Trading Card Guides

Magic has a small habit of putting a lot of different boxes on a shelf.

Play Boosters.

Collector Boosters.

Bundles.

Commander Decks.

Draft Night.

Scene Boxes.

If you are new to Magic: The Gathering, or returning after several years away, it is completely reasonable to look at them and wonder which box is actually meant for you.

The easiest way to understand the range is not by asking which product is “best”.

Ask what you want to do.

Do you want to open packs?

Play a draft?

Start Commander?

Collect premium cards?

Give somebody a gift?

Display a particular piece of artwork?

Different Magic products exist for different reasons. The most useful question is what you want to do with the cards once you open the box. A Commander deck gives you something to play straight away; boosters are not a substitute for a ready-built deck. For storage and protection after purchase, use our Dragon Shield sleeves comparison. For a first multiplayer deck, see the Commander starter guide.

What is a Play Booster?

A Play Booster is Magic’s general purpose booster pack.

It is designed to work both for opening packs and for Limited formats such as Draft and Sealed.

If you want the familiar experience of opening a Magic pack, discovering cards from a set and potentially using those cards in decks, Play Boosters are usually the starting point.

The exact contents can differ between sets.

For Magic: The Gathering | Star Trek, each Play Booster contains 14 Magic cards.

A Play Booster is best for:

opening packs

Draft

Sealed

building your collection

finding cards from the main set

A Play Booster is not:

a complete playable Commander deck

a guarantee of a specific card

primarily a premium collector product

If you simply want to experience a new Magic set through packs, this is usually the most natural place to start.

What is a Collector Booster?

A Collector Booster is the premium version of the booster experience.

It is aimed primarily at collectors and players interested in special card treatments.

Collector Boosters typically contain more foil cards, rares, alternate art treatments, special frames and other premium versions than ordinary Play Boosters.

For Magic: The Gathering | Star Trek, Collector Boosters can contain premium treatments including Surge Foils and other showcase versions from the set.

A Collector Booster is best for:

premium card treatments

collectors

players hunting alternate versions

opening a more premium pack

A Collector Booster is not necessarily best for:

a new player who simply wants a playable deck

someone trying to maximise the number of packs they can open for a set budget

someone who only wants to learn Magic

Collector Boosters can be exciting.

They can also be expensive.

Buy them because premium versions of cards matter to you, not because the word “Collector” makes them automatically necessary.

What is a Bundle?

A Bundle is a boxed product combining several boosters with useful extras.

Bundles are often a good middle ground for someone who wants to open several packs from a new set without purchasing an entire booster display.

They commonly include:

multiple Play Boosters

basic lands

a promotional card

a spindown life counter

a storage box

Exact contents vary from set to set.

For Magic: The Gathering | Star Trek, the standard Bundle contains nine Play Boosters, foil and non-foil basic lands, a promo card, an oversized spindown life counter and a storage box.

View the Magic: The Gathering | Star Trek Bundle

A Bundle is best for:

opening several packs

new or returning collectors

gifts

players who can use the included lands

people who want a storage box as part of the product

A Bundle is not a preconstructed deck.

You are buying a set experience rather than one ready-to-play strategy.

What is a Commander Deck?

A Commander Deck is a complete 100 card deck built for the Commander format.

Unlike a booster product, its primary purpose is not opening random cards.

It is meant to be played.

A Commander deck normally contains:

one commander

99 additional cards

a coherent strategy

required lands

supporting cards

tokens and reference material where applicable

That makes preconstructed Commander decks one of the easiest ways to begin playing Magic.

You can open the box, learn what the deck wants to do and play without first building a deck from individual cards.

For the Star Trek release, there are four Commander decks:

Federation Fleet

Landing Party

Klingon Fury

We Are the Borg

View the Magic: The Gathering | Star Trek Commander Decks

A Commander Deck is best for:

starting Commander

players who want a complete deck

fans who want a deck themed around a particular faction or character

players who would rather play than open random packs

What is Draft Night?

Draft Night is an all-in-one product designed to let a small group run a draft without assembling all the pieces separately.

For Magic: The Gathering | Star Trek, Draft Night contains:

12 Play Boosters

1 Collector Booster

90 non-foil basic lands

10 non-foil double-sided tokens

1 draft insert

The product is designed around a four player draft experience.

That makes it particularly useful for a game night.

Instead of four people each arriving with packs, basic lands and supplies, one box gives the group the core pieces needed to draft.

