What Is Magic: The Gathering?

What Is Magic: The Gathering?

Magic: The Gathering (MTG) is the original trading card game — the one that started it all back in 1993 and is still going strong more than 30 years later. Two (or more) players build decks of 60 or 100 cards, take on the role of a powerful spellcaster, and battle it out using creatures, spells, and artifacts drawn from five colours of magic. Reduce your opponent's life total from 20 down to zero (or find one of Magic's many other win conditions) and you take the game.

What makes Magic different from almost every other card game on the shelf is the sheer depth of it. There are tens of thousands of unique cards released since 1993, and new expansions arrive several times a year. That means no two games ever feel quite the same, and there's a genuinely lifelong hobby here — whether you're chasing the competitive scene, building a themed 100-card Commander deck with your mates, or just cracking packs for fun.

The Five Colours of Magic

Every card in Magic belongs to one (or more) of five colours, each with its own strategic identity:

• White – order, protection, and going wide with efficient creatures
• Blue – card draw, control, and bending the rules of the game itself
• Black – power at a cost, sacrifice, and removal
• Red – aggression, speed, and direct damage
• Green – big creatures, mana ramp, and raw growth

Most decks you'll play combine two or three colours, which is where a lot of the game's deckbuilding depth comes from.

How Do You Actually Play? The Main Formats Explained

One of the most common questions we get at the shop is "which version of Magic should I actually play?" The truth is there isn't just one Magic — there are several official formats, each with a different card pool, pace, and philosophy. Here are the three you'll hear about most.

Standard: The Current Sets, Kept Fresh

Standard is Magic's rotating format. It only allows cards from the most recently released sets (generally the last two to three years' worth), so the card pool is constantly refreshed as older sets rotate out and new ones rotate in. That keeps the format fast-moving and approachable — you don't need to worry about a 30-year backlog of cards, because most of what's legal is sitting on our shelves right now.

Standard is where a lot of Friday Night Magic-style events are built around, and it's a great format if you like the idea of the metagame shifting every few months as new sets like Foundations or the newest expansion change what's viable.

Modern: A Deeper Card Pool, More Power

Modern is a non-rotating constructed format that includes cards going back to 2003's Eighth Edition onward. Because nothing rotates out, the card pool is enormous, and decks tend to be faster, more powerful, and more consistent than Standard. Modern is popular with players who've been in the game a while and want to dig into a huge card pool to build something highly optimised — everything from combo decks to aggressive creature strategies to grindy control decks.

If Standard is "what's new," Modern is "everything that's ever mattered since the early 2000s," minus a handful of cards that have been banned for being too strong.

Commander: Multiplayer, Casual, and Ridiculously Popular

Commander (sometimes called EDH) has become the most widely played way to enjoy Magic worldwide, and for good reason. Instead of 60-card decks played one-on-one, Commander uses 100-card singleton decks (only one copy of each card, aside from basic lands) built around a legendary creature or planeswalker as your "Commander." Games are usually played with three to five players around the table, life totals start at 40 instead of 20, and the social, free-for-all nature of multiplayer games makes it a fantastic format for building something with real personality — a deck themed entirely around dragons, or spirits, or artifacts, built to reflect exactly the kind of Magic you want to play.

Commander is also the friendliest entry point into constructed Magic because Wizards of the Coast regularly releases ready-to-play preconstructed Commander decks — no deckbuilding knowledge required to get started. We've got a full breakdown of how Commander precons work coming in a dedicated post, but if you want a taste right now, decks like the Secrets of Strixhaven Commander Decks are a great example of what's on our shelves.

Which Format Should You Start With?

If you're brand new to Magic, honestly — Commander is usually where we point people first. It's social, it's forgiving, and a single deck gets you playing straight out of the box with friends. Standard is a great next step if you like the idea of competitive events and a format that keeps evolving. Modern is where you land once you've found the strategy you love and want to chase the deepest, most powerful version of it.

Whichever direction you go, the great thing about Magic is that none of these formats are going anywhere, and it's genuinely fun to dabble across all three over time.

Learn and Play at Hobby Collectors Australia

Reading about Magic is one thing — playing it across the table from another person is where the game really comes alive. That's the part an online cardboard box can't give you. At our Fairfield store, we regularly run Magic play sessions and community game nights where new and experienced players sit down together, trade tips, and actually play. If you've been thinking about picking up Magic, there's no substitute for pulling up a chair and jumping into a game with people who are happy to teach you the ropes.

Drop into 30 Ware St, Fairfield NSW 2165 during our trading hours (Thursday 7–9pm, Friday 9am–9pm, Saturday 9am–5pm, Sunday 9am–4pm) to check out our full range of Magic: The Gathering singles and sealed product, or browse the full Magic: The Gathering range online.

Ready to actually build your first deck? Our next post walks through exactly how to get started playing Magic: The Gathering, including which beginner boxes and Jumpstart packs are the easiest way in.