What is this guide?
This guide is intended to show players who are not yet familiar with tournament Magic what they need to know about competitive formats. This includes what a format is, and what the different formats are. The information in this guide can be found in official announcements rules documents. This guide compiles that information and seeks to present it in a way that is easier to digest for most players.
Dates in this guide that are written only with numbers are on the form "[year]-[month]-[day]".
Sources
Tournament Rules
Wizards of the Coast announcements
What is this guide not?
This guide does not discuss what is smart play or clever deck construction. Neither does it discuss tournament structures (such as Swiss draw and single elimination). It also does not discuss non-competitive formats.
Who is the author?
I am a Norwegian Magic: the Gathering player, judge and tournament organizer. I started playing around the time Tempest and Stronghold were released. Since then I have had a few long breaks from the game for different reasons. My main interest as a player is competitive tournament play, although I am far from an exceptional player. In December 2009 I became a Rules Advisor. In March 2010 I became a level 1 certified judge. In December 2011 I became a level 2 certified judge.
What are competitive tournaments?
A competitive tournament is a tournament that follows certain rules laid out by Wizards of the Coast where the results of each match in the tournament is reported for entry into their database. When a match in a competitive tournament is played, the players can gain Planeswalkerpoints depending on the outcome of the matches they play and the number of players in the tournament. A competitive tournament must use only competitive formats to be valid.
What are competitive formats?
A competitive format is a set of rules that describe and limit how players in a competitive tournament may construct the deck they play with. When a tournament uses a certain format, all players in the tournament must follow the rules of that format.
Part 2: Overview
The main part of this guide is parts 2-5. Part 3 details Single player formats, part 4 discusses Two-Headed Giant formats and part 5 is about Three-Player Team formats.
At the starts of each of those four parts is a chart that gives an easy overview of how formats relate to each other. Those four charts would all be in one picture but have been split up due to space issues. The bottom level of the chart in part 2 is the same as the top level in the charts in parts 3-5, so you can see the flow all the way from the "root level" down to the formats.
The 6 levels of the combined charts are explained just below. Except for "Definition", each level is made with information extracted from official WotC documents and announcements.
The game is simply the umbrella that all Magic: the Gathering competitive formats live under.
Teams differ from each other in how many team mates you have and the rules governing your interaction.
Constructions differ from each other in how you acquire the deck you play with.
Team decks contain additional rules for how decks are constructed in team play.
Legality is an additional level I made to differentiate between the three types of format within the Constructed group.
Formats differ from each other in many ways, among them can be what sets are legal for use, what cards are banned or restricted, and the degree of control you have over the cards you get to build your deck with.
Each format is a part of all higher-level elements directly above it in the overview. Each format follows the rules of the elements it is a part of. Except for the root level, all levels are discussed in part 3-5 of the guide.
All competitive formats have the following rules in common:
Your deck must contain only traditional Magic: the Gathering cards, published by Wizards of the Coast, with the Magic: the Gathering card back or being a double-faced card and either white or black borders.
In matches consisting of multiple games, you may have a sideboard of cards you can use to change your deck between games in the match. You do this by moving cards from your sideboard into your deck and cards from your deck into your sideboard. Before the first game in a match, your deck and sideboard must be in its original configuration.
Competitive formats are divided into Single player formats, Two-Headed Giant formats and Three-Player Team formats.
Part 3: Single player formats
This part of the guide contains detailed information about Single player competitive formats.
You can start at the top and keep opening spoilers until you have read part 3 in it's entirety. You can also easily compare the different elements on the same level by opening all the spoilers in the same section. Finally, if you wish to know all the rules governing a given format, you can open the spoiler for that format, find the "Lineage" headline, and then open all of the elements listed under it. By reading the spoilers you have opened, you should get to know all critical information about that format.
Section 3A: Team
All Single player formats have the following rules in common:
You do not play as a part of any team.
Matches consist of multiple games.
Section 3B: Construction
In constructed formats, you use a deck and a sideboard you made before the tournament started. Each constructed format has a list of "legal" sets. Each constructed format may also have lists of "banned" and "restricted" cards. All constructed group formats follow these rules:
Your deck must have 60+ cards in it.