The included Collector Booster can then be kept, opened together or used as a prize.

View Magic: The Gathering | Star Trek Draft Night

Draft Night is best for:

four player groups

casual game nights

players who enjoy Draft

a self contained Limited experience

Draft Night is not:

a preconstructed Commander experience

the best choice for somebody who only wants one specific card

primarily a display collectible

What is a Scene Box?

A Scene Box is a more collectible, presentation focused Magic product built around a group of cards whose artwork combines into a larger scene.

Not every Magic set has Scene Boxes.

They make particular sense for Universes Beyond releases where recognisable moments and characters can be represented across connected artwork.

For Magic: The Gathering | Star Trek, each Scene Box contains:

3 Play Boosters

6 traditional foil borderless scene cards

6 art cards

1 display easel

The six Magic cards form a connected scene, while the art cards allow the complete artwork to be displayed without game text interrupting the image.

The Star Trek release has two Scene Boxes:

Enterprise-Q

Divergent Timeline

View the Magic: The Gathering | Star Trek Scene Boxes

A Scene Box is best for:

fans of the featured scene or characters

collectors

display

players who want the specific included Magic cards

people who enjoy Magic as both a game and an art collectible

Which Magic product should I buy?

If your goal is opening packs, choose Play Boosters.

If your goal is premium cards and special treatments, consider Collector Boosters.

If your goal is a selection of packs plus useful extras, consider a Bundle.

If your goal is playing Commander immediately, buy a Commander Deck.

If your goal is running a small draft night, Draft Night makes sense.

If your goal is collecting a specific illustrated scene, look at Scene Boxes.

That is really the entire secret.

Magic products become much less confusing once you stop comparing them as though they are competing versions of the same thing.

They are tools for different parts of the hobby.

Browse Magic: The Gathering at Bell & Barter

Buy the product that matches the part you actually enjoy.

There will always be another box.

Commander can look intimidating from the outside.

One hundred card decks. Four players around a table. Legendary creatures. Huge board states. People using cards printed years before you started playing.

The good news is that Commander is also one of the easiest ways to enjoy Magic casually with a group of friends.

You do not need to memorise thousands of cards.

You do not need an expensive custom deck.

And you definitely do not need to understand every unusual interaction before your first game.

A ready-to-play Commander deck and a basic understanding of the format are enough to get started. Sleeving all 100 cards consistently is a sensible next step, but you don’t need to buy an expensive accessory collection before game night. See our Dragon Shield sleeve comparison and budget card-protection guide when you’re ready to choose.

What is Commander?

Commander is Magic: The Gathering’s most popular multiplayer format.

A normal Commander deck contains 100 cards in total:

1 commander

99 cards in the main deck

Your commander sits in a special area called the command zone and acts as the central character around which your deck is built.

Commander is usually played casually with several people around one table. The official format is designed around multiplayer games, with four players being the familiar setup.

Each player normally begins with 40 life.

What does your commander do?

Your commander is usually a legendary creature, although some cards specifically allow other card types to serve as a commander.

At the beginning of the game, your commander starts face up in the command zone rather than being shuffled into your deck.

You can cast it from there.

If it returns to the command zone and you cast it again, it normally costs an additional two generic mana for each previous time you have cast it from the command zone during that game.

Your commander does more than give the deck a recognisable face.

It also determines something called your colour identity.

What is colour identity?

Every card in your Commander deck has to fit within the colour identity of your commander.

A commander’s colour identity includes the mana symbols in its casting cost and relevant mana symbols appearing in its rules text.

If your commander is only blue and red, for example, you cannot simply add a green card because you like it.

This restriction is part of what gives different Commander decks their identity.

It encourages you to build around the strengths, weaknesses and personality of your chosen commander.

Why does Commander use 100 cards?

Commander decks use 100 cards partly because the format is designed to create varied multiplayer games.

You are also normally allowed only one copy of each card.

This is called the singleton rule.

The main exception is basic lands.

So instead of building a deck with four copies each of your strongest cards, Commander encourages you to find many different cards that contribute to the same broader strategy.

That is one reason games can feel so different from one another.

What is the singleton rule?

The singleton rule is simple:

You can normally include only one copy of any particular card in your Commander deck.

Basic lands are the main exception.

So if you own one favourite legendary sword, one enormous creature and one strange old enchantment that somehow works with your commander, all three can find a home in the same deck.

