Magic the Gathering FormatsHow to Play Magic 

We’ll cover Constructed formats like Standard, Modern, Pioneer, Legacy, and Vintage – the competitive arenas where deck-building rules and banned lists shape the battlefield. We’ll also dive into digital-only formats on Arena such as Historic, Alchemy, and Explorer, which put a modern twist (and sometimes a digital spark) on classic Magic. Next, we’ll discuss Casual and Multiplayer formats like Commander (EDH), Brawl, Two-Headed Giant, and Planechase, where the focus is often on fun, big plays, and social interaction. And of course, we can’t forget Limited formats – Draft and Sealed – where you crack packs and build decks on the fly. Finally, we’ll touch on other officially supported formats like Pauper, which has a devoted following of players battling with only common cards.

Along the way, we’ll explain the deck construction rules for each format, highlight any special rules (like Commander damage or the planar die in Planechase), talk about banned/restricted cards, and consider key strategic differences. By the end, you’ll have a broad overview of Magic’s many formats – essentially a plane-hopping tour of the MTG landscape. Ready to choose your format and shuffle up? Let’s dive in!

Constructed Formats

Constructed formats are the backbone of competitive Magic. In a constructed format, players bring pre-built decks from a defined card pool, adhering to specific deck construction rules (like a minimum 60-card deck and a maximum of four copies of any card, except basic lands). These formats are usually one-on-one duels with 20 starting life. They range from the constantly changing world of Standard to the wild, high-powered playground of Vintage. Below, we’ll cover each major constructed format and what sets them apart.

Standard

Standard is the flagship Magic format and often a starting point for new players. It’s a rotating constructed format, meaning the pool of legal cards changes over time as new sets are released and older ones “rotate” out. Standard decks use cards from the most recent Magic sets (usually roughly the last two years of expansions). This keeps Standard fresh and ensures that newcomers aren’t overwhelmed by decades of old cards. Decks must have at least 60 cards (plus an optional sideboard up to 15 cards for best-of-three matches), and you can’t play more than four copies of any individual card in your deck and sideboard combined (basic lands are exempt from the four-of rule).

Standard typically revolves around the latest mechanics and themes. One season you might be casting Dragon legends, and the next you’re assembling Phyrexian monstrosities – it all depends on the current sets. Because the card pool is smaller and power levels are relatively lower, Standard games tend to be a bit more straightforward than older formats – think creature combat, midrange battles, straightforward control, and fair aggro decks. That said, Standard still has its share of spicy combos and powerhouse cards. If a card proves too dominant, it can be banned to keep the environment healthy. Over the years we’ve seen infamous Standard bans like Oko, Thief of Crowns and Field of the Dead when single cards or decks warped the meta. (In fact, Oko was so powerful as a planeswalker that he ended up banned in multiple formats!) As of this writing, Standard actually has no cards banned – a testament to recent balance efforts – but future bans remain possible if something really breaks the format.

For many players, Standard is the most accessible format. It’s played at local game stores (Friday Night Magic, for example) and is featured in many official tournaments including the Pro Tour. The rotating card pool means your Standard deck will evolve over time – you can’t just build one deck and play it forever, since older sets eventually leave the format (rotation typically happens once a year in the fall). This encourages players to adapt and try new cards regularly. If you love keeping up with the newest sets, discovering fresh synergies, and you don’t mind a format where today’s top deck might be tomorrow’s forgotten tech, Standard is for you. It’s the “living metagame” of Magic – always evolving, always giving you something new to explore.

Modern

If Standard is a moving target, Modern is a wide-open field. Modern is a non-rotating constructed format (introduced in 2011) defined by a vast card pool: it includes all Core/Expansion sets from Eighth Edition (2003) onward, plus Modern-specific supplemental sets, except cards on its banned list. In practice, this means Modern lets you play with thousands of cards from the past two decades – a huge increase in options compared to Standard. Deck construction rules are the same as Standard (minimum 60 cards, up to 15-card sideboard, 4-of limit), but the strategic possibilities are far broader.

Modern’s enormous card pool leads to a diverse and powerful metagame. You’ll encounter blazing-fast aggro, intricate combo decks, sturdy control, and everything in between. Staple cards in Modern include classics like Lightning Bolt (efficient 3 damage for one mana), Thoughtseize (one of the best one-mana discard spells), and Primeval Titan (engine of big-mana “Tron” or Amulet decks). The power level is significantly higher than Standard – games can be decided in just a few turns if you’re not prepared. But thanks to the format’s depth, Modern also has a reputation for deck diversity: dozens of archetypes can be viable at any given time, from artifact combos (e.g. decks built around Urza’s Saga + artifact synergies) to graveyard strategies (Dredge) to tribal aggro (Merfolk, Goblins, etc.).

To keep things somewhat fair in this wild west, Modern maintains an extensive banned list. Cards that are too degenerate or consistent at winning (like Hogaak, Arisen Necropolis, which terrorized Modern in 2019, or mana accelerants like Mox Opal) have been banned. You won’t see Black Lotus or other Power Nine here either – those old-school broken cards aren’t legal in Modern. In total, Modern’s banned list contains dozens of cards, hitting fast combo enablers (Seething Song), oppressive lock pieces (Sensei’s Divining Top), and overly efficient spells (Gitaxian Probe, Mental Misstep, etc.). The goal is to prevent consistent turn-2 kills and to foster interactive gameplay. Even with bans, Modern is a high-power format – you’ll see turn-4 (and occasionally turn-3) combo kills, and you need to pack answers for opposing threats.

One appealing aspect of Modern is that it doesn’t rotate – once a card is legal in Modern, it stays legal unless banned. So you can invest in a Modern deck and play it for years, updating it as new sets introduce useful cards. This non-rotating nature and large card pool make Modern a paradise for deck brewers. The format has evolved over time with new printings (for example, Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer from a recent set briefly became a Modern powerhouse until it was banned for power reasons). Modern is popular among players who found Standard too limiting or who want to use their older cards without diving into even more powerful Legacy/Vintage territory. It offers a playground of possibilities where you can keep your favorite strategy around indefinitely (just watch out – if your deck dominates too hard, a key card might catch a ban!).

Pioneer

Pioneer is one of the newer non-rotating formats (launched in late 2019) and serves as a middle ground between Standard and Modern. Where Modern’s card pool goes back to 2003, Pioneer starts from Return to Ravnica (late 2012) forward. That means Pioneer includes all the core/expansion sets from 2012 up to the present (minus supplemental products and minus banned cards). Like other constructed formats, decks are 60 cards with up to 15-card sideboards and a 4-of limit.

Pioneer was created to be a more accessible eternal format. As Modern grew in card count (and cost), Pioneer offers a similar concept – keep your cards after Standard rotation and continue to play with them – but without needing cards as old or expensive as Modern’s. Essentially, Pioneer is “Modern-lite” starting from 2012, with its own ban list to keep things in check. The initial excitement of Pioneer was the chance to revive beloved Standard decks of the recent past or combine cards from different Standard eras that never overlapped before.

Despite the newer card pool, Pioneer can be quite powerful. You’ve got strong one-drops like Thoughtseize (Theros reprint) and Fatal Push defining the early game, and some potent combos and ramp strategies. For example, for a while an infamous combo deck using Inverter of Truth + Thassa’s Oracle dominated Pioneer until Inverter was banned. Speaking of bans: initially, only the five enemy-colored fetchlands were preemptively banned in Pioneer (to differentiate it from Modern’s shuffle-heavy gameplay). As the format developed, other cards had to go – e.g. Felidar Guardian (to prevent a Saheeli combo carry-over), Field of the Dead, Winota, Joiner of Forces, Underworld Breach, Oko, Thief of Crowns, Teferi, Time Raveler, and more were added to the ban list when they proved oppressive. The current Pioneer ban list is fairly small (on the order of 20 cards) and generally overlaps with what was banned in Standard during those years – meaning many of Standard’s most broken cards remain off-limits in Pioneer too.

Strategically, Pioneer is a bit slower and lower-powered than Modern – you won’t usually see turn-two kills or zero-mana spells – but it’s definitely a step up from Standard in power. Aggro, midrange, control, combo: all are present and competitive. Without fetch lands, three-color mana bases are a tad slower or more painful (relying on shock lands and slower duals), which keeps the format healthy and distinct. Pioneer has grown into a popular paper format and is also fully supported on Magic Online. It’s also the format that MTG Arena set its sights on (with the “Explorer” mode, discussed later, working toward full Pioneer on Arena). If you started playing Magic in the past decade and want a non-rotating format that uses your cards – but Modern and Legacy feel too overwhelming – Pioneer is a perfect choice. It captures many of the best elements of recent Magic eras, with a mid-tier power level that produces interactive games and a wide variety of decks.

