"You're as cold as ice You're willing to sacrifice our love You never take advice Someday you'll pay the price, I know I've seen it before It happens all the time You're closing the door You leave the world behind You're digging for gold Yet throwing away A fortune in feelings But someday you'll pay You're as cold as ice You're willing to sacrifice our love You want paradise But someday you'll pay the price, I know" by Foreigners hahahah
@@ChristianBang34 yaaaaa......but....the majority do including the largest tournament (the online monthly), and crucially, the Premodern website maintained by format architect Martin Berlin states that any reprinting may be used, as he wanted to avoid the budget-gating pitfalls that have plagued old-school.
A format like this is a perfect time to remind everyone: When it comes to cards that WOTC isn't selling again, proxy early, proxy often. There's absolutely no reason to respect some abstract purity principle when it comes to your personal enjoyment.
Here's my thing, their are numerous card games, board game, video game, etc. If for some reason I can't play a game due to money, I'll just play another game. WOTC has a specific vision and monetization that want players to go for. If I disagree with that, then why waste effort working around them when I can just play another game. MTG isn't so great that it can't be replaced.
@@drob128 because working around them is very, very easy? If it were a hassle, sure, but I like magic, I'd rather just play Magic and ignore WOTC's opinion where they lack the power to enforce it.
@@drob128 That specific vision is to drain you of all your money. There aren't many games as dynamic and replayable as magic, especially with the same old fantasy flavor, that are as cheap as proxying a deck or are free like using Cockatrice.
i love Premodern. probably the best constructed format i have ever played. a well balanced format with plenty of viable archetypes and plenty of meta choices. its pretty sweet.
White weenie gets a ton of help from splashing blue in Premodern, mostly for meddling mage. But the old classic of land tax + empyrial armor on a soltari priest can still do some work.
Premodern fails by not using the classic game rules. What's the point of playing _Magic_ the way it used to be, if it's not going to be the way it used to be? I want to play a format where mana burn is a thing and combat damage uses the stack.
@@YourNerdyJoe Thanks. I'm just a little confused as to why Premodern is the format that's growing in popularity and being featured on Tolarian Community College. But if it's making people happy, then I guess that's the important thing. Now to see if I can find some people playing Middle School in my area . . .
My big concern is that eventually a tier one deck will be figured out and the format will converge to players are either A) playing the tier 1 deck or B) playing a deck specifically formulated to kill the tier 1 deck. That does not seem conducive to a fun experience.
The best night of magic I had in the last two years was with a friend that built/proxied 6 premodern decks. We just rolled decks over and over and had a great time. Cool old cards we know and love, interactive, great variance of strategies and playstyles, quick games and drawn out games. It was heaven. We talked for days after it about making slight changes in sideboards.
Jajaja yeah *total sarcasm* because this is what we want, another commander where a proper banlist is inexistent, the n.1 complain is that the decks are to powerful for the casual to beat and people shaming you for wanting to win
This format is awesome. I have never had more fun playing a Magic game than with Premodern. What a pleasure to see it being featured in this channel. The only sad thing is when you find a card that seems it would really fit in a janky deck and discover that it costs as much as a fetchland because it enables some Commander shenanigans.
Such a nice way to wrap up my evening. Takes me back to clopping together decks from boosters and random boxes while reading InQuest. It was such a jankier game back then - the color pie was much more rigid and creatures sucked but finding combos and spending hours flopping cards was great wholesome fun.
Everyone try this format! It’s like playing Extended, but the cards are now more affordable. Goblins? RW Slide? Psychatog? UG Madness? Reanimator? Zombies? What a time to be alive.
I mean, I don't care one way or the other, but it seems kinda eh. Like, it's a stagnant format, eventually the best decks are gonna get figured out, especially since it has previous play data to work with. Hell, just look at the video, it's all Recurring Nightmares and Standstills and Greater Good, and there seems to be very little Touch of Death or Zebra Unicorn. Like, I hope it does well, but personally building my vaguely Shandalar inspired cube seems like a better investment.
@@dapperghastmeowregard it’s a format where you can get whatever you want out of it. There are spikes and those after spice - there are tier 1 decks but nothing dominates the format. You can show up with the spiciest deck in the room and dominate - it’s a big enough card pool where you can do some cool stuff. For instance, there are like 6 different ways to build oath - I recently played RG ponza with avalanche riders as my only oath target and it’s done well in the past. The best part is hanging out with like minded people who aren’t grinding sanctioned tournaments - it’s fun to relax and not take it so seriously. It’s admittedly probably the most attractive to everyone in their 30s who started out during this time period. I’d still ask you to give it a shot before writing it off.
