Your options today to play Magic online are Standard, Modern, Legacy, Vintage, and then Commander, Pauper, Freeform, Planechase, and then two online-only formats of Planeswalker and Momir Basic. (They sold some decks with funky gold borders, and only those cards can be played in Planeswalker. Those cards are not legal in other formats.)

That’s it.

Now, of course, you can build a freeform deck that meets other rules, like Singleton, Prismatic, Tribal, and such. You could talk to your friends and all agree to play Prismatic or Tribal or other formats using the Freeform option. You can advertise it in the comments as well.

But the loss of most other casual formats online not named Commander (congrats, Pauper, on making the cut!) is another sign that Commander has dominated the conversation. So here, let’s take a look at five casual formats, and I’ll build a quick deck in each format.

Format #1 — Tribal Wars

Formerly supported by Electronic Magic, this format requires that one third of your deck must have the same creature type. Cards that are banned include those that attack a certain creature type (like Engineered Plague or Extinction). The Magic Online version was Legacy-legal and included its own banned list, too.

We’ll be using this list for our article today. The good news is that all non-silver-bordered sets are legal, so you can dip your toe with tribal stuff from way back if you want. Just remember that a full third of your deck must share one creature type.

Here’s a quick example:

Shifting into 2016 ? Tribal Wars | Abe Sargent

• Creatures (21)
• 1 Quicksilver Gargantuan
• 1 Vesuvan Doppelganger
• 2 Aetherling
• 2 Body Double
• 2 Clever Impersonator
• 2 Gigantoplasm
• 2 Morphling
• 4 Shapesharer
• 1 Shapeshifter
• 4 Duplicant

• Spells (13)
• 4 Counterspell
• 2 Tidings
• 4 Deep Analysis
• 1 Journeyer's Kite
• 2 Sword of the Animist

• Lands (26)
• 20 Island
• 2 Vesuva
• 4 Faerie Conclave

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I decided to build a deck around Shapeshifters. Normally, I stay clear of running Changeling cards in Tribal Wars. As their base type is Shapeshifter, though, tossing in Shapesharer is actually on point. As it can also swap what all of my various ’Shifters are copying, it gives the deck some useful fun time.

I wanted to steer clear of the obvious Goblins, Elves, Zombies, Spirits, Merfolk, Soldiers, and such. Tribes, unite!

Format #2 — Rainbow Stairwell

This is a sixty-card deck format. It uses Legacy-legal cards. You must include six cards of each color and six colorless cards. They must include one copy of a card from each casting cost, starting from 1 and finishing at 6, including all casting costs in between. So, as an example, you could have these cards as your six cards in white: Demystify, Disenchant, Dust to Dust, Return to Dust, Saltblast, and Akroma's Vengeance. That would work. Then, after including the thirty-six cards from this list, you have any twenty-four lands you want for the deck. Cards that have X in their costs or that cost 7 or more (or 0) are obviously banned.

Let’s do a quick control deck, just to illustrate the format.

Rainbows of Control ? Rainbow Stairwell | Abe Sargent

• Creatures (13)
• 1 Acidic Slime
• 1 Birds of Paradise
• 1 Draining Whelk
• 1 Flametongue Kavu
• 1 Inferno Titan
• 1 Oreskos Explorer
• 1 Snapcaster Mage
• 1 Sylvan Caryatid
• 1 Typhoid Rats
• 1 Zealous Conscripts
• 1 Duplicant
• 1 Solemn Simulacrum
• 1 Kokusho, the Evening Star

• Planeswalkers (1)
• 1 Liliana Vess

• Spells (22)
• 1 Chaos Warp
• 1 Dismiss
• 1 Dissolve
• 1 Lightning Bolt
• 1 Path to Exile
• 1 Pongify
• 1 Terror
• 1 Wing Shards
• 1 Allied Strategies
• 1 Austere Command
• 1 Cultivate
• 1 Damnation
• 1 Desert Twister
• 1 Explosive Vegetation
• 1 Painful Truths
• 1 Rout
• 1 Tribal Flames
• 1 Wrath of God
• 1 Armillary Sphere
• 1 Darksteel Ingot
• 1 Expedition Map
• 1 Gilded Lotus

• Lands (24)
• 3 Forest
• 3 Island
• 3 Mountain
• 3 Plains
• 3 Swamp
• 1 Vivid Crag
• 1 Vivid Creek
• 1 Vivid Grove
• 1 Vivid Marsh
• 1 Vivid Meadow
• 4 City of Brass

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And there’s a quick little control deck for you. Because you are building all five colors, you can flesh out a lot of generic concepts.

