Casual play groups and even Wizards of the Coast have developed many alternative formats for playing the game. These formats are designed to accommodate larger numbers of players, to allow two or more players to work together as a team, or create specific requirements for deck construction. Not all formats are officially sanctioned formats. However, many of these variants are popular in tournament play, though not all have support from Wizards of the Coast. Several casual formats have been implemented in
Magic: The Gathering Online and
Magic: The Gathering Arena. Jan Švelch, in the academic journal
Analog Game Studies, highlighted that "along the way, players themselves started creating their own formats and even more actively influencing the life of the game. Wizards of the Coast [...] have embraced some of these community formats by releasing cards made especially for such formats. [...] Many of these emergent formats address the more controversial aspects of the official and sanctioned
Magic formats, for example the rather high barrier of entry for new players and the high level of competitiveness. [...] Some communities maintain unofficial formats through regular updates of rules and a banlist whenever new sets are released or when particular metagames converge around a small number of extremely efficient decks. [...] Creation of such community formats and their consequent commercialization by publishers can also be seen as a manifestation of fan labor in which fans create value which is later capitalized on by the official producers". who felt that players with limited access to cards should still have an opportunity for competitive play. Tournaments for this format have taken place at
Gen Con since 2001. However, the original banned list is considered to be outdated and most tournaments are played by the rules of the largest active Peasant community. •
Singleton: a format where players are allowed to use only one of each card instead of the usual limit of four. This variation is also known as "Legendary" (in
Magic, before the Magic 2014 Core Set rule change, there could only be one of any legend card in the game), or "Restricted" (tournament formats with a restricted list insist that decks have no more than one of those cards) Magic. The "Elder Dragon Highlander (EDH)" variation became the Commander format. Some versions of this format require that the decks have a minimum of 100 cards, ban sideboards, and institute a special rule for mulligans with hands having either too many or too few lands. In temporary events in Magic: The Gathering Arena, it's possible to play in the Singleton format. •
Tribal Wars: a constructed casual format in which one-third of every deck must be of a single
creature type. Common tribes in Magic include elves, goblins, and merfolk. Certain cards are banned in the
Magic Online variant of Tribal Wars that would be overly swingy against known enemy Tribal decks, such as or . •
Gladiator: introduced during the
COVID-19 pandemic and the cessation of live events, Gladiator is a casual constructed, singleton format that is specific to Magic: The Gathering Arena.
Casual Limited Limited casual formats include all the sanctioned formats as well. Formats include: •
Cube Draft: a booster draft variant in which the pool of cards is a predetermined set of cards chosen for the purpose of drafting them. The pool of cards is known as a Cube and usually contains a minimum of 360 cards to accommodate an eight-player booster draft. Cube Draft was first used as a format at the
2012 Magic Players Championship. •
Back Draft: a draft variant where each player tries to build the worst deck possible, because each player gives another player that deck to play in the tournament. is a format in which each player donates 45 rare cards (the same number as in 3 regular boosters) and then drafts as normal. The rares are "donated", as everyone takes home the deck they draft and no attempt is made to return the rares to the original owners, as all the rares donated must be able to be categorized as an "unplayable" rare occasionally printed by MTG for any number of reasons. Hence "reject rare draft". This variant was developed at Neutral Ground, a gaming store owned by
Brian David-Marshall, a columnist for Wizards and noted commentator in the Magic world. •
Type 4 (or
Limited Infinity): in this format players randomly draft a 45 card deck from a large card pool (similar to a cube draft) without knowing the cards included in their deck. Players get infinite mana but are only allowed 1 spell per turn (1 each turn, their own and 1 during each opponent's turn). A starting hand is 5 cards.
Casual Multiplayer The majority of multiplayer formats are casual formats, with Two-Headed Giant being the only multiplayer format to ever be sanctioned. Many formats can be adapted for multiple players, however, some formats are designed specifically for play with multiple players. Multiplayer formats include: •
Assassin: in this format players are randomly assigned "targets" to defeat. Assassins and targets are selected by picking out pairs of cards (such as two forests two mountains two plains etc.) According to the number of players. Each player is dealt one type of card which is placed face up next to player. The other cards are shuffled and dealt face down (this is their target). Each player may only attack the target assigned to them. Players score points for delivering the finishing blow to their assigned target as well as for being the last survivor. Defeating another player grants you their "contract", and thus a new target to attack. If a player is dealt their matching card, then they are considered rogue and may target any player. •
Emperor: in this format two teams, each generally composed of three players, play to ensure their central player (the "Emperor") outlasts the other.