@@diarrhearulz I dunno, still sounds like casual with extra steps (although I did build a Kamigawa block Iname as One deck, but that was to be dumb on purpose). Maybe after I get my money's worth out of my Brawl and Oathbreaker and Pauper EDH decks :P
Thanks for bringing light to an amazing format! We are always welcoming to new players, especially if they didn't play back then. Something else to note, most locals allow proxys because of card prices. We are here to play not turn a profit.
Wow this format seems so refreshing. The fact that nothing can be added to it is amazing and means I can make a deck and not worry about new cards affecting it. Thanks for sharing it prof!
Glad to see you covering this, and hope it just keeps growing. We did a Premodern night for my birthday a few weeks ago, and had 50ish decks ready so people could just pick them up and play. Awesome format
Seconded below - there is a sister format with slightly different banned/restricted list called “middle school”. It’s primary difference is FoW is legal.
I have no interest in this format but I love that TCC is covering it. This is exactly what MTG needs more advocates for players playing the game. You're the best Prof.
A very underrated format because of the seemingly high barrier to entry. Trust me, it's fun, there is SOME investment needed, but there are no dominant deck archetypes. Even if the card pool is locked in, it's still a wide open meta, and decks without RL cards in them are affordable (and competitive) enough to the point where you can have 5-6 decks at your disposal at any given time.
I'm currently playing Deadguy Ale. With Vindicates and the nana-base having been reprinted this very year, the deck is dirt cheap. The only card over €10 you really need is Phyrexian Arena. The entire deck is less than €100
I didn't know this was a thing, but it sounds fun, it's close to the kitchen table Magic we used to play back in the days! And what a relief a format not completely spoilt by broken Simic/Green OP/value engine creatures!
It's funny that ever since the new border I had a disdain for mixing border styles and kept my old border decks, guess I've always had a piece of pre-modern in me this whole time.
i experience the same. i hated the new frame when it came out. since then, i've been playing with my old decks. I love premodern times. Money destroyed magic
At this point I'm beginning to think that whenever I hear many magic the gathering players it is a recording that you are lip syncing to because you do it the exact same way almost every time if not every time it's great
Thanks for highlighting this format, Professor! I spent the weekends of my adolescent years at my beloved LGS/bookstore sorting cards from this precise era for store credit. I would use that credit to grow my collection, always drawn to the marvelous combinations of Standard (Type 2) or Extended builds of the late 90s and early 2000s. I felt I missed some of Magic's most interesting years by not having joined the game during the Rath cycle or Urza block. I can still remember the first precon Threshold deck I bought from Odyssey block. Once my LGS decided it was not in their economic interest to carry Magic or host events any more, I followed suit. The community I loved evaporated, but I held onto my cards. I guess I hoped they would increase in value, (and some did) but I knew that not liquidating my collection was a nostalgia-driven decision. One that would see me lose out on the ability to recoup some value from my misspent, or well-spent, youth. I quit Magic to pursue college and other interests. I always kept tabs on the game from the outside looking in That is, until Arena and streaming presented a way to grind away my time, but not money, and entice some of my friends into trying the game I had always loved. This is only possible because I near exclusively draft. I have often lamented how draft's popularity has diminished while watching videos on your channel. Arena feels like a version of the game that engrossed me from the moment I saw some kids playing at my school at 12, but it is not the same thing. A whiff of a familiar aroma that inevitably never tastes quite like mom made it. So again, thanks for providing resources to explore this period of Magic. I particularly love the thought that I can buff up antique cards to shine anew while connecting with other rose-colored spectacle wearers across the globe. It makes me feel vindicated for not converting my collection to dollars and cents on ebay long ago. A vindication made all the sweeter by the thought of playing without handing WotC another wad of cash to do so, I think they're doing just fine without it.
I didn't get into Magic until 2006, but ever since recently discovering the manga "Destroy All Humans. They Can't Be Regenerated" by Takuma Yokota and Katsura Ise (it's about middle schoolers playing MtG in 1998) I've become curious about that era of the game. This sounds like a fun way to experience that for myself so I'm going to have to check it out and brew up a deck. Maybe I can convince some folks at my LGS to play with me...
I just checked that manga. Reminds me of Hi-Score Girl from Netflix, but with MTG instead of video games. I can't believe I'm not aware of this comic-book. Thanks for sharing.
When I watched your video it put a smile on my face. I started about Fourth Edition and took a break when my brother went to the Navy in 2001. I didn't pick up the game again until the Dominaria set.
Pre modern is literally where I start playing paper magic back in the 90s! I remember playing my Kjeldoran dead lol. Then after scourge I stop and returned when Scars of Mirrodin is the latest expansion.
Premodern is my favorite variation to combine with commander, and is awesome on its own as a 60-card format too I built a whole premodern graveyard cube over the last 3 years and it's almost the only MtG thing I really care about anymore! :)
As someone who started playing Magic during 4th edition, this existence of this format make me a happy ancient 90'sian! *dusts off old 5-Color Sliver deck*
My foray into tournament play started sometime after Prophecy came out. Played lots of type 2 and extended. So I am very familiar with this pool of cards. Good times.
