- Home /
- Guides/ Cards and sets/ The Magic sets and where the cards can be played
The Magic sets: edition types and where the cards are legal
Magic: The Gathering, MTG for short, has been releasing cards since 1993 and has more editions than any other card game. Listing them all helps no one. What actually makes it easier to find the right product is understanding what kinds of editions exist, since each kind has its own role, its own price level and its own rules for where the cards can be played.
Quick facts
| Publisher | Wizards of the Coast |
|---|---|
| Launch | 1993 |
| Main sets | Several per year, legal in Standard |
| Set code | Three letters at the bottom, such as FDN |
| Standard pack | Play booster, 14 cards |
| Card size | Standard, 63 × 88 mm |
How to read a Magic card
The set symbol sits in the middle of the card, below the right edge of the illustration, and its colour shows the rarity: black for common, silver for uncommon, gold for rare and orange-red for mythic. At the bottom is the three-letter set code, such as FDN for Foundations, and at the bottom left the card number, written as 0142. The illustrator's name is also at the bottom, which matters more often than beginners think: collectors of special versions look for a particular artist as often as for a particular card.
The edition types
The main sets are the year's big sets, several a year, each with its own world and its own mechanics, and these are the ones legal in Standard. Alongside them is Universes Beyond, editions built on other brands such as The Lord of the Rings, Final Fantasy, Marvel, Doctor Who and Fallout: fully playable Magic cards, not collector curiosities.
The Commander editions are ready-made hundred-card decks that either accompany a main set or are released on their own. How the format is played is explained in the Commander guide. The Masters sets are reprints of older, expensive cards, made to increase supply and push prices down. The Horizons sets are the opposite: brand-new cards that never become legal in Standard but go straight into the older formats. On top of that there is Remastered, which modernises old worlds, Jumpstart, where half-decks are combined two by two into something playable, and Secret Lair, direct-sold special illustrations in limited runs.
The pace is high all year, so a list is never the final word. What is available to buy is in the Magic category.
Where the cards are legal
Standard only allows the main sets of recent years, and which ones are included rotates annually. Commander allows almost every card ever printed, but only one copy of each. Modern and the older formats reach far back and each has its own ban list. The rule that most often surprises people is that Horizons and Commander editions are never legal in Standard, however new they are. If you buy them to play Standard, you have bought the wrong product.
The editions that shaped the hobby
Limited Edition Alpha from 1993 was the first, was printed in a small run and holds the hobby's most expensive cards. Beta was the second printing and is told apart from Alpha by the rounding of the corners. Unlimited and Revised were early reprints with white borders and are considerably more common. The first two expansions, Arabian Nights and Antiquities, were printed in smaller runs than what soon became standard and are rare for the same reason as Alpha. The third expansion, Legends, came in a considerably larger run but still holds several of the hobby's most expensive cards, where the explanation is more often Reserved List status and uneven distribution between printings than a small print run.
Of what has come later, the Modern Horizons series has reshaped the older formats the most, and Foundations is the clearest entry point for new players, built to stay in Standard longer than a regular main set.
The booster formats
| Play booster | Standard pack since 2024, 14 cards. Replaced both draft booster and set booster. |
|---|---|
| Collector booster | Premium pack with guaranteed foils and specially treated cards. Smaller display. |
| Jumpstart booster | 20 cards that are already half a deck. |
| Draft booster | Older format, 15 cards. Still found for older sets. |
| Set booster | Older format, 12 cards. Not printed for new sets. |
The sets
The sets are listed in release order, with what sets each one apart from other Magic sets.
Innistrad: Midnight Hunt
The set returned to the horror world of Innistrad, where sunlight is fading and longer nights mean more attacks by werewolves and vampires. It introduced day and night: the game itself switches between day and night, and double-faced werewolves with daybound and nightbound transform accordingly. Also new were disturb, which lets certain creatures be cast from the graveyard on their back face, and coven, which rewards having three or more creatures with different power. Innistrad: Crimson Vow followed two months later in the same world.
The chase card is Wrenn and Seven, the green planeswalker.