Legacy

Although explosive turn-1 combos do exist in Legacy, there’s a misconception that every game is over immediately. In truth, those goldfish kills represent a fraction of decks. The prevalence of free and cheap disruption (Force of Will, Daze, Wasteland, Thoughtseize, etc.) means Legacy games often involve a lot of interaction and decision-making. In fact, Legacy is known for its interactive nature despite the power: even the fastest decks have to fight through disruption. A game might see a flurry of spells in the first two turns, then settle into a resource trading war, and then an endgame where someone topdecks a Merfolk Trickster or Lightning Bolt to clinch it. It’s this blend of extreme power and extreme precision that many Legacy players love.

Legacy’s banned list is there to remove only the most game-breaking outliers. As mentioned, all the truly busted “no-brainer” cards (Black Lotus, Ancestral Recall, Time Walk, etc.) are banned since Legacy, unlike Vintage, doesn’t use a restricted list. Other bans target degenerate combos or strategies that otherwise can’t be interacted with. For example, Flash was banned after a notorious combo with Protean Hulk emerged. Survival of the Fittest was banned years ago when it dominated. More recently, Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer (the powerful one-drop from Modern Horizons 2) proved too format-warping and was banned in Legacy as well. Legacy’s philosophy is to allow as much as possible and let the format’s own answers keep things in check – but if a card leads to non-games or unhealthy play patterns (or could, like the Conspiracy/Ante cards), it’s removed.

It’s worth noting that Legacy, by allowing Reserved List cards, can be expensive to play on paper. Staples like the original dual lands (Underground Sea, Volcanic Island, etc.) cost a fortune due to scarcity. This financial barrier has made the format less accessible in paper for some players, though it thrives on Magic Online (where those cards are obtainable) and through local communities that sometimes allow proxies for casual play. Still, plenty of tournaments and local scenes keep Legacy alive around the world – its devotees are very passionate.

If you love the idea of playing with almost every Magic card ever printed in a competitive setting, and you relish deep, complex gameplay where skill and strategy are paramount, Legacy is a fantastic format. It’s a format of extremes – extremely powerful cards and plays, but also extremely high levels of interaction and precision. One game you might cast Thoughtseize into Hymn to Tourach to strip an opponent’s entire hand by turn two; the next, you might find yourself staring down a first-turn Goblin Charbelcher. It’s all part of the Legacy charm.

Vintage

Finally, we arrive at the most legendary format: Vintage. Vintage is Magic’s oldest and most powerful format, often called the “Power Nine format” because it’s the only format where you can play the Power Nine cards (with some restrictions). In Vintage, almost every card ever printed is legal, period. The only exceptions are a small banned list for cards that just can’t work in sanctioned play (mostly due to ante or dexterity) and a restricted list for balancing power. Vintage is unique in that instead of banning cards for power, it typically restricts them to a single copy. Deck construction in Vintage is 60 cards (15 sideboard) with the usual 4-of limit – except if a card is on the restricted list, you’re allowed only one copy total between your main deck and sideboard. Currently, Vintage is the only format that uses a restricted list (all other formats ban outright).

What does this mean? In Vintage you can actually sleeve up one Black Lotus, one Ancestral Recall, one Time Walk, etc. – the most broken spells in Magic’s history are available, just limited to one-of each. You can also play one copy of other absurd cards like Mox Sapphire, Sol Ring, Tinker, Demonic Tutor, Time Vault – many of which are restricted due to sheer power. The philosophy is to let players use these iconic cards but prevent decks from being built entirely around multiples of them. Some cards are so game-ending even one copy is often enough to sway a game.

Vintage gameplay can be extremely fast and explosive. Turn-one or turn-two wins are not uncommon when decks draw the right mix. With all the fast mana (Moxen, Lotus) and broken draw spells, you might see sequences like: land, Black Lotus (sac for {U}{U}{U}), cast Ancestral Recall, play Mox Sapphire, cast Tinker sacrificing the Mox, fetch Blightsteel Colossus – bam, a 11/11 infect creature in play on turn one. Or perhaps land, Mox, cast Channel and pay 19 life, cast Emrakul, the Aeons Torn on turn one. These are the kind of plays Vintage decks are capable of. Artifact-based “Shop” decks use Mishra’s Workshop (a land that taps for {3} for artifacts) to drop multiple lock pieces like Sphere of Resistance and Chalice of the Void before the opponent can cast a spell. Storm combo decks leverage Dark Rituals and Yawgmoth’s Will to play a dozen spells in one turn and finish with Tendrils of Agony. It’s not unusual for a game to be essentially decided by turn one or two if one player’s draw is explosive and the other can’t answer.

However, Vintage isn’t just a coin flip – far from it. Because everyone has access to absurd cards, everyone also packs answers and disruption. Decks usually run the full four Force of Will (to counter those broken turn-one plays) and often Mental Misstep (to counter opposing Ancestral Recalls or other one-mana spells). Cards like Flusterstorm and Pyroblast are common in Vintage sideboards or maindecks to combat the blue power spells. And as mentioned, prison decks run cards to tax or restrict spells, forcing games into a slower state where their own threats (like a quick Lodestone Golem) can win over a few turns. So while the potential for degenerate stuff is off the charts, there is a constant battle of explosive plays vs. equally potent defenses.

Vintage’s banned list is very short and is focused on cards that are problematic outside of normal gameplay rules. Ante cards (which involve wagering cards) are banned altogether. Cards that require manual dexterity or weird outside-the-game actions (e.g. Chaos Orb, Falling Star) are banned. Silver-bordered (Un-set) and acorn symbol joke cards are banned. And new mechanics that don’t translate to typical play (like the Conspiracy card type, or cards that use stickers/Attractions from an Un-set) are banned as well. Essentially, anything that “doesn’t work” in serious play is banned. But notably, no card is banned in Vintage purely for power level reasons – if it’s too strong, it goes on the restricted list rather than being banned. For instance, Shahrazad (the “subgame” card) is banned because it wrecks tournament logistics, not because it’s powerful in the usual sense. Lurrus of the Dream-Den is a rare case of a power-level ban in Vintage (it was a Companion that every deck could use, warping deck construction), but such cases are very unusual.

One more thing to consider: Vintage is notoriously the most expensive format if you tried to buy a deck in paper. The Power Nine alone cost tens of thousands of dollars. Because of this, Vintage is the least played paper format and is mostly kept alive on Magic Online (where those cards are expensive in tickets but nowhere near real-life prices) and through community events that often allow proxies. Many local Vintage tournaments will let you proxy 5 or 10 cards (or even have fully proxy-friendly events) so that players can enjoy the format without literally owning a Black Lotus. The Vintage community, while small, is passionate – they love the format for its uniqueness and the skill it takes to navigate those insanely powerful turns.

In summary, Vintage is Magic unchained. It’s the format where you truly get to do it all: cast the strongest cards ever printed and see combos and plays that make you shake your head at their audacity. It’s definitely not for everyone – some might find it too fast or swingy – but for many, it’s the ultimate Magic experience. If you’ve ever wanted to tap a Black Lotus for three mana and say “I’ll cast Ancestral Recall targeting myself”, Vintage is the only format that lets you. Just be ready – your opponent might respond with a Force of Will, pitch-casting it for free, and then play their own Ancestral Recall. In Vintage, the sky’s the limit, and the games can be as thrilling as they are brutal.

Switching gears to the digital realm: Historic is an MTG Arena–exclusive format that evolved to give a home to cards after they rotate out of Standard on Arena. In concept, Historic is Arena’s version of an eternal format – it started as basically “Standard-plus” and has grown into a unique sandbox with its own card list and quirks. Historic allows all cards that have been released on Arena (from 2017’s Ixalan onward), including many cards from older sets that were added via special Historic Anthology releases or Remastered sets. Importantly, Historic also incorporates digital-only cards and mechanics that don’t exist in paper Magic. For example, Arena introduced cards with mechanics like Perpetual (changes a card permanently even in hand/library), Conjure (creating cards out of thin air), and Seek (tutor a random card from your deck that meets criteria). These debuted in Historic through products like Jumpstart: Historic Horizons and Alchemy sets, making Historic a kind of testbed for Magic design that isn’t possible (or at least not printed) in paper.

Deck construction in Historic is the same as other constructed formats: minimum 60 cards, 15-card sideboard, 4-of max. Historic does not rotate – once a card is legal in Historic, it stays legal unless banned. Initially, Historic was very much like a slightly bigger Standard (including sets like Kaladesh and Amonkhet that were added to Arena after rotation). But in late 2021, Wizards shook up Historic by deciding that any card rebalanced for the Alchemy format would also be rebalanced in Historic (meaning Historic no longer uses the original versions of cards if a digital-only adjustment exists). This effectively made Historic a “live” format where card text can be updated. For instance, when Teferi, Time Raveler got a nerfed version in Alchemy, Historic also adopted that nerfed version rather than the original.

