You need one rules-legal deck, something to protect the cards, a way to track life totals, and an opponent. That is genuinely the whole list, and most of it comes in a single box if you buy a starter product.
Everything beyond that — booster boxes, a binder, a playmat, a second deck — is optional and can wait. This guide covers what to buy first, what the deck-construction rules actually require, and the two or three things new players routinely waste money on.
"What do I need?" has different answers depending on how you intend to play, and the deck-construction rules differ.
| Format | Deck size | Players | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard | 60 card minimum, up to 15-card sideboard | 2 | Only recent sets are legal |
| Commander | Exactly 100, including your commander | 3–5 | One copy of each card, no rotation |
| Booster Draft | 40 card minimum, built on the spot | 2–8 | Deck comes from packs you open |
In constructed formats such as Standard, a deck may contain any number of basic lands and no more than four copies of any other card sharing an English name — and that four-card limit counts your deck and sideboard together. Commander goes further: one copy of everything except basic lands.
If your local scene plays Commander on a weeknight, buying a Standard deck is not a mistake exactly, but it will sit in a drawer. Find out what people are actually playing near you first.
The single most common beginner mistake is buying a handful of booster packs and expecting a deck to fall out of them. It will not. Packs are a collecting product; they are not a deck.
Wizards of the Coast makes three products aimed squarely at new players, and its own product guide describes them this way:
Any of these three gets you playing the same day. Which one depends entirely on the format answer from step one.
Buy sleeves at the same time as the deck, not later. Card backs pick up wear from shuffling faster than people expect, and a deck with three visibly scuffed cards is a deck that can be identified during play — which is a real tournament problem, not a cosmetic one.
For a first deck, standard-size matte sleeves in a solid opaque colour are correct. Skip clear sleeves; they show wear on the sleeve itself and provide no marking protection. Buy more sleeves than the deck needs, because you will replace individual damaged ones.
Storage is a separate question from protection, and we have covered the protection side properly in our guide to storing cards — the principles there apply to Magic cards identically.
You need a way to track life totals and, depending on the deck, tokens and counters. In practice:
The free Magic Companion app handles life totals and event check-in, and MTG Arena is free if you want to practise the rules before playing in person. Learning the turn structure digitally and then bringing that to a table is a legitimate route, and it costs nothing.
This is the part a shop should be honest about.
Skip a booster box. A box of 30 Play Boosters produces a large pile of cards that do not form a deck. If you want specific cards, buying them as singles gets you there directly and usually for less total outlay.
Skip Collector Boosters entirely for now. They contain premium versions of cards, not cards you need. Nothing in them is mechanically unavailable elsewhere.
Skip the binder until you have something to put in it. Buying storage before you have a collection is a common early purchase that sits empty.
Skip a second deck until you have played the first one at least five times. You will not know what you enjoy until you have lost with something.
If you go the Standard route, be aware the legal card pool changes. Wizards rotates the six oldest sets out of Standard once per year, after the first premier set Prerelease of the calendar year. The current legal set list is published on the official Standard format page and is the only list worth trusting — the number of legal sets has been unusually large recently, and third-party summaries go stale quickly.
Commander avoids this problem completely. Cards do not rotate, which is a significant part of why the format is as popular as it is.
A deck with no opponent is a collection. Wizards runs a public store and event locator, and most shops that support Magic run a regular weeknight. Turn up once, watch a round, and ask what night is friendliest for new players — every shop has one, and it is rarely the competitive night.
We stock starter products, Commander decks and sleeves in MTG sealed, and carry other games on the other TCGs page if Magic turns out not to be the one. If you are not sure which starter product suits the format your friends play, get in touch and describe the group — that question takes us thirty seconds and saves you a wrong purchase.
Not practically. Boosters are a collecting and drafting product and will not produce a legal, functional deck on their own. A Starter Kit, a Commander deck or two Jumpstart packs will get you playing immediately; a stack of loose boosters will not.
It depends on the format. Standard and most constructed formats require a 60-card minimum with an optional sideboard of up to 15. Commander requires exactly 100 cards including the commander. Draft and sealed decks require a 40-card minimum.
In constructed formats, no more than four copies of any card with the same English name, counting your deck and sideboard together, with unlimited basic lands. Commander allows only one copy of each card other than basic lands.
Yes, if you intend to actually play. Shuffling wears card backs quickly, and a deck with distinguishable cards is a problem in organised play, not just an aesthetic one. Sleeve the deck the day you build it.
It is a reasonable way to learn the turn structure and timing rules for free, and it runs on mobile and desktop. It will not teach you the physical etiquette of a tabletop game, and the card pool differs, so treat it as a rules tutorial rather than a substitute.