Premodern Chronicles

Rootwater Thief

Creature — Merfolk Rogue · Nemesis

Mana cost {1}{U}. Power/toughness 1/2.

{U}: This creature gains flying until end of turn.
Whenever this creature deals combat damage to a player, you may pay {2}. If you do, search that player's library for a card and exile it, then the player shuffles.

Rootwater Thief (Premodern, Nemesis)

Rootwater Thief is a blue card, legal in Premodern, shown in its old-frame Nemesis printing.

Price and printings: Cardmarket (€1.86) · TCGplayer ($2.54) · Scryfall

Tracked daily since 28 July 2026: on Cardmarket between €1.85 and €3.02 in that time.

How often Rootwater Thief is played

Rootwater Thief is maindecked in 1 of 131 tournament decks in this archive (1%), averaging 3.0 copies.

Counting only the 48 decks that can cast blue cards, 1 of them plays it (2%).

See how it compares on the Premodern staples list.

Tournament decks with Rootwater Thief

Anno MMXXVI · Estd. 1995–2003

The Premodern Chronicles

Tournament decklists, card prices and the spiciest brews of Premodern: Magic with old-border cards.

Fresh from the tables

All decks
Anno MMXXVI · Estd. 1995–2003

Premodern Decks

Every deck in the archive: winning and Top 8 decklists from Premodern tournaments and Magic Online leagues around the world, with full mainboards and sideboards.

Fresh from the tables
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The Format

What is Premodern?

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.

1995 — 2003

How it plays

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.

Looking for a first deck? Our guide to your first Premodern deck suggests five that are easy to learn, with real tournament lists and prices.

AggroControlComboMidrange
Deck construction 60 card main deck (min.) 15 card sideboard (max.) 4 copies per card (basics excepted)

Legal Sets

29 expansions · 1995–2003

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.)

1995–96
Fourth Edition
Ice Age
Chronicles
Homelands
Alliances
Mirage
Visions
1997–98
Fifth Edition
Weatherlight
Tempest
Stronghold
Exodus
Urza's Saga
1999–00
Urza's Legacy
Sixth Edition
Urza's Destiny
Mercadian Masques
Nemesis
Prophecy
Invasion
2001–02
Planeshift
Seventh Edition
Apocalypse
Odyssey
Torment
Judgment
Onslaught
2003
Legions
Scourge

Current Banlist

33 cards

To keep the format diverse and interactive, these cards are banned, including the classic ante cards.

Why each card is banned, and every change since 2018 →

Banlist is maintained by the Premodern format committee, check premodernmagic.com for official updates.

Learn more premodernmagic.com → playpremodern.com →
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The Format

Premodern Banlist

33 cards are banned in Premodern. The list is kept by Martin Berlin, who created the format in 2012, with input from the community, and every change is announced on premodernmagic.com. Below: what each card does that got it banned, and every change since 2018.

Last change

Reports

Premodern Articles

Monthly metagame reports, tournament roundups and price reports, built on our archive of tournament decks and our daily price tracking.

From the Brewer's Cauldron

Spicy Brews

Unusual, rarely-seen Premodern decks: the spicy lists you won't find on any tier list.

Handle with oven mitts
Competitive on a Budget

Budget Premodern Decks

Every competitive deck you can build for under $500, priced card by card from a real tournament list, with reprints and in the original printings.

The Card Index

Premodern Card List

Every card from the tournament decks, spicy brews and archetype guides we track, each with its printing, price and the decks that play it.

Premodern Staples

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.

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The Metagame

Premodern Tier List

Rankings are our own read of tournament results and league play, refreshed a few times a year. Card art © Wizards of the Coast, shown in the period-correct old-frame printing.

Get in touch

Contact

A decklist with a wrong card, a tournament result we have missed, a broken link, or anything else. Leave your email address so we can get back to you.

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Community Vote

The Most Iconic
Cards in Premodern

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About

About & Legal

Premodern Chronicles is an independent, non-commercial archive of Magic: The Gathering Premodern tournament results: winning decklists, a metagame tier list with deck guides, card prices and the banlist. Card images and card data come from Scryfall.

Fan Content Policy

Premodern Chronicles is unofficial Fan Content permitted under the Wizards of the Coast Fan Content Policy. Not approved/endorsed by Wizards. Portions of the materials used are property of Wizards of the Coast. ©Wizards of the Coast LLC.

Trademarks

Magic: The Gathering, its card names, card images, and mana symbols are trademarks and copyrights of Wizards of the Coast LLC. Premodern Chronicles is not affiliated with, endorsed, sponsored, or specifically approved by Wizards of the Coast LLC.

Get in touch

Corrections to a decklist, a tournament result we have missed, or anything else: use the contact form or reach us on Instagram. What you send through the form is stored on our own server (message, reply address, the page it was sent from, and a shortened hash of your IP address to limit abuse) for as long as it takes to deal with it, and is forwarded to us as a private notification. Nothing is shared with third parties.