The result is that Historic has drifted further from any paper format. It’s not quite Pioneer, not quite Legacy – it’s its own mix of cards that have appeared on Arena. Strategically, Historic is quite diverse. You’ll see archetypes that resemble older Standard or Pioneer decks (for a long time, decks like Mono-Black Sacrifice or Azorius Auras were popular). But you’ll also see strategies utilizing digital mechanics or cards unique to Arena. For example, there are Historic decks built around Davriel, Soul Broker (a Planeswalker that can conjure cards) or Sarkhan, Wanderer to Shiv (which has digital-only abilities). Historic also has powerful reprints added via anthologies, like Thoughtseize and Collected Company, which shape the meta.

Historic’s banned list (and its former “suspended list” approach) covers cards that either were too dominant or preemptively problematic. Notably, Field of the Dead, Nexus of Fate, Memory Lapse, Uro, Titan of Nature’s Wrath, Thassa’s Oracle and a handful of others are banned in Historic to prevent degeneracy. Some powerful cards were even preemptively banned before they ever appeared in Historic packs (for instance, when the Mystical Archive introduced Brainstorm and Dark Ritual on Arena, Brainstorm was quickly banned and cards like Counterspell and Demonic Tutor were never allowed at all). Wizards originally used a “suspension” system where a card could be temporarily suspended (not legal) while they evaluated it, then either unsuspended or fully banned later. These days, they mostly go straight to bans or, in the case of Alchemy, they might rebalance the card instead.

If you’re an Arena player who doesn’t want your cards to collect dust after rotating out of Standard, Historic is the format for you. It started as a casual eternal format but is now a sanctioned ranked queue and even appears in Arena tournaments. It’s also a bit of a moving target because of the digital changes – it’s sometimes called a “living” format because Wizards can tweak cards for balance. That means the Historic metagame can shift not only with new card releases but also when they decide to buff/nerf certain cards.

One thing to keep in mind: Historic, with its added digital cards and mechanics, is not playable in paper (you’d have to house-rule a lot of things). It’s a uniquely digital playground. The upside is, it allows for some really unique decks and experiences you can’t have elsewhere in Magic. The downside is, it can be hard to keep track if you’re not paying attention to patch notes (your card might not do what it originally did!). But many players enjoy Historic for its “anything goes” feeling – a bit like Legacy-lite mixed with Arena’s own twists. As a comparison, Historic’s power level sits somewhere below Modern/Legacy (since many powerhouse cards aren’t on Arena yet) but above Pioneer/Standard due to the expanded pool and digital buffs. It’s a fun middle ground with a “Wild West” vibe all its own.

Alchemy is another MTG Arena–exclusive format, introduced in late 2021 as an experimental digital-only cousin to Standard. In a nutshell, Alchemy is Standard plus additional cards and live balance changes. It uses the same sets as Standard and follows Standard’s rotation, but it adds new cards (only legal in Alchemy/Historic) and implements balance changes to existing cards for the sake of a healthier meta. Think of it as the “video game patch” version of Standard.

In Alchemy, Wizards can tweak cards that are problematic rather than banning them. For example, if a card like Esika’s Chariot is dominating Standard, Alchemy might introduce a nerfed version (perhaps making it cost more mana or produce fewer tokens). Indeed, upon Alchemy’s launch, a number of top Standard cards were rebalanced – Alrund’s Epiphany, Faceless Haven, Goldspan Dragon, etc., received digital nerfs to tone them down. Alchemy also introduces brand-new cards with each premier set, typically about 30 cards themed to that set’s world, but with mechanics that leverage digital design. For instance, cards might Conjure cards into your hand (as [c]Key to the Archive[/c] does), or have Seek (tutor a random card from your deck that fits criteria), or other effects not done in normal paper Magic. These cards have an “A” Arena symbol and are only legal in Alchemy and Historic queues.

Deck building rules for Alchemy are the same as Standard (60-card deck, 4-of limit, etc.). Alchemy’s card pool is essentially Standard plus these supplemental cards and with some cards modified. It rotates when Standard rotates, keeping roughly the same timeline of set legality (though Alchemy sets themselves don’t rotate separately – they’re tied to the Standard sets).

The Alchemy format plays out similarly to Standard, but the presence of rebalanced cards and surprise new cards can really change what decks are viable. Some Standard tier-one decks might get knocked down a peg by nerfs, and new decks can emerge if an Alchemy-original card is strong. For example, Alchemy introduced cards like Inquisitor Captain (a creature that seeks another creature when it enters, sort of a fixed Collected Company effect) which spawned its own deck archetype for a while. Also, because Wizards can (and has) continued to rebalance cards, a deck that’s dominant for too long might see one of its key pieces toned down.

Alchemy has a small banned list separate from Standard’s (mostly to handle things like Memory Lapse, which was banned in Historic/Alchemy even though it had rotated from Standard anyway). But usually, instead of banning, they will adjust the card’s power. This means Alchemy hasn’t needed many bans; they’ll just issue a patch instead.

The community reception to Alchemy has been mixed. Some players love the idea of constant changes and digital innovation. Others dislike that their cards can change or that it diverges from paper Magic. As a result, Alchemy is a bit of a niche on Arena. Standard and Explorer (Pioneer) tend to have more competitive play focus, while Alchemy is for those who want a fresh twist on Standard. Wizards has dialed back on pushing Alchemy—initially it was going to be a big competitive format, but they later refocused on Standard. Still, they continue to release Alchemy card packs with most new sets, and the format does have an active player base casually and on the Arena ladder.

If you’re someone who enjoys Hearthstone or other digital CCGs, Alchemy might appeal to you. It gives designers freedom to do things that are impossible in paper and to respond to meta problems quickly. For example, rather than ban Hullbreaker Horror or Leeroy Jenkins (just kidding), they could tweak stats or costs. It’s a very different philosophy from paper Magic’s “print it and it’s done” finality.

In summary, Alchemy is MTG Arena’s unique sandbox where Standard goes wild. Rotating sets keep it from being overwhelming, but frequent new cards and balance patches keep it unpredictable. It’s Magic reimagined as a live service game. If that idea excites you, give Alchemy a try and you might find it a refreshing change – just don’t get too attached to a card being a certain way, because by the next month’s update, it might read differently!

When players asked “why can’t we have Pioneer on Arena?”, Wizards responded with Explorer. Explorer is a format introduced on MTG Arena in 2022 as a path to Pioneer. It’s essentially a non-rotating constructed format that follows Pioneer’s rules and ban list, but it only includes the cards that are available on Arena. In other words, Explorer started as “Pioneer-lite” – if a card was legal in Pioneer and had been programmed into Arena (through Standard sets or Historic anthologies), then it was legal in Explorer.

At launch, a lot of Pioneer’s card pool was not yet on Arena. The plan was for Explorer to gradually become full Pioneer as Wizards added the missing cards via Pioneer-focused releases. Over 2022-2023, they did exactly that – releasing Explorer Anthology sets and a big Pioneer Masters set to bring key cards over. By design, Explorer’s own banned list initially mirrored Pioneer’s (for example, Wilderness Reclamation was banned in both). In a few cases, Explorer banned a card that Pioneer hadn’t (if something was uniquely problematic in Best-of-One or with Arena’s card pool), but those were rare exceptions.

Fast forward to 2025: the project is essentially complete. As of May 2025, Wizards announced that Explorer has achieved parity with Pioneer for competitive play – nearly every card that sees play in paper Pioneer is now on Arena – and they officially rebranded Explorer as “Pioneer on MTG Arena”. In that announcement, they noted that out of hundreds of top Pioneer decklists, only a tiny handful of super-fringe cards were still missing from Arena, none of which were format staples. They added a final batch of cards to cover important omissions, and going forward the Pioneer ban list is the law of the land on Arena. (For instance, this meant unbanning Tibalt’s Trickery in Explorer once it became Pioneer proper, since Trickery was only banned on Arena but never banned in tabletop Pioneer.)

What this means is that now Arena players can effectively play full Pioneer. If you see “Explorer” mentioned in older context, that was the name during the transition. But today, it’s just Pioneer (some people still say “Explorer” out of habit, but the formats are one and the same). This is great for players because Pioneer has become a very popular paper format, and now you can test those decks on Arena or participate in Arena tournaments that mirror Pioneer exactly.

To describe Explorer gameplay before the full Pioneer merge: it felt almost identical to Pioneer, just missing a few archetypes that needed specific cards. As more cards were added, those archetypes came online. Now any Pioneer deck – whether it’s Rakdos Midrange, Mono-Green Devotion, Azorius Control, Lotus Field Combo, Greasefang – you name it – can be built on Arena. The depth of the format is there, and it does not have the wild digital cards of Historic, so it appeals to players wanting a “true-to-paper” experience.

