MTG Formats

Music City mainly focuses on Eternal Central rules for Old School MTG (four Strip Mines forever). But we branch out beyond that too. Below are some links to the formats we’re invested in:

Eternal Central Rules 93/94:
https://lordsofthepit.com/formats#old-school-93-94-rules

We commonly use the Eternal Central rules (with liberal allowances for reprint and proxy usage). The LOTP site linked above has the full rules on sets allowed and card-specific errata. For ease of reference, the Banned and Restricted List for 93/94 is reproduced here:

The following cards are restricted by EC in 93-94 tournaments (maximum of 1 of each card per deck):
• Ancestral Recall
• Balance
• Black Lotus
• Braingeyser
• Chaos Orb
• Channel
• Demonic Tutor
• Library of Alexandria
• Mana Drain
• Mind Twist
• Mox Emerald
• Mox Jet
• Mox Pearl
• Mox Ruby
• Mox Sapphire
• Recall
• Regrowth
• Sol Ring
• Time Vault
• Time Walk
• Timetwister
• Wheel of Fortune

All Ante cards are banned.

Eternal Central Rules Middle School MTG (1995-2003):
https://lordsofthepit.com/formats#middle-school-rules

Middle School includes every card from 1995 to 2003. All sets from Fourth Edition to Scourge are legal. Mana burn is legal, combat damage goes on the stack, and Wish cards can get cards from sideboards as well as from exile. The LOTP site linked above goes into more detail. Middle School includes a ban list which is shown below:

The following cards are banned by EC in Middle School tournaments:
• Amulet of Quoz
• Balance
• Brainstorm
• Bronze Tablet
• Channel
• Dark Ritual
• Demonic Consultation
• Flash
• Goblin Recruiter
• Imperial Seal
• Jeweled Bird
• Mana Crypt
• Mana Vault
• Memory Jar
• Mind’s Desire
• Mind Twist
• Rebirth
• Strip Mine
• Tempest Efreet
• Timmerian Fiends
• Tolarian Academy
• Vampiric Tutor
• Windfall
• Yawgmoth’s Bargain
• Yawgmoth’s Will

Middle School also includes combat damage on the stack. The combat phase can be mapped in a longer form as shown below per the Sixth Edition Style: C.1.Ruling.3

  1. Triggers on “beginning of combat,” then chance for instants and abilities.
  2. Declare attackers.
  3. Triggers on attack declaration, then chance for instants and abilities.
  4. Declare blockers.
  5. Triggers on block declaration, then chance for instants and abilities.
  6. Assign combat damage (but don’t deal it yet)
  7. Chance for instants and abilities.
  8. Deal combat damage.
  9. Triggers on damage being dealt, then chance for instants and abilities.
  10. Triggers on “end of combat,” then chance for instants and abilities.

Alpha to Alliances (A2A):
This one is our hometown brew that builds on EC 1995 rules, adding the Alliances set. We believe that Alliances adds a vast amount to the brew-space and it fits thematically with Ice Age. Read more about the format here:
https://musiccityos.com/2020/08/31/old-school-in-the-time-of-ice-alpha-through-alliances/

After extensive playtesting, we do not believe any card in Alliances warrant restriction or banning. The EC 1995 rules we use as a base are here on the LOTP site: https://lordsofthepit.com/formats

The following cards are restricted in Alpha to Alliances tournaments (maximum of 1 of each card per deck):
• All cards in the 93/94 Restricted List
• Demonic Consultation
• Mana Crypt

All Ante cards are banned.

Eternal Central Rules Classic Magic/Type 1 (1993-2003):
https://lordsofthepit.com/formats#classic-magic-rules

Classic Magic is a recreation of Type 1 from 2003 and includes every Magic set released from Alpha through Scourge (including supplemental sets). It features a banned and restricted list, some rules changes, and specific errata for cards.

The following cards are banned in Classic:
• Amulet of Quoz
• Bronze Tablet
• Chaos Orb
• Contract from Below
• Darkpact
• Demonic Attorney
• Falling Star
• Jeweled Bird
• Rebirth
• Tempest Efreet
• Timmerian Fiends

The following cards are restricted in Classic (maximum of 1 of each card per deck):
• Ancestral Recall
• Balance
• Black Lotus
• Black Vise
• Braingeyser
• Burning Wish
• Channel
• Demonic Consultation
• Demonic Tutor
• Fact or Fiction
• Fastbond
• Flash
• Gush
• Imperial Seal
• Library of Alexandria
• Lion’s Eye Diamond
• Lotus Petal
• Mana Crypt
• Mana Vault
• Memory Jar
• Maze of Ith
• Merchant Scroll
• Mind Twist
• Mind’s Desire
• Mox Emerald
• Mox Jet
• Mox Pearl
• Mox Ruby
• Mox Sapphire
• Mystical Tutor
• Necropotence
• Regrowth
• Shahrazad
• Sol Ring
• Strip Mine
• Stroke of Genius
• Time Walk
• Timetwister
• Tolarian Academy
• Vampiric Tutor
• Wheel of Fortune
• Windfall
• Yawgmoth’s Bargain
• Yawgmoth’s Will

Notable Rules/Differences from Modern Era of Magic:

  • MANA BURN STILL HAPPENS (as in, players lose 1 point of life for each unused mana in the mana pool at the end of each phase).
  • DAMAGE USES THE STACK (as in, combat tricks such as Morphling, Triskelion, and Mogg Fanatic work).
  • THE WISH CYCLE RETURNS TO ORIGINAL (PRE-M10) FUNCTIONALITY (as in, Cunning Wish, Burning Wish, Living Wish, Death Wish, and Golden Wish were originally able to find an appropriate card that had either been removed from the game, or was located in your sideboard. The Wish cycle functionality has been restored to allow this).
  • THE FOLLOWING CARDS WILL HAVE THE UPDATED ORACLE TEXT, AS SHOWN BELOW:

Time Vault
2
Artifact
Time Vault comes into play tapped. Time Vault doesn’t untap during your untap step.
Skip your next turn: Untap Time Vault and put a time counter on it.
T, Remove a time counter from Time Vault: Take an extra turn after this one. Play this ability if only there’s a time counter on Time Vault.

Illusionary Mask
2
Artifact
X: Put a creature card with converted mana cost X or less from your hand into play face down as a 0/1 creature. Put X mask counters on that creature. Play this ability only any time you could play a sorcery. You may turn the creature face up any time you could play an instant by removing all mask counters from it. Note: this is similar to how Illusionary Mask worked in a previous rules update, prior to the modern wording.