Play Magic: The Gathering online free, every format.

Why play here

Magic: The Gathering has more competing formats than most card games have cards. The format you pick shapes the deck-building budget, the card pool, and the kind of opponent you’ll meet across the table. TableCommander supports every major format in your browser, free, with access to every card ever printed and no rules engine getting between you and a creative play. The pages below are a quick orientation, with links to the deeper resources we have for each one.

Commander / EDH

A 100-card singleton multiplayer format built around a legendary creature you choose as your commander. Pods are usually four players, games run 60 to 90 minutes, and the format rewards politics as much as mechanics. It’s the most popular online format on TableCommander by a wide margin. For a full walk-through, read the guide to playing Commander online or the Commander deckbuilding guide.

Standard

The rotating 60-card competitive format covering the most recent two years of Magic sets. Games are quick, decks are tightly constructed, and metagames change every few months. Standard is the right pick if you want a fast, low-variance 1v1 game without committing to a long Commander pod.

Modern

A non-rotating 60-card format using cards from 8th Edition forward. The card pool is enormous, the archetypes are deep, and the format rewards mastery of a single deck. Modern games typically resolve in 15 to 30 minutes and reward tight technical play.

Pioneer

Pioneer covers Magic from Return to Ravnica onwards (2012). It sits between Standard and Modern in card pool depth and power level. A good choice if you have collections from the last decade and want to use them.

Legacy and Vintage

The two oldest constructed formats. Legacy permits almost every card Magic has ever printed; Vintage adds the few that Legacy bans (the Power Nine, Mishra’s Workshop) on a restricted-list basis. Both are rare to find online for budget reasons in paper, but on TableCommander there is no budget barrier: you can play a fully optimised Vintage deck without owning any of the cards.

Pauper

Pauper is constructed Magic restricted to cards printed at common. The cheap-paper format with a surprisingly deep online ecosystem: the metagame is well-defined, the games are tight, and a competitive deck costs effectively nothing in real money. A great entry point if you’re curious about competitive Magic without the price tag.

Brawl

Brawl is the singleton 60-card format played with Standard’s legal card pool, with a legendary creature or planeswalker as your commander. Think of it as Commander’s short-game cousin: faster decks, smaller pool, often 1v1 but also playable multiplayer.

Oathbreaker

Oathbreaker plays like a snappier Commander: 60 cards, a planeswalker as your “commander”, and a signature instant or sorcery you can cast from the command zone. Games run shorter, decisions are more focused on the planeswalker’s identity, and the format has a small but enthusiastic online following.

Casual and homebrew

Cube draft proxies, peasant variants, custom-card decks, house-rule formats. Because the simulator does not enforce a format, anything two-to-six players agree on works. The lobby has a casual filter that collects everything outside the standard format list.

What “free” means here

Free in the literal sense: no subscription, no card purchases, no ad gating, no premium accounts. Every card in every format is available to every player. If you want to support the project, supporter tiers exist but they unlock cosmetics, not features. Card data comes from Scryfall; the simulator is open to anyone with a browser.

Multi-format FAQ

Do I need to own the cards?

No. The simulator gives you access to every printing of every card. This is the main reason high-budget formats like Legacy and Vintage are realistic to play here.

Is the format pool the same as Magic Online?

The card pool matches Scryfall and updates regularly with new sets. Format legality follows Wizards of the Coast announcements.

Can I play 1v1 formats with rules enforcement?

The simulator never enforces rules automatically; you play cards manually. If you want strict enforcement, MTGO and Arena fill that niche. Here you trade enforcement for the full card pool and the ability to play unusual formats.