In summary, Explorer started as a stepping stone and has now arrived at its destination. If you enjoy Pioneer or want that eternal format experience on Arena with no digital gimmicks, Pioneer (formerly Explorer) is the format for you. It’s non-rotating, uses the Pioneer card pool (from 2012 forward), and any time Pioneer bans or unbans a card, Arena will follow suit so the two stay aligned. This integration is a big step – essentially Arena now supports every major Constructed format: Standard, Pioneer, Modern (via Historic with some caveats), etc. So shuffle up those Thoughtseizes and Siege Rhinos – Pioneer on Arena is ready to play.

Pauper

Switching to a very unique format: Pauper. Pauper is a constructed format where deck construction is restricted by card rarity rather than when the card was printed. In Pauper, only cards that have been printed at common rarity are legal – any set, any era, as long as the card was a common somewhere. That’s it! If a card was ever a common (in paper or Magic Online), you can use it; if not (never printed as a common), it’s not allowed. This rule creates a surprisingly rich format where the humblest of cards shine.

Pauper developed on Magic Online initially (where every set’s commons were easily accessible) and was officially sanctioned as a paper format in 2019. Deck construction is the usual 60-card deck, 15-card sideboard, four-of each card max. It’s an eternal format in that it doesn’t rotate – you can play commons from 1993 or 2023 all in one deck. But power is naturally capped by the fact that you’re using commons only.

Don’t let the “all commons” stipulation fool you – Pauper is very competitive and surprisingly powerful. Many commons throughout Magic’s history were role-players in top decks or even format staples. In Pauper you have access to some incredible spells: Lightning Bolt (one mana, 3 damage – a common in multiple sets) is a premier removal/burn spell. Counterspell (the original hard counter) is common in older sets and thus legal. Brainstorm, Ponder, and Preordain are all common, giving blue decks excellent card selection. Need combo pieces? Dark Ritual is common, enabling fast mana for combo or aggro. Want to go big? Dinrova Horror and Ulamog’s Crusher are commons that end games if you ramp into them. Pauper is often called “Legacy-lite” because many Legacy concepts (efficient removal, cantrips, redundancy) exist, just minus the rare power outliers.

Common doesn’t mean weak creatures either. Many creatures that dominated drafts over the years form the cores of Pauper decks. There’s an entire Faeries archetype using Spellstutter Sprite (a common in Lorwyn) along with Ninja synergies like Ninja of the Deep Hours. There’s Affinity (yes, artifact lands and Atog are common, and so is Thoughtcast and Galvanic Blast, making a very strong deck). Burn is a Pauper staple, loaded with every efficient common burn spell ever printed. Bogles (hexproof aura deck) is alive in Pauper with commons (Gladecover Scout, Ancestral Mask, etc.). There are Tron decks using the Urza’s Mine/Power Plant/Tower lands (printed as commons in Chronicles) to generate huge mana and cast things like Rolling Thunder and Moment’s Peace. There are also combo decks like Cycle Storm or Familiars that can win in convoluted ways using only commons. In short, nearly every archetype you can imagine exists in Pauper in some form, constrained by the card pool but still quite potent. Games are usually very interactive and strategic – you aren’t dying on turn 2, but by turn 5 or 6 someone might be pulling way ahead with a flurry of card draw or a lock piece.

Pauper, like other formats, has a banned list to keep things fair. Over time, certain commons proved too strong when an entire deck could be built around them. For example, Cloud of Faeries (a creature that untaps lands when it enters) was banned because of infinite-mana combo potential. Cranial Plating was banned to tone down Affinity’s explosiveness. Frantic Search (a “free” draw/discard spell) and Gush (free draw from lands) were banned for giving blue too much free card draw. Invigorate (a free +4/+4 pump) got banned after an Infect deck became too good. These bans generally target things that break the mana efficiency or have no equivalent at common to keep them in check. The ban list isn’t long – about 30 cards – and is managed with community input via the Pauper Format Panel (a committee including WotC and community members established in 2022 to guide Pauper’s health). They have even unbanned a card or two after further review (e.g. Prophetic Prism and High Tide were unbanned in 2022-2023 after originally being banned).

One of Pauper’s big draws is that it’s budget-friendly. Commons are cheap! You can build a top-tier Pauper deck for a tiny fraction of the cost of a Standard or Modern deck. This lowers the entry barrier and fosters a strong online community – many play Pauper on Magic Online or in paper because it’s easy to pick up and start competing. But don’t assume “cheap” means “easy” – Pauper is known as a very skill-intensive format. With so many efficient spells, making the right play each turn is crucial. Plus, because most cards are on a relatively even power level, gaining incremental advantages (through card draw, 2-for-1 trades, etc.) is often the path to victory.

If you want to experience classic Magic gameplay where the fundamentals shine – casting creatures, drawing cards, timing your removal – Pauper is fantastic. It strips away the flashy mythics and planeswalkers and leaves behind the core of many strategies. And it’s just cool to see, say, Delver of Secrets (a common) flipping into a 3/2 and taking over a game in a format where Lightning Bolt is legal to keep it in check. That kind of dynamic feels like “small ball” Magic in the best way.

Pauper might not get the spotlight of formats like Commander or Modern, but it has a dedicated following and even gets occasional official events (like Pauper Gauntlets or Challenges online). If you’ve never tried it, you might be surprised at how satisfying all-common Magic can be. Sometimes restrictions breed the most interesting gameplay, and Pauper is proof: a format where the commons – the cards we usually gloss over – band together to create something uncommonly fun.

Casual and Multiplayer Formats

Not all Magic is about one-on-one competitive duels – a huge part of the game’s appeal comes from its casual and multiplayer formats. These formats often have special rules or deck-building twists that lead to wild, social, and memorable games. Whether it’s teaming up with a friend in Two-Headed Giant, navigating the politics of a four-player Commander battle, or adding a dash of chaos with a deck of Planechase cards, casual formats emphasize the Gathering as much as the Magic. Let’s explore some of the most popular casual and multiplayer ways to play.

Commander (EDH)

It’s no exaggeration to say Commander has become Magic’s most popular casual format. Also known as EDH (Elder Dragon Highlander), Commander is a 100-card singleton format played usually in multiplayer pods of four (though you can play with 2-6 players). Its defining feature is that each deck is led by a chosen Commander – a legendary creature (or special planeswalker) that starts outside the deck and can be cast repeatedly. Commander has a bunch of unique rules and a spirit all its own:

• Deck Construction: You must choose a Commander which is typically a legendary creature (some commanders can also be certain planeswalkers with “can be your commander” text, or a pair of Partner creatures, etc.). Your deck consists of 99 other cards + 1 Commander = 100 cards exactly. Except for basic lands, you can only have one copy of each card (singleton format). This leads to huge variety in cards used.

• Color Identity: Your deck can only include cards that are within the color identity of your commander. A card’s color identity is the combination of all colored mana symbols on it (in cost or rules). For example, if your commander is Korvold, Fae-Cursed King (whose color identity is black, red, green), your 99 can only contain cards that are black, red, green, or colorless – no blue or white mana symbols anywhere. This restriction makes deck-building a fun challenge and gives each Commander a thematic consistency.

• 40 Life: In multiplayer Commander, each player starts at 40 life (double the normal 20). This higher life total, combined with multiplayer, means games tend to last longer and allow bigger, splashier plays. If you play 1v1 Commander (some play “Duel Commander” with a separate ban list), they often use 20 or 30 life for balance, but the traditional multiplayer game is 40 life each.

• Command Zone & Tax: Your Commander begins the game in the Command Zone, a special area outside the game. You can cast it from there for its mana cost. Any time it would go to graveyard or exile, you have the option to send it back to command zone instead (so it’s always accessible). Each time you cast your commander after the first, it costs an extra 2 generic mana for each previous time you cast it from the command zone. This is the Commander tax. For example, if your commander costs {3}{G}{W} normally, the first cast is 5 mana. If it dies and you choose to recast from command zone, the next time costs 7 mana, then 9, and so on. This prevents commanders from being too abusable (you have to pay more each time).

• Commander Damage: There’s a special win condition in Commander: if a single commander deals 21 or more combat damage to a player over the course of the game, that player loses. This is often called “21 Commander damage.” It means even if someone gains a ton of life, they can still be taken out by, say, three hits of 7 damage from a particular commander. This rule adds an extra strategic angle – “Voltron” decks aim to buff their commander and knock players out with commander damage.

• Multiplayer Dynamics: Commander is traditionally played free-for-all with politics and deal-making. The social aspect is huge – table talk, alliances of convenience, and epic swings in momentum are the norm. Because there are multiple opponents, playing only pure vicious aggro usually doesn’t work (you can’t kill everyone at once easily), so games involve lots of big plays and comebacks. It’s not just about the raw power of your deck, but also how you navigate the politics.

