Ancient Hydra is a red card, legal in Premodern, shown in its old-frame Nemesis printing.
Price and printings: Cardmarket (€0.2) · TCGplayer ($0.27) · Scryfall
Ancient Hydra is kept in 1 sideboard (3%).
Counting only the 19 decks that can cast red cards, 1 of them play it (5%).
See how it compares on the Premodern staples list.
A curated chronicle of notable Premodern decks: winning lists gathered from tournaments around the world.
Premodern is a Magic: The Gathering format played with cards from Fourth Edition through Scourge (1995–2003), the game's golden era. It captures the feel of early competitive Magic: iconic old-border cards, meaningful decisions and a rich, interactive metagame, free of the power creep of later sets.
Premodern is an eternal, non-rotating format. Games reward tight play, deckbuilding skill and knowledge of the metagame rather than raw speed. Combo, control, aggro and midrange all have a home, from Goblins and Stiflenought to Landstill, Replenish and The Rock.
A card is legal as long as its name appears in one of these sets. (Reprints in newer sets are legal too, but on Premodern Chronicles we always show the period-correct old-frame printing.)
Fourth Edition
Ice Age
Chronicles
Homelands
Alliances
Mirage
Visions
Fifth Edition
Weatherlight
Tempest
Stronghold
Exodus
Urza's Saga
Urza's Legacy
Sixth Edition
Urza's Destiny
Mercadian Masques
Nemesis
Prophecy
Invasion
Planeshift
Seventh Edition
Apocalypse
Odyssey
Torment
Judgment
Onslaught
Legions
ScourgeTo keep the format diverse and interactive, these cards are banned, including the classic ante cards.
Banlist is maintained by the Premodern format committee, check premodernmagic.com for official updates.
Official format home: premodernmagic.com · Community & events: playpremodern.com
Unusual, rarely-seen Premodern decks: the spicy lists you won't find on a Top 8 photo.
Competitive Premodern without the Reserved List price tag: the cheapest proven archetypes, each with a step-by-step upgrade path from its full deck guide.
Every card from the tournament decks, spicy brews and archetype guides we track, each with its printing, price and the decks that play it.
The most played cards across the tournament decks and archetypes we track. Maindecks and sideboards are counted separately: a card in half the sideboards is a hate card, not a format staple.