Standard is the only rotating format in this comparison. Wizards of the Coast removes the six oldest Standard-legal sets once each year, after the first premier-set prerelease of the year. Pioneer, Modern, Legacy, Vintage, and Commander are nonrotating, so cards do not leave simply because they get older. The formats differ mainly in how far back their card pools reach, how decks are built, and whether a banned or restricted list applies.
Use the table below for the quick distinction, then read the format sections for the boundaries, construction rules, supplemental-set exceptions, and the checks that prevent an expensive legality mistake.
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MTG format legality at a glance
| Format | Rotation | Card-pool boundary | Deck construction | Legality controls |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Standard | Annual rotation; six oldest sets leave after the first premier-set prerelease of the year | The recent Standard sets listed on Wizards of the Coast’s current Standard page | At least 60 cards; optional sideboard of up to 15 cards | Banned list; changes generally concentrate around the annual fall window |
| Pioneer | Nonrotating | Return to Ravnica forward | At least 60 cards; up to 15-card sideboard; no more than four copies of a card other than basic lands | Banned list; changes can occur around main-set release windows |
| Modern | Nonrotating | Wizards’ listed sets beginning with Eighth Edition and the Mirrodin-era releases, then eligible later sets | At least 60 cards; up to 15-card sideboard; four-copy limit except basic lands | Banned list |
| Legacy | Nonrotating | All Magic sets except cards on the Legacy banned list | At least 60 cards; optional sideboard of up to 15 cards; four-copy limit except basic lands | Banned list |
| Vintage | Nonrotating | All Magic sets, including expansions and special sets, except banned cards | At least 60 cards; optional sideboard of up to 15 cards; four-copy limit except basic lands | Banned list plus a restricted list; a restricted card is limited to one copy in a deck or sideboard |
| Commander | Nonrotating | Cards from throughout Magic’s history, subject to Commander rules and its ban list | 99-card deck plus one commander; singleton construction except basic lands; color identity applies | Commander ban list, with multiplayer and optional Brackets/Game Changers guidance |
“Nonrotating” does not mean “everything is legal.” A card can still be excluded by a format’s banned list, restricted list, color-identity rule, or set-specific eligibility rule. Always check the current official format page and the current banned-and-restricted announcement before registering a tournament deck.
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What determines whether a card is legal?
Set eligibility is only the first test
Start with the exact expansion or product in which the card was printed. Format pages define which sets enter a card pool, but a card can also be removed by a banned list. In Vintage, a card may be in the overall pool and still be restricted to one copy. In Commander, the card must additionally fit the commander’s color identity and the Commander ban list.
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Use the card’s identity, not just its newest packaging
A reprint does not automatically create a new legality result. Wizards’ Commander Legends release notes distinguish new cards from returning cards: new Commander Legends designs were legal in Commander, Legacy, and Vintage, but not Standard, Pioneer, or Modern; returning cards remained legal wherever that existing card identity was already legal. Check the exact set code and the card identity shown in the official card database rather than assuming that a product name controls every printing.
Supplemental products can bypass a normal Standard-to-eternal path
Some products are designed to add cards directly to older formats. Wizards’ Modern Horizons 3 release notes state that its cards are legal in Modern, Commander, Legacy, and Vintage, while they are not Standard or Pioneer legal. That is why “released recently” and “legal in Standard” are not interchangeable descriptions. A product’s branding is a clue, not a legality ruling.
Standard: the rotating, current-set format
How Standard rotation works
Standard is the intentionally changing format in this group. Once per year, after the first premier-set prerelease of the year, the six oldest Standard sets rotate out. The trigger is tied to that prerelease, not to a fixed calendar date that can be safely reused every year. The current Standard page is therefore the authority for the exact sets legal on the day you want to play.
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A Standard deck has a minimum of 60 cards, with an optional sideboard of up to 15 cards. Standard is played one-on-one and uses a banned list. The four-copy limit and basic-land exception are the normal constructed expectations for this format, but a card-specific rule or ban always overrides the default.