Commander’s card pool is effectively “Eternal” – it allows cards from all of Magic’s history (minus a specific Commander ban list). So you have an enormous selection to build your deck, but only one of each card. This format has become so popular that Wizards now prints products specifically for Commander (like preconstructed decks, Commander-focused card designs, etc.). Many people get into Magic primarily through Commander nights with friends, because it can be less rigid and more fun-focused than tournament 1v1 play.

The format is maintained by a Rules Committee of longtime Commander players (not directly by Wizards, though Wizards endorses their ban list officially). The Commander banned list is relatively small and is aimed at cards that are considered too unfun or degenerate in casual multiplayer. Examples include cards like Sol Ring (actually not banned – nearly every deck runs this for fast mana), but Primeval Titan is banned (it was warping games by fetching loads of lands), Iona, Shield of Emeria is banned (locks one player out of a color), Hullbreacher got banned recently (too brutal against card draw). Also, all “silver-bordered” joke cards and cards involving ante are banned, as are a few others like Shahrazad. Generally, Commander’s bans are about social things – if a card tends to make games unenjoyable for most, it goes. But powerful combos and such are mostly allowed; it’s on players to self-regulate via something called the “Rule 0” discussion (before a game, players might talk about what level of competitiveness or silliness they’re aiming for, to get on the same page).

Commander games are known for their memorable moments and huge plays. Thanks to the high life totals and multiple opponents, you regularly see cards that would never see play in other formats because they’re too slow or situational – nine mana sorceries, crazy big creatures, etc. Politics can lead to wild swings: you and another player might team up to stop the frontrunner, only for that other “ally” to backstab you later. The unpredictability is part of the fun. Every Commander night produces stories: “Remember that time I cast Insurrection and stole everyone’s creatures to win?” or “I was dead on board, but then top-decked Cyclonic Rift and turned it around!”.

The tone of Commander is generally more lighthearted and social. The goal is still to win, but many players equally prize creative deckbuilding and fun interactions. You’ll see theme decks (like a deck where every card has cats on it, led by Arahbo, Roar of the World), or decks built around weird ideas just to see what happens. And because it’s multiplayer, sometimes you get to pull off absurd stuff that a single opponent deck would have stopped – but in Commander, maybe nobody had the answer in time, so you did the thing.

If you have a group of friends and a stack of cards, it’s hard to beat Commander as the go-to format. It’s also a great way to incorporate old cards from your collection that don’t fit in other formats. Got a cool legend from 20 years ago? Make it a commander! Ultimately, the ethos is: everyone’s there to have a good time and make some epic Magic memories. It’s not about ruthless efficiency (though there is a subculture of competitive EDH, cEDH, which is high-powered combo-oriented – but that’s usually separate from normal casual Commander nights).

To sum up Commander: expect the unexpected. It’s Magic at its most grandiose and social. You’ll cast spells you’d never cast elsewhere, see combinations of cards that boggle the mind, and occasionally find yourself on the receiving end of something utterly ridiculous (like someone assembling a 5-card infinite combo that uses cards you’ve never even heard of). And you’ll love it, because win or lose, the experience is a blast. As many have said: “Commander isn’t about whether crazy stuff will happen – it’s about when and how.” So gather your friends, pick a commander that speaks to you, and start the shuffle. Game on!

Brawl (Standard Brawl)

If you like the concept of Commander but wish it used only newer cards (and a smaller deck size), check out Brawl. Brawl is essentially “Standard Commander.” Created by Wizards in 2018, Brawl is a singleton format similar to Commander (one commander plus a deck of unique cards), but it uses the Standard card pool and decks are 60 cards (1 commander + 59 others). You can choose a legendary creature or planeswalker as your commander in Brawl (unlike regular Commander where non-creature commanders are rare).

The rules differences from Commander are a handful:

• Deck size and Card Pool: 60 card deck including your commander, singleton rule (only one copy of each card except basic lands). Only Standard-legal cards are allowed, which means the pool rotates annually and stays relatively small. (On MTG Arena, they’ve also allowed certain staple cards like Arcane Signet and Command Tower even if those aren’t in Standard sets, to help with mana fixing.)

• Life Total: In Brawl, each player starts at 30 life in multiplayer games and 25 life in 1v1 games. So, slightly lower than Commander’s 40 for multi, and much lower for duels (1v1 Brawl on Arena is 25 life to keep games quicker).

• Commander Damage: Brawl does not use the 21-damage commander rule. You can take as many hits from a commander as your life allows – there’s no special loss condition for that. (Games are shorter and commanders less lethal in general due to smaller card pool, so it isn’t needed.)

• Free Mulligan: Like multiplayer Commander, Brawl gives each player one free mulligan (the first mulligan doesn’t make you draw fewer cards). This is to help ensure you get a decent mix of lands/spells in a singleton format.

• Otherwise, gameplay rules are like Commander: your commander can be cast from command zone (with +2 mana tax each time it’s recast), and it follows color identity, etc. (Brawl inherits Commander’s comprehensive rules as “a variant of Commander” in the CR.)

Brawl was an attempt to bring the Commander style to Standard-loving players and to Arena. In paper, it had a modest start – some people tried it, especially during Dominaria block when it launched, but it really found its footing on MTG Arena, where it’s a casual favorite. On Arena, there is always a Brawl queue available (usually 1v1 matches, 25 life). It’s a great way to use your Standard cards in a different context and to enjoy a Commander-like experience without needing an eternal collection.

Strategically, Brawl plays out somewhere between Standard and Commander. Decks are less consistent than Standard due to singleton, but the power level is lower than Commander since the card pool is just Standard cards. Games tend to be a bit more casual and swingy than Standard – you might not have all the strongest removal, so a big creature could stick around longer, etc. Politics is minimal in 1v1 Brawl (obviously), but in multiplayer Brawl (which is less commonly played, except in some friendly get-togethers or events), you could have a 4-player free-for-all like a mini-Commander game.

Brawl does have a banned list (for Standard Brawl) that occasionally bans cards which are problematic as commanders or in singleton. For example, Golos, Tireless Pilgrim was banned as a Brawl commander when he was Standard-legal because he could go in any deck and was too prevalent. Oko, Thief of Crowns was banned quickly (a turn-2 Oko in the command zone every game was not fun). Drannith Magistrate was banned because it literally stops players from casting their commanders from the zone. Generally, anything that fundamentally “breaks” the format’s intent (like preventing use of the command zone, or being a colorless commander that makes all decks samey) might get banned in Brawl.

One variant worth noting is Historic Brawl on Arena – which is basically Brawl with Historic’s larger card pool (and often played with 100 cards, making it even closer to Commander). We’ll cover that next, but within Brawl itself, you have both options on Arena: Standard Brawl (60 cards, Standard pool) and Historic Brawl (bigger pool, often 100 cards).

Brawl is a fun, lighter alternative to Commander. It rotates, which some people like (fresh environment every year). It’s great for newer players because you’re dealing with current cards and only 60 of them, not the encyclopedic 100-card decks of Commander. If Standard’s metagame has got you down, building a Brawl deck around your favorite new legendary can be a breath of fresh air. And on Arena it’s quite accessible – you usually accrue a lot of Standard cards anyway, so building a Brawl deck is a matter of picking a commander and filling in around them.

In short, Brawl takes the epic feel of Commander and scales it down to a more manageable, Standard-friendly format. You can still pull off cool commander synergies (like build a Brawl deck around Chulane, Teller of Tales or Korvold when they were in Standard) but without needing cards from 1995 or facing as wild swings as a 4-player Commander game. It’s a nice middle ground and often serves as a gateway for players to eventually try Commander or Historic Brawl. If you haven’t, give Brawl a try on Arena – you might find it’s a perfect mix of casual and familiar.

Take the Brawl format we just discussed, throw away the deckbuilding restrictions of Standard, and you get Historic Brawl – essentially Commander on Arena. Historic Brawl allows any card available on MTG Arena (that’s the Historic card pool) and is usually played with 100-card singleton decks (99 + 1 Commander), though 60-card versions exist too. In practice, by 2021 Wizards recognized the community’s desire for a more Commander-like experience on Arena and introduced a 100-card Historic Brawl option.

Rules-wise, Historic Brawl is an extension of Brawl: you still choose a legendary creature or planeswalker as your Commander, abide by color identity, get one free mulligan, and so on, but:

• Deck size can be 100 cards (99 + commander) if you want the full Commander feel. Arena now supports 100-card Historic Brawl in matchmaking, which most players use for the authentic experience.

• Card pool is Historic: any card playable on Arena (including digital Alchemy cards, Jumpstart exclusives, etc., though many players stick to mostly “real” Magic cards).

• Starting life is 25 in 1v1 (since Arena games are usually 1v1). If you somehow play multiplayer Historic Brawl via direct challenge, you might use 30 or 40 life; but on ladder it’s 25 life each.

