Format Comparison — Card Frequency by Deck Penetration

Pauper (477 decks) • Modern (397 decks) • Standard (495 decks)

How this comparison works

This page compares card popularity across three Magic: The Gathering formats using scraped tournament data:

Pauper: 477 decks from MTG Goldfish (Jan 1 – Feb 14, 2026)
Modern: 397 decks (deduped from 787) combining MTG Goldfish and MTG Top 8
Standard: 495 decks (deduped from 805) combining MTG Goldfish and MTG Top 8

Deck penetration % = percentage of all decks that include at least one copy of the card (mainboard + sideboard combined).

The histogram shows distribution of cards by penetration range. Click histogram bars to filter the table to that range. Use the format tabs to switch between formats. The comparison chart overlays all three distributions.

Pauper: Card Penetration Distribution

Bin width: Log scale Hide basic lands

Format Comparison — Overlay Distributions

Pauper: Cards > 10% penetration

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Modern: Cards > 10% penetration

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Standard: Cards > 10% penetration

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Pauper: Total distinct cards

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Modern: Total distinct cards

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Standard: Total distinct cards

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Tier 1 ≥20% — Format staples Tier 2 10–20% — Core cards Tier 3 5–10% — Archetype staples Tier 4 2–5% — Niche playables Tier 5 <2% — Fringe / 1-deck cards

Search: Tier: Hide basic lands Show card images

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#	Img	Card Name	Deck Penetration	Decks	Total Copies	Avg Copies	Tier