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Do you have to have exactly 60 cards in a Magic the Gathering deck? Some people I've talked to at FNM say yes, others say no.

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It's probably worth pointing out that, in most Constructed decks, it's overwhelmingly better if you can keep your deck size as close to 60 cards as possible. The larger the deck the greater the unpredictability of your draws, and from most angles that's a significant disadvantage. – thesunneversets Jan 19 at 23:52
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To add to @thesunneversets 's comment, you're also limited to a maximum of 4 of any specific card (besides basic land) so a larger deck will also contain a wider variety of cards that may or may not work well together. The best smaller decks tend to be focused around a fairly specific play style - cards that will symbiotize. This is much more difficult with a large deck. – GalacticCowboy Jan 20 at 13:43

2 Answers

up vote 7 down vote

No, not at all.

100.2a In constructed play (a way of playing in which each player creates his or her own deck ahead of time), each deck must contain at least sixty cards. [...]

  • For constructed events, your deck must have at least 60 cards [CR 100.2a] (plus an optional sideboard of exactly 15 cards [CR 100.4a]).
  • For limited (draft and sealed) events, your deck must have at least 40 cards. [CR 100.2b]
  • For Commander games, your deck must have exactly 100 cards (including your Commander). [CR 903.5a]

I could quote you the rules, but Battle of Wits is much more convincing :)

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up vote 3 down vote

You certainly don't, not in any normal MtG format. 60 card decks are the minimum in most Constructed formats, but there is no upper bound. Commander decks are all the same size... but they are 100 cards big, not 60. In typical Limited environments (Draft/Sealed) the minimum size is 40, with an upper limit determined only by the size of your cardpool (and even then you can add a LOT of basic lands on top).

If you want to prove to someone that a Magic deck doesn't have to have exactly 60 cards in it, the quickest way is probably to refer them to Battle of Wits - a famous card that doesn't even make sense in a world of uniform 60-card decks.

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