Phyrexia: All Will Be One
The set takes place on New Phyrexia, where the Mirrans resist the Phyrexians. Toxic gives poison counters on combat damage to a player and corrupted rewards you when an opponent has at least three, while For Mirrodin! on equipment creating Rebel tokens and oil counters were new. Five mythic rare planeswalkers and Elesh Norn, Mother of Machines are available with text in Phyrexian, and manga artist Junji Ito drew a borderless Elesh Norn.
The chase cards are the five compleated planeswalker cards in Phyrexian and Junji Ito's borderless manga-style Elesh Norn, Mother of Machines.
March of the Machine
March of the Machine depicts Phyrexia's invasion of a range of planes and the defenders who strike back. The set introduced the battle card type, double-faced cards that players attack until they are defeated and flipped, as well as backup and incubate, where Incubator tokens can transform into Phyrexian creatures. Every Set Booster and Draft Booster contained a card from Multiverse Legends, 65 reprints of well-known characters in styles from sixteen planes, and the Commander decks came with Planechase cards.
The chase cards are the serialized Multiverse Legends cards, numbered 1 to 500 in double rainbow foil, and the serialized Praetor cards.
March of the Machine Jumpstart
The Jumpstart boosters for March of the Machine have 20 cards around a theme, and two packs shuffled together make a ready-to-play deck. There are five themes, one per colour and in two variants each: Brood, Overachiever, Expendable, Reinforcement and Buff. Each pack has a rare made for Jumpstart and a rare or mythic rare from the main set, and the five new rares, among them Surrak and Goreclaw and Orthion, Hero of Lavabrink, are also available in extended art in the set's Collector Boosters.
The chase cards are the five rares made for the Jumpstart boosters, among them Surrak and Goreclaw and Orthion, Hero of Lavabrink, available in extended art in Collector Boosters.
March of the Machine: The Aftermath
The Aftermath is an epilogue set of 50 new cards about the consequences of the Phyrexian invasion, in which many surviving heroes have lost their powers. The set has no commons and consists of 15 uncommons, 25 rares and 10 mythic rares. It was released in Epilogue Boosters with five cards per pack and is not made for draft, but the cards are legal in Standard.
The chase cards are the halo foil versions of the 43 planar cards and the Buy-a-Box card Jolrael, Voice of Zhalfir.
The Lost Caverns of Ixalan
The set goes down into the cave system beneath the golden city of Orazca on Ixalan, with the world's old inhabitants: dinosaurs, pirates, vampires and merfolk. New mechanics are discover, which pulls a card from the library to cast immediately or put into your hand, craft, where a card transforms in exchange for materials and mana, and descend, which counts permanent cards in the graveyard. Roughly one in twelve Set Boosters contains a card from the Jurassic World Collection, 26 cards of which 20 are new rares, and Special Guests reprints sit in the slot where The List cards otherwise go.
The chase cards are the neon ink versions of Cavern of Souls and Mana Crypt and the twenty new rares in the Jurassic World Collection.
Ravnica Remastered
Ravnica Remastered collects 292 reprints from Ravnica's earlier sets, with the guilds at the centre. In every Draft Booster the basic land slot has been replaced by a mana slot with a Guildgate, a Signet, a shock land or Chromatic Lantern, and every pack has at least one retro frame card. All ten shock lands are included, also in retro frame, and Collector Boosters have borderless anime-style cards and numbered retro frame cards.
The chase cards are the 64 serialized retro frame cards in double rainbow foil and the borderless anime cards, for example Cyclonic Rift, Deathrite Shaman and Niv-Mizzet Parun.
Outlaws of Thunder Junction
Thunder Junction is a Wild West plane with outlaw gangs, and the set revolves around a heist. New is committing a crime by targeting an opponent or something an opponent controls, plus plot, where a card is set aside to be cast for free later, spree and saddle for Mount creatures. Assassin, Mercenary, Pirate, Rogue and Warlock count as outlaws, and every Play Booster contains a reprint from the Breaking News bonus sheet.
The chase cards are the storyline cards in The Big Score, where five mythic rares get a raised gold stamp in a vault frame, and the Breaking News reprints in textured foil.
Modern Horizons 3
Modern Horizons 3 is made for the Modern format, and the new cards go straight there without passing through Standard. The Eldrazi are at the centre with new versions of the titans, among them Emrakul, the World Anew, and energy returns. Double-faced legends such as Ajani, Nacatl Pariah transform into planeswalkers, and all five allied-colour fetchlands were reprinted, among them Flooded Strand and Polluted Delta. The set also renamed the tribal card type to kindred.
