Magic: The Gathering Formats Explained
Standard, Pioneer, Modern, Legacy, Vintage, Commander, Limited and Pauper compared, with advice on which to choose.
What a format is
A format is a set of rules about which cards you may use and how you build your deck. The same card can be great in one format and illegal in another. Formats fall into two families: constructed, where you bring a deck you built beforehand, and limited, where you build from cards opened at the event.
Standard
Standard allows only the most recent sets, roughly the last few years of releases. Older sets rotate out on a regular schedule, so the card pool and the strongest decks keep changing. It is a good format to start with because it is widely supported and the pool is small, but it requires you to keep buying new cards as sets rotate.
Pioneer and Modern
Pioneer and Modern are non-rotating formats with larger card pools. Pioneer starts in 2012 with the Return to Ravnica block. Modern reaches back further, to the Eighth Edition core set in 2003. Cards that are too strong are banned. Because the pools do not rotate, a deck you build keeps its value, but the formats are fast and well explored.
Legacy and Vintage
Legacy and Vintage allow cards from nearly all of Magic's history. Legacy has a long banned list. Vintage uses a restricted list, meaning some of the most powerful cards are allowed but only one copy per deck. These are the most powerful formats and the most expensive to enter.
Commander
Commander is the most popular casual format. A deck has exactly 100 cards, with only one copy of each card other than basic lands. You also choose a legendary creature as your commander, kept in the command zone, and your deck may only contain cards that match your commander's color identity. Games are usually played with three or more players and start at 40 life, which makes for longer, more social games.
Limited: Draft and Sealed
In a draft, each player opens a booster pack, picks one card and passes the rest, repeating until the packs are gone. In sealed, you open several packs and build from them. In both, you build a deck of at least 40 cards, usually with about 17 lands. Limited rewards good evaluation of cards and requires no existing collection.
Pauper and other formats
Pauper only allows cards that have been printed at common rarity, which keeps decks affordable and the games interesting. There are many more formats, from Brawl to Historic, each with its own rules. Constructed decks are typically at least 60 cards with no more than four copies of a card other than basic lands.
Which format should you pick?
Choose by how you like to play. If you want casual games with friends, start with Commander. If you like competitive play with a manageable card pool, try Standard or Pioneer. If you want to play without buying many cards, try a draft. Use the search tool to look up any card, and always check a format's current banned list before you build, as legality changes over time.