The Ultimate Guide to the Old School Magic Format

Last updated on October 31, 2025

Serra Angel | Illustration by Jodie Muir

Product fatigue. Universes Beyond fatigue. Just plain old fatigue. It happens.

If you long for a simpler time, the Old School format might just be for you. Note that I don’t say a simpler Magic, as MTG design was very different back then, and there are some complex shenanigans afoot in this format.

As one source for all things Old School says: “The hard, time consuming and expensive road to build most decks is considered an important feature of the format.” If you read that and think “I’m in!” read on! If you just want to find out what this MTG format is because you’ve seen matches on YouTube or heard people talking about it over games of Dandân at a MagiCon, well, also read on!

What Is Old School?

Black Lotus | Illustration by Christopher Rush

Old school is a format played only with certain cards from 1993 and 1994. There are various versions of this format, which makes it somewhat confusing.

Depending on the kind of deck you want to make, you may need a Black Lotus and some Moxen. There are more budget friendly decks in the format, and there are certainly local metas that are lower powered than that. There are also increasing numbers of folks who extend to playing with reprints from Revised, but that’s super unofficial. I also know there are folks who play proxy-only versions of this format for local fun but don’t like to admit that publicly, as it goes against the spirit of the format and the vibe of ancient authenticity.

Who Is Old School For?

It’s for old school Magic players, for sure, but also for newer players who want a time capsule of the original game.

Old School was definitely for people who had these cards, to start. If you played in the ‘90s, acquiring these cards wasn’t the issue. You likely still have them if you played Type 1 back in the day and never sold your cards. Finding a format legal to play them in was the issue. The question of whether you wanted to buy in and keep with the Vintage meta was another wrinkle, so inventing a format was the solution.

But now? There are plenty of folks who are curious about the time capsule vibe of Old School, playing with the early unbalanced cards and broken strategies as opposed to today’s version of that. If you really want an excuse to buy a Mox Jet, here you go. If you want to see what the fuss was with Erhnam Djinn, sure. If no one will let you play stax in your EDH group and you’re looking to roll on with Stasis and Kismet, here’s your chance.

Old School-Legal Sets

There are various versions of the Old School format, all of which are a part of the Old School subreddit. They tend to have different lists.

Swedish 93/94

This is the most restrictive format: “Alpha, Beta, Unlimited, Arabian Nights, Antiquities, Legends and The Dark. Non-English versions and reprints after Unlimited are considered proxies, and 93/94 is not played with proxies.” But this format also includes “Summer Magic.”

Chicago / Eternal Central 93-94

Here you can add Collector’s Edition (CE), International Collector’s Edition (IE), Revised, and Fallen Empires. Also, some official rules state that “Tournaments hosted by Eternal Central also allow all non-foil cards from the sets above, that were reprinted IN ANY LANGUAGE with the original frame and original art.”

Atlantic 93/94

This is Swedish but adding Fallen Empires. And the format is cagier about reprints: “The Atlantic format rules are recommended independently of any prescription regarding reprint allowances, which is a separate matter.”

Pacific 93/94

This is the Chicago list with “Book promotional cards Arena, Sewers of Estark, and Nalathni Dragon” added. The reprint policy is similar to Chicago, but with a few twists.

7pts Singleton

This is the Pacific list with a generous reprint policy. Its distinctiveness is its version of the restricted list.

X-point Old School

Finally, this is the Atlantic list with a distinctive restricted formula.

Where Should I Buy Old School Cards?

You can find Old School cards wherever you generally shop for MTG cards, though you may have a tough time finding some of the rarer, more expensive ones. AncestralMTG specializes in Old School cards, and is an excellent option for finding all sorts of cards for the format. AncestralMTG even has a page where you can browse Old School staples all in one place.

Old School Rules

The basic updated rules of Magic, including the London Mulligan, are in effect.

But also, aside from the restricted lists, there are a few other rules common across Old School formats and some bits added for specific formats, as well as some common “house rules” that go far beyond houses in terms of adoption rates.

One key rule that almost all Old School formats follow is that mana burn still exists. A rule that was canned with M10, with mana burn a player loses life when they lose unspent mana at the ends of phases, like you would with Yurlok of Scorch Thrash in play.

Most of them play with clarifying errata on Chaos Orb and Falling Star to make them actually playable in a tournament context. Eternal Central adds Ring of Ma'rûf and gives a detailed explanation for all of them.

In a tournament context, some formats enforce a “no draw” policy, with Chaos Orb tiebreakers, which is honestly enough to tempt me to try the format!

Old School Ban List

Generally there are no ban lists or very short ban lists in these formats. There’s a typical reliance on a restricted list, as with Type 1 back in the day. You can only use one copy of a restricted card. A common list is:

• Ancestral Recall
• Balance
• Black Lotus
• Braingeyser
• Channel
• Chaos Orb
• Demonic Tutor
• Library of Alexandria
• Mana Drain
• Mind Twist
• Mishra's Workshop
• Mox Emerald
• Mox Jet
• Mox Pearl
• Mox Ruby
• Mox Sapphire
• Regrowth
• Sol Ring
• Strip Mine
• Time Walk
• Timetwister
• Wheel of Fortune

Ante cards are often added to the restricted list in casual formats and banned in tournaments, as in this ban list from Atlantic 93-94:

• Bronze Tablet
• Contract from Below (restricted in games played for ante)
• Darkpact (restricted in games played for ante)
• Demonic Attorney
• Jeweled Bird
• Rebirth
• Tempest Efreet (restricted in games played for ante)

There are some additions to the restricted list for different formats. Pacific 93-94 provides this guide:

There are additional formats that assign Canadian Highlander style points, which limits the number of powerful cards but gives you some choices, like 7 points (which is also singleton) and X-points.