This deck wants to control the board. It doesn’t feature a lot of creatures, and those that do wind up here are more designed as a finisher, utility creature, or defense to get you set up. Creatures such as Duplicant, Snapcaster Mage, Acidic Slime, and Solemn Simulacrum all have obvious usefulness in here. After our creatures are intact, we then move to removal both mass and pinpoint. From Path to Exile to Rout, and from Damnation to Austere Command and thence to Lightning Bolt, the deck is laden with tricks and treats of equal measure. And it should yield the time you need to get ready to smash.

Rainbows for the win!

Format #3 — Name Magic

This format is extremely easy to build around. What’s your given name? For me, it’s Abraham. Now build a deck using only those cards in Magic that share the first letter of your given name. (You may also include basic lands.) If you have some randomly hard letter to build around (like X or Y), substitute your family name instead.

It?s All about the A ? Name Magic | Abe Sargent

• Creatures (18)
• 1 Angel of Salvation
• 1 Angelic Skirmisher
• 1 Archangel of Thune
• 1 Archon of Redemption
• 2 Aegis Angel
• 2 Angel of Finality
• 2 Angel of Jubilation
• 2 Angel of Serenity
• 2 Archangel of Tithes
• 1 Akroma, Angel of Wrath
• 1 Avacyn, Guardian Angel
• 2 Adarkar Valkyrie

• Planeswalkers (2)
• 2 Ajani Goldmane

• Spells (15)
• 1 Altar's Light
• 2 Angelsong
• 4 Afterlife
• 1 Austere Command
• 2 Akroma's Vengeance
• 1 Aura of Silence
• 2 Act of Authority
• 2 Angelic Voices

• Lands (25)
• 24 Plains
• 1 Arena

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You know a format is stronger than it appears when you have a mono-colored tribal theme that is built around one letter. Yay for Angels! Look at what’s strong in your letter. If you have A as well, you have the Azorius guild. You can have Azorius Chancery, Azorius Guildgate, the random Adarkar Wastes, and even Azorius Signet if you want. So you have the mana-producing foundation for a strong white and blue deck. Do you have a common tribe? G for Goblin? E for Elves? Do you have a random engine such that you can build around both entries in a single letter? Build around something good!

I have thought about building a Commander Angel deck around just A before. It includes Angels, Archangels, and various uniques like Akroma, Angel of Wrath and Avacyn, Angel of Hope. I just grabbed that concept here and teased it out a bit. Who doesn’t like Angels?

Format #4 — Kaleidoscope Magic

This format was brought to Magic Online for a time right around Alara Reborn (if memory holds correctly). It’s been around for a long time. (The offline format was technically known as Chameleon and was created around Invasion block if memory serves. The title was changed for Magic Online, and the new name stuck.) The rules are elegant. Other than your lands, you may only use cards that are multicolored. Yes, hybrid counts. Devoid does not count, so no to Brutal Expulsion or similar cards (Glittering Wish and Anathemancer are banned).

Let’s take a looksee!

