Classic Magic

Classic is a Magic The Gathering constructed, non-rotating format where legal sets are Classic Sixth Edition and every following block that's been Standard-legal, sold in draftable boosters, with no copyrights other than Wizards of the Coast’s.

As of 2025, the Classic format includes more than 100 legal sets, containing more than 20,000 playable cards.

See your future, Magic player.

You can tap a pizza to play a hasty Peppa Pig that attacks for lethal alongside a 9/9 trample 1-mana doggo from MH6. They get webbed by Spiderman, but Captain America swoops in to save them — and you win your Modern RCQ.

Or you can play Classic, and keep the greatest card game in the world true to its history.

• Why this format?

• Legal Sets

• Banned List

• Cards and Staples

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Any reference or content present on this website related to the game Magic: The Gathering is copyright Wizards of the Coast and is permitted on this site under their Fan Content Policy. Wizards of the Coast doesn't produce or endorse this website.

Classic Magic

Why this format

What’s the need for a Classic Magic?

1. Slow downBefore Modern Horizons, non-rotating formats like Modern used to gain new cards only once in a while, because Standard sets are normally designed with an overall lower power level.
Nowadays, players know that every Horizon release is likely to completely disrupt the metagame and their decks.

Many players still want to play formats with very large and ever-expanding card pools, but feel that in recent years the pace of changes and disruptions has increased far beyond what it used to be for non-rotating formats, and would like to return to a slower, more controlled pace.

2. Back to classicAs long as Wizards created special Magic sets based on characters from other brands or intellectual properties and limited their legality to eternal formats, most players considered it acceptable.

Now that Wizards mandates playing Standard and Modern with those cards, many players no longer enjoy it and would like to return to playing with Magic cards with a consistent identity and a more classic feel.

For the above reasons, the Classic format includes only cards that have been Standard-legal, sold in draftable boosters, with no copyrights other than Wizards of the Coast’s.

Why starting from Classic Sixth Edition?

1. Not afterIf we had started from Eighth Edition, this format would have been perceived only as a “powered-down Modern.” Not very appealing.
Instead, we wanted to offer a different play experience, by including more iconic cards from Magic’s history (and a less restrictive banned list).

2. Not beforeThe block following Classic Sixth Edition, the Mercadian Masques block, was the first in which the Reserved List was no longer applied.
The List is a serious problem for many players, preventing them from entering competitive eternal formats or limiting their deckbuilding options. Not having to deal with it is a major advantage.

3. Names match“The Classic format starts with Classic Sixth Edition”. The name alignment makes it easy to remember.

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Any reference or content present on this website related to the game Magic: The Gathering is copyright Wizards of the Coast and is permitted on this site under their Fan Content Policy. Wizards of the Coast doesn't produce or endorse this website.

Classic Magic

Legal Sets

and every future Standard-legal set, sold in draftable boosters, with no copyrights other than Wizards’s.

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Any reference or content present on this website related to the game Magic: The Gathering is copyright Wizards of the Coast and is permitted on this site under their Fan Content Policy. Wizards of the Coast doesn't produce or endorse this website.

Classic Magic

Banned List

Updated every: Quarter first Monday
Last update: Monday, October 6, 2025
Next update: Monday, January 5, 2026

List by release date

List by name

Blazing Shoal
Chrome Mox
Cloudpost
Creeping Chill
Dark Depths
Dark Ritual
Dread Return
Entomb
Eye of Ugin
Flash
Gitaxian Probe
Goblin Recruiter
Gush
Hypergenesis
Mental Misstep
Mox Opal
Mycosynth Lattice
Oko, Thief of Crowns
Rite of Flame
Sensei’s Divining Top
Shuko
Simian Spirit Guide
Skullclamp
Summer Bloom
Tibalt’s Trickery
Treasure Cruise
Vampiric Tutor

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Any reference or content present on this website related to the game Magic: The Gathering is copyright Wizards of the Coast and is permitted on this site under their Fan Content Policy. Wizards of the Coast doesn't produce or endorse this website.

Classic Magic

Cards and Staples

A list of cards to give an idea of some staples and synergies available in the format.

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Any reference or content present on this website related to the game Magic: The Gathering is copyright Wizards of the Coast and is permitted on this site under their Fan Content Policy. Wizards of the Coast doesn't produce or endorse this website.