Are you an old-school player who misses the glory days of early 2000s Magic? Are you a newer player who never got to play with the old cards that made Magic what it is today? Are you looking for a new, fun format that doesn’t have a high cost of entry? Do you want to play a Vintage or Legacy-type format that doesn’t require you to have access to the power nine, duals, or Force of Will?
If you answered yes to any of these questions, Premodern is the format for you! To put it simply, Premodern is a format that only includes cards printed before the Modern format. Premodern consists of all sets between 1995 and 2003, from Fourth Edition to Scourge. If a card has an old card frame and was printed in a standard legal set after 1994, it is included in Premodern (with a few exceptions).
The purpose of Premodern is to be a format full of fun of old decks that are not overshadowed by newer modern cards or older vintage cards. For this format to be distinct from Legacy, a few key cards have been banned, allowing for more experimental strategies to flourish. This makes every deck in Premodern unique and prevents blue from being the most powerful color in the format. Also, while Premodern-sanctioned tournaments usually use contemporary rules, if you’re playing with your friends, you could once again experience Mana Burn! And use the Batch instead of the Stack!
This format was created in 2012 by Martin Berlin and was at first a very niche format for older players of the game. Recently, however, with the over-saturation of shiny products from Wizards and the total lack of interest in Standard, players have been looking for new formats to play that remind them of old Magic, and Premodern has seen a significant spike in gameplay.
Older players get to remember what it was like when the game was centered around making the best game possible instead of making the shiniest cards possible. Newer players who may be turned off by the latest Wizard’s cash grab are now looking to older cards they never got to play with. I only recently found this fantastic format, and I am already looking to build several new decks to try out!
What sets are included in Premodern?
Image provided by PremodernMagic.com
What cards are banned in Premodern?
Below is a list of all the cards banned in Premodern and their reasonings. As you will see, several cards on this list are banned for ante purposes, or because it’s a powerful combo card that prevents the format from being interactive, or to keep Premodern distinct from other formats.
Cards banned due to Ante:
Combo and other powerful cards banned to keep the format interactive:
Cards banned to keep Premodern distinct from other formats:
What does the meta look like?
One of the best things about Premodern is that the meta is very diverse. You can bring almost any deck to a Premodern tournament and have a good chance of winning. Of course, some decks pose a higher win percentage than others. Still, the win percentage between a tier-one and a tier-three deck in Premodern is immensely closer than in you were to compare a tier-one Modern or Legacy deck with a tier-three deck.
According to MTGDecks, the top three most popular tier-one Premodern decks include RG Goblins, The Rock, and Burn. This, of course, does not make them the most powerful, and the top eights of Premodern tournaments usually also include Stiflenought, Oath, and Madness decks. The diversity of Premodern is one of the factors that makes it such a fun and replayable format!
What are some fun decks to play?
Are you looking for a budget deck to help you dip your toes into Premodern? Or are you looking for a powerful deck that will get you to the highest competition? Let’s look at three of the most popular Premodern decks and why you should play them!
The Budget Deck: The Rock
Average Price: $300
Decklist here
What if I told you that one of the most powerful decks in Premodern costs one-fourth as much as a tier-three deck in Modern? For $300, you can build a fun and interactive Premodern deck that puts numbers on the board at almost every Premodern tournament. I follow a lot of Premodern groups, and just the other day, I saw The Rock take first place over a deck that cost three times as much!
Below is the winning decklist, piloted by Virgilio Santos during the Clube Top Deck tournament. The deck uses cards like Deranged Hermit, Wall of Blossoms, and Yavimaya Elder to create value and put creature fodder onto the battlefield. With this fodder, you can cast spells like Cabal Therapy to attack your opponent’s hand or Recurring Nightmare to reanimate powerful creatures from your graveyard. This deck is a total value engine, and it’s no wonder it is a tier-one deck.
The Powerhouse: GW Oath
Average Price: $1500
Decklist here
Oath decks represent a wide range of decks, all utilizing Oath of Druids to get a massive creature onto the battlefield, usually Phantom Nishoba or Akroma, Angel of Wrath. There are all different types of Oath decks; some are just GW Oath, others are RG Oath Pilar, and many others are called ‘Parfait’ Oath, meaning they are four or five colors. This also means that there is a wide range of prices for the deck, ranging from as little as $90 all the way up to $3000. This is fantastic for players who love Oath of Druids because it means you can play the deck regardless of your financial situation.
Below is an example of a GW Oath deck that got first place in a Premodern tournament by user ‘Drizzt’ and is valued at just about $3000. It uses Oath of Druids to find Phantom Nishoba, a powerful lifelink creature from Judgement that is very hard to kill.
The combo is supported by defensive artifacts like Defence Grid and Sphere of Resistance while using cards like Enlightened Tutor and Sylvan Library to find your Oath. The deck also uses a wide swath of nonbasic lands, including creature lands that help you get around your Oath trigger. Oath of Druids is a one-card-combo, making it powerful and hard to deal with for most decks.
The Middle of the Road: Stiflenought
Average Price: $600
Decklist here
Not looking for a budget deck, but don’t want to spend a couple of thousand dollars on a deck? Stiflenought might be the perfect deck for you! The deck can be mono-blue, UB, or UR and centers around the card Phyrexian Dreadnought.
The combo works like this; you cast Phyrexian Dreadnought, and with the trigger on the Stack, you cast Stifle, countering the trigger. Just like that, you have a 12/12 creature on as early as turn two. Other cards also work with this combo, such as Vision Charm, which you can use to phase out your Phyrexian Dreadnought, so it survives its own trigger.
The rest of the deck is pretty simple, just a pile of counterspells that you use to keep your combo safe and a pile of cantrips to find your combo. This deck is incredibly straightforward and powerful, a good combination for newer players. Also, who doesn’t love casting a 12/12 on turn two? The deck below is a Mono-blue version that made the top eight in a Premodern tournament by user 'GoForTheScoop.’
If these three decks don’t pique your interest, don’t worry, there is a wide variety of decks in Premodern, and most of them are very affordable. Take a look at some of the other deck types below:
Tier One:
Tier Two:
Premodern is a fast-growing format and is being recognized by more and more game stores, so the support is there. I have seen both new and old players jumping into it, and both enjoy it immensely. I love revisiting all of the old cards that I used to play with, and there are so many decks that I want to try out.
Make sure to look for upcoming Premodern decks of the week!
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