Has anyone dipped their toes into Premodern, 2015 Modern or PreWar Legacy (aka PreFir

Lately, our local playgroup all got into Premodern, 2015 Modern and PreWar Legacy aka 2018 Legacy/PreFIRE Legacy. 2018 is the last year before Wizards implemented the FIRE philosophy to card design aka maximizing powercreep starting with War of the Spark and exacerbated by supplemental straight to Legacy sets and Modern Horizons. Some of us are exploring 2024 Legacy, 2021 Pioneer and 2024 Modern as well after falling in love with these nonrotating formats so that we can just stop buying new cards and stick with our existing 2024 decks while avoiding race cars and Spidermen.

I am in love with all four formats (Premodern, 2015 Modern, 2018 Legacy and 2024 Legacy) for a couple of reasons…

1. Nostalgia -

Premodern feels so much like the Extended format I grew up with, dominated by nostalgic cards like Masticore, Exalted Angel, Standstill, Survival, Wild Mongrel, Cursed Scroll, Pernicious Deed, Humility, The Rack, Treetop Village, Armageddon, Hypnotic Specter, Oath of Druids, Wrath of God, Nimble Mongoose, Phyrexian Negator, Decree of Justice, Jackal Pup, Blastoderm, Counterspell, Rancor, Vindicate, Sarcomancy, Fact or Fiction, Spiritmonger, Recurring Nightmare, Verdant Force, Natural Order, Ball Lightning, Akroma, Angel of Wrath and so so many other classic cards.

2015 Modern and 2018 Legacy also feature classic decks and strategies built around nostalgic staples that have been powercrept out and are now finally super cheap to buy.

Cards like Tarmogoyf, Dark Confidant, Young Pyromancer, Thalia Guardian of Thraben, Snapcaster Mage, Arcbound Ravager, Aether Vial, Liliana of the Veil, Knight of the Reliquary, Infect, Classic Tron with Karn Liberated and Wurmcoil Engine, True-Name Nemesis, Glimpse of Nature, Chandra Torch of Definace, Goblin Guide, Mother of Runes, Glistner Elf, Delver and Death’s Shadow. These cards dominated Modern and Legacy for so long, unlike modern day threats that dominate for an year at most before they are powercrept away by an even more powerful threat. Some of these old cards went for a $100 and so I never got to play with them, but now cost a few bucks and its awesome being able to play these cards that I lusted after in the past.

2. Time and Expense-

While I love playing magic, I simply am unable to keep up with the recent pace of powercreep. Too much powercreep, too fast and way too expensive to stay competitive, with very little time to enjoy the deck you built or staple you finally acquired before it gets pushed out of the meta. Alternatively, these variant formats are all sooo much cheaper. The decks and cards that dominate Premodern and 2015 Modern can almost always be built for under $100, or often far cheaper especially if you still have some of your old cards as I am sure most of us do. And because these formats dont rotate, you dont feel compelled to constantly buy new shit to upgrade your decks. But they surprisingly do not get stale and the meta keeps rotating due to people bringing foils to dominant strategies leading to surprise wins with rogue strategies nearly every week.

3. Overall Experience -

The games are just more fun. The pace is slower and more reasonable. The decks are more interactive (you get a few turns to find an answer to your opponent reanimating a Phantom Nishoba, whereas once an opponent reanimates an Atraxa and draws 5ish cards, the game becomes nigh unwinnable. The people are nicer and less focused on grinding. The art is way better. The premodern cards with the old borders especially look amazing, but even the 2015 Modern and 2018 Legacy cards just have better and more iconic art as computer graphics wasn’t used back then to the degree it is today. Its super fun to play these decks against each other. Playing 2015 Modern decks against Premodern decks makes fun really awesome and surprisingly well balanced games (Premodern features amazing spells and enchantments but crappy threats where as 2015 Modern and 2021 Pioneer decks feature fantastic threats but far weaker spells).

Premodern, yes. I played the other formats when they were current, and I don't have any particular nostalgia for them. I would opt for Cube, 93/94, or something else instead. There's only so much time in a week, and I already devote a lot of time to Magic. If you're enjoying those formats, then keep jammin'.

i played premodern quite a bit around the time of covid and the following year. haven't really touched it too much since late 2021 (i started playing flesh and blood then)