There’s something really appealing to me about focusing on one era and not having to worry about keeping up or getting new cards. And its unchanging so strategies don’t change either
This is my thought exactly, they jumped on the EDH train as soon as it became the most popular casual format. WatC will always find a way to makes its cut.
The format by definition is complete. If WotC decided to assimilate this format and turn it into something else, people would just not care and continue to play the "original" Premodern. The only real thing to "mess" with the format are reprint sets. Or maybe abolish the reserved list.
@@MattRose30000 yet if WOTC adopts it as a competitive format like they did with pioneer it could become popular and in turn drive aftermarket prices up which then WOTC can choose to not reprint staples of the format or even just produce more unique versions of the cards to sell. WOTC/Hasbro will find a way to make $$ off this if it gains more traction which I’m sure it will.
Oh that sounds like something one can really like. Not as outright expensive as 93/94 or as "need to add these cards from the upcoming sets" as Modern. Having a closed card pool seems a great idea, maybe there should be more such formats, like 1999-2003, or 2007-2010. More than just 2-3 sets or what is considered set-draft but spanning a few years.
I barely played in the premodern area as a kid because I abandonned the game after getting my cards stolen. My true nostalgic sets as a player are Lorwyn and Morningtide, as I built two decks in standard at the time. But as my collection builds over time, I may give it a go someday. : ^) ~Skoyatt
I have started playing premodern and I love it. Reminds me of playing magic in the mall food court in high school. Even using coins as tokens and just get you some proxies. Most feel good way to play magic, don’t even play arena anymore because of premodern and the old frames are truly a work of art
Hey prof! I was hoping you might consider making a video about how to handle losing a magic collection due to catastrophic loss like fire or flood. A lot of magic players have a lot invested in little cardboard rectangles and the vast majority of them don't think about things like what happens if they lost it all suddenly. I made a post about it on Reddit the other day, but as arguably the biggest voice in the MTG community I was hoping you'd bring attention to it. Thanks for all that you do!
How would you go about proving their value? And if you did, would that force WotC to acknowledge the secondary market? And if they did, Trading Card Games die
@@Greg501- so, I am no expert, but you can definitely get a collection appraised and insured. Especially if it's a high end collection. But even if you have less that 5k worth of cards it makes sense to talk to your home owner's or renters insurance to see about coverage for it. Speaking from experience I just lost everything in an apartment fire and found out or insurance only covered up to $2,500 for "collectibles". That's like, my playset of mox diamonds and that's it. So I just want to bring attention to this kind of thing so more players are prepared for disasters like this. Even loss prevention is something to think about. Keep your high value cards in a binder or box in a quick and easy place to grab them while exiting your home if the worst happens and it catches fire.
It's funny how Yugioh's meta has drastically changed throughout the course of the game, that they made a format that only uses the cards up until 2005, when Yugioh GX started to take precedent. Many people play the GOAT format due to nostalgic reasons.
I left magic to play Yu-Gi-Oh back then, during gx's debut. Oh man it's like this video and it's comments are just concentrated nostalgia. But I left Yu-Gi-Oh a decade or so ago. Magic is back!
My first ever set was Darksteel and I didn’t started really playing seriously until 2018 so I’m heavily biased against old borders, I seek out M15 frames out of everything that I can get in it. It devastates me immensely that I’ll never have M15 frames for my RL cards, those VMA dual arts are beautiful and so is the promo LED 😭
pre-modern is however a format that still costs the same or more than a modern deck to build, but does not have wizards support obviously. I feel if you wish to have a popular fan made format or a format free from "new" cards, something like pauper is better
It's funny how something so seemingly obvious takes a video like this to become apparent. This may easily become my favorite way to play Magic. I'm clinging to my memories of the old frame Magic days!
Indeed, except extended allowed for dual lands, for some weird reason. No 5 color messes here. Fetches are a lot more fair when you can only grab a basic. Color fixing beyond that is basically limited to pain lands, which is pretty great, and with wasteland in the format, mono colored decks can seriously hose greedy mana bases.
I love this. I was considering getting into 93-94 but, well, it's a bit pricey. I love that Premodern is a "complete" format but one that's big enough that it's difficult to "solve" (I assume).
Yes, although a somewhat stable meta is established, there is lots of room to brew and improve. Archetypes like The Rock, UW(x) Control and Survival are highly modifiable and there are many rogue decks to explore
A predictable meta will emerge from any format, to some degree. Premodern has a decent amount of innovation and brewing. (the way tcdecks shows their tier decks from the last 30 days, brews are now second place :p The Rock being no1)
Still adjustable by banning and unbannings, so long as the managers of the community put diversification of archetypes as a prominent feature. So far, Premodern has done this well, and adjusted their banning appropriately.
