Card pool
Premodern legal sets
Every set legal in Premodern: the 29 sets from Fourth Edition (1995) through Scourge (2003), grouped by era with release dates — sourced from premodernmagic.com.
Premodern is a closed format: its card pool spans Fourth Edition (1995) through Scourge (2003) and never rotates. A card is legal if it was first printed in one of the 29 sets below — Chronicles is legal; Portal and the promo sets are not. Later reprints of a legal card are allowed, though the community prefers the original old-frame printing. The canonical list is Martin Berlin’s at premodernmagic.com/legal-sets. Browse the pool in the card database, see what’s removed on the banlist, read the full rules, or pick a deck on the metagame board. New here? Start at what is Premodern.
Ice Age era
1995–1997
8 setsThe birth of true combo and control.
| Set | Code | Released |
|---|---|---|
| Fourth Edition | 4ED | Apr 1995 |
| Ice Age | ICE | Jun 1995 |
| Chronicles | CHR | Jul 1995 |
| Homelands | HML | Oct 1995 |
| Alliances | ALL | Jun 1996 |
| Mirage | MIR | Oct 1996 |
| Visions | VIS | Feb 1997 |
| Fifth Edition | 5ED | Mar 1997 |
Saga block
1997–1999
8 setsTempest and the Urza sets — the most broken artifacts ever printed.
| Set | Code | Released |
|---|---|---|
| Weatherlight | WTH | Jun 1997 |
| Tempest | TMP | Oct 1997 |
| Stronghold | STH | Mar 1998 |
| Exodus | EXO | Jun 1998 |
| Urza's Saga | USG | Oct 1998 |
| Urza's Legacy | ULG | Feb 1999 |
| Classic Sixth Edition | 6ED | Apr 1999 |
| Urza's Destiny | UDS | Jun 1999 |
Invasion era
1999–2001
7 setsMercadian Masques, then the gold-card revolution.
| Set | Code | Released |
|---|---|---|
| Mercadian Masques | MMQ | Oct 1999 |
| Nemesis | NEM | Feb 2000 |
| Prophecy | PCY | Jun 2000 |
| Invasion | INV | Oct 2000 |
| Planeshift | PLS | Feb 2001 |
| Seventh Edition | 7ED | Apr 2001 |
| Apocalypse | APC | Jun 2001 |
Onslaught era
2001–2003
6 setsOdyssey graveyard value and Onslaught tribal.
| Set | Code | Released |
|---|---|---|
| Odyssey | ODY | Oct 2001 |
| Torment | TOR | Feb 2002 |
| Judgment | JUD | May 2002 |
| Onslaught | ONS | Oct 2002 |
| Legions | LGN | Feb 2003 |
| Scourge | SCG | May 2003 |
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.