The chase cards are the serialized Eldrazi titans in 250 copies each in double rainbow foil and the borderless Special Guests cards in textured foil.
Modern Horizons 3 Commander
Modern Horizons 3 got four Commander decks: Graveyard Overdrive (black-red-green) with Disa the Restless, Tricky Terrain (blue-green) with Omo, Queen of Vesuva, Creative Energy (white-blue-red) with Satya, Aetherflux Genius and Eldrazi Incursion with Ulalek, Fused Atrocity. Each deck contains 13 new cards, and the Collector's Edition versions have ripple foil on all 100 cards.
The chase cards are the Collector's Edition decks' ripple foil, which covers all 100 cards in each deck.
Assassin's Creed
Assassin's Creed was the first set in Beyond Boosters, a new booster type for Universes Beyond with up to four rares per pack, and was not made for draft. The cards are legal in Modern, Commander, Legacy and Vintage but not in Standard, and the set is not on MTG Arena. The new mechanic freerunning is an alternative cost when an Assassin or a commander has dealt combat damage to a player this turn, and the characters include Ezio Auditore da Firenze, Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad and Eivor Wolf-Kissed.
The chase cards are Edward Kenway and the three cards that follow Ezio Auditore da Firenze through life, in the showcase edition with textured foil.
Bloomburrow
Bloomburrow is a new world populated by small woodland animals, where ten animal folk each make up an archetype in a colour pair. New mechanics are offspring, which for an extra cost gives a 1/1 copy of the creature, gift, where you promise the opponent a gift in exchange for an extra effect, plus forage, valiant and expend. Modal cards with paw prints let the player choose modes for up to five paw prints.
The chase cards are the Field Notes cards' eight Calamity Beasts and the 21 Japanese Raised Foil cards, among them Mitsuhiro Arita's Lumra, Bellow of the Woods.
Bloomburrow Commander
Bloomburrow came with four Commander decks: Animated Army (red-green) with Bello, Bard of the Brambles, Family Matters (blue-red-white) with Zinnia, Valley's Voice, Peace Offering (green-white-blue) with Ms. Bumbleflower and Squirreled Away (black-green) with Hazel of the Rootbloom, a deck built around squirrels and Food. Each deck contains ten new cards, the commander as a borderless foil card and a Collector Booster Sample Pack.
The chase cards are each deck's two borderless foil commanders.
Duskmourn: House of Horror
Duskmourn is an entire plane inside a single house, and the set takes the horror film as its model. Room cards are split cards with two doors: you cast one half and can unlock the other later. Manifest dread puts one of the top two cards of the library face down as a 2/2 creature, and survival, eerie and impending were also new.
The chase cards are the Fracture Foil versions of the Japan Showcase cards, which appear in under one percent of Collector Boosters, and the borderless Mirror Monster cards.
Duskmourn: House of Horror Commander
Duskmourn: House of Horror got four Commander decks: Miracle Worker (white-blue-black) with Aminatou, Veil Piercer, Death Toll (black-green) with Winter, Cynical Opportunist, Jump Scare! (green-blue) with Zimone, Mystery Unraveler and Endless Punishment (black-red) with Valgavoth, Harrower of Souls. Besides ten new cards, each deck contains ten Scheme cards for the Archenemy format.
The chase cards are each deck's two borderless foil commanders.
Foundations
Foundations is a core set made as a starting point for new players, built to stay in Standard longer than a regular set. Around the set are beginner products such as the Beginner Box, the Starter Collection with over 350 cards and Jumpstart boosters. Borderless rares and mythic rares also come as mana foil with the five mana symbols over the image, and ten Japan Showcase cards by Japanese illustrators are only in Collector Boosters.
The chase cards are the mana foil versions of the borderless planeswalker cards and the Buy-a-Box promotion's double rainbow foil Sol Ring.
Aetherdrift
Aetherdrift is a race across three planes in which ten teams compete, each with its own two-colour style. Start your engines! gives the player a speed that rises up to four when opponents lose life during your turn, and exhaust abilities can only be activated once, while Vehicles and Mounts return. Every display has a Box Topper pack with first-place foil cards, The Aetherspark is available numbered in Collector Boosters, and the Finish Line Bundle contains six Play Boosters and two Collector Boosters.