Your sideboard must have 0-15 cards in it.
Your deck and sideboard must contain only cards that have been printed in any of the sets on that formats list of legal sets.
Your combined deck and sideboard may not use more than 4 cards with the same name.
Exception to this rule: Cards with the supertype "basic" and cards that state in it's rules text that you may play more than 4 of it in your deck.
Your combined deck and sideboard may not contain any card on that formats list of banned cards.
Your combined deck and sideboard may not contain more than 1 of any card on that formats list of restricted cards.
When exchanging cards between your deck and sideboard, your deck must continue to have 60+ cards in it.
Constructed contains all block formats, rotating formats and eternal formats.
Limited formats have in common that you build a deck as part of the tournament, which you then play. The rules for how you get cards to build a deck with depends on which limited format you are playing. All limited tournaments can be said to have multiple "phases", the last of which is the "play matches" phase. All limited group formats follow these rules:
Your deck must have 40+ cards in it.
Your deck must contain only cards found in your pool of cards, as well as an unlimited amount of cards with both the supertype "basic" and the card type "land" that does not have the supertype "snow".
Your sideboard consists of all the cards in your pool of cards that are not in your deck, as well as an unlimited amount of cards with both the supertype "basic" and the card type "land" that does not have the supertype "snow".
When exchanging cards between your deck and sideboard, your deck must continue to have 40+ cards in it.
Limited formats are:
Booster draft
Sealed deck
Section 3C: Legality
Block formats have in common that they allow only cards printed inside a single block when constructing your deck.
There are 20 different block formats. When people talk about playing "block", it is reasonably safe to assume that they are talking about the most recent block format unless you have reason to believe otherwise.
The block formats are (from oldest to newest):
Ice Age block
Mirage block
Tempest block
Urza block
Masques block
Invasion block
Odyssey block
Onslaught block
Mirrodin block
Kamigawa block
Ravnica block
Time Spiral block
Lorwyn-Shadowmoor block
Shards of Alara block
Zendikar-Rise of the Eldrazi block
Scars of Mirrodin block
Innistrad-Avacyn Restored block
Return to Ravnica block
Theros block
Khans of Tarkir block
Rotating formats have in common that they "rotate". A rotation happens when the first set of a new block becomes legal in that format. This causes all sets in the oldest legal block, sometimes accompanied by the oldest legal core set, to leave the format and become illegal. When a rotation happens, the new set is said to be "rotating inn" while the sets that are leaving are said to be "rotating out" of the format. When sets that are not the first set in a block enter a format, no other sets rotate out, and it is not called a rotation.
The rotating formats are:
Standard
Eternal formats have in common that sets are regularly added to them, but no sets are removed from them.
Standard is the most played format in the entire constructed group. It allows you to play cards from the last 2 blocks with at least 1 released set, as well as the core sets released after each legal block.
Lineage
Game: Magic: the Gathering's competitive formats
Team type: Single player formats
Group: Constructed
Definition: Rotations
Legal sets
Magic 2015 Core Set
Theros
Born of the Gods
Journey into Nyx
Khans of Tarkir
Upcoming changes
2015-01: Fate Reforged becomes legal.
Modern allows cards from 8th Edition, Mirrodin and all core sets and expansion sets released after them.
Vintage is the biggest of all the competitive formats in terms of how many cards are legal for use. It is also the only competitive format with restricted cards.
Rules
Booster draft contains 3 phases, namely "booster draft" followed by "deck construction" followed by "match play".
In the booster draft phase, each player receives identical and ordered sets of unopened boosters. These boosters must all be from tournament legal sets. When the draft begins, each player opens the designated first booster and looks at the cards inside without showing anyone else what they opened. Each player takes a card from the booster and places it in front of them face down without letting anyone know what they took. Then everyone passes the remaining cards to the player to their left. The players pick up the cards they were passed by the player to their right, choose a card, and pass the remaining cards to their left. This goes on until the first set of boosters is depleted. Players then repeat this process with each booster, except that each booster after the first is passed in the opposite direction than the booster before it. In other words, the first set of boosters is passed to the left until depleted, the second to the right, the third to the left, the fourth to the right, and so on. Once all the boosters are empty and all cards in them are drafted, the booster draft phase is over. The cards you picked become your "pool of cards".
