This is a place for asking simple questions that might not deserve their own thread. For example, if you have a question about a rules interaction, want sleeve and accessory recommendations, or suggestions for your new deck, then this is the place for you.

We encourage that you post any questions that you may have concerning Magic the Gathering here rather than make a separate thread for each question, though for now we won't require that you do so.

Rules Questions

Rules questions and interactions are allowed to be posted here, but if you need an answer quickly it may be best to use a dedicated resource like the 24/7 Magic the Gathering Rules Chat.

Deckbuilding Questions

If you're trying to get help with a deck, it is recommended that you post your decklist to a deckbuilding website so that it is easier to view. Some popular sites are Aetherhub, Archidekt, Deckbox, Deckstats, Moxfield, MTGGoldfish, and TappedOut.

Additionally, please include some description of what you are trying to accomplish. Don't just give us a decklist with no explanation, and don't ask extremely vague questions such as "what cards should I add to my deck to make it better?", because it's hard to give good advice in those cases. Let us know details, the more the better. Are you building with a particular strategy or theme in mind? Are there any non-obvious combo lines or synergies that people should be aware of? Are you struggling with a particular matchup, or are you finding yourself missing consistency in an important area, and need some help specifically for it? Let us know.

Commonly Asked Questions

I opened a card from a different set in my booster pack, is this unusual?

Don't worry, this is completely normal. If you opened a set booster, you have a small chance of obtaining a bonus card from a previous set. This is an extra card that does not replace any of the other cards in your pack, and is from a curated set of past hits that Wizards of the Coast has selected, which they call "The List".

You can view the contents of The List on Wizards of the Coast's official website. For example, the contents of The List for Streets of New Capenna boosters can be found here.

My foil card has a shooting start symbol over the bottom left. I can't find anything about it online.

All old-bordered foils have the shooting star symbol. Most sites that display card images just overlay a generic foil graphic over all foil cards, which doesn't include the shooting star. Your card is normal.

I have a few recent stories to share. A bit of background: I've started playing the game since Tenth Edition. In spite of how widespread and popular Magic: the Gathering has grown since I begun playing, I don't play as consistently as I use to. In terms of what I have: three bracket 5 EDH decks, one Canadian Highlander deck, one JundJund deck, and a Type 4 stack. I can pretty much play anything when given the cards. I am of the mindset that players be open and curious, and anything can manifest (no pun intended) when one puts their mind into it.

The most I've played Magic these days is with folks in my company building (I am in tech). We hang out every Wednesday in the evenings to play; for a given month, we devote the last week to playing something different, and the other weeks playing Commander. Our Magic group has a decent amount of people, but not everyone is available to commit on that day of the week. Most of the games I've played are in bracket 2-3, which I personally don't find interesting and still play (I borrow if I don't have a deck to play, and prefer that approach than building my own). Reflecting on the meetups in October, I feel that the combination of factors, a) games being almost always the same and b) inability for folks to commit, has affected my experience attending those meetups. When we got to Halloween week, and there is the option for folks to play a new and different format, the group decided on Commander instead. If folks wanted to play something different, a time is dedicated for that, and we've had previous instances where the group played something different (Cube and Dandan). We somehow decided on Commander, something that we play on every other week of the month. I cannot help but feel highly disappointed; if I wanted to play something different, I would have to wait on the last Wednesday of the following month. It feels unfair, and I am not getting the gaming experience that I want.

I tried looking elsewhere. There is an LGS located close to my home and I learned one of my good friends started playing there consistently again (he couldn't due to work hours). I am thinking it is a good opportunity to see some old friends and play more Magic. A lot of folks show up for the Commander events that pop up twice a week (Wednesdays and Fridays), and there are enough to start a game of competitive EDH (which I like). Last Friday night, I played at least four games of competitive EDH, which was fun. Some of the games were different, though the rest of the pod got a true buttkicking from Raph & Mikey (not that I took any issue because those decks are always fascinating to me). The store closes in an hour and thirty. I proposed our group play a different format, which was the Type 4 format. What happened to our pod, after I explained the rules and set everything up for the group game, transpired in this order:

• One player dipped after being too Magic-ed out (which I can understand), but another showed up (that person left shortly).

• Another player in our pod requested advice from the third on converting their Urza Lord High Artificer deck into a turbo variant. I was pretty much sitting and watching those two tinker.

• We couldn't get a game going until after the two finished tinkering and a fourth player showed up, and we played another Commander game at bracket 4-5.