The chase card is The Aetherspark in serialized double rainbow foil.
Tarkir: Dragonstorm
The set returns to Tarkir, where elemental storms give birth to dragons, and is built on the five three-colour clans. Each clan has its own mechanic: Abzan has endure, Jeskai flurry, Sultai renew, Mardu mobilize and Temur harmonize. Omen cards are dragons with a spell that is shuffled back into the library once cast, and behold lets the player reveal a dragon from hand or choose a dragon they control.
The chase cards are the serialized Mox Jasper in retro frame and the Ghostfire halo foils, both only in Collector Boosters.
Final Fantasy Commander
Final Fantasy Commander consists of four decks each tied to one game: Revival Trance (Final Fantasy VI) with Terra, Herald of Hope, Limit Break (Final Fantasy VII) with Cloud, Ex-SOLDIER, Counter Blitz (Final Fantasy X) with Tidus, Yuna's Guardian and Scions & Spellcraft (Final Fantasy XIV) with Y'shtola, Night's Blessed. Each deck has two commanders as foil cards, and the Collector's Edition versions have surge foil on all 100 cards.
The chase cards are the Collector's Edition decks' surge foil, which covers all 100 cards in each deck.
Final Fantasy
Final Fantasy covers all sixteen main games in the series and has a basic land for each game. The set was released legal in all formats, including Standard, as part of the decision to make Universes Beyond sets legal in Standard going forward. New mechanics are job select, where an equipment creates a Hero token and attaches to it, and tiered, spells with three modes that cost more the stronger the effect, and Saga creatures debuted here. Collector Boosters can contain numbered Golden Chocobo cards, 1 to 77 and only in English.
The chase cards are the serialized Golden Chocobo, numbered 1 to 77 and only in English, and the ten borderless cards illustrated by Final Fantasy artists such as Yoshitaka Amano and Tetsuya Nomura.
Edge of Eternities Commander
Edge of Eternities got two Commander decks: World Shaper (black-red-green) with Hearthhull, the Worldseed and Counter Intelligence (blue-red-white) with Inspirit, Flagship Vessel, which is built on counters and Spacecraft. Both decks have two commanders as borderless foil cards and ten new cards, and Counter Intelligence also has four punch-out counter cards.
The chase cards are the four commanders' borderless foil cards.
Edge of Eternities
Edge of Eternities is Magic's first space opera set and takes place in the Sothera solar system around a supermassive black hole. New are Spacecraft, starships charged with station until they become creatures, the Planet land type, warp and void, plus Lander tokens that fetch a basic land. The textless Sothera, the Supervoid in singularity foil is only in Collector Boosters.
The chase card is the textless Sothera, the Supervoid in singularity foil, the set's signature card.
Marvel's Spider-Man
Marvel's Spider-Man was the first Magic set made for Pick-Two Draft, where four players pick two cards per pick. Web-slinging is an alternative cost where a tapped creature returns to hand, and mayhem lets a card discarded from hand the same turn be cast from the graveyard. The set is legal in Standard and brought the Infinity Stones into Magic with The Soul Stone, which comes in three versions.
The chase card is The Soul Stone in its three versions, where the borderless cosmic foil edition could only be found in Collector Boosters, in very few copies.
Avatar: The Last Airbender
The set is based on the animated series with Aang, Katara, Sokka and Appa, and the four elements each have their own mechanic: firebending, airbend, waterbend and earthbend. Double-faced sagas become creatures once the final chapter has resolved, and Lesson spells return. Scene cards recreate the series' three books with four, six and nine cards per scene, and a raised foil Avatar Aang drawn by series creator Bryan Konietzko is only available in English in Collector Boosters.
The chase card is the hand-drawn raised foil edition of Avatar Aang, the set's headliner card, illustrated by the series' co-creator Bryan Konietzko.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Commander
Turtle Power! is a single five-colour Commander deck with all four turtles. Leonardo, the Balance is the commander, and through Partner—Character select two of Leonardo, Donatello, Raphael, Michelangelo, Splinter and Heroes in a Half Shell can lead the deck together; all six are included as borderless foil cards in the deck.
