MTG Un-Sets: Unglued to Unfinity, and Which Cards Are Legal

The Un-sets are Magic: The Gathering’s humor sets, with cards that bend the normal rules for laughs. Wizards of the Coast has released Unglued (1998), Unhinged (2004), Unstable (2017), the Unsanctioned decks (2020) and Unfinity (2022). Cards marked with a silver border or an acorn symbol are not tournament-legal, but Unfinity’s other cards are legal in Commander.

The five Un-set products and their release years

The five Un-set products span more than twenty years. Wizards’ Unfinity booster article notes that Un-sets began with Unglued in 1998, and Wizards announced Unsanctioned and Unfinity with their release dates:

Every Un-set card before Unfinity was printed with a silver border, and Wizards’ Unfinity Release Notes treat silver borders and acorn symbols the same way: neither is legal in Standard or Commander.

What silver borders and acorn symbols mean on Un-cards

Silver borders and acorn symbols are Wizards’ marks for a card that does not follow the rules of traditional Magic. In its Unfinity Release Notes, Wizards explains that it retired silver borders and introduced the acorn symbol to signal a card’s “Un-ness,” and that the two mean the same thing from a rules point of view.

The change matters because Unfinity mixes both kinds of card in one set. Only the cards with an acorn symbol are the rule-bending ones; the rest are eternal cards that follow the normal rules. Wizards calls a game where at least one player uses acorn cards, or silver-bordered cards from earlier Un- sets, an “Un- game.”

Which Un-cards are legal in Commander and other formats

The Un-card legality rules are short. Acorn and silver-bordered cards are not legal in Standard or Commander, or in any sanctioned tournament. Unfinity cards without an acorn are legal in Commander, Legacy and Vintage, and Unfinity commons without an acorn are also legal in Pauper.

That makes Unfinity the one Un-set with cards for a regular Commander deck. The formats themselves are explained in Magic formats explained, Commander deck rules in what a Commander deck is, and the commons-only format in what Pauper is.

Unfinity, Unstable and other Un-set products

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What comes in Unfinity boosters

Unfinity boosters came in two kinds: Draft Boosters and Collector Boosters. Wizards lists each Draft Booster as:

• 1 full-art basic land
• 1 rare or mythic rare
• 2 Attraction cards (up to 3)
• 3 uncommons and 6 commons
• 1 foil card or extra common
• 1 sticker sheet insert
• 1 token or ad insert

Attractions are a new artifact type kept in a separate Attraction deck, and stickers sit on sheets that you place on cards only when an effect tells you to. Galaxy foil cards appear only in Collector Boosters, and each booster display came with a Box Topper holding a foil shock land.

What came in the Unsanctioned box

Unsanctioned was a different kind of Un-product: a ready-to-play box rather than boosters. Wizards’ announcement lists:

• Five 30-card silver-bordered decks that combine into larger decks
• Sixteen new Un-cards plus reprints from earlier Un-sets
• 10 full-art basic lands (5 regular, 5 premium)
• 10 double-sided tokens and 2 six-sided dice
• A reusable storage box

Wizards sold it through local game stores, mass-market retailers and online.

Picking an Un-set product today

An Un-set product fits a group that wants a lighter game night, or a collector of Magic’s odd corners. Unfinity is the easiest pick for a Commander player, because its non-acorn cards fit a regular deck. Unsanctioned plays out of the box with no deckbuilding. The older booster sets are now only found sealed on the resale market, so check the set name and that the product is factory-sealed.

For the rest of the Magic range, see which Magic product to buy. Products that come with special promo versions of cards are covered in MTG promo cards, and the Magic storyline in print in Magic comics and where to start.