The History of Magic the Gathering: Let's Talk About Formats

An extra video in my series about the History of Magic the Gathering. In this video I discuss the history of 'Formats' different ways of playing the game and how they have evolved over time. I also talk about the famous Channel Fireball combo and how it led to the formation of the DCI.
If you want more Magic: the Gathering content, you can find my blog here: macreadymusing...
The timeline I created for this video can be found linked here:
macreadymusing...
I frequently cite price information from www.mtggoldfis... throughout this video.
Wizards of the Coast own Magic: the Gathering and all of the cards and artwork shown in this video.

[@JoeNeutrino]

I still can't get over the fact that Lurrus is banned in a format in which Black Lotus is legal.

[@macreadymusings4043]

Yeah it's crazy. Lurrus was banned before the Companion mechanic was nerfed, although they're showing no signs of unbanning him just yet.

[@entothechesnautknight1762]

@@macreadymusings4043 That's mainly because Lurrus' (and Zidra's in Legacy) effects are just so powerful that even delaying them coming down by a turn wouldn't be enough to not make every single deck run the "Recur black lotus anytime guaranteed" package in Vintage, and the "Infinite Mana anytime guaranteed" package in legacy. But also, the "Nerf" actually made the Companions stronger in those eternal formats, since now they are cast from the hand rather then from outside the game, meaning cards that would counter or stop this no longer work on them, Including Drannith Magistrate, the card literally printed to do exactly that to exactly these cards. All while also still being protected from hand disruption. Seriously, the card literally printed to counter companions no longer counters companions due to the rule change, it's insane.

[@tsukikofudo3838]

The main problem with lurrus is it allows you to recur imperial seal and vampiric tutor every turn and allow you to cast ancestral recal twice.

[@FallOutGuy17]

@@tsukikofudo3838 No it doesn't Lurrus says "permanent spell" so you can reuse Black Lotus but not Recall, Vamp, or Seal

[@chachaprince111]

This was the most thorough history I could find on KZbin and exactly what I wanted!

[@macreadymusings4043]

Happy to help, thanks for the kind words. :)

[@TheAlfredo1018]

I stopped playing around 2013/2014 and I just recently found my old decks in a box and started playing again. What a surprise it was when I was introduced to all the new formats!! I kind of understand formats but I still enjoy the sit-and-play experience from the old days… Perhaps I’m starting to show my years lol

[@willrandlesome2997]

This has so much detail. So impressed!

[@gpgp9198]

I love this vídeo as much as i love the "premodern" format. I know i am a little bit of an underdog here, but this is just my feelings.

[@Meowvela]

Regarding drafts, there are ways to do a 2 player one! "Winston" and "Lawyer" styles seem the most interesting to me, though are a bit complex to describe in a youtube comment. Lawyer is waaay more obscure, but is the one I favor.

[@dkvmail7]

Thanks for a great video! I wanted to get into magic, but found those formats being very confusing. And now it's all clear as day thanks to you :)

[@macreadymusings4043]

I'm really glad to hear this video has been helpful to you. Now is a great time to be getting into Magic. Good luck, and I hope your packs are full of cool rares. :)

[@XSProgression]

Thanks so much for making this series! It’s gotta be only a matter of time before the entire thing blows up in popularity for you! I’ve learned a lot and feel a lot more knowledgeable about the direction of the sets. Looking forward to seeing more videos up to the current day sets!

[@XSProgression]

Oops this is commented on the wrong video lol. It started the next vid before I clicked comment

[@josephcourtright8071]

Block format is my favorite format and it wasn't even mentioned.

[@catfactsuk]

Love the joke at 6:14 got a great laugh at that. I really want to try some of the casual formats, I have read up on a format called Star. Were you must play with a mono-coloured deck, 5 players are needed for the format and you all play at once. You win (first) once your two enemy colours are defeated, you also have your ally colours specific for each colour as well, so as a green player I have the red player to help me against Blue, but my white ally won't as they are an ally with blue. So its interesting as even your allies don't want to help you too much and the same with you.

