Magic: The Gathering Formats
From rotating Standard to eternal Vintage and multiplayer Commander — learn each format’s card pool, banned list, and how to check whether any card is legal.
Standard
The rotating, ever-fresh entry point to competitive Magic. Standard uses only the most recent sets, so the card pool renews every year and yesterday’s bombs eventually rotate out.
Pioneer
The non-rotating format that starts at Return to Ravnica. Pioneer keeps modern-era decks alive without the fetchlands and dual-land power of older formats — a middle ground between Standard and Modern.
Modern
The deep, non-rotating format built on the modern card frame. Modern spans two decades of powerful cards, from 8th Edition forward, and rewards specialized, highly-tuned decks.
Legacy
The eternal format where nearly every card ever printed is legal. Legacy is powered by dual lands, Force of Will, and decades of the game’s most efficient spells.
Vintage
The most powerful format in Magic, where almost every card ever printed is legal — including the Power Nine. Vintage tempers its broken cards with a restricted list rather than bans.
Commander (EDH)
The most popular way to play Magic. Commander is a multiplayer, singleton format built around a legendary commander, 100-card decks, and 40 life — social, expressive, and endlessly customizable.
Pauper
The commons-only format that proves cheap doesn’t mean weak. Pauper builds decks entirely from cards printed at common rarity — accessible to build, but competitively deep.
Alchemy
Magic’s digital-first format on MTG Arena. Alchemy layers digitally-designed cards and rebalancing on top of the Standard pool — cards that can be tuned in ways paper never could.
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