Speaking of cutting WotC out of the equation, check out my video "The Truth About Flesh And Blood" here: th-cam.com/video/eGJJzcQMc7w/w-d-xo.html
Pojo was the pokemon version! lol
"You're as cold as ice
You're willing to sacrifice our love
You never take advice
Someday you'll pay the price, I know
I've seen it before
It happens all the time
You're closing the door
You leave the world behind
You're digging for gold
Yet throwing away
A fortune in feelings
But someday you'll pay
You're as cold as ice
You're willing to sacrifice our love
You want paradise
But someday you'll pay the price, I know" by Foreigners hahahah
Today i started brewing on a pre-modern commander deck around Phelddagrif. Thanks prof!
Prof: “Wizards can’t monetize pre-modern.”
WotC: *laughs in Secret Lairs*
As long as they continue to reprint cards legal in the format, then yes, they can monetize it
@@Greg501- not all premodern tournaments allow reprints
@@ChristianBang34 that sounds idiotic
@@soren1803 it's pretty smart actually, it creates a hard barrier of entry that acts as a form of natural gatekeeping
@@ChristianBang34 yaaaaa......but....the majority do including the largest tournament (the online monthly), and crucially, the Premodern website maintained by format architect Martin Berlin states that any reprinting may be used, as he wanted to avoid the budget-gating pitfalls that have plagued old-school.
Thanks for taking the time to share Premodern with everyone Prof. Appreciate the kind words as well!
And you’re doing great in 2023
A format like this is a perfect time to remind everyone: When it comes to cards that WOTC isn't selling again, proxy early, proxy often. There's absolutely no reason to respect some abstract purity principle when it comes to your personal enjoyment.
Here's my thing, their are numerous card games, board game, video game, etc. If for some reason I can't play a game due to money, I'll just play another game. WOTC has a specific vision and monetization that want players to go for. If I disagree with that, then why waste effort working around them when I can just play another game. MTG isn't so great that it can't be replaced.
@@drob128 because working around them is very, very easy? If it were a hassle, sure, but I like magic, I'd rather just play Magic and ignore WOTC's opinion where they lack the power to enforce it.
@@drob128 That specific vision is to drain you of all your money. There aren't many games as dynamic and replayable as magic, especially with the same old fantasy flavor, that are as cheap as proxying a deck or are free like using Cockatrice.
@@LemorasCards you can also get a whole deck of professional beautiful proxies for less than $30 instead of spending multiple thousands.
@@atk9989 but how?
i love Premodern. probably the best constructed format i have ever played. a well balanced format with plenty of viable archetypes and plenty of meta choices. its pretty sweet.
This play type is literally my adolescence.
It slightly cuts off just before my adolescence; I fondly remember Mirrodin - Time Spiral.
Same here, good ol' days! :)
Same here :)
@@jareddoucette7193 in what platform do you play?
@@SiameseCats4ever we use whereby mostly for webcam games
This is actually the only format im playing. Best format ever! Metagame is super healthly.
White weenie gets a ton of help from splashing blue in Premodern, mostly for meddling mage. But the old classic of land tax + empyrial armor on a soltari priest can still do some work.
Premodern fails by not using the classic game rules. What's the point of playing _Magic_ the way it used to be, if it's not going to be the way it used to be?
I want to play a format where mana burn is a thing and combat damage uses the stack.
@@thegreatbutterfly I believe the format you're looking for is called middle school
@@YourNerdyJoe Thanks. I'm just a little confused as to why Premodern is the format that's growing in popularity and being featured on Tolarian Community College. But if it's making people happy, then I guess that's the important thing.
Now to see if I can find some people playing Middle School in my area . . .
My big concern is that eventually a tier one deck will be figured out and the format will converge to players are either A) playing the tier 1 deck or B) playing a deck specifically formulated to kill the tier 1 deck. That does not seem conducive to a fun experience.
The best night of magic I had in the last two years was with a friend that built/proxied 6 premodern decks. We just rolled decks over and over and had a great time. Cool old cards we know and love, interactive, great variance of strategies and playstyles, quick games and drawn out games. It was heaven. We talked for days after it about making slight changes in sideboards.
At long last.
Jajaja yeah *total sarcasm* because this is what we want, another commander where a proper banlist is inexistent, the n.1 complain is that the decks are to powerful for the casual to beat and people shaming you for wanting to win
I am so excited this exists!
At long last no card left unturned!!!
This format is awesome. I have never had more fun playing a Magic game than with Premodern. What a pleasure to see it being featured in this channel.
The only sad thing is when you find a card that seems it would really fit in a janky deck and discover that it costs as much as a fetchland because it enables some Commander shenanigans.
just proxy it man. nobody is really going to care. and if they do, you don't have to play vs them
@@netctrl at least make sure its a high quality proxy to keep the emersion
I started playing when Apocalypse came out ,this format is my childhood years .I love it.