I don't think words can describe how frustrated I was, that it feels impossible to get Magic players to play something different without really pulling some teeth. I've started playing Commander when the first wave of WOTC Commander products were released. I've played all sorts of games in the ten+ years I've spent for that particular format and met all kinds of people. I get that playing something that one is familiar with is welcoming and well-received. However, I feel that a more complete experience of playing Magic involves finding different things to play and not solely one that they, their friends and their friend's friends knows. And I felt Type 4 was perfect for players that are interested in Commander and casual-friendly games. However, if everyone is playing the same Magic format each week, chances are that there is no one else available to play for anything else.

I don't know if I have any advice. I am thinking the only solution for my situation is establishing a reliable, permanent playgroup. That will take a lot of work on my end (it is harder if it is for something players are less familiar with, and it has to be in-person) and doesn't address the problem I am seeing with a lot of Magic players these days (I am sorry, but that is what I am seeing). For folks that may suggest I return to the playgroup at my work building, there is a bit of a problem. I don't feel like offering my time on the belief that things would be different next time; I have another event scheduled on the same day and time (Silent Book Club), and playing Magic on that final Wednesday of this month means foregoing that other event. And if I cannot play on that Wednesday, I'll have to wait till December (and who knows if I'll commit). As much as I enjoy Magic, I find and enjoy other things. Perhaps as I look for other opportunities, I am placing more value in my time and presence.

If you made it this far, thank you for listening. Here are links to my Type 4 Stack and JundJund deck. You can find my other decks that I listed on my Moxfield account if you're interested. If you are interested in these formats, I highly recommend reading about and sharing them with Magic players you know.

Related Links:

https://mtg.fandom.com/wiki/Type_4

https://www.hipstersofthecoast.com/2025/03/jundjund-a-dandan-variant-for-midrange-players/

https://canadianhighlander.ca/about/

Lifelong Trekkie here. Watched TNG as a child, and I have seen All The Star Trek. Trek is one of my favorite things ever, and as much as I didn't think it belonged in Magic, I caved because it's Star Trek and I've played a bunch of it.

But... it really doesn't fit.

Let me explain.

FOR THE PURPOSES OF THIS DISCUSSION, Universes Beyond are fine and I will not be talking about the merits of them as a whole. Some have been good, some have been Spider-Man, but that's not the debate here.

Also, I will NOT be discussing the Commander decks except in that they allow more characters to show up. I've mostly been playing Arena formats.

PROBLEM 1: Spacecraft still suck.

Mechanically, spacecraft are... fine. They're interesting, they're a new design space, they're a variant of vehicles. They're inherently slow, which is a problem for constructed formats, but my big issue is that the USS Enterprise-D is a vehicle with over 1000 souls on board capable of singlehandedly wiping out all life on a planet, and here it's weaker than a Mugato. And this isn't a complaint about the Mugato. Ship to ship combat is a cool and interesting option. Crew combat is a cool and interesting option. Neelix punching out Voyager itself is insane to the point that it just completely takes me out of everything. And then the shuttle is a 2/4 and Voyager is a 4/4. Voyager HAS eight shuttles. The scale here is nonsense to the point where it all feels wrong. The shuttle is fine. DS9 is fine. And this isn't Star Trek specific- I had similar complaints in EoE. It's just bigger here because I know these ships personally and I know what they're supposed to be capable of. EoE ships I just assumed were more like space trucks, rather than the planetary threats a single Borg Cube is.

PROBLEM 2: I'm a doctor, not a...

One of the 9 draft archetypes, and one of the more flavorful ones at that, is UW doctors with lifegain and +1/+1 counters. I'll talk about this one specifically, but I feel this applies to a lot of other characters as well.

Because Magic: the gathering is a game about taking your opponent from 20 to 0, the way to be competent in this game is mostly for a creature to get big and powerful. And the doctors are the BEST at that. It wasn't unreasonable to get a 6/6 doctor in a game, and in one pool with Beverly Crusher and Sickbay I got to double digits multiple times. If this was 'Selesneya Surgeon' I'd just shrug and laugh, but it's Beverly Crusher and it just feels... wrong. Wrong for her to be the strongest thing on the full board. Wrong for The Doctor, EMH to be a beatstick smacking my opponents down. Wrong for Jake Sisko to be in combat. I'm not saying they can NEVER be in a fight- when the Borg show up, everyone picks up a weapon - but I AM saying to have them as my main combatants stops feeling like Star Trek. (Not M'Benga, though. M'Benga would absolutely become a 20/20)

But this one gets a lot worse. Because it's not just the doctors. It's the Federation.

