Card Organization Schemes

So there are various ways of organizing cards that have to do with various functions.Right now (9/6/26) my cards are just in random boxes, they are not ordered at all. Below are some of the schemes I am considering.

The one I am leaning toward the most is to separate out the cards that are Pioneer legal and alphabetize them. If I am feeling motivated enough I would like to sort out the cards that are Modern legal but not Pioneer legal and alphabetize those as well. Lastly I would have the cards that are Legacy/Vintage/Commander legal and not Pioneer or Modern and alphabetize those as well. The main function of this is obviously to be able to browse cards by the competitive format and because I am most interested in playing Pioneer that would be the main organizational category. Alphabetical is also the easiest way to sort cards. Other schemes involving card type or mana cost or whatever quickly run into complicating issues. The main problem with this scheme is just that it would be somewhat time consuming to check legality for each card. On the other hand, a lot of my cards are from more recent sets that I am familiar with and so just checking the set symbol would be sufficient. However there are reprint sets that I got a lot of in the bulk boxes where some of the cards are pioneer legal and some aren't.

Another scheme that I have some interest in is organizing by set and within the set by the collector number. This approach is much more geared to the collector mentality of wanting to know how you stand with regard to completing each set. Sometimes I feel like I am more of a collector than a competitor. But overall my main interest remains deckbuilding so it makes sense to organize by format instead of by set.

Another way to organize is by color. My main interests are blue and black although I also sometimes like white. I have some interest in red but overall see it as less interesting strategically than blue or black. So an organizational scheme by color makes a certain amount of sense. I still think that organizing by format works best for my interests. There are plenty of ways to search for cards by color using online tools. The main interest when browsing cards for fun ideas is to know what kind of deck you would be using them in.