Mastering Magic: A Guide to Popular Formats of MTG

Magic: The Gathering (MTG) is a strategic card game that is still one of the most popular Trading Card Games around the globe since its release in 1993. Here's some information on the game and it’s popular formats to help you get started:

Magic: The Gathering (MTG) is a strategic card game that is still one of the most popular Trading Card Games around the globe since its release in 1993. Here's some information on the game and it’s popular formats to help you get started:

Basics:

• Players: In most formats, it’s a duel between two players, but multiplayer formats exist.
• Decks: Each player uses a deck of cards they've constructed or a pre-constructed deck that you can purchase. Decks consist of lands and spells (creatures, enchantments, sorceries, instants, artifacts and more)
• Objective: The main goal is to reduce your opponent’s life total from 20 to zero before they do the same to you, or 40 to zero in formats like Commander.

Gameplay:

1. Starting the Game: Players draw an opening hand of seven cards. Players decide who goes first (often determined by a coin flip or dice roll). You can mulligan (shuffle the cards back into the deck and draw again), but you must remove a card and put it on the bottom of your deck each time you do this. 1st mulligan - 6 cards in hand, 2nd mulligan - 5 cards in hand etc.
2. Phases and Turns: The game progresses in turns, which are divided into phases: beginning, main, combat, and end phases. Each phase allows different types of actions.
3. Playing Cards: Players use lands to generate mana, which is used to cast spells and summon creatures to battle.
4. Combat: Creatures can attack your opponent or their planeswalkers, and your opponent can block with their creatures.

Formats:

• Standard: Uses cards from the most recent main sets. Currently in rotation as of writing this article is Foundations, Duskmourn: House of Horror, Bloomburrow, Outlaws of Thunder Junction, Murders at Karlov Manor, The Lost Caverns of Ixalan, Wilds of Eldraine, March of the Machine: The Aftermath, March of the Machine, Phyrexia: All Will Be One, The Brothers' War and Dominaria United.

Decks are 60 cards minimum in the main deck and up to 15 cards in your sideboard deck. Games are played as a best-of-one or best-of-three and are 1v1. The benefits of this format are the accessibility of cards being from the most recent sets and the set cycling meaning the decks always stay fresh and relevant to the current play meta.

• Commander (EDH): A popular multiplayer format with unique deck-building rules. Normally played in a pod of 4, this format is a free for all meaning you can attack any of the players in your pod.

Your deck will consist of 100 cards, with 1 of those cards being your Commander (sometimes you can have multiple Commanders) who can be played at any time from a zone called the Command Zone and the rest being your face down deck. The Commander must be a Legendary Creature or Planeswalker with a Commander ability and their colour identity determines the colours you may use in your deck. Players start on 40 life - but in this format there is a special win-condition that means you don’t have to take your opponents life total to zero, you can also kill an opponent by dealing 21 damage to them using your Commander. This damage does not need to be done in 1 turn so must be tracked alongside normal life.

This format is a great way to learn Magic as the games tend to be longer giving you more time to work your way through your deck and learn card combinations. Save for a list of banned cards, you can use cards from any of Magic’s release history giving you a wide range to choose from. Most sets also release with Pre-Constructed decks you can buy for this format giving you a ready-to-go deck straight out of the box.

• Draft: Players open booster packs and take turns selecting cards to build their decks on the spot. Using 3 booster packs you open one at a time, taking 1 card from each pack and passing it around the table until all the packs are gone.

These decks are 40 cards and you are allowed to use basic lands from outside of the packs to finish your deck. This is a fun way to deck build as you have to utilise the truly randomised nature of a pack - you never know what you’re going to pull. This can also be a more difficult format for new players as it requires a fair bit of prior knowledge on sets and deck building.

• Modern, Legacy and other 60 card formats: Use a broader card pool, including older sets. Follows the same gameplay as formats like Standard but with a different range of cards. These formats can be great for players who have an older range of cards in their repertoire, or like a 60 card format where the card pool doesn’t rotate out each year giving you more time to master your deck.
• This is only a handful of ways to play Magic the Gathering and there are many more formats and variations of formats to explore!

Social Aspect:

Magic is not just about the game; it’s about the community. We host a bunch of Magic events every week where you can meet other players, learn new strategies, and enjoy the game in a friendly environment. Wednesday night Commander League is a great place to take your Commander playing to a slightly elevated level with prizing up for grabs, we also host Friday Night Magic in a variety of formats from store to store from Commander and Standard to Draft and Sealed. Every Saturday and Sunday we have Casual Commander in store all day where you can just come by and play casual Commander against other players in store. This is a great way to test new decks or get help and advice from other members of the Community. Keep an eye on our Facebook pages as we host exciting Events for MTG all the time!

Magic: The Gathering is a game of endless possibilities, where every card tells a story and every game is a new adventure. If you’re interested, I'd recommend starting with a Pre-Constructed deck or attending a learn-to-play event at a Hobby Lords store. Who knows, you might find your next favourite hobby!

Emma McDonald

Head of Marketing

Hobby Lords