Ah, Psychatog my old friend. "Upheaval, float 3..."
Premodern is like budhism, a way of life, long life to this format and all the nostalgic players out there!
Such a nice way to wrap up my evening. Takes me back to clopping together decks from boosters and random boxes while reading InQuest. It was such a jankier game back then - the color pie was much more rigid and creatures sucked but finding combos and spending hours flopping cards was great wholesome fun.
Ah Inquest was such a delight to read. And having full card spoilers was such a novelty in the stone aged internet days.
I loved InQuest and Duelist. Ah, the memories.
So, this format is essentially what I played in high school.
Neat.
Except all the good cards are banned lol.
Everyone try this format! It’s like playing Extended, but the cards are now more affordable. Goblins? RW Slide? Psychatog? UG Madness? Reanimator? Zombies? What a time to be alive.
Premodern is love. Premodern is life. Not sure why it’s pulling so much hate here - it’s incredibly affordable (a LOT of competitive decks
I mean, I don't care one way or the other, but it seems kinda eh. Like, it's a stagnant format, eventually the best decks are gonna get figured out, especially since it has previous play data to work with. Hell, just look at the video, it's all Recurring Nightmares and Standstills and Greater Good, and there seems to be very little Touch of Death or Zebra Unicorn. Like, I hope it does well, but personally building my vaguely Shandalar inspired cube seems like a better investment.
@@dapperghastmeowregard it’s a format where you can get whatever you want out of it. There are spikes and those after spice - there are tier 1 decks but nothing dominates the format. You can show up with the spiciest deck in the room and dominate - it’s a big enough card pool where you can do some cool stuff. For instance, there are like 6 different ways to build oath - I recently played RG ponza with avalanche riders as my only oath target and it’s done well in the past. The best part is hanging out with like minded people who aren’t grinding sanctioned tournaments - it’s fun to relax and not take it so seriously. It’s admittedly probably the most attractive to everyone in their 30s who started out during this time period. I’d still ask you to give it a shot before writing it off.
@@diarrhearulz I dunno, still sounds like casual with extra steps (although I did build a Kamigawa block Iname as One deck, but that was to be dumb on purpose). Maybe after I get my money's worth out of my Brawl and Oathbreaker and Pauper EDH decks :P
Thanks for bringing light to an amazing format! We are always welcoming to new players, especially if they didn't play back then.
Something else to note, most locals allow proxys because of card prices. We are here to play not turn a profit.
Wow this format seems so refreshing. The fact that nothing can be added to it is amazing and means I can make a deck and not worry about new cards affecting it. Thanks for sharing it prof!
"Cut Wizards Of The Coast Out Of The Equation", We love to hear it!
Glad to see you covering this, and hope it just keeps growing. We did a Premodern night for my birthday a few weeks ago, and had 50ish decks ready so people could just pick them up and play.
Awesome format
This is exactly what I've been looking for. I have been thinking about a similar format recently. I had termed it "Middle School" in my mind.
It is great fun!
Middle school is a different format.
Seconded below - there is a sister format with slightly different banned/restricted list called “middle school”. It’s primary difference is FoW is legal.
Middle School is a very close sibling to Premodern. Slight differences in set legality and banlist. Smaller, more intimate playerbase.
@@Iandoto Force being banned is one of the best things about PM
Thanks for shedding light on this wonderful format Professor
I have no interest in this format but I love that TCC is covering it. This is exactly what MTG needs more advocates for players playing the game. You're the best Prof.
We play Premodern via Spelltable on tuesdays here in Brazil! And with promo support from the store!!
I just want to play Nantuko Shade and Phyrexian Negator again.
Sui black
omg the professor talking about premodern - a dream come true
So happy to see this amazing format get the love it deserves
Brian I LOVE pre-modern, thank you so much for doing a video on this format!!
My pleasure!
A very underrated format because of the seemingly high barrier to entry. Trust me, it's fun, there is SOME investment needed, but there are no dominant deck archetypes. Even if the card pool is locked in, it's still a wide open meta, and decks without RL cards in them are affordable (and competitive) enough to the point where you can have 5-6 decks at your disposal at any given time.
I'm currently playing Deadguy Ale. With Vindicates and the nana-base having been reprinted this very year, the deck is dirt cheap. The only card over €10 you really need is Phyrexian Arena. The entire deck is less than €100
Agreed. I've put together UG madness ans UW standstill now. Both verry affordable and competitive
@@Pistoolkip Well, you forget Wasteland, but other than that, yes! Even Phyrexian Negator is cheap...for now.
@@lambdaman256 Wasteland is about €6-8 if you get a gold-bordered one
Invasion block. One of the greatest in the game. It rarely receives any hype, even on Rudy's channel. Makes me think that he must not have much of it.