The chase cards are the six partner commanders as borderless foil cards.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
The set takes the turtles from animated TV series, films and comics, is legal in Standard and is drafted in Pick-Two Draft. New mechanics are sneak, an alternative cost for casting cards, mutagen tokens that strengthen creatures and disappear, while alliance and Class enchantments return. In Turtle Team-Up, two to four players cooperate with ready-made decks for Leonardo, Donatello, Raphael and Michelangelo against an automated enemy deck, and the Pizza Bundle contains pizza-themed cards and a Collector Booster.
The chase cards are the four headliner cards with original art by TMNT creator Kevin Eastman, borderless and with a printed artist signature, only in Collector Boosters.
Marvel Super Heroes
Marvel Super Heroes brings together heroes and villains such as the Avengers, Fantastic Four, Black Panther and Doctor Doom, and the four Commander decks are called Avengers Assemble, Wakanda Forever, The Fantastic Four and Doom Prevails. Power-up abilities can only be activated once and become cheaper the turn the creature entered, teamwork is an extra cost where you tap creatures with enough total power, and connive returns. The set has The Mind Stone in three versions and was also released in Jumpstart boosters.
The chase card is The Mind Stone in its three versions, where the borderless cosmic foil edition was printed in fewer than 150 copies.
The Hobbit
The Hobbit follows Bilbo Baggins and Thorin's company of dwarves on their way to the dragon Smaug and is the first Middle-earth set legal in Standard, after The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth from 2023. New mechanics are storied, which gives a bonus when you control three artifacts, legends or sagas, recruit and hone counters on equipment, while Adventure and amass return. Collector Boosters contain around 500 copies of Smaug, the Magnificent in gleaming gold and five cards in the dwarves' language.
The chase cards are the gleaming gold Smaug, the Magnificent in around 500 copies and the five mythic cards with text in the dwarves' language.
You can find the set's products under The Hobbit.
Foundations Commander
Foundations Commander is five mono-coloured decks made to introduce Commander to new players, each with a simple strategy. The decks are Calling All Angels (white) with Giada, Font of Hope, Keen Engineering (blue, artifacts) with Sai, Master Thopterist, Wretched Ranks (black) with Ghoulcaller Gisa, Reign of Dragons (red, dragons) with Lathliss, Dragon Queen and Tramplesaurus Rex (green, big creatures) with Ghalta, Primal Hunger. The cards are reprints, and the commander comes as a foil card with borderless art.
The chase cards are the five commanders' foil cards with borderless art; the rest of the decks are reprints with no booster lottery.
Reality Fracture
Reality Fracture takes place in the Echoverse, a copy of the multiverse that Jace Beleren built without Phyrexians, Eldrazi and Bolas, with the war academy Hexhaven on Arcavios as a darker counterpart to Strixhaven. New mechanics are empower Jace, which creates a blue Jace planeswalker token or puts loyalty counters on the one you have, and Heartwood tokens that produce mana, while prepare returns from Secrets of Strixhaven. Every Play Booster guarantees an Echoed pair: a legend and an Echoverse version of the same character in a different colour.
The chase card is the serialized Bloodline Recollector in double rainbow foil, painted by Mark Poole, who also painted the original Ancestral Recall card.
Star Trek
Star Trek brings together crews, enemies and starships from The Original Series and The Next Generation to Voyager. Assimilate takes control of a creature and turns it into a Borg artifact creature with a +1/+1 counter, face a dilemma triggers when a player chooses modes, and station and Spacecraft return from Edge of Eternities. Collector Boosters contain signed cards for the first time in Magic, seven different ones with the actors' autographs, among them James T. Kirk and Kathryn Janeway, and shock lands come in an LCARS frame for all ten colour pairs. The release also includes Scene Boxes such as Divergent Timeline and Enterprise-Q.
The chase cards are the seven hand-signed actor cards, Magic's first ever of their kind, and the shock lands in LCARS frame with surge foil.
Mystery Booster Commander Edition
Mystery Booster Commander Edition is made for Commander Draft: eight players open three boosters each, pick two cards per pick and then split into two games of four players. The packs have 20 cards and mix reprints in Future Sight frame with 60 new commanders, Alchemy cards from MTG Arena and 121 playtest cards that are only playable in this format. The new commanders carry the ability word rulebreaker, which bends a single deckbuilding rule: Whtz, the Bibliophile removes the hundred-card cap, and Seluma, Light of Aysen allows angels and basic lands of any colour identity.
