TLDR
The safest way to import mtg decklist text is to put one card entry on each line, beginning with a whole-number quantity followed by the exact card name. Use lines such as “4 Lightning Strike” rather than bullets, prices, comments, or decorative formatting. Add section labels only when the destination documents them. After importing, compare the main-deck and sideboard totals with the source, inspect unresolved cards, and confirm that commanders or other special-zone cards landed in the correct place.
Plain text looks simple, but deck importers do not all interpret it identically. A clean list can move between tools with little friction; a list copied from an article, marketplace, spreadsheet, or chat may carry enough extra punctuation to confuse a parser. If you want to import mtg decklist text reliably, start with the smallest portable format and add destination-specific details only when you need them.
The safest minimal decklist format
Use one quantity and one exact card name per line. Wizards has published simplified MTG Arena examples in this quantity-plus-name form, making it a sensible baseline when the destination’s requirements are unclear. Wizards’ MTG Arena import announcement shows entries such as a leading number followed by the card name.
A minimal list looks like this:
- 4 Lightning Strike
- 4 Monastery Swiftspear
- 2 Witchstalker Frenzy
- 22 Mountain
This format gives the parser only two jobs: read the quantity and resolve the card name. It avoids optional metadata that may work in one deck builder but fail in another.
Include a quantity on every card line, even for singletons. Write “1 Sol Ring,” not merely “Sol Ring.” Some importers may assume one copy when the number is omitted, but an explicit quantity is easier to inspect and more portable.
| Format choice | Portability | Recommendation |
|---|---|---|
| 4 Card Name | High | Use as the default. |
| 4x Card Name | Variable | Use only when the destination confirms support. |
| x4 Card Name | Variable | Avoid as a cross-platform default. |
| Card Name | Variable | Add an explicit 1 for singletons. |
| 4 Card Name (SET) 123 | Destination-specific | Keep only when printing metadata is needed and supported. |
The “4x” convention is readable to people, but that does not make it universal parser syntax. Likewise, set codes and collector numbers can identify a particular printing, yet support depends on the importer. Parser documentation commonly treats those fields as format-specific extensions rather than requirements of a universal decklist standard.
Clean copied text before importing
Decklists copied from websites often contain material that is useful on the page but useless to an importer. Remove everything that is not a quantity, card name, or confirmed section label.
- Bullets, checkboxes, and numbered-list prefixes
- Prices, availability notes, and condition labels
- Links and tracking parameters
- Mana values or category tags added after card names
- Comments such as “possible cut” or “best card in the deck”
- Author names, article titles, matchup notes, and tournament records
- Subtotals such as “Creatures (24)” unless the destination explicitly uses them as headers
- Decorative separators made from dashes, symbols, or emoji
Watch for smart punctuation and copied line breaks as well. Card names should match the destination’s card database as closely as possible. If a card with unusual punctuation, multiple faces, or a translated name fails to resolve, search for that card in the destination and copy the displayed name rather than guessing at an alternative spelling.
Use section labels only when the destination needs them
A single-section list is the most portable option. If you are importing only a main deck, omit category headers unless the receiving tool requires one. Headers such as “Creatures,” “Removal,” and “Card Draw” are useful for humans but may be interpreted as invalid card names.
Use functional zone labels when you must preserve separate parts of a list. Common concepts include Deck, Sideboard, Commander, Companion, and Maybeboard, but support and spelling vary. Do not assume a label recognized by one client will mean anything to another.
For example, a destination-specific list might be organized as:
- Deck
- 4 Lightning Strike
- 22 Mountain
- Sideboard
- 2 Lithomantic Barrage
- 2 Abrade
Confirm the destination’s documentation before relying on that structure. Blank lines may be ignored, treated as visual spacing, or used by a particular parser to separate sections. If the import puts sideboard cards into the main deck, undo it and check the supported header rather than repeatedly adding blank lines and hoping the software develops intuition.
Optional MTG Arena deck-name structure
MTG Arena supports an optional structure that places “About” and “Name” before the “Deck” section. Wizards announced this option on February 19, 2024; the About and Name portion is optional rather than necessary for an ordinary card-list import.
The structure is:
- About
- Name My Deck Name
- Deck
- 4 Card Name
- 24 Basic Land Name
Treat this as Arena-oriented syntax, not a universal template. If you are moving the list somewhere else, the conservative choice is to remove the About and Name lines unless that destination explicitly recognizes them.
