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I have a list of cards for a deck I want to build or buy. What should I do to check whether that deck is legal in a particular format (Standard, for example)?

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When checking whether a decklist is legal in a particular format, you should follow these steps:

  1. Check that every card in your deck has a non-silver border or no structured border, rounded corners, and a normal card back, and that they are sleeved if you can tell any of them apart from the back.

  2. Check that your deck follows the deck construction rules for your particular format. Most formats follow the general deck-building rules laid out in the Comprehensive Rules 100.2-100.5. Some formats have additional constraints though. Highlander, for example, requires that each deck have at least 100 cards (as opposed to the usual 60), and that you have only one of each card that's not a basic land.

  3. Determine what sets are legal in your format, and make sure that each card has been printed in a legal set. The version of the card that you use doesn't have to be from one of those sets, as long as it was once printed in that set. Standard, for example, only allows cards from the last couple of years (with some exclusions), but if one of those sets contains a card originally printed in Beta, you can play the Beta version.

  4. Check the ban list for your format and make sure that none of those cards are in your deck.

  5. Check the restricted list (found on the same page as the ban list) for your format and make sure that your deck has no more than one of each of those cards. Note that currently, only Vintage has a restricted list.

Websites exist that will help you determine your deck's legality automatically. A few popular examples are:

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    However, if you're mixing Alpha and non-Alpha cards, you must use opaque sleeves that hide the difference in the shape of the corners.
    – Ivo
    Aug 9, 2014 at 12:51
  • What difference? I just checked Lightning Bolt on gatherer and image search, and I don't see any difference in the corners between Alpha and M11.
    – murgatroid99 ♦
    Aug 9, 2014 at 15:18
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    See the answer at boardgames.stackexchange.com/a/5121/5909
    – Ivo
    Aug 9, 2014 at 15:35
  • OK, I edited that into my answer.
    – murgatroid99 ♦
    Aug 9, 2014 at 16:04
  • Gatherer has issues because it generates the card image, it doesn't use images of the cards. So things that weren't intentional, like the differently rounded corners, aren't shown
    – LovesTha
    Jan 21, 2016 at 3:15
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You can upload your deck list to websites such as DeckStats.net or Deckbox.org and the deck's legality will be displayed.

  • On DeckStats.net:

DeckStats legality display

  • On Deckbox.org:

Deckbox legality display

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To add to Fueled's answer, you can also upload your decklist to tappedout.net, which will display the legality like this:

TappedOut legality

Note: I added this as a separate answer instead of a comment since I don't (yet) have sufficient reputation to comment; I realise this is a rather brief answer.

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    This wouldn't really have to be a comment anyway. Even if the other answers weren't there, this would still be a complete answer to the question.
    – murgatroid99 ♦
    Jun 8, 2015 at 17:32
  • Thanks for letting me know, I wasn't sure if this would suffice as a proper answer given the other ones that were already there. I'll keep this in mind.
    – Ash
    Jun 9, 2015 at 10:40

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