Commander rewards creativity far more than perfect repetition.

How does multiplayer Commander work?

Commander is designed for multiplayer.

In a typical four player game, everybody begins at 40 life and takes turns around the table.

You can attack different players, make temporary deals, respond to threats and occasionally discover that the person promising not to attack you has a very flexible definition of “not attacking you”.

That social element is a large part of Commander’s appeal.

You are not simply playing your deck.

You are playing a table.

What is commander damage?

Commander also has a special loss condition.

If one commander deals 21 or more combat damage to the same player over the course of a game, that player loses, regardless of their remaining life total.

It does not happen in every game, but it makes commander creatures themselves important threats.

Do I need to build my own Commander deck?

No.

In fact, we usually recommend that a completely new Commander player does not begin by building a 100 card deck from scratch.

Preconstructed Commander decks, usually called precons, are designed to be playable straight from the box.

They give you:

a legal 100 card deck

a commander

a coherent strategy

lands

supporting cards

tokens where required

a sensible place from which to learn the format

Once you have played several games, you can decide what you like and begin changing cards.

That is much easier than trying to understand deck building before you understand how a Commander game feels.

Browse Bell & Barter’s Magic: The Gathering range

What do I actually need to play Commander?

At the absolute minimum:

One legal Commander deck

That is enough to play.

In practice, we recommend a few inexpensive extras.

Card sleeves

Commander decks are shuffled frequently and contain 100 cards.

Sleeves protect the cards from wear, fingerprints, table surfaces and the occasional drink that somebody placed far too close to the battlefield.

They also make a large deck easier to shuffle once you are used to them.

A deck box

A sleeved Commander deck is considerably larger than a normal pack of cards.

A proper deck box keeps the 100 cards together and makes transporting the deck much easier.

A playmat

A playmat is optional.

You can play directly on a clean table.

But a mat provides a softer surface for your cards, helps define your play area and makes picking sleeved cards up considerably easier.

Dice and counters

Many Commander decks create tokens, counters or temporary effects that need tracking.

A few dice are extremely useful.

You do not need a suitcase filled with accessories before your first game.

Start with the deck.

Add the things you actually find useful.

Browse Magic accessories at Bell & Barter

Do I need booster packs?

No.

Booster packs and Commander decks serve different purposes.

A preconstructed Commander deck already gives you a complete playable deck.

Boosters can be fun for collecting, Limited play and finding cards to use in future deck upgrades, but they are not required to begin Commander.

If your goal is simply:

I want to play Commander for the first time.

Buy a Commander deck before worrying about boosters.

How do I choose my first Commander deck?

Start with something you actually like.

That could mean:

a gameplay strategy

a particular colour

a franchise

a commander

a creature type

or simply artwork that made you pick the box up

Your first deck does not need to be the strongest deck in the room.

It needs to make you interested enough to learn how it works.

Preconstructed decks are particularly useful because their central strategy is already built for you.

You learn by playing.

Then you slowly make the deck yours.

What about upgrading a preconstructed deck?

Do not rush.

Play the deck first.

After several games, you will naturally start noticing things.

Cards that stay in your hand too long.

Cards you are always happy to draw.

Effects you wish you had more often.

Maybe the deck needs more card draw.

Maybe you want more removal.

Maybe you simply want to put a favourite character into the deck.

Those observations are far more useful than blindly following an upgrade list before you have played a single game.

Is Commander expensive?

It can be.

It does not have to be.

Commander has an enormous card pool, which means there are incredibly expensive cards available.

You do not need them to enjoy ordinary Commander.

A preconstructed deck is a complete starting point.

From there, upgrades can happen slowly and according to your own budget.

The best Commander table is not necessarily the one containing the most expensive decks.

It is usually the one where everybody has broadly similar expectations about the sort of game they are there to play.

Where does Bell & Barter fit in?

Bell & Barter stocks Magic: The Gathering products for players and collectors in South Africa, including sealed products, Commander decks, accessories and selected preorders.

Our goal with these guides is not to convince a new player that they need every possible accessory.

It is the opposite.

We want you to know what you are buying and why you might want it.

If Commander sounds like your kind of Magic, start here:

Shop Magic: The Gathering at Bell & Barter

And if Star Trek is what finally convinced you to try the format:

View the Magic: The Gathering | Star Trek Commander Decks

One deck is enough to begin.

The other ninety-nine cards will take care of the rest.