How Many Cards in a Magic: The Gathering Deck?
Richard WeissKey Takeaways
- Constructed formats (Standard, Pioneer, Modern, Legacy, Vintage, Pauper) have a 60-card minimum and allow a sideboard of up to 15 cards.
- A Commander deck is exactly 100 cards, including the commander, with one copy of each card other than basic lands.
- Limited formats (Booster Draft and Sealed Deck) have a 40-card minimum.
- In constructed formats you can play up to four copies of a card across your deck and sideboard combined. Basic lands are not limited.
- There is no maximum deck size outside Commander, but Wizards of the Coast's own deck-building advice is to play the minimum.
Table of Contents
A Magic: The Gathering deck has at least 60 cards in constructed formats such as Standard and Modern, exactly 100 cards in Commander, and at least 40 cards in Limited formats such as Booster Draft and Sealed Deck. The number depends on the format you are playing, and so do the sideboard and the number of copies of each card you can run.
Magic Deck Size by Format
These numbers come from Wizards of the Coast's format pages and the Magic: The Gathering Comprehensive Rules (effective September 25, 2026).
| Format | Minimum deck size | Max copies of a card | Sideboard |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard | 60 | 4 | Up to 15 cards |
| Pioneer | 60 | 4 | Up to 15 cards |
| Modern | 60 | 4 | Up to 15 cards |
| Legacy | 60 | 4 | Up to 15 cards |
| Vintage | 60 | 4, or 1 for cards on the restricted list | Up to 15 cards |
| Pauper | 60 | 4 | Up to 15 cards |
| Commander | Exactly 100, including the commander | 1 | None |
| Booster Draft | 40 | No limit on cards you drafted | Every drafted card you do not play |
| Sealed Deck | 40 | No limit on cards you opened | Every opened card you do not play |
Basic lands (Plains, Island, Swamp, Mountain, Forest and Wastes) are the exception to the copy limits in every format: you can play any number of them.
60-Card Constructed Decks
In constructed play you build your deck ahead of time from cards you own. The Comprehensive Rules set a minimum deck size of 60 cards, with no more than four copies of any card other than basic lands.
You may also bring a sideboard of up to 15 cards, which you can swap into your deck between games of a match. The four-copy limit applies to the deck and sideboard combined, so four copies in the main deck means none in the sideboard.
Standard, Pioneer, Modern, Legacy, Vintage and Pauper all use these numbers. What changes between them is which cards are legal:
- Standard: cards from the most recent sets. Older sets rotate out once a year.
- Pioneer: sets from Return to Ravnica forward.
- Modern: sets from Eighth Edition forward.
- Legacy and Vintage: cards from all Magic sets, minus each format's banned list. Vintage also has a restricted list that limits certain cards to a single copy.
- Pauper: only cards that have been released at common rarity.
100-Card Commander Decks
A Commander deck is exactly 100 cards: 99 cards plus one commander. The minimum and the maximum are both 100.
Other than basic lands, every card in the deck must have a different name, so you play one copy of each. Every card must also fit your commander's color identity, i.e. it can only use mana symbols that appear on your commander. Commander games do not use sideboards, and each player starts with 40 life instead of 20.
40-Card Limited Decks
In Limited play you build a deck on the spot from booster packs you open at the event (a booster box is a sealed box of those packs). The minimum deck size is 40 cards.
- Booster Draft: each player opens three booster packs over the course of the draft and ends up with about 45 cards, plus any number of basic lands, to build a 40-card deck.
- Sealed Deck: each player builds a deck from six unopened booster packs and can add as many basic lands as they like.
The four-copy limit does not apply in Limited. Your deck can contain as many copies of a card as you opened or drafted, and every card in your pool that is not in your deck is your sideboard.
Can You Play More Than the Minimum?
Yes. The rules state that there is no maximum deck size for non-Commander decks. A 61-card or 80-card Standard deck is legal.
It is rarely a good idea. In a February 2017 article on the official Magic site, Gavin Verhey wrote that by playing more than the minimum number of cards, "you are reducing your chances, however slightly, of finding your strongest cards as often as possible." The same goes for Limited decks and 40 cards.
So the practical answer for most players is 60 cards for a constructed deck, 40 for Limited and 100 for Commander. New to the game? Start with how to play Magic: The Gathering and where the game came from.
Sleeves and Playmats for Your Deck
Deck size tells you how many sleeves you need. A 60-card deck with a 15-card sideboard is 75 cards, and a Commander deck is 100.
We carry card sleeves and toploaders, TCG playmats and dice sets. You can also design a custom playmat with your own image or logo. It is 4 mm thick neoprene with an anti-slip backing and comes in three sizes: 12 x 18, 12 x 22 and 16 x 32 inches.
Sources
- Magic: The Gathering Comprehensive Rules (Wizards of the Coast)
- Magic formats (Wizards of the Coast)
- Standard format
- Pioneer format
- Modern format
- Legacy format
- Vintage format
- Pauper format
- Commander format
- Booster Draft format
- Sealed Deck format
- 61, by Gavin Verhey (Wizards of the Coast)
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