Commander The Commander format launched in 2011, which was derived from a fan-created format known as "Elder Dragon Highlander (EDH)"; the format uses 100 card singleton decks (no duplicates except basic lands and cards that state otherwise), a starting life total of 40, and features a "Commander" or "General". The Commander must be a legendary creature (with some exceptional cases, usually Planeswalkers with text that specifically states they can be your Commander), and all cards in the deck can only have mana symbols on them from the Commander's colors. The Commander is not included in one's library; it is visible to all players in the "command" zone and can be played as if it was in one's hand. Whenever it leaves the battlefield or otherwise changes zones, the Commander's owner may choose to put it back into the "command" zone instead, and playing it afterwards will cost 2 more uncolored mana (and so on if this repeats). If a player takes 21 combat damage from any one commander, that player loses the game regardless of life total (a rule to bring games to an eventual halt and somewhat keep lifegain in check). The format has its own official banned list. , Wizards of the Coast has released a product line containing preconstructed Commander decks. The format was initially maintained independently by the Commander Rules Committee (CRC) In 2021,
Dot eSports highlighted that "Commander has become one of the biggest formats in
Magic over the past five years, even leading to Wizards of the Coast dubbing 2020 as 'The Year of Commander.' The format is a boon for novice and experienced deckbuilders to craft thematic decks centered around
Magic’s over 1,200 Legendary creatures". Charlie Hall, for
Polygon, commented in 2020 that "many
Magic players see creating a Commander deck as the ultimate expression of a player's skill, and of their ability to use their personal collection of cards to its fullest. The Commander format embodies the game's reputation for competition, but also for storytelling".
Oathbreaker The Oathbreaker format launched in 2023, which was derived from a fan-created variation of Commander. It was created by the Weirdcards Charitable Club, a Minnesota-based gaming group, "around 2017" This format is free-for-all multiplayer with three to five players who each start with 20 life; the winner is the last standing player. Each player builds a 58-card singleton deck along with selecting an "Oathbreaker (a planeswalker card) and a Signature Spell (an instant or sorcery) that matches the color identity of the Oathbreaker" to go with the deck. Each player has a special card that affects the game. Only four sets of avatar cards were made before the product was discontinued. The cards featured depicted major characters from the storyline of Magic, including Gerrard Capashen, Karn and Squee. Players are given a standard set of avatars and can receive more as entry and high-finishing prizes in release events. The product was designed to allow players to play the new casual 'Planar Magic' format. The format can be played with two or more players.
Archenemy In June 2010, Wizards of the Coast released the
Archenemy product. The product allowed players to play a new multiplayer casual format designed by Wizards of the Coast. The format is designed for four players with one player taking the role of the Archenemy and the other three players creating a team to play against the Archenemy. Each player plays with a traditional Magic deck, however, the Archenemy also possess a 'scheme deck' of 20 oversized cards. During the
first main phase of the Archenemy's turn they turn over a card from their Scheme deck and use its effect. The format is commonly played as a sanctioned event on
Magic: The Gathering Online and on
MTG Arena. It was a highly requested addition to
MTG Arena but the "variant never took off on paper". The physical format was not well received by the players due to a "shortage of preconstructed decks" and the resale price of individual cards.
Other casual formats Various alternative rules can be used to govern the construction of decks. Some of these variants have become so popular that unsanctioned tournaments have taken place at various Magic tournaments and gaming-oriented conventions such as
Gen Con. •
Artisan is a Magic Arena-specific constructed format. All cards must be either common or uncommon rarity. Artisan events may use either Standard or Historic format legality for cards. •
Horde Magic is a cooperative multiplayer variant of
Magic. The Allied players face off against the Horde deck, which is automatically controlled. The Horde automatically casts a semi-random number of creatures and effects from it every turn, then attacks with everything possible. The default flavor of the Horde are mindless attacking zombies. The Horde has no life total, but damage to it reduces its library of cards. If the players can survive until the Horde runs out of cards, they win. •
Mental Magic is a format in which cards may be played as any card in the game with the same mana cost. •
Mini-Magic is a constructed variant where decks are built with a maximum card limit of 15 and a maximum hand size of 3. Because of the small deck size, the state-based action causing a player to lose when they attempt to draw a card from their empty library is ignored. Select cards are banned in this format due to their heightened power level given the limited deck size. Alternatively, the format may be drafted using a single booster pack per person, this is known as
Mini-Master or
Pack Wars. ==Retired formats==