I didn't know this was a thing, but it sounds fun, it's close to the kitchen table Magic we used to play back in the days!
And what a relief a format not completely spoilt by broken Simic/Green OP/value engine creatures!
This is a solid format. Very much interested. Also thanks for the cubeS2 plug. Managed to back it B4 the deadline
It's funny that ever since the new border I had a disdain for mixing border styles and kept my old border decks, guess I've always had a piece of pre-modern in me this whole time.
i experience the same. i hated the new frame when it came out. since then, i've been playing with my old decks.
I love premodern times. Money destroyed magic
Now we’re talking!! Yes, format is GREAT!!
"They can't mess up with it" brow brow. Professor dropping a massive hint to you-know-who xD
It wasn't just dropping a hint, it was a... super drop ;)
At this point I'm beginning to think that whenever I hear many magic the gathering players it is a recording that you are lip syncing to because you do it the exact same way almost every time if not every time it's great
You had me at cut out wizards of the coast.
Thanks for highlighting this format, Professor! I spent the weekends of my adolescent years at my beloved LGS/bookstore sorting cards from this precise era for store credit.
I would use that credit to grow my collection, always drawn to the marvelous combinations of Standard (Type 2) or Extended builds of the late 90s and early 2000s. I felt I missed some of Magic's most interesting years by not having joined the game during the Rath cycle or Urza block. I can still remember the first precon Threshold deck I bought from Odyssey block.
Once my LGS decided it was not in their economic interest to carry Magic or host events any more, I followed suit. The community I loved evaporated, but I held onto my cards. I guess I hoped they would increase in value, (and some did) but I knew that not liquidating my collection was a nostalgia-driven decision. One that would see me lose out on the ability to recoup some value from my misspent, or well-spent, youth.
I quit Magic to pursue college and other interests. I always kept tabs on the game from the outside looking in That is, until Arena and streaming presented a way to grind away my time, but not money, and entice some of my friends into trying the game I had always loved. This is only possible because I near exclusively draft. I have often lamented how draft's popularity has diminished while watching videos on your channel.
Arena feels like a version of the game that engrossed me from the moment I saw some kids playing at my school at 12, but it is not the same thing. A whiff of a familiar aroma that inevitably never tastes quite like mom made it.
So again, thanks for providing resources to explore this period of Magic. I particularly love the thought that I can buff up antique cards to shine anew while connecting with other rose-colored spectacle wearers across the globe. It makes me feel vindicated for not converting my collection to dollars and cents on ebay long ago. A vindication made all the sweeter by the thought of playing without handing WotC another wad of cash to do so, I think they're doing just fine without it.
I didn't get into Magic until 2006, but ever since recently discovering the manga "Destroy All Humans. They Can't Be Regenerated" by Takuma Yokota and Katsura Ise (it's about middle schoolers playing MtG in 1998) I've become curious about that era of the game. This sounds like a fun way to experience that for myself so I'm going to have to check it out and brew up a deck. Maybe I can convince some folks at my LGS to play with me...
I just checked that manga. Reminds me of Hi-Score Girl from Netflix, but with MTG instead of video games. I can't believe I'm not aware of this comic-book. Thanks for sharing.
Wow I need to read that! Thanks for the Info!
Hey! Where’d ya read it, cant find a English version. Would appreciate it!!!
@@motivationinnovations There isn't an official English release, but scanlations exist online. Google is your friend.
thanks for this i now have a manga to read after many years
When I watched your video it put a smile on my face. I started about Fourth Edition and took a break when my brother went to the Navy in 2001. I didn't pick up the game again until the Dominaria set.
Pre modern is literally where I start playing paper magic back in the 90s! I remember playing my Kjeldoran dead lol. Then after scourge I stop and returned when Scars of Mirrodin is the latest expansion.
Premodern is my favorite variation to combine with commander, and is awesome on its own as a 60-card format too
I built a whole premodern graveyard cube over the last 3 years and it's almost the only MtG thing I really care about anymore! :)
I just love looking at those old cards. There’s just a je ne sais quoi about them that makes me want to play and that has never gone away
I know they need them the way they are for printing reasons…..but the old frames are just so flavorful.
As someone who started playing Magic during 4th edition, this existence of this format make me a happy ancient 90'sian! *dusts off old 5-Color Sliver deck*
My foray into tournament play started sometime after Prophecy came out. Played lots of type 2 and extended. So I am very familiar with this pool of cards. Good times.
Never heard of the format, but Im so glad! Really miss those days
I could see WoTC making Premodern Masters Collector’s Edition with borders in the current style as the variants
Proff really out here testing how strong his influence is!
Sheeeeeet, I'm intrigued as well
as someone that started playing with 4th edition, dropped out around Onslaught, and just returned this year: this sounds great!
Give it a try, community is awesome and you will play with the cards you already own/know and have a meaning for you.
