Formats
The rules and lists for every format people play, dated and sourced.
Reading the formats…
How the numbers are made, and where they come from
How the numbers are made
Where the lists come from
Every format's rules and its banned, restricted and points lists are kept by hand in one file, data/formats/registry.json, each entry with its date and its source, read October 21, 2026: Wizards of the Coast's banned and restricted page and announcements for Wizards' formats, and each community's own page for the rest (the Canadian Highlander Council, the 7 Point Highlander committee, the Duel Commander Committee, the Oathbreaker and Tiny Leaders committees, PDH Home Base, premodernmagic.com and the others named on each page). Dates before October 2023 in Wizards' formats come from MTG Wiki's timeline, to the month, and Commander's and Duel Commander's older dates from mtg.wtf's history pages; a row whose source gives no date says "No date given". A next update that was worked out from a body's habit, not announced, says so, and so does a value no source stated. Where two sources disagree (Wizards' list page and its own announcements, for Historic, Brawl and Alchemy), both answers are on the page, with their dates.
How the Scryfall check works
At every build each official list is compared with the legality field of Scryfall's Oracle bulk file (read October 22, 2026), card by card: the cards on both, the cards only on the official list with Scryfall's own word for them (legal, not legal, restricted), and the cards only on Scryfall. Names are read as Scryfall writes them: a two-faced card named by its front face, or a name copied with a curly apostrophe, is matched to the full card. Scryfall stores "banned as commander" as restricted in Duel Commander, Competitive Brawl and Tiny Leaders, so those lists are compared as banned as commander. Bans Scryfall's legality can't express (MTG Arena Best-of-One only, banned as a companion) are labeled on the list and left out of the comparison. Old School 93/94 is compared printing by printing, as Scryfall decides it. A format Scryfall doesn't track says which of Scryfall's formats its legal cards follow (Canadian and 7 Point Highlander follow Vintage, Big Apple Highlander Premodern). The site's card pages and searches use Scryfall's answer; the format page shows both. Each "Search its banned cards" link says exactly how many cards its search finds among the site's cards, counted at the build, and why the list's other rows aren't among them. Canadian and 7 Point Highlander carry Vintage's 101 rows with Vintage's dates, each marked as Vintage's.
What changes next
The calendar on /formats/ lists every dated next update in the registry, the rotations, and the cards Wizards has announced for a format before Scryfall carries them (the same dates the card pages show), soonest first. Dates already past on your device's clock are left out. A date worked out from a keeper's stated schedule or habit, not announced, is marked estimated (Duel Commander, Tiny Leaders, Penny Dreadful); a format whose keeper doesn't schedule updates (Premodern) shows none.
What this site republishes
Card names, dates, point values and which list a card is on: facts, each row linked to its source, with the list's keeper named on the page. The keepers' own write-ups and reasons are not copied; rules are written in this site's words with their rule numbers. The community points lists (Canadian Highlander, 7 Point Highlander, X-Point Old School) carry no license either way, so they are shown as names and numbers with credit and a link. Lists that couldn't be read (European Highlander, Scandinavian Highlander) are not shown. Metagame and community sites are listed with whether their terms let this site use their data; none of their data is copied here. Card names the site's card list doesn't hold (ante, Conspiracy, acorn and MTG Arena-only or Magic Online-only cards) are plain text.
Sources
- Wizards of the Coast, banned and restricted list and the dated announcements each row links, read October 21, 2026
- Comprehensive Rules, effective September 25, 2026 (903 Commander and its variants, 810 Two-Headed Giant, 901 Planechase, 904 Archenemy)
- Scryfall: legality in every format it tracks, read October 22, 2026
- mtg.wtf (MIT license): ban dates for Commander and Duel Commander
- MTG Wiki's timeline: month-only dates before October 2023, marked as secondary
- Each community list, linked from its format's page and its rows: canadianhighlander.ca, 7ph.com.au, duelcommander.org, oathbreakermtg.org, official-tlr.com, pdhhomebase.com, premodernmagic.com, eternalcentral.com, mtgoldframe.com, peasant-magic.com, mtgnyc.com and the others
About Formats
What it does
- A page for each of 52 formats: its rules, its banned, restricted and points lists with every row's date and source, and its history, each change linked to the announcement that made it.
- A Scryfall check on every list at every build: the cards on both, and each disagreement named with Scryfall's own word and both dates.
- What changes next: every dated list update, rotation and announced legality change, across formats, in one calendar.
- Rule sets side by side: Old School's five, Commander's variants, the three Brawls, Pauper and Historic Pauper.
- From each format into the tools: search its cards, start a deck, keep score at the table, and its metagame where Meta Lens has one.
- Found from anywhere: the site's search box knows every format by name and nickname, and "<format> banned list" goes straight to the list.
Why
Format rules live on a dozen sites that each cover one format, and card databases show today's answer without the date or the reason. One page per format, every list dated and sourced, and the disagreements named.
Changelog
- Each format says what it is in one plain line, on its card in the index and at the top of its page, from the site's glossary; the family counts read as "8 formats" to a screen reader.
- Every format page is in the site's search box (/ or Ctrl K) by name and by the other names people use (EDH, PDH, Canlander, 7PH); "standard banned list", "pauper bans" or "modern ban list" goes to that list, from the box on the home page too.
- Live: a page for each of 52 formats with its rules, its banned, restricted and points lists folded by category, sortable and searchable, every row dated and sourced, its history, the Scryfall check card by card, and a calendar of what changes next.