The next phase is the deck construction phase. Each player builds a deck, using only the cards in their pool of cards as well as any number of cards with both the supertype "basic" and the card type "land" that does not have the supertype "snow".
The last phase is the match play phase. During this phase the players play whatever matches the tournament structure dictates with the decks they built in the deck construction phase.
The description above is a generalized description of the booster draft format. However, almost all booster draft tournaments follow these additional DCI recommendations:
Each player opens 3 boosters
The boosters are divided as evenly as possible between all released sets from the newest block or the newest core set, whichever is most recent
When drafting blocks that are Zendikar-Rise of the Eldrazi block or older, boosters are drafted in the order the sets were released in
When drafting blocks that are Scars of Mirrodin block or younger, boosters are drafted in the reverse order the sets were released in
Lineage
Game: Magic: the Gathering's competitive formats
Team type: Single player formats
Group: Limited
Rules
Sealed deck consists of 2 phases, "deck construction" and "match play".
In the deck construction phase, each player receives identical sets of unopened boosters. These boosters must all be from tournament legal sets. Each player opens his or her boosters, and the cards they get from them become that players "pool of cards". Each player then builds a deck, using only the cards in their pool as well as any number of cards with both the supertype "basic" and the card type "land" that does not have the supertype "snow".
The last phase is the match play phase. During this phase the players play whatever matches the tournament structure dictates with the decks they built in the deck construction phase.
The description above is a generalized description of the sealed deck format. However, almost all sealed deck tournaments follow these additional DCI recommendations:
Each player opens 6 boosters
The boosters are divided as evenly as possible between all released sets from the newest block or the newest core set, whichever is most recent
Part 4: Two-Headed Giant formats
In this section, only elements that deviate from their Single player counterpart or are not previously mentioned are described.
Section 4A: Team
All Two-Headed Giant formats formats have the following rules in common:
You play as a part of a so-called "Two-Headed Giant" team with 2 members.
When the Unified Deck Construction rule is used, all players on the team are playing the same format (as chosen by the tournament organizer).
The Unified Deck Construction rule means that the limitations of no more than 4 cards with the same name per deck + sideboard, as well as restrictions and bannings of cards, are applied to the team as a whole rather than its individual players. Cards that you may use no more than 4 of are thus limited to 4 of that card for the entire team. Restricted cards are limited to 1 copy of the card for the entire team. Banned cards may not be used.
Section 4D: Legality
-
Section 4E: Formats
-
Part 5: Three-Player Team formats
In this section, only elements that deviate from their Single player counterpart or are not previously mentioned are described.
Section 5A: Team
All Three-Player Team formats have the following rules in common:
You play as a part of a team with 3 members.
Team matches consist of 3 individual matches, each one being played by a different team member. The team match is won by the first team to win 2 individual matches. Each individual match is won by the first player to win 2 games.
Section 5B: Construction
-
Section 5C: Team decks
When the Unified Deck Construction rule is used, all players on the team are playing the same format (as chosen by the tournament organizer).
The Unified Deck Construction rule means that the limitations of no more than 4 cards with the same name per deck + sideboard, as well as restrictions and bannings of cards, are applied to the team as a whole rather than its individual players. Cards that you may use no more than 4 of are thus limited to 4 of that card for the entire team. Restricted cards are limited to 1 copy of the card for the entire team. Banned cards may not be used.
When this option is chosen by the tournament organizer, 3 different competitive individual constructed formats will also be chosen. Each team member is assigned a different one of these formats, for which they bring a deck. In each round, team members will play against the opposing team member who is playing the same format.
Section 5D: Legality
-
Section 5E: Formats
See section 5C.
Lineage
Game: Magic: the Gathering's competitive formats
Team type: Three-Player Team formats
Group: Limited
There are 2 teams on a draft table. One team (designated team 1 for purposes of this explanation) has their players seated in clockwise A-B-C order, followed by the other team (team 2) seated in clockwise A-B-C order. The order is thus clockwise 1A-1B-1C-2A-2B-2C. Each player in the draft gets the same sets of ordered packs. A team is determined through a random method. That team decides which team starts the draft. For the rest of this explanation, I will assume that team 1 starts the draft.