Chameleon Reanimation ? Kaleidoscope Magic | Abe Sargent

• Creatures (19)
• 2 Consuming Aberration
• 2 Nemesis of Reason
• 2 Possessed Skaab
• 3 Shadowmage Infiltrator
• 4 Lurking Informant
• 2 Mirko Vosk, Mind Drinker
• 2 Phenax, God of Deception
• 2 Wrexial, the Risen Deep

• Planeswalkers (2)
• 2 Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver

• Spells (16)
• 2 Memory Plunder
• 2 Recoil
• 2 Soul Manipulation
• 2 Undermine
• 2 Torrent of Souls
• 4 Extract from Darkness
• 2 Mistvein Borderpost

• Lands (25)
• 5 Island
• 5 Swamp
• 1 Duskmantle, House of Shadow
• 2 Terramorphic Expanse
• 4 Creeping Tar Pit
• 4 Dimir Aqueduct
• 4 Pillar of the Paruns

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I was thinking about doing reanimation for Rainbow Stairwell, so instead, I decided to toss it out there for this format instead. The goal of this deck is to use a little dollop of discarding on a fluffy pancake of milling all so that you can have a stocked graveyard for when you decide to use cards like Extract from Darkness or Memory Plunder or even grow that Consuming Aberration. What’s good for your graveyard is good for the soul, with a variety of controlling cards you can reanimate as well as solid bodies like Shadowmage Infiltrator and such.

Yay for graveyards, and yay for gold cards.

Format #5 — Godzilla

Who likes fat creatures in their decks? Most people I know do! Shoot, even Spikes and Johnnies often gravitate toward powerful creatures like Siege Rhino or powerful combos that involve fatties. Ready to get your fatty on in a big ol’ deck? You must have a deck size of seventy-five cards, and at least twenty must be creatures with 4/4 or bigger power and toughness. It uses the Vintage banned-and-restricted list. (I have found different B&R lists online; I am going to use a more constricted version of the B&R list just to illustrate the point.)

I think obvious builds with Godzilla stuff probably includes ramp, control, and, shoot, even reanimation. Instead, I’m heading somewhere else that people may not expect—because that’s who I am.

Mechagodzilla ? Godzilla | Abe Sargent

• Creatures (37)
• 2 Broodstar
• 2 Qumulox
• 2 Arcbound Reclaimer
• 2 Darksteel Colossus
• 2 Duplicant
• 2 Kuldotha Forgemaster
• 2 Master Transmuter
• 2 Phyrexian Metamorph
• 2 Platinum Angel
• 2 Scarecrone
• 2 Scuttling Doom Engine
• 2 Soul of New Phyrexia
• 2 Steel Hellkite
• 2 Wurmcoil Engine
• 3 Silver Myr
• 4 Myr Enforcer
• 2 Memnarch

• Planeswalkers (2)
• 2 Tezzeret the Seeker

• Spells (5)
• 1 Fabricate
• 1 Reshape
• 1 Transmute Artifact
• 2 Tidings

• Lands (31)
• 21 Island
• 2 Academy Ruins
• 4 Darksteel Citadel
• 4 Seat of the Synod

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And there we are! Let’s make one of the major enemies of Godzilla for my trial run! (Did you know that I have seen, and own on DVD, every single Godzilla film ever made? Yup!)

In many of the major articles about Godzilla, writers and players are discussing fun ways to cheat out fatties with cards like Dramatic Entrance, See the Unwritten, and Mosswort Bridge. So my cheating out Darksteel Colossus isn’t really out of flavor for the thing! Shoot, I don’t even think the banned Tinker is that out of flavor compared to what other things are doing. (It’s banned on some lists, so I didn’t include it. But a restricted Tinker seems more fair than an unrestricted Bribery.) Anyway, you can see that I want to use cards like Kuldotha Forgemaster, Reshape, and Master Transmuter to swap the big stuff into play. It’s not just Darksteel either. We can drop Wurmcoil Engine and Soul of New Phyrexia—and Steel Hellkite, too. We even have one of my Top 5 Favorite Artifact Creature Names in the History of Magic with Scuttling Doom Engine. We have a paucity of affinity in here, sure, but frankly, in a seventy-five-card deck, and without the abusive parts of Affinity.dec in here (Arcbound Ravager, Disciple of the Vault, et al), the deck’s more interested in playing a free fatty like Myr Enforcer or Broodstar than it is anything else.

Get your big beaters on!

And there are five different formats, each with a sample deck to illustrate how to approach the format. Was there a format or two that spoke to you? Anything that reached out and punched your attention? Wake up from a Commander malaise with an injection of hot casual formats, all ready to go.