The chase cards are the eight rulebreaker commanders, each of which bends a deckbuilding rule, together with the reprints in Future Sight frame.
Nauctis: The Sunken Realm
Nauctis: The Sunken Realm takes place on a vast plane beneath the surface of the sea. The journey begins in calm waters, and the deeper it goes, the more magic and danger await.
Marvel: Darkhold Destiny
Marvel: Darkhold Destiny is an entirely new story in the Marvel universe that Wizards has written together with Marvel. Dormammu and Hela use a page from the Darkhold, a book that the world's foremost sorcerers have kept sealed, to tear down the walls between realities, and the story moves between the dimensions. A new character gets their backstory in a Marvel Comics comic by Jackson Lanzing and Collin Kelly, and Magik is one of the characters in the set. Draft Night is made for Pick-Two Draft, and the two Scene Boxes, Assault on Asgard and Skirmish at the Sanctum, have six borderless scene cards each. Collector Boosters contain, among other things, silver foil cards and cards in Midnight Raised Foil.
Kamigawa: Titanbreach
In Kamigawa: Titanbreach, an Omenpath opens over Towashi, the largest city on Kamigawa, and the plane of Ikoria crashes in through it. Raging beasts from Ikoria throw the city into chaos, and the people of Kamigawa must work together to stop the monsters that threaten to trample, burn and crush their homes. Against them stands the next generation of mechs, which embody the combined courage, inventiveness and firepower of the world, and the player chooses a side: the mechs or Ikoria's monsters. Wizards describes the set as bombastic all the way through, from the look of the monsters to the mechanics used against them. The set was presented at MagicCon Amsterdam 2026 and has four Commander decks.
Zhalfir
Zhalfir takes place in the kingdom of the same name, which has returned to the multiverse as a plane of its own, and Wizards presents it as a land of suns and spirits. The set shows Zhalfir with its roots in its long history in the game, and Teferi Akosa, Magic's master of chronomancy, returns there. Wizards describes the design as Magic the way players remember it, made with today's design philosophy, with cards that challenge the mind and a visual world drawn from Afrofantasy.
What makes a card expensive
Age and print run explain the top of the list: the first editions were printed in a fraction of what was printed later. Next comes playability in Commander, which is so popular that a card can rise sharply just by fitting into a well-liked deck. Special treatments also matter, meaning extended art, foil or serialized numbering.
The factor unique to Magic is called the Reserved List. It is a list of cards that Wizards has promised never to reprint, and that promise means their supply is fixed for all time. A card on that list can therefore not get cheaper through reprints, only through falling demand.
Finding the right product as a beginner
- Start with a Commander deck or a starter kit, not loose packs. Packs give random cards, and randomness does not build a deck.
- If you want to open cards for fun: choose a main set or Foundations, which is made for new players.
- Check that the cards are legal in the format you plan to play before you buy anything expensive.
- Buy single cards as soon as you know what the deck actually needs.
If you want to learn to play, a starter kit or two ready-made decks is enough. If you are going to play Commander, a ready-made hundred-card deck is the right buy. If you are opening together, the play booster display is built for exactly that. If you collect beautiful cards, the collector booster gives the highest share of specially treated cards. It does not give more playable cards, it gives nicer ones.
Mistakes that cost money
The most expensive mistake is buying boosters to build a specific deck; single cards are almost always cheaper and always safer. The second most expensive is mixing cards from different formats without checking what is allowed, and overlooking that Universes Beyond cards are not valid everywhere. And then there is the assumption that an old deck of cards is automatically valuable. Most of what was printed in the nineties was printed in runs of millions.
Frequently asked questions
- How many sets are there? More than any other card game, and new ones are added several times a year.
- Do I have to keep up with all of them? No. If you play Commander, it is enough to follow the editions that contain cards you want.
- Are old cards playable? In Commander and older formats, yes, unless they are on a ban list.
- What is Universes Beyond? Editions featuring other brands. They are fully playable Magic cards.
From our range
Read more about how Magic is played, the pack types and the most expensive cards.
Shop: Magic at Bangerpack.
Written by those of us who run Bangerpack. Range and prices change continuously. What applies when you read this is shown in the category.