I would never claim the Federation can't fight or never fights or that many of these characters aren't war heroes. But I WILL say that they should be trying really hard NOT to. These cards are focused on ability to hurt, to fight, to kill, but The Federation is primarily about waging peace.

"Peace in Our Time" (which VisionQuest refuses to let me take seriously) is a poor, single option for a faction whose entire soul is about preventing combat and waging peace. I was HOPING for a mill strategy (constantly favored as mentally wearing someone down until they lose the will and capability to fight), but this is a complain post not my how I'd have done it better post, so my point here is just that when Federation fights Klingons, the Federation CONVINCES THE KLINGONS TO BE FRIENDS. That's victory in Star Trek. Not killing them.

PROBLEM 3: Zero is helping the borg

Two-color draft archetypes are a great way to show flavor. Having L'Rell, the Duras Sisters, and Gowron sitting at BR screams out 'this is the klingons. We are a faction across time.' Phlox and The Doctor are the earliest and most recent doctors in all of Star Trek and offer a similar vibe. These are the doctors! This is a Doctor team! But then Zero, one of the nicest guys in the galaxy, is on the Borg team. Odo is with Hemmer. Odo's not even engineering. Why is he in the UW Spacecraft color? Spock with Gray and Adira isn't terrible, but Seven of Nine with Lore? But this is also a question of draft archetype teams.

Because only TWO of them are real factions and federation is spread throughout all five colors, every deck other than "borg" and "Klingon" is "the federation and a bunch of random dudes that hate them and some monsters." And yeah, some slipping in is always going to happen, but the way its set up, and most games being federation vs federation, is very offputting.

PROBLEM 4: Dilemmas are on the wrong characters

So they came out and said the purpose of dilemmas is to represent making tough decisions and solving problems with no right answer, and I kind of get that, putting it on Garak and Sisko and Seven of Nine, but then the workhorse for dilemmas are Lorca, Reno, nameless cardassian grunts, and Tell Me What You See. I don't mind the idea of Dilemmas Matter, but their stated goal and how they feel in gameplay just aren't that. And of course, modal spells rarely feel like making tough choices- they're usually just about having another option. And the actual flavor of what cards the dilemmas on is completely nonexistent. It's a mechanic that feels like it SHOULD have flavor and just doesn't seem to at all.

PROBLEM 5: None of these characters are Jeffrey Combs

Okay, I know that sounds silly, but my point is that in a set taking characters from all of Star Trek ever, some pretty important ones fall through the cracks as a result, even with the Commander decks shoring up the numbers. And this means we lose a lot of the 'lived in' feel of the world that's so important to Star Trek as well as any semblance of a plot or story We can see snippets, for example, that there IS a dominion war, or was, or will be (because time in this set is 'all time') but we don't get most of the important players. Dukat's here, sure, but I don't think a single card references that he's one of the main leaders. We're very clearly looking at "pile of Star Trek things" and not "Star Trek setting." And we've seen the difference strongly in other sets. Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, and Avatar have been UBs based on specific stories within a larger world and they feel proper and lived in and have all the important characters and make it clear who everyone is. Final Fantasy and Spider-Man and Marvel Heroes have a lot of characters just 'there' and then huge numbers of fan-favorites are missing because the focus is spread too far and we don't actually have any sense of anything going on. And this isn't even going into how entire factions are missing.

I use Jeffrey Combs to highlight this because Shran and Weyoun are both very important characters who would be an immediate pick for Enterprise or DS9 (and AGIMUS would probably show up in a Lower Decks set), but he just isn't in this set because it chose breadth instead of depth.

PROBLEM 6: The Klingons have no Honor

So the Borg are perfect, 10/10, no notes, but the Klingons are missing the most important part of themselves: Honor and glory. There's no on-hit triggers, there's no fight effects, and the sacrifice stuff is backwards. Klingons having sacrifice effects? Good. Great. Perfect. Klingons having effects to sacrifice OTHER creatures? No, no, very dishonorable. Not cool. Klingons should be willing (eager!) to sacrifice themselves for their cause, but it shouldn't be their bosses intentionally sending them to die. I'm not going to claim that never happens in the show, but it still feels like a jerk move.

So, that's been me ranting for a while. Allow me to sum up

This set has a lot of Star Trek stuff, but the way its assembled makes things constantly feel 'off' when playing it in ways that are not (or at least lesser) issues in Avatar or Final Fantasy. And Spacecraft don't feel like Spacecraft.

