of card pool, fast and finely tuned decks. Dedicated Modern Horizons sets print cards directly into the format.
View ban list →Legacy
- Deck
- 60+ cards, max. 4 copies
- Starting life
- 20 life
- Card pool
- every card ever printed (with a ban list)
Almost everything ever printed is allowed — and the decks are correspondingly powerful (counterspell wars, turn-one combos). The ban list only keeps out the very strongest cards.
View ban list →Vintage
- Deck
- 60+ cards, max. 4 copies
- Starting life
- 20 life
- Card pool
- every card (few bans, but a restricted list)
The most powerful format: instead of banning, Vintage restricts its strongest cards to ONE copy per deck ("restricted" — that's the yellow status on card pages). This is where Black Lotus and the Moxen play.
View ban list →Pauper
- Deck
- 60+ cards, max. 4 copies
- Starting life
- 20 life
- Card pool
- only cards ever printed at common
Commons only — which makes the format remarkably cheap yet tactically deep: thirty years of commons still add up to strong decks.
View ban list →Commander — the multiplayer format
The most popular way to play Magic at the kitchen table — invented by fans and now enshrined in the Comprehensive Rules (rule 903). Efficiency matters less than the big moment: four players, table politics, and decks built around a legendary figure.
903.1In the Commander variant, a variant created and popularized by fans, each deck is led by a legendary creature designated as that deck’s commander. The Commander variant uses all the normal rules for a Magic game, with the following additions.
Commander (EDH)
- Deck
- exactly 100 cards, singleton
- Starting life
- 40 life
- Players
- usually 4 (free-for-all)
- Card pool
- nearly every card, within the commander's color identity
Your deck is led by a commander (usually a legendary creature) that can be cast from the command zone again and again. Every card appears only once (singleton), and every mana symbol in your deck must fall within your commander's color identity. Extra rule: take 21 combat damage from the same commander and you lose — no matter how much life you have left.
View ban list →903.3Each deck has a legendary card designated as its commander. That card must be either (a) a creature card, (b) a Vehicle card, or (c) a Spacecraft card with one or more power/toughness boxes. This designation is not a characteristic of the object represented by the card; rather, it is an attribute of the card itself. The card retains this designation even when it changes zones.
903.5aEach deck must contain exactly 100 cards, including its commander. In other words, the minimum deck size and the maximum deck size are both 100.
903.5bOther than basic lands, each card in a Commander deck must have a different English name. For the purposes of deck construction, cards with interchangeable names have the same English name (see rule 201.3).
903.5cA card can be included in a Commander deck only if every color in its color identity is also found in the color identity of the deck’s commander.
903.7Once the starting player has been determined, each player sets their life total to 40 and draws a hand of seven cards.
903.10The Commander variant includes the following specification for winning and losing the game. All other rules for ending the game also apply. (See rule 104.)
Brawl
- Deck
- 60 cards, singleton
- Starting life
- 25 life (one-on-one)
- Card pool
- Standard or Commander pool, depending on the variant
Commander light: the same core idea (commander + singleton + color identity), but with 60-card decks. Mostly at home on MTG Arena — with the full Arena card pool there.
View ban list →903.12Brawl Option
Limited — building from fresh boosters
Nobody brings a finished deck here: you build on the spot from freshly opened product — at least 40 cards (basic lands are provided), and the 4-copy limit doesn't apply. Every card you don't play is automatically your sideboard. Limited is the great equalizer: card knowledge beats wallet.
100.2bIn limited play (a way of playing in which each player gets the same quantity of unopened Magic product such as booster packs and creates their own deck using only this product and basic land cards), each deck has a minimum deck size of 40 cards. A limited deck may contain as many duplicates of a card as are included with the product.
Booster Draft
- Deck
- 40+ cards
- Starting life
- 20 life
- Players
- usually 8 at the table
- Card pool
- 3 boosters per player, picked around the table
Everyone opens a booster, takes ONE card and passes the rest — until all cards are picked, then the same with boosters two and three. You build your deck from your ~45 picks. Drafting is an art of its own: reading signals, settling on colors, building a curve.
Sealed Deck
- Deck
- 40+ cards
- Starting life
- 20 life
- Card pool
- 6 boosters of your own
You get six boosters and build your deck from them at your own pace — no passing. The usual format at prerelease events when a new set launches, and the most relaxed way into Limited play.
Team & casual variants
Beyond that, the Comprehensive Rules cover a whole range of multiplayer variants (rules 800–905) — from free-for-all games to campaign-style variants like Planechase (901) or Archenemy (904, everyone against one "archenemy").
Two-Headed Giant
- Deck
- Constructed or Limited
- Starting life
- 30 life per TEAM
- Players
- 2 vs. 2
- Card pool
- depends on the base format
Two teams of two players sharing a life total AND a turn: both heads of a team play simultaneously and may openly discuss strategy. You win and lose only as a team. Popular at prereleases — perfect for starting out as a pair.
810.1Two-Headed Giant games are played with two teams of two players each.
103.4aIn a Two-Headed Giant game, each team’s starting life total is 30.
810.8aPlayers win and lose the game only as a team, not as individuals. If either player on a team loses the game, the team loses the game. If either player on a team wins the game, the entire team wins the game. If an effect says that a player can’t win the game, that player’s team can’t win the game. If an effect says that a player can’t lose the game, that player’s team can’t lose the game.
Free-for-All
- Deck
- Constructed, often casual
- Starting life
- 20 life
- Players
- 3+
- Card pool
- whatever the table allows
The classic kitchen-table multiplayer: everyone against everyone, each player for themselves. No special rules — just the multiplayer basics from chapter 800 on top.
806.1In Free-for-All multiplayer games, a group of players compete as individuals against each other.
Legal, banned, restricted — what the statuses mean
On every card page we show which formats a card may be played in. "Legal" means: in the card pool and not forbidden. "Not legal" means: not in the pool in the first place (e.g. a modern card in an old-bordered format — or vice versa). "Banned" means: it would be in the pool, but the ban list forbids it because it warps the format. "Restricted" exists only in Vintage: at most one copy per deck.
Formats on Friendswith.cards
In the card search, every card's detail page shows its format legality. For Limited fans, our booster pages show the contents and expected value of purchasable boosters — and if you want to go deeper, chapters 8 and 9 of the rules database hold every multiplayer and casual variant in the original text.