• No commander damage rule (like Brawl/Commander, the 21-damage rule isn’t used) and the Commander tax still applies.

What Historic Brawl offers is basically the closest thing to casual Commander for those who play digitally. You can build decks with wild themes using cards from all across Arena’s timeline. Want to use your old Teferi, Hero of Dominaria as a commander? Go for it. Mix him with some Alchemy cards and historic Anthology additions? Sure! The format has a huge variety of decks because the card pool is big and there’s no four-of repetition. You’ll see popular commanders like Golos, Tireless Pilgrim (well, until he got banned), Jodah, Archmage Eternal five-color goodstuff, Kinnan, Bonder Prodigy for big ramp, Alela, Artful Provocateur artifact/enchantress, or even goofy stuff like Pirate’s Pillage-themed decks with Admiral Beckett Brass.

Historic Brawl tends to be played more casually, though there is certainly a competitive subset. Because it’s 1v1 on the ladder, decks can be tuned to win consistently, and you’ll run into some very strong ones. Wizards has a small banned list specifically for Historic Brawl to keep it from getting too unfun. For example, Nexus of Fate is banned (infinite turns in singleton is still obnoxious), Field of the Dead is banned (too easy to abuse when you can include so many different lands in 100 singleton), and Golos, Tireless Pilgrim was banned as a commander because it was both strong and led to very homogenized 5-color decks. Generally, if a particular commander starts to ruin the diversity or fun of the format, Wizards may step in with a ban in Historic Brawl. But outside of those, almost anything goes.

One interesting aspect: Historic Brawl allows cards that aren’t legal in Historic Constructed! For instance, Oko, Thief of Crowns is banned in Historic (60-card format) but you can play him in Historic Brawl (he’s not banned there). This is because a singleton, multiplayer-ish context can handle some cards that are too strong in 60-card competitive play.

If you’re a Commander player, Historic Brawl is a fantastic way to scratch the itch when you can’t meet up with friends in person. Many Commander aficionados use Arena to test deck ideas, or just for fun when they have 20 minutes and want a quick game. The experience is slightly different (1v1, faster pace due to 25 life), but the deckbuilding and the wild plays feel very similar to paper Commander.

Historic Brawl really shines as a casual playground. It’s not part of any official ranked competitive scene (though you can play ranked matches if you want). It’s more that Wizards gave the community what they were asking for: “Let us use all our Arena cards in a Commander-like way.” And players love it – it’s one of the most played casual modes on Arena now.

So if you have an Arena collection and haven’t tried Historic Brawl, give it a go. Build around your favorite legendary and see how it fares. The stakes are low, the potential for fun is high, and you might even stumble on combos or synergies that surprise you. It’s one more example of how Magic can adapt to different preferences – even in the digital space, the spirit of Commander lives on.

Two-Headed Giant

Ever want to team up with a friend against another team? Two-Headed Giant (2HG) is the go-to format for that. Two-Headed Giant is a multiplayer variant where two-player teams face off (usually just 2v2, two teams of two, hence “two-headed”). It can be played as a stand-alone casual format or as a variant of any constructed/limited format (for instance, Two-Headed Giant Sealed is a popular way to play prereleases with a buddy).

The core rules of Two-Headed Giant are:

• Each team of two players acts as a single “giant” entity in terms of life total and turns. A team has a shared life total of 30 (for Constructed or Sealed – in Two-Headed Commander, often 60 life). They also share poison counters (15 poison counters will kill the team).

• Teams take turns rather than individual players. That means teammates go through each phase simultaneously: you untap together, you draw at the same time (each draws a card), you have a shared combat phase (where you declare attackers as a team and block as a team), etc.. Essentially, the two players operate in sync on their turn.

• Each player on a team still has their own cards, mana, and hand – resources are not pooled. However, teammates can consult and coordinate freely, and you are allowed to look at each other’s hands and discuss strategy at any time.

• When it comes to attacking, creatures attack the opposing team (not a specific player). The defending team can block with any creatures either of them controls.

• A team wins or loses together. If one player on a team would lose (say they had to draw from an empty deck, or a card says “you win the game” for one opponent), that condition applies to the whole team. In general, anything that says “each opponent” will see the team as two opponents, etc.

• The first mulligan for each player is free (in multiplayer formats, including 2HG, the mulligan rule is modified so you don’t go down a card on the first mull). And the team that goes first skips drawing a card on their first turn (only one draw is skipped per team, not per player).

Two-Headed Giant can be applied to many formats. There’s Two-Headed Giant Draft (tricky but fun), Two-Headed Giant Sealed (very popular at prereleases – e.g., two players share 12 booster packs, build two decks, and play against another team who did the same), and even Two-Headed Standard or Modern (less common, but possible). Deck construction follows whatever format you’re playing – except one rule: in Constructed 2HG, you can have the same card in each teammate’s deck (the four-of rule applies per deck, not per team, so theoretically a team could have eight copies of a card, four in each deck).

The dynamic of Two-Headed Giant is awesome because you get to high-five a partner after executing a sweet combo, or one of you can cover for the other’s weaknesses. For example, one player might build an aggressive red deck, while the teammate plays a control blue deck to handle anything the aggro deck can’t burn away. Since you share a turn, you can coordinate plays – e.g., the control player casts a removal spell to take out a blocker, then the aggro player swings in with creatures.

There are some nuances: combat is shared, meaning you declare all attacks as a team and the defending team blocks together. For instance, if Team A attacks with three creatures, Team B can block with creatures from either player in any configuration. Life gain and damage affect the team’s shared life total. So if a card says “target opponent loses 5 life,” it just reduces the team’s life by 5 (not each head). If it says “each opponent loses 5 life,” then each head loses 5, for a total of 10 life lost by the team. This scaling is important: spells that hit “each opponent” are twice as effective in 2HG. For example, Exsanguinate – “each opponent loses X life, you gain life equal to life lost” – will drain 2X life in total in 2HG (X from each opponent). So some cards get better in Two-Headed Giant. Meanwhile, a card that says “target opponent” is a little weaker relatively (it only nabs one head of the giant). Similarly, “each player draws” will draw two cards for the team (one per player). The rules handle this intuitively: treat a team as two separate players for things that count each player, but as one entity for life total and losing the game.

Two-Headed Giant is often the format of choice for couples, siblings, or friends who want to play Magic together rather than against each other. It adds a great social element: you and your teammate can strategize and sweat together. It’s also fantastic for teaching – a new player can be paired with a veteran and they can discuss plays and work as a unit.

The experience of a 2HG game is unique. There’s something thrilling about planning a play with a partner: “Okay, I’ll tap down their big blocker with my spell, then you swing with everything.” Or coordinating a counterspell: “Do you have a counter? No? Okay, I’ll use mine to protect us.” It’s also fun that on the other side, you essentially have four minds contributing – so the puzzles and politics can be more complex.

Two-Headed Giant at prereleases is tons of fun: you open a big pool and each of you builds a deck that complements the other. For example, maybe one deck is slower but has bombs, and the other is faster to apply pressure early. You feel extra excitement when your teammate top-decks the answer you need or when you collectively find a line of play that saves the day.

A few quick points if you try 2HG:

• Teammates can’t share cards or mana, but you can certainly cast spells that target your teammate’s stuff (e.g., cast Giant Growth on your teammate’s creature). You cannot use your mana to help your teammate pay for something (no sharing mana pools).

• Only one player per team needs to mulligan or keep at a time – you don’t have to both do the same. And you can discuss mulligan decisions together.

• If an effect says “your team” or similar, treat it properly. For example, “you” on a card your team controls effectively means “your team” because you share life and such. But “you” on a card one opponent controls only applies to that one opponent (so if a card said “at the beginning of your upkeep, you lose 1 life,” only that one head loses life, which then subtracts from the team total).

• It’s generally best to coordinate roles: two midrange decks might trip over each other, but an aggro + control, or a ramp + support combo tends to work well.

Two-Headed Giant is a casual format at heart (though there have been some competitive 2HG events in the past). The emphasis is on teamwork and fun. If you have exactly four players, it’s a fantastic alternative to two separate duels or a free-for-all. It’s also less politically cutthroat than free-for-all – you have an ally all game, and just one enemy team.

In summary, Two-Headed Giant lets you share the thrills (and agony) of Magic with a partner by your side. Two heads really can be better than one, and the joint victories feel twice as sweet. Just remember to communicate, have each other’s backs, and watch those “each opponent” cards – they sting double!

Planechase

Now for something completely chaotic (and completely fun in the right setting): Planechase. Planechase isn’t so much its own format as an add-on you can use with other formats, especially multiplayer. It introduces the concept of the players planeswalking during the game, adding global effects that change gameplay dramatically.