Give it a try, community is awesome and you will play with the cards you already own/know and have a meaning for you.
Premodern sounds like a lot of fun. Hopefully one day I'll get into it.
I have waited for that to become a thing, not realizing that it was already a thing. Great Richard, this is amazing!
And yea he doth spake: "Let there be Magic."
@@CJ-nd9ggAmen! Or rather, Pass Priority!
I made 5 premodern mono colored decks about a year ago. I definitely had the itch for some old school magic, and still do!
This sounds like my new favorite format. I'm going to have to rebuild my old silver deck!
There’s something really appealing to me about focusing on one era and not having to worry about keeping up or getting new cards. And its unchanging so strategies don’t change either
That's untrue, in a nonmore supported game, the metagame can shift depending on the player inventive.
@@szadec9264 I’m not speaking to the meta I just mean overall. I have a more yu gi oh mindset with this.
"They can't mess with it" I wouldn't put it pass them if the format becomes very popular 🤑
This is my thought exactly, they jumped on the EDH train as soon as it became the most popular casual format. WatC will always find a way to makes its cut.
Only thing they can really do is reprints which is fine, you can play any version of a legal card already and WC cards too
@@WhiteBorderMTG true, true. Cant really add to the format like they have with Modern. That's fair
The format by definition is complete. If WotC decided to assimilate this format and turn it into something else, people would just not care and continue to play the "original" Premodern.
The only real thing to "mess" with the format are reprint sets. Or maybe abolish the reserved list.
@@MattRose30000 yet if WOTC adopts it as a competitive format like they did with pioneer it could become popular and in turn drive aftermarket prices up which then WOTC can choose to not reprint staples of the format or even just produce more unique versions of the cards to sell. WOTC/Hasbro will find a way to make $$ off this if it gains more traction which I’m sure it will.
So glad to see you highlighting this wonderful format!
This makes me so happy. I’m delving in and looking up lists already 😃
How many did you exile from the graveyard?
@@renaldotulung1676 Adam exiled the decks with Mox Diamonds.
Oh man this brings me back lol. I think I gotta build a psychatog and blue green madness deck now.
As the bulk of my collection is from this era, this definitely got my attention. Thanks for the video!
Oh that sounds like something one can really like. Not as outright expensive as 93/94 or as "need to add these cards from the upcoming sets" as Modern. Having a closed card pool seems a great idea, maybe there should be more such formats, like 1999-2003, or 2007-2010. More than just 2-3 sets or what is considered set-draft but spanning a few years.
The challenge is gaining traction. This format HAS gained traction.
I hit the 'like button' 5 times! Sounds like a great format and i got excited seeing al these decks from my youth again :D
Hope you watched the Premodern Showdown Series on the Cloudgoat Ranger channel. They were amazing!
OG PSS for life.
golden age of MtG reanimated! no ugly designs, no crossovers with hello kitty etc... fucking amazing game design! (
I barely played in the premodern area as a kid because I abandonned the game after getting my cards stolen. My true nostalgic sets as a player are Lorwyn and Morningtide, as I built two decks in standard at the time. But as my collection builds over time, I may give it a go someday. : ^)
~Skoyatt
Very well done coverage of Premodern.. Great content! :)
I just rebuilt my old Madness deck! Like the prof read my mind.
I have started playing premodern and I love it. Reminds me of playing magic in the mall food court in high school. Even using coins as tokens and just get you some proxies. Most feel good way to play magic, don’t even play arena anymore because of premodern and the old frames are truly a work of art
Format is amazing!
Wow, thank you so much for making me discover this format
This is such a relief, I honestly hate when i have to buy 50$ plus cards just to keep up in modern
Only 50?
Sligh!!!! I remember bringing that to an old Type II event in my area and it was the deck that got me my highest finish!
I feel like crying with relief :')
Im so glad i was part of old school magic :') miss it so much! (i started in 7th edition)
Damn, Black and Blue got hammered on that Ban List.
Love Premodern and love to see you making a video about it!
Hope you enjoyed it!
Hey prof! I was hoping you might consider making a video about how to handle losing a magic collection due to catastrophic loss like fire or flood. A lot of magic players have a lot invested in little cardboard rectangles and the vast majority of them don't think about things like what happens if they lost it all suddenly. I made a post about it on Reddit the other day, but as arguably the biggest voice in the MTG community I was hoping you'd bring attention to it. Thanks for all that you do!
How would you go about proving their value? And if you did, would that force WotC to acknowledge the secondary market? And if they did, Trading Card Games die
@@Greg501- so, I am no expert, but you can definitely get a collection appraised and insured. Especially if it's a high end collection. But even if you have less that 5k worth of cards it makes sense to talk to your home owner's or renters insurance to see about coverage for it.
