What is the 100 Card Deck Ratio in Magic The Gathering?
If you‘ve ever wondered how best to construct a deck for the wildly popular Commander format, you‘ve come to the right place my friends! In this epic guide, I‘ll be breaking down all the intricate details on optimizing your magical 100 card concoction for maximum fun and wins.
Commander Deck Building Basics
Let‘s kick things off with the core rules every deck builder needs to know:
- Exact 100 Card Deck Size – That‘s right, you get a full 100 cards to work with! No more or less.
- 1 Legendary Creature as Commander – Well technically you can also have 2 commanders if they have the "Partner" ability.
- 99 Other Cards – With 2 commanders you‘ll have 98 other cards instead.
- No Duplicate Cards – Except for basic lands like Forest or Plains! Have as many of those as you want.
So with those basics covered, what should you fill those 100 card slots with? Check out my recommended starting ratios:
Optimal 100 Card Commander Deck Ratios
| Deck Component | # of Cards | Percentage |
|---|---|---|
| Lands | 35-38 | 35%-38% |
| Creatures | 28-33 | 28%-33% |
| Spells | 28-32 | 28%-32% |
| Commanders | 1-2 | 1%-2% |
As you can see, lands make up the largest chunk since you need that precious mana to cast your fatties and blow up creatures! But you also want a healthy mix of proactive and reactive cards at an approximate 1:1 ratio between creatures and spells.
Hitting the Right Land Count
One of the biggest rookie mistakes in deck construction is not having enough lands. Nothing feels worse than a starting hand with 0-1 lands and getting mana screwed!
My guideline for Commander is 36-38 lands which provides a 68.5%-75% chance of hitting 3-4 lands in your opening draw. This table shows the probabilities at various counts:
| # of Lands | Opening Hand Probabilities |
|---|---|
| 33 lands | 3+ lands = 63% 4+ lands = 41% |
| 35 lands | 3+ lands = 68.5% 4+ lands = 46.3% |
| 37 lands | 3+ lands = 73.5% 4+ lands = 51.2% |
| 40 lands | 3+ lands = 80% 4+ lands = 58.5% |
As you can see, too few lands risks not hitting that 3 land threshold for your early plays while too many leads to flooded hands with lack of action. Tuning your land count while referencing these percentages is crucial!
Creature Count Considerations
With 28-33 creatures out of the 99 cards, you‘ll have plenty of threats to play while holding up interaction. But which creature types or strategies to focus on varies wildly across Commander.
Some examples of popular themes include:
- Tribal Decks – Goblins, Elves, Zombies, Dragons, etc.
- +1/+1 Counter – Cards like [[The Ozolith]] to save counters
- Reanimator – Bring back fatties from the graveyard
- Tokens – Go wide with tokens producers like [[Tendershoot Dryad]]
- Big Mana – Ramp into huge X spell finishers
I typically aim for 30 creatures as a starting point which leaves room for supporting spells and flex card choices. Lower curves with cheaper creatures are also generally better since getting to that all important 6 mana can take longer in multiplayer.
Instants & Sorceries Ratios
With 28-32 noncreature spells out of the 99, you‘ll have disruption for key threats and card flow to hit land drops and find answers. But figuring out the right mix takes some tuning!
Here‘s how I would partition those slots in an optimal deck:
| Spell Type | # of Cards | Percentage |
|---|---|---|
| Removal | 6-8 | 6%-8% |
| Ramp | 6-8 | 6%-8% |
| Card Draw | 6-8 | 6%-8% |
| Tutors | 3-4 | 3%-4% |
| Countermagic | 2-4 | 2%-4% |
| Utility | 2-4 | 2%-4% |
| Total Spells | 28-32 | 28%-32% |
As you can see, I want a healthy number of targets for each key effect like removal, ramp and card advantage. Too much of any one leads to imbalance. Tutors and countermagic specifically should be used sparingly to avoid repetitive gameplay.
Putting it All Together
Now that we‘ve explored ratios for lands, creatures and spells – here‘s an example 100 card list I might start tuning from:
| Card Type | Sample Deck Count |
|---|---|
| Lands | 37 |
| Creatures | 31 |
| Spells | 31 |
| Commanders | 1 |
| Total Cards | 100 |
After goldfishing test hands and playing some games with it, I‘d tweak from there based on any shortcomings encountered until reaching peak performance!
The key is maintaining approximate parity across deck components so you have flow and answers without bottlenecking on any one card type.
Why 100 Card Decks Enable More Freedom
60 card formats like Standard are restricted to 4-ofs per card to enable reliable combinations. But part of what makes Commander so fun is having 99 other slots to work with!
While consistency does drop slightly with fewer multiples, the tradeoff enables more themes, obscure card choices and variability between games.
Deck building becomes a journey of curating your favorite cards and effects over time rather than solving a strict competitive puzzle. Expression and social gameplay are emphasized over raw power levels.
Commander Deck Building is More Art Than Science
Over the years, I‘ve built dozens of Commander decks tuned from casual battlecruisers to ultra fast combo finishes. And while starting ratios provide a baseline, each strategy has its exceptions.
Low curves with cheap creatures may demand more lands to hit drops while control and stax decks often have fewer win conditions. Combo decks need tutors and fast mana for speed.
So take these guidelines as a starting point for your wonderful 100 card journey rather than rigid doctrine! The beauty and appeal of the format is how customizable and wild the gameplay can be.
What kind of deck will you brew next? Share your list in the comments below and let‘s get chatting about Commander deckbuilding tech!
