MTG Formats
How each format plays, what the metagame looks like right now, what is banned, and what it costs to get in.
5guides
MTG Commander Format Guide: Rules, Budget, and How to Start
Commander is a 100 card singleton multiplayer format built around one legendary creature. Here are the rules that actually matter and what a first deck costs.
MTG Modern Format Guide: The Metagame and How to Read It
Modern is a non-rotating sixty card format going back to 2003. The metagame sorts into four archetype families, and knowing which one you are decides every mulligan.
MTG on Cockatrice: Free Testing, and What It Cannot Do
Cockatrice is a free unofficial client that enforces no rules at all. That makes it the best testing tool available and a poor place to learn how Magic works.
MTG Pauper Format Guide: Commons Only, and Genuinely Competitive
Pauper allows only cards printed at common. That single restriction produces a format that is cheap, deep, and much more competitive than the price suggests.
MTG Standard Metagame: How Rotation Shapes the Format
Standard uses only the most recent sets and rotates every year. That rotation is the whole format: it resets the metagame and caps what your deck can cost.