Speaking from experience I just lost everything in an apartment fire and found out or insurance only covered up to $2,500 for "collectibles". That's like, my playset of mox diamonds and that's it.
So I just want to bring attention to this kind of thing so more players are prepared for disasters like this. Even loss prevention is something to think about. Keep your high value cards in a binder or box in a quick and easy place to grab them while exiting your home if the worst happens and it catches fire.
@@butteryllama9040 Then at least WotC can continue to pretend that the secondary market doesn't exist
Thank you for shining a light on this fantastic format!
I like everything about this.
Started playing around 4th edition/Fallen Empire…thanks for sharing
It's funny how Yugioh's meta has drastically changed throughout the course of the game, that they made a format that only uses the cards up until 2005, when Yugioh GX started to take precedent. Many people play the GOAT format due to nostalgic reasons.
Empty Jar FTW!
@Ramon Lopez that actually isn't what Goat stand's for in the name, scapegoat is where the name comes from.
What's the format called?
I left magic to play Yu-Gi-Oh back then, during gx's debut. Oh man it's like this video and it's comments are just concentrated nostalgia. But I left Yu-Gi-Oh a decade or so ago. Magic is back!
@@HerrDerpington GOAT format, since Scapegoat was a powerful card back in 2005. Mostly people play it online.
Thank you for letting me know about this format AND Cubamajigs! Now I’m excited about both!!
My first ever set was Darksteel and I didn’t started really playing seriously until 2018 so I’m heavily biased against old borders, I seek out M15 frames out of everything that I can get in it. It devastates me immensely that I’ll never have M15 frames for my RL cards, those VMA dual arts are beautiful and so is the promo LED 😭
Heretic!
This is exactly my era of Magic :) Just looking at premodern decklist gives me nostalgia.
pre-modern is however a format that still costs the same or more than a modern deck to build, but does not have wizards support obviously. I feel if you wish to have a popular fan made format or a format free from "new" cards, something like pauper is better
Have you seen pauper lately? It's been ruined by Modern
@@linguinibros.productions let’s be honest, it’s been ruined by storm. Fingers crossed that it gets fixed
Pauper has been heavily influenced by Commander Legends and MH2
Pauper is full of new cards.
Every time I look into Pauper it seems broken. And when not it's 70% Aggro decks which doesn't seem healthy either. Peasant looks a bit better.
Looks like the Old Extended days! Exciting!
Well looks like I need to stream the Format again. Hopefully we get more players on MTGO to find games easier :D
Oh man! A format where I can play my psychatog and goblin decks? I'm in.
So you can play squirrels? That is all I need.
You should do a shuffle up and play using Premodern decks. I would love to see that.
Finally I can play my alurens without needing to buy og duels
Aluren is a super strong deck in Premodern. Hope to see you in some webcam tournaments.
dual lands not duel lands. they have dual colors
I have all of the stuff for premodern aluren. Turns out I’m too dumb to play it. Godspeed!
It's funny how something so seemingly obvious takes a video like this to become apparent. This may easily become my favorite way to play Magic. I'm clinging to my memories of the old frame Magic days!
You keep saying "recreate standard" but in reality it is about recreating old Extended from that time period!
While i think you’re right, who even knows what extended is anyway :p so that wouldn’t really mean anything to most people (I think)
Indeed, except extended allowed for dual lands, for some weird reason. No 5 color messes here. Fetches are a lot more fair when you can only grab a basic. Color fixing beyond that is basically limited to pain lands, which is pretty great, and with wasteland in the format, mono colored decks can seriously hose greedy mana bases.
I'd be worried if I wouldn't start playing this. Thank you for letting me know this exists!
Yeaaahhh!
Heya!
Premodern still kicking in 2024, and no end date expected. Greetings from Brazil!
I love this. I was considering getting into 93-94 but, well, it's a bit pricey.
I love that Premodern is a "complete" format but one that's big enough that it's difficult to "solve" (I assume).
The hundreds (thousands?) of people playing haven’t solved it yet.
Yes, although a somewhat stable meta is established, there is lots of room to brew and improve. Archetypes like The Rock, UW(x) Control and Survival are highly modifiable and there are many rogue decks to explore
Finally, a use for my collection of world championship decks!
I reckon like other the time static/frozen formats, they eventually get figured out & a fairly predictable meta emerges.
A solved meta isn't a problem if the matches are still interesting.
You say that, but despite the format being several years old, there are still surprises/brews in the T8
A predictable meta will emerge from any format, to some degree. Premodern has a decent amount of innovation and brewing.
(the way tcdecks shows their tier decks from the last 30 days, brews are now second place :p The Rock being no1)
Still adjustable by banning and unbannings, so long as the managers of the community put diversification of archetypes as a prominent feature. So far, Premodern has done this well, and adjusted their banning appropriately.
You reckon incorrectly.
Watching the professor and humming along to the intro theme is now my favorite pass time.