Boosters are opened one at the time in Rochester draft, rather than all players in the draft opening simultaneously. The draft starts with player 1B opening his/her first pack. After that booster has been emptied, the player who opens a pack is the player seated next to the player who opened the last pack. The opening order starts going in the clockwise direction. Each time all players on the table have opened the same number of boosters, the player who opened the last booster opens the next one, then the direction is reversed. For each booster, the player who opened that booster is called the "active player".
Within each booster, the pick order is as follows. Picks start with the active player. In the 1st, 3rd and every other odd numbered round of booster packs, pick order starts moving in a clockwise pattern from the player who made the last pick. In even numbered round of booster packs, pick order starts moving in a counter-clockwise pattern from the player who made the last pick. Each time all players on the table have picked the same number of cards from the booster, the player who made the last pick makes another pick, then pick order reverses.
Once all packs have been drafted, each player builds a deck from the cards they drafted.
Part 6: Clarifications
Card names
When identifying a card, it does not matter what version of the card you have. This means that 2 cards counts as the same card if their name, in any language, is the same. The cards language, set or other peculiarities such as being foil or full art do not matter when deciding whether 2 cards are the same.
When determining whether a card is legal for play in a given format, check what sets that card has been printed in. If at least 1 of those sets are legal for the format in question, all black bordered and white bordered versions of the card are legal, unless the card is banned or restricted in that format.
Part 7: Closing statements
This guide is subject to being changed and updated. See the "Last edited by" entry at the bottom of the post to see when it was last changed.
I hope this guide will be of help to players trying to get into tournament Magic. If you want to suggest any changes to the guide, see any errors you want to make me aware of, or if the guide was useful or simply a good read, make a post! If the guide is useful, please consider giving the post a "thank you". Thank you for reading, have fun playing Magic, and have fun on the MtG Salvation forums!
Thank you so much! This would have been a huge help to when I first started.
1 thing that you could add is the sets (In order) legal in extended and standard, I know I was confused about that when I started, and it took me almost a year to memorize set orders back to invasion.
Out of the blackness and stench of the engulfing swamp emerged a shimmering figure. Only the splattered armor and ichor-stained sword hinted at the unfathomable evil the knight had just laid waste.
I believe WoTC's new policy is to make sure that every color can enjoy the exciting gameplay mechanic of making undercosted dudes and then turning them sideways. Clearly the future of magic.
Quote from "Kakaroto" »
Quote from "Disco Stu" »
Podríamos hacer un topic donde marquemos los peores horrores de ortografía.
Modern, while a format that does not rotate, is not an Eternal format. Promotional sets (such as Planechase and Izzet vs Golgari) are legal on their street date in Eternal formats. Section 3.2 of the MTR supports this.
3.2. Format and Rating Categories
Wizards of the Coast sanctions the following formats as individual, three-person team, or Two-Headed Giant tournaments:
Constructed Formats
Standard
Extended
Block Constructed
Modern
Eternal Constructed Formats
Vintage
Legacy
Limited Formats
Sealed Deck
Booster Draft (individual and Two-Headed Giant only)
Rochester Draft (three-person team only)
Wizards of the Coast maintains the following Planeswalker Points rating categories:
Lifetime
Competitive
Friday Night Magic
Professional
In the team tournaments (Team Constructed, Team Limited), each team member plays a one-on-one match against a member of the other team, and the individual results comprise the team’s collective match result. In a Two-Headed Giant tournament, all players from the two teams play in the same game.
Modern, while a format that does not rotate, is not an Eternal format. Promotional sets (such as Planechase and Izzet vs Golgari) are legal on their street date in Eternal formats. Section 3.2 of the MTR supports this.
You are right. WotC does not define Modern as an Eternal format, and I want this guide to reflect the official stance on these things. Even if it states that the "Definition" sections of the guide were invented by me to describe the different types of constructed formats, people could still get confused by it.
