Start here
What is Premodern MTG?
Premodern is a community Magic: The Gathering format using sets from 1995–2003 (Fourth Edition through Scourge), current rules, and a 33-card banlist. Start here: rules, legal sets, banlist, and budget decks.
Premodern is a community-run constructed format for Magic: The Gathering, created by Martin Berlin in 2012. It uses the sets of Magic’s golden era — Fourth Edition (1995) through Scourge (2003) — played under the current comprehensive rules, with a 33-card banlist that keeps aggro, control, and combo in balance. There is no rotation and no Universes Beyond crossovers — just the cards you remember. For the full story, read our complete what-is-Premodern guide.
Find your way in
- The rules Deck construction, match structure, and the current-rules baseline (no mana burn, London Mulligan).
- Legal sets The 29 sets from Fourth Edition (1995) to Scourge (2003) that make up the card pool.
- The banlist All 33 cards banned for power level — including Brainstorm and Force of Will — with the reasoning for each.
- Budget decks The cheapest competitive archetypes to build, priced in USD and EUR.
- The metagame Every archetype on a sortable board: tiers, win rates, decklist counts, and price to build.
- Glossary The format’s vocabulary, from Stiflenought to Pande-Burst.
Go deeper
Once you know the basics, dig into the metagame analysis and tier list, follow the daily Premodern Price Index, browse the full card database, or read the long-form guide library. New bans and MTGO news are mirrored from premodernmagic.com within 24 hours.
Browse premodernmtg.com
- Cards Every Premodern-legal Magic: The Gathering card.
- Decks Curated decklists, archetype primers, and the meta board.
- Meta Metagame analysis: tiers, trends, win rates, and matchups.
- Matchups Head-to-head archetype data and sideboarding notes.
- Events Lobstercon, MTGO Challenges, national championships.
- News Ban announcements, MTGO updates, and metagame shifts.
- Guides Beginner, intermediate, and advanced Premodern references.
- Banlist Every banlist event with citations and effective dates.
- Glossary Premodern terminology, from Stiflenought to Pande-Burst.
- Metagame Monthly archetype snapshots and post-ban meta shifts.
- Prices Daily Premodern Price Index, movers, staples, archetype build cost, and budget decks — USD and EUR.
- Search Search every card, archetype, deck, matchup, and glossary term.
Card data and images via Scryfall. Magic: The Gathering is © Wizards of the Coast. Card images are hotlinked from Scryfall's CDN and not stored or modified by premodernmtg.com.