- Minimum 60 cards †
- Maximum 2 colors
- Maximum 4 copies of each card that shares the exact title and subtitle name
- Maximum 60 cards †
- Minimum 2 colors
- ~6-16 uninkable cards
- ~40 characters
- ~20 noncharacters
- ~10 draw cards
- ~8-12 ramp cards
- ~8-12 removal cards
- Form a bell curve centered at ~2-4 cost cards
† Poorcana is emerging as an alternative format with 50 cards, all of which must have had at least one common printing.
Poorcana, Shift Leader, and other alternative formats are still experimental, with widely varying rules depending on the particular event. Fortunately, the primary formats (including limited and constructed) see broad adoption without the balkanization of too many formats that afflicts communities of other trading card games.