I casually watch magic pro tour + spotlight tournaments some times, especially draft - so sorry if I’m missing something.

I just learned the world championship is all Star Trek draft. Did Reality fracture really not get a draft in a major tournament that was streamed?

If so, this set was done so dirty

I’m sick of exile being used for ”get cards from your deck”.

Exile used to mean “remove from the game”. Like, you could put it back in your deck box - or on top of the rubber band for your deck back in the day.

The secondary use of Exile, for cards like Faceless Butcher, also made sense. Ok it’s like Exile but he goes under this card, neat.

But nowadays cards are like “exile the top four cards of your deck and cast one”. I get that the card has to be in some zone, but this is so different from the instinctual use of exile that it confuses people. Exile has become overused so it basically means “collect cards” and that stinks!

I’m sure that, from a rules perspective I’m wrong and there are very good reasons for the exile overuse. But I titled this post an unhinged take for a reason. Return Exile to “remove from the game”!

edit: I just add I genuinely believe this, but I’m making this post as a silly Sunday night activity. Please don’t take it too seriously!

Another deck for playing at home on a budget. This time, My Aggro in the style of Bloomburrow. Cards can be from various sets. I'd appreciate it if someone could take a look and tell me if it's possible to build a decent deck from this deck. My main requirement is that the deck not get stuck or topdecked, but rather draw cards for the game. I don't use expensive metacards.

https://moxfield.com/decks/bTgEKMXXQkeGCgpmt01D5Q

Can you show me other Mouse Aggro decks? Maybe I'll see something and add them to this shortlist

So I was surprised during the Nauctis preview panel that the rare dual land for the set is a tap land & the lack of info about what depletion counters are used for.

It got me to thinking why did we need a new dual land when most of the last few sets have had reprints of older lands (the Slow Lands in the Strixhaven/Hexhaven sets & Shock lands in Star Trek & Lorwyn/Edge of Eternity)

That led me to realize.... alot of the mana base in Standard will be gone soon & we don't know when they are going to get reprinted.

The Marvel Darkhold set is probably going to finish off the new check lands that they started in Marvel Super Heroes. Kamigawa is probably going to have the Triomes.

Come January we are losing most of rare dual lands or lands that can tap for multiple colors

1. Creature lands from Wilds of Eldraine & Lost Caverns (Also Cavern of Souls)

2. Surveil Lands from MKM

3. Fast lands from Outlaws of thunder Junction

4. Fabled Passage & Three Tree City from Bloomburrow

5. Half of the Verge lands from Duskmourn

TLDR: HOLY SHIT "Most" the Staple Dual lands are leaving standard in January.

Has anyone in Canada ordered singles from this Japanese website called Hareruya? They are very cheap and idk if it's legit or not?

On top of the shipping cost charged, will I get charged again by the customs in Canada, especially British Columbia?

I’ve been wondering: if we took the best Pauper decks and had them play against the best Standard decks, which format would win more matches?

On one side, Pauper only has commons, but it can use cards from Magic’s entire history. On the other, Standard has just a handful of sets, but it gets rares and mythics fueled by years of power creep that can win the game on their own.

Hi. We're planning to build casual/budget decks at home, based primarily (but not exclusively) on the Bloomburrow set. We started by building a 'Rabbits' deck. We want to build different decks for each animal archetype from that set. However, as I mentioned, we'll also maintain a budget feel. They won't contain expensive cards. I've built a preliminary pool of what could be used to build a Rabbit deck. Would anyone like to take a look, or perhaps add anything else? Or maybe there are completely unnecessary cards? Would anyone like to build a deck with this? I'm a complete novice in the world of MtG, but I have experience with Pokémon, Lorcans, SW, etc. Therefore, it's important to me that our decks always have one specific characteristic: they don't get stuck. I really dislike decks that start top-decking after 3-4 turns. I'd like decks with card draw, search, etc.

Is it possible to put something like this together while sticking to budget options?

Hey all, i'm building a bracket 2-3 commander deck and trying to make [[the ghoul, gunslinger]] my commander, because i find the idea of sacrificing creatures into rad counters on myself and treasure tokens into some big reanimate type payoff to be a super cool idea. Cheap commander, black has some cool mana acceleration options, hopefully dump a huge army before anyone has a chance to blink.

Issues with this is the rad counters do kill me. and black is known for all its good draw cards taxing hp, so getting a good hand of cards to play out after filling my graveyard has proven to be very difficult. On top of that, i'm finding that outside of [[syr conrad]] (who is really hard to consistently find, even with black's tutor cards) there is almost no actual payoffs for dumping half my deck to the grave. It gives me some good mana but not a lot of card draw or clear methods of attack against my enemies.