Modern really is a curious format. It behaves like Vintage and Legacy in the sense that sets never leave the format, while every new normal set keeps going into it. It is different from them by not including every normal set since the start, and by not deriving card legality from special products. Whether the similarities or differences are stronger is simply a matter of opinion. I will go with WotC's opinion that it is not an Eternal format though, even if my opinion is that it should be.
Wizards breaks Constructed into sub-categories of "Constructed" and "Eternal". I think this definition is pretty useless, since "Constructed" contains formats that behave radically different, and as such it describes pretty much nothing. Also, section 3.2 contains an error, as there is no format named "Block Constructed".
I still want to break Constructed into "Block", "Rotating" and something that contains Vintage, Legacy and possibly Modern. This distinction is much more useful, since it groups formats that behave in a certain way together. I have two options:
Group Vintage, Legacy and Modern together, and change the name from "Eternal" to something else.
Group Vintage and Legacy together as Eternal, and place Modern alone, possibly in its own category.
I did what I wanted to do with Modern in this guide, since I didn't think many people read it. There were no posts or thanks for a long time, and the view count could just be people clicking on it, spending 5 seconds to look at it, and then leaving. Guess I will change where I put Modern though.
Can this be created as a pdf? I would love to download it and read it casually.
Perhaps it could be. I would have to make sure it is really really correct and up to date then, if a permanent version is going to be laying around on someone's computer. I guess I would have to get rid of all the spoiler tags then
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Part 1: Introduction
What is this guide?
This guide is intended to show players who are not yet familiar with tournament Magic what they need to know about competitive formats. This includes what a format is, and what the different formats are. The information in this guide can be found in official announcements rules documents. This guide compiles that information and seeks to present it in a way that is easier to digest for most players.
Dates in this guide that are written only with numbers are on the form "[year]-[month]-[day]".
Sources
What is this guide not?
This guide does not discuss what is smart play or clever deck construction. Neither does it discuss tournament structures (such as Swiss draw and single elimination). It also does not discuss non-competitive formats.
Who is the author?
I am a Norwegian Magic: the Gathering player, judge and tournament organizer. I started playing around the time Tempest and Stronghold were released. Since then I have had a few long breaks from the game for different reasons. My main interest as a player is competitive tournament play, although I am far from an exceptional player. In December 2009 I became a Rules Advisor. In March 2010 I became a level 1 certified judge. In December 2011 I became a level 2 certified judge.
What are competitive tournaments?
A competitive tournament is a tournament that follows certain rules laid out by Wizards of the Coast where the results of each match in the tournament is reported for entry into their database. When a match in a competitive tournament is played, the players can gain Planeswalkerpoints depending on the outcome of the matches they play and the number of players in the tournament. A competitive tournament must use only competitive formats to be valid.
What are competitive formats?
A competitive format is a set of rules that describe and limit how players in a competitive tournament may construct the deck they play with. When a tournament uses a certain format, all players in the tournament must follow the rules of that format.
Part 2: Overview
The main part of this guide is parts 2-5. Part 3 details Single player formats, part 4 discusses Two-Headed Giant formats and part 5 is about Three-Player Team formats.
At the starts of each of those four parts is a chart that gives an easy overview of how formats relate to each other. Those four charts would all be in one picture but have been split up due to space issues. The bottom level of the chart in part 2 is the same as the top level in the charts in parts 3-5, so you can see the flow all the way from the "root level" down to the formats.
The 6 levels of the combined charts are explained just below. Except for "Definition", each level is made with information extracted from official WotC documents and announcements.
Each format is a part of all higher-level elements directly above it in the overview. Each format follows the rules of the elements it is a part of. Except for the root level, all levels are discussed in part 3-5 of the guide.
Competitive formats are divided into Single player formats, Two-Headed Giant formats and Three-Player Team formats.
Part 3: Single player formats
This part of the guide contains detailed information about Single player competitive formats.
You can start at the top and keep opening spoilers until you have read part 3 in it's entirety. You can also easily compare the different elements on the same level by opening all the spoilers in the same section. Finally, if you wish to know all the rules governing a given format, you can open the spoiler for that format, find the "Lineage" headline, and then open all of the elements listed under it. By reading the spoilers you have opened, you should get to know all critical information about that format.