What rotation means for buying and brewing
Standard gives new players the most bounded card pool and the clearest way to enter current organized play, but it also gives every purchase the shortest expected legality horizon. A deck that is legal today can lose cards at the next annual rotation. Before buying a playset, check whether the set is among the six oldest sets scheduled to leave and whether any individual card is currently banned. If keeping a deck for several years matters more than playing the newest environment, consider a nonrotating format instead.
Pioneer: Return to Ravnica forward, without rotation
The starting point
Pioneer is a nonrotating format whose card pool begins with Return to Ravnica and continues forward through eligible releases. Older cards from before that starting point are not Pioneer legal merely because they are powerful, inexpensive, or reprinted in a later-looking product.
Where Pioneer sits on the power spectrum
Wizards positions Pioneer above Standard in power and below Modern or Legacy. That makes it a bridge for players who want a stable pool larger than Standard’s without moving immediately to the oldest and most powerful card interactions. Because sets do not rotate, a Pioneer deck does not lose legality just because a new Standard season begins.
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Pioneer uses a 60-card minimum main deck, an optional sideboard of up to 15 cards, and a maximum of four copies of any card other than basic lands. It has its own banned list, which is independent of Standard, Modern, Legacy, and Vintage lists. A card’s legality must therefore be checked against the Pioneer list even when the same card is legal elsewhere.
Modern: a defined older-set boundary plus direct-to-Modern products
Where Modern begins
Modern is nonrotating, but it is not an “every set ever made” format. Wizards’ Modern-legal set list begins with Eighth Edition and the Mirrodin-era releases and then identifies later eligible sets. Cards from sets outside that list are not automatically Modern legal.
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How Modern decks are built
Modern decks contain at least 60 cards and may use a sideboard of up to 15 cards. The normal constructed limit is four copies of a card other than basic lands. A Modern banned list removes individual cards even when their original set is inside the Modern boundary.
Modern Horizons demonstrates why set names matter
Modern Horizons 3 is a direct-to-Modern example. Wizards’ release notes list its cards as legal in Modern, Commander, Legacy, and Vintage, but not in Standard or Pioneer. A card from that product can therefore be new to Modern without ever passing through Standard. When checking a deck, record the exact expansion code and then verify the format list; do not infer legality from release age.
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Card-pool rule
Legacy does not rotate. As a constructed format, it allows cards from all Magic sets except cards on the Legacy banned list. This reaches back to the earliest releases, so the legality of a particular card and the price of obtaining it can vary dramatically from one card to the next.
Construction
Legacy keeps the familiar 60-card minimum, an optional sideboard of up to 15 cards, and a four-copy limit except basic lands. The format’s broad pool does not override the banned list: a card printed decades ago can be excluded, while a newer supplemental card can be legal if it meets the Legacy rules.
Why a Legacy check must be card-specific
“Old enough” is not a sufficient test. Verify the card name and current Legacy status, especially when a deck uses cards from early sets, promotional products, or supplemental releases. The same printing may be legal in Legacy while its newer product is not legal in a rotating format, or vice versa, because each format applies its own set and ban rules.
Vintage: the broadest pool and a restricted list
What Vintage allows
Vintage has the broadest pool in this comparison. Wizards describes it as allowing cards from all Magic card sets, including expansions and special sets, except cards on the Vintage banned list. Unlike Legacy, Vintage also uses a restricted list.
How restriction differs from a ban
A banned card cannot be used in the format. A restricted card remains usable but is limited to one copy in a deck or sideboard. All other cards follow the normal four-copy limit except basic lands. This distinction matters when importing a list from another format: a card can be legal in Vintage but still require the list to be reduced to a single copy.
Deck structure
Vintage uses a minimum 60-card deck and an optional sideboard of up to 15 cards. Check both the banned and restricted lists immediately before an event, because a deck can fail the legality check through either list.
Commander: a singleton, color-identity format that does not rotate
Deck size and singleton rule
Commander uses a 99-card deck plus one commander. Players normally use only one copy of each card other than basic lands. That singleton structure is the first major difference from the 60-card constructed formats in this comparison.
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Color identity
Every card in the 99-card deck must fit the commander’s color identity. Color identity is a Commander construction rule in addition to the card’s ordinary format legality. A card can be legal in the overall Commander card pool yet illegal in a particular deck because its mana symbols or other color indicators fall outside the commander’s identity.
