The best decks in Magic: The Gathering Premodern: all 33 archetypes you will actually meet, ranked in one list. The order is our own read of tournament results and league play, not a computed win rate, last reviewed in September 2026. Every entry opens a full deck guide: game plan, most-played cards, mulligans, matchup ratings and sideboard. Premodern is played with cards printed from Fourth Edition through Scourge (1995-2003).
Top of the format
Stiflenought – Combo-Control. A 12/12 for one mana, protected by free counterspells.
Sligh – Burn Aggro. Attack with one-mana creatures, burn blockers or the opponent, and finish with Fireblast.
Goblins – Tribal Aggro. Goblin Lackey into a free Piledriver, backed by Rishadan Port and Wasteland.
The contenders
Enchantress – Prison-Combo. Draw a card for every enchantment you cast, shut off damage with Solitary Confinement and win with Opalescence.
Terrageddon – Mana-Denial Midrange. Build a board, destroy every land, and let Terravore eat the graveyards.
Replenish – Enchantment Combo. Discard your enchantments with Attunement, return them all with Replenish, and attack with them under Opalescence.
Landstill – Control. Counterspells answer their spells, Standstill punishes the first one, and Mishra's Factory and Decree of Justice win without casting any.
Oath of Druids – Prison-Control. Tax their spells, destroy their lands, and let Oath of Druids put Terravore onto the battlefield.
Full English Breakfast – Graveyard Combo. Survival and Hermit Druid stack the graveyard, then Volrath's Shapeshifter becomes whatever creature wins the game.
The rest of the field
Mono Black – Midrange-Disruption. Duress, Cabal Therapy and Hypnotic Specter empty their hand; Graveborn Muse and Cursed Scroll win the long game.
Stasis – Prison. No one untaps under Stasis, while Forsaken City pays its upkeep, free spells cost only Islands and Black Vise deals the damage.
Elves – Aggro-Combo. Mana Elves and Gaea's Cradle power Survival of the Fittest, which finds the answer or the Deranged Hermit each game needs.
Psychatog – Control. Counterspells buy time, Gush and Accumulated Knowledge draw cards, and Psychatog turns your hand and graveyard into damage.
UG Madness – Aggro-Tempo. Wild Mongrel discards, Basking Rootwalla and Arrogant Wurm come down cheap through madness, and Daze and Circular Logic protect the lead.
The Rock – Midrange. Take their best cards with Duress and Cabal Therapy, sweep the board with Pernicious Deed and win the long game with bigger creatures.
RG Zoo – Creature Aggro. Sligh's one-drops and burn, plus green threats that outgrow them: Quirion Dryad, Call of the Herd and Treetop Village.
Reanimator – Graveyard Combo. Discard Akroma or Phantom Nishoba, return it with Reanimate or Exhume, and attack on turn one or two.
Deadguy Ale – Midrange. Duress, Gerrard's Verdict and Hypnotic Specter empty their hand, then Phyrexian Arena and Exalted Angel win the long game.
Tron – Control. Once all three Urza lands are out, Tron holds up a counterspell and still has mana to cycle Decree of Justice for Soldiers at the end of their turn.
Clerics – Tribal Midrange-Combo. Dark Supplicant sacrifices three Clerics for Scion of Darkness, and Rotlung Reanimator gives you a 2/2 Zombie for every Cleric that dies.
The Solution – Aggro-Control. Meddling Mage stops their key card, Mother of Runes protects your creatures, and Lightning Angel attacks from turn four.
Dromar Control – Control. Meddling Mage keeps their key card from being cast, Swords to Plowshares and Vindicate remove one threat at a time, and Shadowmage Infiltrator draws a card each time it hits the opponent.
Aluren – Combo. Resolve one enchantment, then cast creatures for free at instant speed until the loop wins.
Zombies – Aggro. Two-power one-drops, a lord that brings Zombies back, and a Shepherd that drains for every Zombie on the table.
MUD – Artifact Prison. Lock every player's mana with Winter Orb, then Tinker and Weld big artifacts onto the battlefield without casting them.
White Weenie – Aggro. Cheap white creatures with shadow and protection, then Armageddon once the board is yours.
BW Control – Control. Answer everything, sweep the board, then let Decree of Justice and a recurring Eternal Dragon win the long game.
Gro-a-Tog – Tempo. Every cheap spell grows Quirion Dryad, counterspells protect it, and Psychatog or Armageddon finishes the game.
Pit Rack – Discard Prison. Empty their hand with discard, then The Rack and Bottomless Pit keep it empty and make every upkeep hurt.
Rebels – Tribal Toolbox. Rebels that search for Rebels: every searcher that survives puts another creature onto the battlefield, and Counterspell cannot stop it.
Contamination – Mana-Denial Prison. Every land on the table taps for black mana only: Contamination starves the other colors, and a returning Nether Spirit keeps paying for it.
Turbo Lands – Land Combo. Exploration and Summer Bloom play land after land, Horn of Greed draws a card for each one, and Seismic Assault throws the spare lands at the opponent.
Fluctuator – Cycling Combo. Fluctuator makes every cycle free: discard twenty blue creatures, then turn them into black mana and one lethal Haunting Misery.
Anno MMXXVI · Estd. 1995–2003
The Premodern Chronicles
Tournament decklists, card prices and the spiciest brews of Premodern: Magic with old-border cards.
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.
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 construction60 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.
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
Mostly played as a one-sided Armageddon. Stiflenought, Tide Control and Replenish together took 30 percent of the top 8 spots at major 2025 events. Phyrexian Dreadnought and Parallax Wave stay legal.
Its second ban, five years after the 2018 unban. With Scroll Rack it was a draw engine that was cheap and consistent to set up. Scroll Rack, Enlightened Tutor and Mox Diamond stay legal, since they are fair in other decks.
On the list since the format began, mostly because Yawgmoth's Bargain was not. With Bargain banned, its remaining targets were judged safe.
Turn-two wins were common, in a format with little interaction that early. The watch list was dropped in the same update.
High Tide is not in the card pool, and in testing Frantic Search did not prove broken.
Standstill, Fact or Fiction and Accumulated Knowledge are strong draw engines too, and the Land Tax and Scroll Rack deck proved beatable.
Taken off the list in May 2018.
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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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.
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.
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