Here’s how Planechase works:

• You have a deck of special oversized cards called Plane cards (and some Phenomenon cards) representing different locations across the Multiverse. For example, Sanctum of Serra (plane of Serra’s Realm) or The Æther Flues (plane of Iquatana). Each Plane card has two things: a static effect that’s in play while you’re on that plane, and a Chaos ability that triggers when a Chaos roll happens.

• At the start of the game, you flip up a random plane to start on.

• There is a special six-sided planar die with 4 blank faces, 1 Planeswalker symbol (often just called the “planeswalk” symbol), and 1 Chaos symbol.

• During your turn, you can take an action (any time you could cast a sorcery) to roll the planar die. The first roll each turn is free. If you want to roll additional times, you must pay an increasing mana cost: the second roll costs 1 mana, the third costs 2 mana, then 3, and so on (cumulative). This cost resets each turn.

• When you roll the die:

  • If it comes up blank, nothing happens.

  • If it shows the Planeswalker symbol (the “planeswalk” face): you “planeswalk away” from the current plane. That means you put the current Plane card on the bottom of the planes deck and flip the next one. Now you’re on a new plane, and its static effect immediately applies. (Leaving a plane can also sometimes have effects if the plane says so when you leave it.)

  • If it shows the Chaos symbol: the current plane’s Chaos ability triggers. Each plane card has an ability prefaced by “Whenever chaos ensues, …” which is what happens on a Chaos roll. These are usually one-time crazy effects.

• The plane’s effects are usually quite splashy. For instance, plane Turri Island gives all creatures Flying. If you roll Chaos on Turri Island, Chaos: creatures you control get +2/+2 and gain flying until end of turn – basically a mini Overrun. Another example, Pools of Becoming (plane of Bolas’s Meditation Realm) has Chaos: you can chaos-roll multiple times for free this turn. Phenomenon cards, when planeswalked to, have one-time huge effects (like “each player may search their library for a card and cast it for free!”) then you immediately planeswalk again.

The presence of a plane can drastically change the game. Maybe you’re on Murasa (Zendikar plane) where all creatures get +2/+2 and have trample – suddenly combat is very different. Or you could be on Azgol (a plane that basically sweeps the board of creatures at the end of each turn unless a player rolled Chaos). The unpredictability is the point – you could be about to win normally, but then the plane changes and now everything’s different.

Planechase is typically played in multiplayer free-for-all (often combined with Commander). It adds a shared experience all players have to adapt to, and it’s a blast if everyone is on board with the zaniness. The planar die rolls themselves become a fun gamble: “Do I spend mana to try to planeswalk away from this dangerous plane? Or go for the Chaos effect which might benefit me?”

A sample sequence: We start on Celestine Reef (plane of Zendikar, giving all creatures when they enter +1/+1 counter if someone already cast a creature that turn). People play their turns, maybe creatures get a bit bigger due to the effect. On my turn, I roll the die – blank (dang). I pay 1 mana to roll again – Planeswalker symbol! We planeswalk to Stensia (plane of Innistrad – all creatures are vampires in addition to their types and have lifelink). Okay, that changes combat priorities! The chaos on Stensia makes a vampire fight something if rolled. Next player rolls, hits Chaos – so some creature gets into a fight. Later, someone else rolls a Planeswalker symbol – off to the next plane.

As you can imagine, the game narrative gets wild. You’re all battling, plus dealing with the environment shifting under your feet. It feels like a game of Planechase tells a story: “We started in the serene fields of Celestine Reef, then got dragged through a hellish vampire realm, and eventually ended up at The Zephyr Maze where only creatures with flying could deal damage effectively.”

Planechase debuted in 2009 and had another set in 2012, and fans love it so much that Wizards revived it in 2023 by including new plane cards in Commander precon decks. It’s a great way to spice up casual games, especially Commander nights, by adding that extra layer of mayhem.

A few tips for enjoying Planechase:

• It will lengthen games and produce swings. So embrace that. It’s not for when you want a super competitive stable game – it’s for laughs and epic moments.

• You can use a single communal planar deck or each player can have their own and the game planeswalks through a “combined multiverse.” Most play with one shared deck of planes for simplicity.

• If you’re playing Commander, consider that the planar effects can amplify strong decks further. Sometimes casual groups make a gentleman’s agreement like “no infinite combos” to keep the focus on Planechase fun rather than ending the game too fast.

• Some plane effects are more benign, others are game-warping. You can curate which plane cards you use if you want a milder vs. crazier experience.

In summary, Planechase is an optional chaos generator that Magic offers for those times when you want something different. It’s Magic meets a board game element. The tagline for the original Planechase product was, appropriately, “Chaos Reigns.” If you’re the kind of player who enjoys wild topdecks and crazy board states, you’ll likely get a kick out of Planechase. Just remember to shout “CHAOS ENSUES!” when that chaos symbol comes up – it’s practically a rule.

Alright planeswalker, ready your planar die – who knows where (or when) our next battle will take us?

Limited Formats

So far we’ve talked about constructed formats – where you build your deck ahead of time from your collection. Now let’s explore Limited formats, where you build your deck on the fly from a limited pool of cards, typically obtained from booster packs. Limited is a fundamental way to play Magic and includes Booster Draft and Sealed Deck as the two most common variants (plus some others like Rochester Draft, Cube Draft, etc.). Limited puts all players on equal footing with random new cards and really tests your card evaluation and deckbuilding skill. It’s also the centerpiece of prerelease events and many high-level tournaments (the Pro Tour often has Draft rounds, for instance).

The key features of Limited:

• Decks are minimum 40 cards (not 60). This smaller deck size increases consistency given the smaller card pool.

• You can play as many copies of a card as you manage to get (the “four-of” rule doesn’t apply – if you somehow draft five Lightning Bolts, you can run all five).

• Any cards not in your deck are your sideboard. You can swap cards between games freely (in Sealed you’ll often change colors/deck between games if you mis-built at first).

Let’s break down the two main types:

Booster Draft

In a Booster Draft, a group of players (usually 8, the ideal number for a pod) sits together and picks cards from booster packs to build their decks. The procedure:

• Each player has 3 booster packs of the appropriate set(s). Everyone opens one pack to start, looks at the cards, picks 1 card from it to keep for their draft pool, and then passes the remaining cards to the player on their left.

• You then look at the pile of cards passed to you from your right, pick one card, and pass the rest left again. This continues – pick one, pass – until all cards from the first packs are gone.

• Then each player opens their second booster. For the second round of picks, you pass to the right instead (to mix things up). Again, take one card at a time, passing the rest, until that pack is done.

• Finally, third pack is opened and passed to the left again.

• At the end, each player will have picked 45 cards (plus any basic lands they want to add later) and that’s their card pool to build a minimum 40-card deck.

Draft has a few critical skill components:

• Card Evaluation: Knowing what cards are strong or weak in Limited, what colors are deep in the set, etc., so you can make good picks.

• Reading Signals: Because you see what cards come around from others, you can deduce what colors or strategies might be open. For example, if you keep getting passed strong blue cards, likely the players feeding you are not in blue, meaning you probably can go blue and expect good cards pack 1 (and you’ll return the favor by not contesting colors you sense your neighbors want). This skill is subtle but huge; good drafters will “flow” into the open colors.

• Managing your Mana Curve and Synergy: As you pick cards, you’re effectively building the deck in your head. You need to watch your creature count, your removal count, your mana curve (don’t end up with all 5-drops and nothing to do early), and maybe commit to an archetype (like in some sets, drafting a tribal deck or a build-around uncommon can shape your picks).

After drafting, players get a bit of time to build 40-card decks from their pool. Generally, that means playing about 23 non-land cards and ~17 lands (roughly 40% land in Limited is a rule of thumb, adjusted by your curve and colors). Draft decks are usually two colors, sometimes with a splash of a third for a bomb or extra removal.

Once decks are built, the pod of 8 breaks into matches (often 3 rounds of Swiss pairing among those 8 to determine a winner). Each draft is a totally new experience – even if you draft the same color combination as last time, the cards and order you got them will differ, and thus so will your deck.

Draft is widely considered one of the most skill-intensive and enjoyable ways to play Magic. It has the excitement of opening packs, the strategic depth of deckbuilding under constraints, and then the actual gameplay which tends to be balanced because everyone is using limited card power. The mantra is “draft the deck, then play the deck.” You have to excel at both to win a draft.

For many, the best part is the variety: no two drafts are the same. One day you might end up with a super-aggressive Red/White deck curving out little creatures and burn spells; the next you might have a Green/Blue ramp deck with big creatures; another time you might have a quirky combo or mill deck if the set supports it. Drafting teaches you to evaluate cards in context – a card that’s mediocre in Constructed might be amazing in Draft if it fills a crucial role or if games tend to stall out and that effect shines.