Multiplayer context and social guidance
Commander is designed for multiplayer play and draws cards from throughout Magic’s history. Cards do not rotate. The format has its own ban list, and Wizards also provides optional Commander Brackets and Game Changers guidance to help groups discuss power level and expectations. Those social tools do not replace the ban list: a card can be legal but unsuitable for a group’s agreed bracket, or banned regardless of the group’s preferred power level.
Why a Commander product is not automatically Modern legal
Commander Legends illustrates the separation. New cards from that product were legal in Commander, Legacy, and Vintage, but not Standard, Pioneer, or Modern. A returning card kept the legality attached to its existing card identity. Consequently, opening a card in a Commander-branded product does not answer whether it can be played in Modern; check the card’s identity and the Modern set list.
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If you want the freshest environment
Choose Standard. Its annual removal of the six oldest sets keeps the environment moving and limits the number of sets a new player must learn. The trade-off is that a deck’s legality has a predictable but finite horizon.
If you want to keep a 60-card deck indefinitely
Pioneer, Modern, Legacy, and Vintage are the nonrotating choices. Pioneer begins at Return to Ravnica; Modern begins with Wizards’ Eighth Edition/Mirrodin-era boundary; Legacy and Vintage reach across all Magic sets, with their respective restrictions. Permanence does not freeze a metagame: bans and restrictions can still change what is tournament legal.
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If you want a large historical pool and multiplayer games
Commander is the distinct choice. Its no-rotation policy is paired with a 99-plus-commander structure, singleton construction, and color identity. Those rules change deckbuilding more radically than simply adding older sets to a 60-card format.
How legality updates are announced
Wizards’ stated goal is for most or all Standard changes to occur in the annual fall banned-and-restricted window associated with the three-year Standard rotation. Pioneer, Modern, Legacy, and Vintage can change around main-set release windows. Commander has its own ban-list process and guidance. Treat every named banned, restricted, or currently legal card as volatile: recheck the live Wizards format page and the latest banned-and-restricted announcement immediately before submitting a deck list.
A practical legality-check workflow
- Identify the format. Do not rely on the event’s informal name; confirm whether it is Standard, Pioneer, Modern, Legacy, Vintage, or Commander.
- Record the exact card identity and set code. A product title or artwork is not enough, especially for reprints and supplemental products.
- Apply the format’s card-pool boundary. Use the current Standard set list, Return to Ravnica-forward Pioneer rule, Modern’s Eighth Edition/Mirrodin-era list, or the all-set rules for Legacy and Vintage.
- Check bans and restrictions. For Vintage, check both lists. For Commander, check the Commander ban list as well as any deck-specific color-identity issue.
- Apply construction rules. Confirm the 60-card minimum and 15-card sideboard cap for the five 60-card formats, or the 99-card-plus-commander and singleton rules for Commander.
- Recheck close to the event. A legality ruling can change at an update window even when the card’s original set has not changed.
Common mistakes and their fixes
- “It is a new set, so it must be Standard legal.” Supplemental products can enter Modern and older formats directly. Check the exact release notes and format list.
- “Nonrotating means no bans.” Every nonrotating format in this comparison has a ban mechanism; Vintage also has restrictions.
- “A reprint makes the card legal everywhere.” Returning cards keep the legality of their existing card identity. A new printing does not erase format boundaries.
- “Commander legality is just a larger card pool.” Commander also requires singleton construction, a commander, and color identity, and it is governed by a separate ban list.
- “The same card is legal in every format with the same name.” Each format evaluates the card against its own set boundary and list. Verify the destination format rather than copying a legality result from another one.
Choosing a format by how long you want to keep your cards
For the shortest, most current cycle, Standard is the deliberate choice. For a stable 60-card deck with a pool beginning in the recent era, Pioneer offers nonrotation from Return to Ravnica forward. Modern keeps a defined older boundary and accepts direct-to-Modern products. Legacy and Vintage let you draw from the entire history of Magic, with Vintage adding its restricted list. Commander preserves cards without rotation but changes the entire construction model through singleton play, color identity, and multiplayer rules. The right answer depends less on the age printed on a card than on the format’s current list and the rules that govern the deck you are actually submitting.
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