Constructed contains all block formats, rotating formats and eternal formats.
Limited formats are:
There are 20 different block formats. When people talk about playing "block", it is reasonably safe to assume that they are talking about the most recent block format unless you have reason to believe otherwise.
The block formats are (from oldest to newest):
The rotating formats are:
The Eternal formats are:
Legal sets
Banned cards
Legal sets
Banned cards
Legal sets
Banned cards
Legal sets
Banned cards
Legal sets
Banned cards
Legal sets
Legal sets
Legal sets
Legal sets
Banned cards
Legal sets
Legal sets
Legal sets
Legal sets
Legal sets
Legal sets
Legal sets
Legal sets
Banned cards
Legal sets
Legal sets
Legal sets
Upcoming changes
Lineage
Legal sets
Upcoming changes
Lineage
Legal sets
Banned cards
Upcoming changes
Lineage
Legal sets
Banned cards
Upcoming changes
Lineage
Legal sets
Banned cards
Restricted cards
Upcoming changes
Rules
Booster draft contains 3 phases, namely "booster draft" followed by "deck construction" followed by "match play".
In the booster draft phase, each player receives identical and ordered sets of unopened boosters. These boosters must all be from tournament legal sets. When the draft begins, each player opens the designated first booster and looks at the cards inside without showing anyone else what they opened. Each player takes a card from the booster and places it in front of them face down without letting anyone know what they took. Then everyone passes the remaining cards to the player to their left. The players pick up the cards they were passed by the player to their right, choose a card, and pass the remaining cards to their left. This goes on until the first set of boosters is depleted. Players then repeat this process with each booster, except that each booster after the first is passed in the opposite direction than the booster before it. In other words, the first set of boosters is passed to the left until depleted, the second to the right, the third to the left, the fourth to the right, and so on. Once all the boosters are empty and all cards in them are drafted, the booster draft phase is over. The cards you picked become your "pool of cards".
The next phase is the deck construction phase. Each player builds a deck, using only the cards in their pool of cards as well as any number of cards with both the supertype "basic" and the card type "land" that does not have the supertype "snow".
The last phase is the match play phase. During this phase the players play whatever matches the tournament structure dictates with the decks they built in the deck construction phase.
The description above is a generalized description of the booster draft format. However, almost all booster draft tournaments follow these additional DCI recommendations:
Rules
Sealed deck consists of 2 phases, "deck construction" and "match play".
In the deck construction phase, each player receives identical sets of unopened boosters. These boosters must all be from tournament legal sets. Each player opens his or her boosters, and the cards they get from them become that players "pool of cards". Each player then builds a deck, using only the cards in their pool as well as any number of cards with both the supertype "basic" and the card type "land" that does not have the supertype "snow".
The last phase is the match play phase. During this phase the players play whatever matches the tournament structure dictates with the decks they built in the deck construction phase.
The description above is a generalized description of the sealed deck format. However, almost all sealed deck tournaments follow these additional DCI recommendations:
Part 4: Two-Headed Giant formats
In this section, only elements that deviate from their Single player counterpart or are not previously mentioned are described.
The Unified Deck Construction rule means that the limitations of no more than 4 cards with the same name per deck + sideboard, as well as restrictions and bannings of cards, are applied to the team as a whole rather than its individual players. Cards that you may use no more than 4 of are thus limited to 4 of that card for the entire team. Restricted cards are limited to 1 copy of the card for the entire team. Banned cards may not be used.
Part 5: Three-Player Team formats
In this section, only elements that deviate from their Single player counterpart or are not previously mentioned are described.
The Unified Deck Construction rule means that the limitations of no more than 4 cards with the same name per deck + sideboard, as well as restrictions and bannings of cards, are applied to the team as a whole rather than its individual players. Cards that you may use no more than 4 of are thus limited to 4 of that card for the entire team. Restricted cards are limited to 1 copy of the card for the entire team. Banned cards may not be used.