Any build advice for a deck like this? I've disassembled it atm but i built for bracket 3, and used as many tutors for conrad and mass reanimate cards as i could, and even in a perfect case with gravecrawler+sac outlet to give myself 30 rad counters and dump a bajillion cards, i find it really hard to turn that into a consistent threat in mono-black, and i don't know of any good commanders to tutor the ghoul super easily in black (like a [[rocco, cabaretti caterer]] type thing).

any direction would be appreciated, thanks all in advance

i missed it during preview panel

I love playing my Sovereign of the Deep deck and thought it’d be cool to build this one to complement that deck but I’ve never played mono red before and her cost to cast and her mana ability seem pretty steep.

I just finished playing with my pod and won my first Commander game, including against The Borg Queen!...with a lot of my friends' help. This is a deck I built myself so I don't have a decklist (I basically took apart the Witherbloom Pestilence precon and added some more of the SoS cards), but I had Dina, Soul Steeper Beladros Witherbloom (from the precon, not the one from the rest of the set), Defiling Daemogoth, my Commander Blech, Loafing Pest (and Tragedy Feaster, not that that card really played into the strategy). So I was sacking Pests for life, my opponents were losing 1 life, I was putting +1/+1 counters on Pests that kept generating each players upkeep, it all got to be a lot and I would have lost track if my friends didn't help. I've been playing about a year now, is this just something I have to learn or did I build above my skill level?

Getting back into Commander after a long absence and I'm picking up the Borg Commander deck which I intend to upgrade. Any suggestions? Here's the stock deck list. Thanks!

https://magic.wizards.com/en/news/announcements/star-trek-commander-decklists#we-are-the-borg

This is a place for asking simple questions that might not deserve their own thread. For example, if you have a question about a rules interaction, want sleeve and accessory recommendations, or suggestions for your new deck, then this is the place for you.

We encourage that you post any questions that you may have concerning Magic the Gathering here rather than make a separate thread for each question, though for now we won't require that you do so.

Rules Questions

Rules questions and interactions are allowed to be posted here, but if you need an answer quickly it may be best to use a dedicated resource like the 24/7 Magic the Gathering Rules Chat.

Deckbuilding Questions

If you're trying to get help with a deck, it is recommended that you post your decklist to a deckbuilding website so that it is easier to view. Some popular sites are Aetherhub, Archidekt, Deckbox, Deckstats, Moxfield, MTGGoldfish, and TappedOut.

Additionally, please include some description of what you are trying to accomplish. Don't just give us a decklist with no explanation, and don't ask extremely vague questions such as "what cards should I add to my deck to make it better?", because it's hard to give good advice in those cases. Let us know details, the more the better. Are you building with a particular strategy or theme in mind? Are there any non-obvious combo lines or synergies that people should be aware of? Are you struggling with a particular matchup, or are you finding yourself missing consistency in an important area, and need some help specifically for it? Let us know.

Commonly Asked Questions

I opened a card from a different set in my booster pack, is this unusual?

Don't worry, this is completely normal. If you opened a set booster, you have a small chance of obtaining a bonus card from a previous set. This is an extra card that does not replace any of the other cards in your pack, and is from a curated set of past hits that Wizards of the Coast has selected, which they call "The List".

You can view the contents of The List on Wizards of the Coast's official website. For example, the contents of The List for Streets of New Capenna boosters can be found here.

My foil card has a shooting start symbol over the bottom left. I can't find anything about it online.

All old-bordered foils have the shooting star symbol. Most sites that display card images just overlay a generic foil graphic over all foil cards, which doesn't include the shooting star. Your card is normal.

His name is Emjay and he's a Leotau

The new program will be badge based and they are splitting up topics into individual tests so that you can focus on the topics you're interested in. You'll be able to take the tests at your own choice and order.

If you wanna focus on The Stack, you can.
If you wanna focus on Running Events, you can.

I had to post images one at a time in the comments. The art team has made is clear that the badges are EARLY CONCEPTS! But the logos (top post) is final!

No membership fees!

Mostly digital exams in the Companion app (for now) and on the web eventually.

End of Spring 2027!

They said the site should be live soon at one of these? Making a guess cause they said it out loud.

https://magic.gg/judge-program
https://magic.gg/judgeprogram

more info here: https://www.judgefoundry.org/announcements/the-new-wizards-judge-program/