A term you’ll hear is “Draft Archetypes.” Most sets are designed such that each two-color pair has a theme or archetype (for example, Black-Red might be sacrifice, Green-White might be tokens, etc.). Drafters will often aim for one of these once they identify what colors are open. Recognizing the key cards for each archetype helps you prioritize picks.

Also, remember in Draft you don’t need 23 superstars. Limited decks inevitably play some filler cards. The trick is making sure your deck has a coherent plan: maybe your filler 2-drop is vanilla, but it’s there to trade off and buy time for your late-game bombs, etc. As long as each card has a purpose, you can win with a “sum greater than the parts” approach.

Sealed Deck

Sealed Deck is the other popular Limited format, and it’s even simpler: no picking cards from each other, just open some packs and build your deck. Typically, a Sealed event gives each player 6 booster packs of a set (at prereleases they often toss in an extra promo card too). You crack all those packs, and those cards plus basic lands are what you have to make a 40-card deck.

In Sealed, since you can’t swap cards with anyone, it’s all about card pool analysis. You lay out what you opened by color and see what the strongest path is. A common approach: check each color for its depth and bombs. Maybe you opened Glorybringer (a bomb rare) in red and a bunch of solid red removal spells – that heavily pulls you toward red. Maybe blue is shallow except one great rare – you might decide not to stretch for blue. Often you’ll find a color that’s clearly unplayable (bad pool of cards), a couple that are middling, and one or two that have enough playables and maybe a bomb or two. You then choose a main color or a color pair to build your deck. Splashing a third color is a common practice if you have fixing (like a dual land or mana artifact) and a powerful card worth splashing (e.g., splash a Murder off a couple of Swamps in your Green-White deck).

You typically build a 40-card deck (23 spells, 17 lands as a baseline) just like in Draft. The difference is, in Sealed you had no control of what you got, so there’s a higher luck factor in card pool strength. One player might have opened three great rares and strong removal in two colors, while another got only medium creatures and no real bombs. Skill still matters a ton: you must build the best deck with what you have, and then play it optimally (and often, an expert player can beat a newbie even with a weaker pool, by making better mulligans and in-game decisions). But at competitive levels, Sealed tends to be the part of Limited that can produce variance – sometimes your pool is just not on par with someone else’s.

That said, Sealed is beloved for different reasons: it’s the format of Prereleases, which are many players’ favorite events. At a prerelease, everyone is opening new cards for the first time, building decks in a fun, low-pressure environment, and every card is exciting and new. Sealed is great for that because it’s straightforward and you get to play with all your opened cards (Draft, by contrast, you only keep what you pick, leaving a bunch of cards behind).

Strategically, Sealed tends to be slower than Draft. Since decks aren’t as streamlined and removal might be scarce, games often go longer, giving bombs more time to shine. It’s often correct in Sealed to play your strongest cards even if they’re expensive, because games can accommodate them. Also, because you can’t choose a tight curve as easily, most Sealed decks skew a bit higher in mana costs and win via midrange or late-game strength. Aggro decks can happen if someone’s pool pushes that way (especially if they open multiple efficient 2-drop creatures and good tricks), but controlling builds with a couple bombs are more common.

One tip for Sealed: build your deck, but also identify a Plan B from your pool. If your first build struggles in round 1, consider if you can sideboard into a different color combination. In Sealed you have access to your entire pool between games. Some players even build two decks from their pool and switch if needed. For instance, maybe your pool had a decent Red-Black aggro deck and also a possible Blue-White flyers deck. If aggro isn’t working against an opponent’s bigger deck, you might sideboard into the evasive flyers plan for game 2. It’s a unique feature of Sealed – you have more flexibility to reconfigure (whereas in Draft, your sideboard is usually thinner, and you probably stick to one main build).

Sealed is also an excellent way for new players to learn deck construction and evaluation: you have a limited set of cards and you make do with what’s there. It teaches making tough cuts (you might have 30 playables but can only run ~23, so 7 must be cut). It also often forces you to play some “meh” cards and learn how to maximize them or why they’re meh.

Limited formats in general, Draft and Sealed, are sometimes called the great equalizer – you can’t buy your way to victory with expensive powerful cards; everyone’s using the same random pool. They reward fundamental Magic skills and adaptability. It’s no surprise that many pro players say Draft is their favorite format. And at the kitchen table, doing a casual draft with friends or cracking some packs for sealed can be just as rewarding as any pre-constructed games.

Whether you’re trying to open that bomb rare in Sealed or debating which card to first-pick in Draft, Limited brings out the excitement of discovery in Magic. It’s you, some unopened packs, and endless possibilities – a reminder of why cracking boosters is so fun in the first place. And when you manage to build a sweet deck out of a random pile of cards, you feel like MacGyver – turning a paperclip and duct tape into a formidable weapon. That satisfaction is hard to beat.

Conclusion

Magic: The Gathering’s greatest strength might just be its variety – and as we’ve seen, there’s a format for every mood, skill level, and preference. From the tightly tuned battles of Standard to the anything-goes chaos of Commander, each format offers a unique lens through which to enjoy the game.

In Constructed formats, you get to carefully craft decks and execute consistent strategies. Maybe you love the rotating freshness of Standard, the expansive freedom of Modern and Pioneer, or the jaw-dropping power of Legacy and Vintage (where yes, you might actually cast Black Lotus into Ancestral Recall). And let’s not forget Pauper, which proves that even humble commons can combine into tier-1 decks. Each constructed format has its own pace and personality – whether it’s Standard’s ever-shifting meta or Legacy’s intricate web of interactions built on decades of cards.

In Casual and Multiplayer formats, the focus shifts to social fun, big plays, and memorable moments. Commander reigns as the most popular way to play Magic casually, with 100-card decks leading to endless unique interactions and a political dynamic that no two-headed 1v1 duel can replicate. Commander games can be absurdly swingy and long, but that’s part of the charm – it’s about the journey as much as the destination. Formats like Two-Headed Giant let you team up with a friend, which can turn a regular game night into a cooperative strategy session (and double the cheers and groans!). And if you really want to spice things up, throw in Planechase – suddenly you’re not just dueling on a battlefield, you’re careening across the multiverse on a ride none of you will forget.

In Limited formats (Draft and Sealed), you return to Magic’s core: making the most of what you have and relying on fundamental skills. There’s a pureness to Limited – everyone starts with just some packs and intuition, and by the end you’ve built something from scratch. The thrill of opening that bomb rare in Sealed or finding the perfect card for your draft deck is hard to top. And even when you’re playing with brand new cards you’ve never seen before, Limited lets you discover the set organically. If Constructed is about mastery, Limited is about adaptability.

What’s really amazing is how these formats can coexist and thrive. One week you might jam a Modern tournament with a finely-honed combo deck; on Friday you draft with friends at FNM; on Saturday you’re slinging spells in Commander with crazy homemade decks. Magic’s rules and cards form a toolbox that players have used to build all these different games within the game.

For newcomers, it might seem overwhelming – but you don’t need to learn all formats at once. Try a few that sound fun. If you like quick, balanced competition, maybe Standard or Draft. If you’re more into epic scope and wild interactions, Commander might be your scene. Want to share the fun with a friend? Grab a partner and do Two-Headed Giant. The beauty is, there’s no wrong way to play Magic as long as everyone’s enjoying it.

 Formats in Magic are like flavors of ice cream. Sometimes you want the classic vanilla (a good game of Standard), sometimes you crave rocky road with all the mix-ins (Commander’s multi-layered madness), or perhaps a refined sorbet (the acquired taste of Vintage’s power). It’s all still ice cream – still undeniably Magic – just with different toppings.

So try a scoop of each when you have the chance. You might discover that a format you hadn’t considered becomes your favorite. And switching formats once in a while can rekindle your love for the game in new ways – burnt out on one? Play another for a bit, and come back fresh.

Magic: The Gathering has been around for over 25 years in large part because of this adaptability. As the player community innovated formats (Commander was a fan invention originally!), Wizards embraced them, and now we have this smorgasbord to choose from. Whether you’re a competitive Spike, a combo-loving Johnny, a big-play Timmy, a lore-focused Vorthos, or anything in between, there’s a format that will feel like home.

In the end, whatever format you play, it’s all about that feeling we all love: those tense topdecks, the triumphant fist pumps, the dramatic “good game” handshakes (or hugs, in Commander’s case). Magic is a trading card game, but it’s also a collection of stories – “Remember that time my one life outlasted three opponents in Commander?” or “I can’t believe we opened that and actually won in Sealed!” Each format is a different stage to create those stories.

So shuffle up, pick your battlefield – be it a tiny kitchen table draft or the grand stage of a Modern GP – and enjoy everything Magic has to offer. The multiverse is yours to explore, one format at a time. Happy gaming across all these formats, and may you always draw exactly what you need (unless you’re my opponent, in which case, I hope you draw seven lands in a row!).

Thanks for reading, and I’ll see you across the tabletop, whatever format it may be.