Where to Play Old School

You’re pretty much playing paper when it comes to Old School, and that’s part of the charm. You can manage a game in the freeform space on MTGO, but there’s no clear format space. There are also some apps that do this from time to time, but proper online tournaments are webcam based, and something like the Tolaria app is a common solution.

There are a variety of tournaments including LOBSTERCON, and the Old School subreddit is a good place to find tournament reports and video matches.

Old School Decks

The Old School meta is strange and opaque. You know in Call of Cthulhu how you start to have to take sanity checks as you delve into forbidden knowledge of the Old Ones? Old School seems based on the same format, as a community.

Part of this is by design, I’m sure, as this is the era in which it was just known that netdecking was ruining Magic. Start looking for decklists in the format and you tend to get cheeky things like this:

To be fair, the decklists aren’t hidden. But you have to do a bit of work if you want to utilize them. You can find some results on mtgdecks, but not everything.

Here’s what I think is happening in the meta, but be sure to roast me in the comments and help us out.

“The Deck”

Swords to Plowshares | Illustration by Jeff A. Menges

There have been times when control strategies have been at the top of the heap in Old School, including versions of Brian Weissman’s “The Deck.” This is a control and card draw deck that largely worked back in the day because (tongue in cheek) Johnny Magic had yet to “invent” card advantage. As players and creatures got better, those decks got worse, and I’d argue something similar is happening in Old School, where the last time this kind of deck won Lobstercon was two years ago.

Here’s a current example of “The Deck” by Andrzej Siwoń.

The logic of the deck will be familiar to you, but one Fireball, Mishra's Factory, and a single Serra Angel pre-sideboard are all the offense ya’ need! And shoutout to Circle of Protection: Red in the sideboard!

There are versions of this deck that lean harder into the robots, or artifacts builds in the format, combining the control cards and the power with cards like Su-Chi or Juggernaut, as well.

Mono-Black

Dark Ritual | Illustration by Sandra Everingham

The classic budget way to get onto the MTG Arena grind is still true for Old School. You can play a version of this deck with the fancy Moxen and Black Lotus into Hypnotic Specter and do even better, but a budget version of this deck can win games, for sure. Here’s the version by Ion Hernández.

Dark Ritual and Hymn to Tourach are wicked cards.

Atog and Pink Robot

Atog | Illustration by Jesper Myrfors

There are a number of decks that use the 93/94 version of Boros (pink) aggro that has access to a combo top end with Atog, who has a lot of cheap Moxen lying around to munch on. There are wildly different builds of Robots decks in the format, but I like this speedy confection from Daniel Lasheras.

There is also a nice burn subtheme to this deck.

Other robot decks lean into cards like Su-Chi and Triskelion.

Troll

Sedge Troll | Illustration by Dan Frazier

Speaking of burn, Disco Troll decks classically use Sedge Troll, who can regenerate its way out of the four Nevinyrral's Disks. But I’m kind of a bigger fan of Troll Burn, which uses Serendib Efreet as another cheap beater and the full suite of Lightning Bolt and Chain Lightning, plus the classics. This decklist is Julian Riedl’s take.

Getting Started with Old School

You obviously need to find a place to play, and the subreddit is a good start. If you can pull people together locally, often folks will just not have original dual lands and the Power Nine, so it’ll be a bit easier to try it out without investing a ton of cash. And I know pods of folks who play this format with proxies (gasp!) just to see if they like it before leaping off the financial deep end.

Once you’re hooked, mono-black is likely the best place to start budget-wise. Mono-color decks make sense from that perspective, but no other color has the same reach as black in this card pool. Mono-white is okay in budget environments of Old School only.

Old School Communities

There are various places and spaces for Old School connections. I’d start with the Old School MTG subreddit, which has links to blogs and podcasts on the right. A quick scroll through the posts reveals most of the video content creators you can follow.

Is It Expensive to Play Old School?

For all versions of the format besides 7 point and X-point, yes. Competitive decks need cards like Black Lotus, original dual lands, and even Library of Alexandria. There are even decks in those more restricted formats at the $10k level. Decks in the classic Old School formats are regularly at the $20k mark.

That said, there are budget mono-black decks in 7 point that will be cheaper than even Standard decks. How good those are is a complex question, but it would at least allow you to go and play and see if you like the community and the format.

Other Variations of Old School Magic

Aside from the variations already described, there are various formats that expand the card pool beyond 93/94, including 95 Magic, 96 Magic, and Classic Magic, which is everything pre 8th Edition.

Wrap Up

Time Walk | Illustration by Amy Weber

The fact that people are still sweatin’ to the oldies, like Erhnamgeddon decks, makes me happy. I started playing with Ice Age, so a lot of these classic cards and decks were before my time and even then out of my financial range, but we read about this kind of Magic with a sort of awe. I remember people explaining how these decks worked at my first LGS, the conversation spilling over to the taco shop next door, La Tolteca, as we sustained ourselves after rounds of Magic in a league called “Arena.”

Nowadays, Arena means something very different, and this kind of Magic seems a distant memory. But there are vibrant corners of Magic where these cards are still played, where turning a Kird Ape sideways as a 2/3 on turn 2 was still a strong play, and where the Chaos Orbs could still be seen falling from the skies.

Cheers to the Old School players and the Old School curious! Be sure to drop links to Old School resources and communities I might have missed in the comments below or on Discord.

Stay classic, Magic!

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