Questions, answered.

Do I need an account?

Not to look around. Card Search covers the full catalogue signed out, Community decks are readable by anyone, and a deck shared with you opens without a sign-in.

You need an account to build. Decks, folders, collection quantities, and playtesting all belong to an account, because they all belong to you.

What does it cost?

Nothing. Cartheca is a workshop project, not a business. There is no paid tier, no trial that expires, and no feature held back behind one.

Which formats are supported?

Standard, Commander, Modern, Pioneer, Legacy, and Pauper. Commander decks target 100 cards; the rest target 60.

There is also a seventh kind of list, a package — a cEDH line, a pile of ramp, a mana base for a colour pair. A package has no legality rules and no size target at all, because it is not trying to be a deck.

Where does the card data come from?

Scryfall, refreshed on a schedule so new sets arrive without anyone pressing a button. Every printing is there, not just one per card, which is why you can pick the exact art and finish you own.

Cartheca says my deck is illegal but still let me save it. Why?

Because legality here is advice, not a gate. Plenty of real decks are illegal on purpose — a kitchen-table brew, a deck mid-rebuild, a list you are pasting in from somewhere else and fixing afterwards.

So an illegal deck warns you, marks the specific cards the warning is about, and otherwise stays out of your way. The one thing it cannot do is appear publicly: only a legal deck is eligible for Community.

What is the difference between Mainboard, Sideboard, and Considering?

Mainboard and Sideboard mean what they mean everywhere else. Considering is the third pile — cards you are thinking about, that count toward nothing and appear in no legality check. It is the maybe-board, kept in the deck rather than in a text file somewhere.

Can I import a decklist from somewhere else?

Yes. Paste a list to create a new deck, or paste one into an existing deck to replace its contents. Common section headings from other sites are recognised on the way in, including ones Cartheca does not itself use.

Who can see my decks?

Nobody, unless you decide otherwise. Decks are private by default.

There are two separate things you can do with that. Sharing a deck gives you a link that works for whoever holds it and appears in no listing. Publishing a deck puts it in Community, where it can be found — and that requires the deck to be legal in its format.

An unlisted deck is kept out of search engines deliberately: it is not in the sitemap, and the page tells crawlers not to index it. A link you paste into a chat will still show the deck's name and art, because you chose to share it there.

How is Trending decided?

Most-viewed decks created in the last seven days, counted by unique signed-in account rather than by page load, and limited to one deck per commander so a single popular general cannot fill the whole row.

Can I copy someone else's deck?

Yes. Any deck you can view can be copied into your own library, where it becomes yours to change.

Can I play against other people?

Not yet. Playtesting is a solo goldfishing table — shuffle, mulligan, draw, and move cards between zones to see how a deck actually opens. There is no opponent and no rules engine; nothing stops you from making an illegal play, because the point is to test the deck rather than to referee it.

What is Streamer View?

A second window showing the same tabletop with your private information removed — your hand is card backs, a face-down card stays face down. It exists so you can put your board on a stream or a second monitor without showing your hand to everybody watching.

It has a temporary public link for OBS or a second computer. Ending the stream invalidates that link.

Does Cartheca track what I own?

Yes, at the level of the exact printing — set, collector number, and finish — because that is the level at which you own cards. Browse a set as a collector-number-ordered checklist and record quantities against it.

Does it tell me what my collection is worth?

Prices are attached to printings where they are known, and a deck can report which of its entries have a price and suggest cheaper exact alternatives. It is not a portfolio tracker and does not chart value over time.

What can a connected assistant actually do?

Two different things, and the difference matters:

• Straight away: read your decks, search the card catalogue, and change collection quantities.
• Only after you approve it: every change to a deck. That includes creating a deck and deleting one.

Deck changes arrive as a proposal shown against your current list. You keep the parts you want and reject the rest. An assistant cannot approve its own suggestion.

Do I have to give an assistant full access?

No. Access is scoped — deck read, deck write, collection read, collection write — and a connection only receives what was requested and granted. The consent screen names what is being asked for before you agree to it.

How do I disconnect one?

From Account & API keys, where every connection is listed with what it may do and when it last used it. Disconnecting takes effect immediately, including the connection's ability to refresh itself, and does not depend on the assistant cooperating.

Changing your password revokes every connection and key at once.

Which assistants work?

ChatGPT, Codex, Claude Code, and Gemini API integrations are documented on the Connect AI page. Anything speaking MCP over Streamable HTTP should connect; OAuth-capable clients sign in through a browser with no key to copy.

I forgot my password.

Request a reset link from the sign-in page. The link expires, works once, and choosing a new password signs out every existing session and revokes every assistant connection.

Can I get my data out?

Yes. An account backup is a portable file you can create, validate, and restore, so your decks and collection are not trapped here.

Is Cartheca affiliated with Wizards of the Coast?

No. Cartheca is unofficial Fan Content and is not approved or endorsed by Wizards of the Coast.