Arena’s current getting-started guidance describes copying a decklist to the clipboard and importing it from the Decks area. Cards missing from the player’s collection may be highlighted after the import, so a missing card from the collection is not necessarily the same problem as a line that failed to parse. Wizards’ MTG Arena getting-started guide explains the current clipboard workflow.
Import the list, then inspect what the tool created
Open the current import option in your chosen deck builder and paste the cleaned list. If you are using MTG App, begin from the MTG Deck Builder and confirm the live import controls before proceeding. Its public deck-builder page describes workflows for building, analyzing, sharing, and moving lists, including text and client-oriented export formats, but the public page does not specify every accepted paste syntax.
Do not immediately export the result or start tuning it. First inspect what the importer actually created. Successful parsing means the software recognized enough text to build a list; it does not mean every source line was interpreted correctly.
Run a 60-second count check
The best import check is not “the page loaded.” It is a comparison between the source and the resulting deck. Record the expected totals before importing, then verify them afterward.
- Compare the imported main-deck total with the source total.
- Compare the sideboard total separately rather than relying on the overall card count.
- Confirm that a commander, companion, or other special-zone card appears in its intended location.
- Look for unresolved, invalid, or unrecognized entries reported by the importer.
- Sort or search for duplicate card names that may have been split across multiple source lines.
- Check quantities on cards with similar names, alternate faces, or multiple printings.
- If the source contains categories, confirm that category headings were not imported as fake cards.
- Save or export only after all expected totals match.
Suppose the source says it contains 60 main-deck cards and 15 sideboard cards. An imported total of 74 does not tell you which card disappeared, and a total of 75 does not prove the zones are correct. Check both section counts and placement. A sideboard card moved into the main deck can preserve the grand total while still changing the list.
Common parser failures and how to fix them
The imported deck has fewer cards than the source
Look for rejected lines, omitted quantities, accidental comments, and card names that do not resolve. Remove all optional metadata from a failed line and retry it as “1 Exact Card Name.” If that works, reintroduce printing details only if they serve a real purpose.
A line imports with the wrong quantity
Replace “4x,” “x4,” bullets, tabs, or spreadsheet delimiters with a plain leading whole number and one space. Also check whether the same card appears elsewhere in the source. Some tools may combine duplicate lines; others may display them separately.
Sideboard or Commander cards enter the main deck
The section header was probably unsupported, misspelled, or lost during copying. Check the destination’s current format, then retry a short sample containing one main-deck card and one special-zone card. A tiny test list reveals section behavior faster than repeatedly pasting an entire Commander deck.
Set codes or collector numbers cause errors
Strip the entry back to quantity and card name. Printing metadata is useful when a tool supports it and you care about a specific version, but it adds another field that can fail. Different parser implementations support different combinations of set and collector information.
The import works, but the deck looks structurally wrong
That is no longer an import problem; it is a deck-analysis problem. Once the list is accurate, use a deck builder and mana curve analyzer workflow to inspect costs, colors, lands, and role balance. The import should preserve the list first. Tuning comes second, unless you enjoy debugging a deck that was never copied correctly.
A successful import does not confirm legality
An importer primarily answers whether it can interpret the submitted text. It may not verify format legality, copy limits, sideboard construction, card-pool availability, or tournament registration requirements—or it may apply settings different from the event you intend to enter.
Wizards’ tournament rules treat deck construction, format legality, and deck registration as distinct requirements. They also state that banned cards cannot be used in the relevant format and that restricted cards are limited to one copy across the deck and sideboard. Check the current Magic Tournament Rules when preparing for sanctioned play.
After the text is imported accurately, select the intended format and review any warnings. For a new build, the MTG Deck Builder guide provides a broader workflow for checking whether the completed list has a coherent plan and enough mana to function.
The practical import workflow
Start with one whole-number quantity and one exact card name per line. Remove page clutter, avoid optional printing metadata, and introduce section labels only when the destination documents them. Paste the list, compare every section total, resolve failed lines, and verify special-zone placement. Then check legality and begin deck analysis.
That order matters. Clean text prevents parser errors; a count check catches silent omissions; legality review catches problems a parser was never designed to solve. Spending one minute on those checks is much faster than discovering during deck registration—or opening hand number one—that your list lost a card somewhere between copy and paste.