There are 2 teams on a draft table. One team (designated team 1 for purposes of this explanation) has their players seated in clockwise A-B-C order, followed by the other team (team 2) seated in clockwise A-B-C order. The order is thus clockwise 1A-1B-1C-2A-2B-2C. Each player in the draft gets the same sets of ordered packs. A team is determined through a random method. That team decides which team starts the draft. For the rest of this explanation, I will assume that team 1 starts the draft.
Boosters are opened one at the time in Rochester draft, rather than all players in the draft opening simultaneously. The draft starts with player 1B opening his/her first pack. After that booster has been emptied, the player who opens a pack is the player seated next to the player who opened the last pack. The opening order starts going in the clockwise direction. Each time all players on the table have opened the same number of boosters, the player who opened the last booster opens the next one, then the direction is reversed. For each booster, the player who opened that booster is called the "active player".
Within each booster, the pick order is as follows. Picks start with the active player. In the 1st, 3rd and every other odd numbered round of booster packs, pick order starts moving in a clockwise pattern from the player who made the last pick. In even numbered round of booster packs, pick order starts moving in a counter-clockwise pattern from the player who made the last pick. Each time all players on the table have picked the same number of cards from the booster, the player who made the last pick makes another pick, then pick order reverses.
Once all packs have been drafted, each player builds a deck from the cards they drafted.
Part 6: Clarifications
Card names
When identifying a card, it does not matter what version of the card you have. This means that 2 cards counts as the same card if their name, in any language, is the same. The cards language, set or other peculiarities such as being foil or full art do not matter when deciding whether 2 cards are the same.
When determining whether a card is legal for play in a given format, check what sets that card has been printed in. If at least 1 of those sets are legal for the format in question, all black bordered and white bordered versions of the card are legal, unless the card is banned or restricted in that format.
Part 7: Closing statements
This guide is subject to being changed and updated. See the "Last edited by" entry at the bottom of the post to see when it was last changed.
I hope this guide will be of help to players trying to get into tournament Magic. If you want to suggest any changes to the guide, see any errors you want to make me aware of, or if the guide was useful or simply a good read, make a post! If the guide is useful, please consider giving the post a "thank you". Thank you for reading, have fun playing Magic, and have fun on the MtG Salvation forums!
1 thing that you could add is the sets (In order) legal in extended and standard, I know I was confused about that when I started, and it took me almost a year to memorize set orders back to invasion.
You are right. WotC does not define Modern as an Eternal format, and I want this guide to reflect the official stance on these things. Even if it states that the "Definition" sections of the guide were invented by me to describe the different types of constructed formats, people could still get confused by it.
Modern really is a curious format. It behaves like Vintage and Legacy in the sense that sets never leave the format, while every new normal set keeps going into it. It is different from them by not including every normal set since the start, and by not deriving card legality from special products. Whether the similarities or differences are stronger is simply a matter of opinion. I will go with WotC's opinion that it is not an Eternal format though, even if my opinion is that it should be.
Wizards breaks Constructed into sub-categories of "Constructed" and "Eternal". I think this definition is pretty useless, since "Constructed" contains formats that behave radically different, and as such it describes pretty much nothing. Also, section 3.2 contains an error, as there is no format named "Block Constructed".
I still want to break Constructed into "Block", "Rotating" and something that contains Vintage, Legacy and possibly Modern. This distinction is much more useful, since it groups formats that behave in a certain way together. I have two options:
I did what I wanted to do with Modern in this guide, since I didn't think many people read it. There were no posts or thanks for a long time, and the view count could just be people clicking on it, spending 5 seconds to look at it, and then leaving. Guess I will change where I put Modern though.
Standard:
WBRG Aggro-Reanimator Humans GRBW
Modern:
UR Twinning RU
G Venus Fly Trap G
U Artifacts Aggro U
Legacy:
B Reanimator B
WU Stoneblade UW
EDH
WBGGhave, Guru of SporesGBW
URGRiku of the Two ReflectionsGRU
WUBRGScion of the Ur-DragonGRBUW
Casual
Far too many to list
Perhaps it could be. I would have to make sure it is really really correct and up to date then, if a permanent version is going to be laying around on someone's computer. I guess I would have to get rid of all the spoiler tags then