Magic format guide8 min readUpdated: June 2026

Limited: Draft and Sealed Explained

Limited is the half of Magic where you build your deck from packs opened on the spot — the purest test of card evaluation there is. This hub covers the two pillars, Draft and Sealed, the Play Booster era, and the 40-card math every build comes back to.

The two pillars The Play Booster shift

Deck size: 40 min
Copies: No limit
Packs: 3 / 6
Lands: Provided free
Pod: 8 players

Pack 1 → leftPack 2 → rightPack 3 → left

In this guide

01What Limited actually is 02Draft and Sealed 03The Play Booster era 04Pick your path 05FAQ 06Sources & credits

The idea

What Limited actually is

The opposite of Constructed: nobody brings a deck, everyone builds one from sealed product, and skill shows up as evaluation rather than preparation.

In Constructed you arrive with a tuned 60-card deck; in Limited you arrive with nothing and build from packs opened at the table. Every player works from the same distribution of randomized cards, so the playing field is money-flat — what separates players is card evaluation, signal reading, and mana base discipline.

Decks are 40 cards minimum (everyone plays exactly 40), there is no copy limit, and basic lands are provided free by the store or event. The classic build is 23 spells and 17 lands, two colors, with a curve that values playable creatures over flashy situational spells.

Format	Deck size	Card pool	Rotation	Players	Governance
Standard	60 min	Recent premier sets	Every fall	2	WotC
LimitedYou are here	40 min	Packs opened on the spot	Per set	2–8	WotC
Pauper	60 min	Eternal, commons only	None	2	WotC + Format Panel
Commander	100 exactly	Eternal, singleton	None	Usually 4	WotC + Format Panel
Pack Wars	15–30	One booster	None	2+	House rules

Where Limited sits next to the other major formats.

The pillars

Draft and Sealed

Two ways to turn unopened packs into a deck — one about reading the table, one about maximizing a fixed pool.

Booster Draft: 3 packs; Pick one card, pass the rest — 8-player pods
Sealed Deck: 6 packs; Open everything, build the best 40
Prerelease: Sealed; Your first event for any new set

Booster Draft is the deeper skill game: eight players, three packs each, picking one card at a time and passing the rest around the pod. Sealed is the more accessible one: open six packs, build from exactly what you got. Prerelease events — the casual midnight celebration that opens every new set — are Sealed, which makes Sealed most players’ first Limited experience.

The classic 40-card build23 + 17

23 spells — usually 14–17 creatures17 lands40-card minimum

The classic Limited build: 23 spells, 17 lands, 40 cards.

Why 17 lands?

Limited decks can’t afford the smoothing of Constructed mana bases, and games go long. Hitting four or five land drops reliably wins more Limited games than any single bomb — respect the 17.

The 2024 shift

The Play Booster era

In February 2024, one pack type replaced both Draft and Set Boosters — and changed Limited math everywhere.

Starting with Murders at Karlov Manor (February 2024), Play Boosters replaced both Draft Boosters and Set Boosters as the single pack used for Limited play. Context for how big a deal this was: Draft Booster contents had been essentially stable since Shards of Alara in 2008, while Set Boosters — introduced with Zendikar Rising as a more fun pack to open — outsold them heavily and forced the merge.

Play Booster (2024–)14 playable cards

6 commons · 1 common or The List · 3 uncommons · 1 rare+ · 2 wildcards (one foil) · 1 land — 1 to 4 rares possible per pack.

Draft Booster (2008–2024)15 playable cards

10 commons · 3 uncommons · 1 rare · 1 land — the stable collation Limited was balanced around for 15 years.

CommonsUncommonsRare+The ListWildcards

The 14-playable-card Play Booster vs the 15-card Draft Booster it replaced.

The practical consequences: 14 playable cards instead of 15, two wildcard slots that can be any rarity (one of them always foil), and the possibility of one to four rares in a single pack. Draft picks per pod dropped slightly, and pack-based micro-formats had to adjust their pile math.

Pack Wars felt this too

The 14-card Play Booster forced pile-size adjustments in booster micro-formats like Pai Gow / Booster Blitz — covered in our Pack Wars family guide.

Deep dives

Pick your path

Three guides cover the ecosystem: the draft pod, the sealed pool, and the variants beyond both.

Where to go next

Draft — pick mechanics, reading signals, staying open, archetype speak, and the Arena draft modes.
Sealed — six packs, the bomb-and-consistency calculus, and prerelease structure.
Variants — Cube, Rochester, Winston, Grid draft for two, and team formats.

FAQ

Common questions

Do I get to keep the cards?

Yes — in Draft and Sealed alike, every card you open (or pick) is yours, regardless of how the event goes. It is one of the cheaper ways to build a collection while actually playing.

Is Draft or Sealed better for beginners?

Sealed is the gentler on-ramp: no pick decisions under time pressure, just build the best deck from what you opened. Prerelease events are explicitly designed as the welcoming entry point. Draft adds the whole layer of in-pod decision making.

How many lands do I play in a 40-card deck?

17 is the default, 16 if your curve is very low or you have strong card-smoothing, 18 if you are heavy at the top. The 23-spells-plus-17-lands split is the most repeated heuristic in Limited for a reason.

What is a wildcard slot?

Two slots in every Play Booster that can be a card of any rarity. They are why modern packs can contain up to four rares — and why pack contents feel swingier than in the Draft Booster era.

Sources & credits

The creators who documented these formats

Pack Wars is community-built. These are the writers, wikis, and Wizards of the Coast references that originated and documented the rules summarized here.