[@macreadymusings4043]

Thanks, I'm glad you liked my jab at Lurrus. :) I'm familiar with Star. It's fun, but the deck building limitation can make it a bit tricky to organise. I sometimes play a variant of it in my commander games with 5 people, where I keep the rules about every player having 2 allies and 2 enemies but people can just use whatever decks they have prepared. It's pretty fun and it's a nice way of giving everyone clear targets and goals to play towards.

[@dalecowles3406]

The format called star is also called star magic and it’s with 5 ppl and the color pie really takes effect like say ur playing blue u can only attack green and red because those r the color’s enemy and the colors white and black r it’s allys.

[@mrbourru2104]

Very instructive, thanks!

[@macreadymusings4043]

Thanks, glad you enjoyed it. :) Unfortunately, since I made this, the popularity of the Pioneer format has dropped off considerably, but it might make a recovery as in-store play is coming back now across most of the world.

[@entothechesnautknight1762]

One thing I think is worth Noting is that Historic was Originally a Bum format wizards wanted nothing to do with, until A) They realized that making people not be able to play with their old cards didn't make them wanna play standard, it made them quit, and B) Historic was literally just Pioneer in concept, but better in every conceivable way (No secondary market, Mana-bases are a fraction of the cost, complete immunity to the reserve list, digital, better to look at, pushes arena, it isn't on MTGO, lets them have so much more control over what gets added or banned with the historic anthologies, and lets them ban or suspend cards more often without risking players losing hundreds of dollars on now useless decks). This shift in priorities from WotC is best seen when comparing the start of 2020, when you couldn't even play historic and Pioneer was still getting a lot of maintenance, to mid-2020, where historic not only started getting massive amounts of attention, Including banning a historic anthology card, effectively admitting they mucked that up real good, and the announcement of Historic being taken from Casual only to being a competitively supported event format, while Pioneer got a single unbanning during the combo-spring hellscape that was inverter. Even though Pioneer did eventually get that banning, and Jumpstart added cards to both it *and* historic, it honestly feels like Jumpstart only added to Pioneer because that was what it was originally gonna do. Historic continues to receive massive amounts of attention and love from WotC after trying to kill it for 6 months, while Pioneer's being left to languish for the most part. While Covid definitely is playing a part in this, I suspect Pioneer's going to be left to languish even after in-store play returns. There's just not really a reason to continue supporting it past the bare minimum they need to to make sure players don't feel like they wasted hundreds on decks for a dead format. Enough of WotC's shaky business practices and format handling, though, this was a fine video, excellent work, mate!

[@macreadymusings4043]

Thanks for the useful info, both here and above regarding the Lurrus nerf and it's impact on Vintage. :) Yeah I still remember the fury on Reddit in July when Oath of Nissa was unbanned in Pioneer in lieu of any steps being taken to curb Inverted decks. I can definitely see why Historic would be appealing in an era where Standard is dominated by Uro ramp decks, Pioneer is busted and most games are being played digitally anyway due to Corona.

[@drago939393]

Has anything changed since?

[@entothechesnautknight1762]

@@drago939393 oh yea they deleted it lol

[@drago939393]

@@entothechesnautknight1762 Wdym?

[@evaunitr]

Awesome videos, but I have to speak up about some of the EDH/Commander info... -While a Singleton format, decks can have multiples of BASIC lands, not just "lands". Multiples of Cabal Coffers would be busted. -Your Commander Color always allows for generic colored cards, too, even if it's not represented on the Commander's card. Playing Ayara, First of the Lochthwain doesn't restrict you to JUST black cards, you can still put a Karn, Silver Golem in there, if you want. Keep it up, these are great videos!

[@macreadymusings4043]

Yeah you're right, not saying 'basic' there was bit of an omission. Glad you liked the video. :)

[@PolarShine_]

Standard's duration will now be 3 year blocks instead of 2 year blocks (News in May, 2023).

[@christophkrass6929]

Yes, and MTG Arena's Alchemy format goes for 2 years.

[@RaynmanPlays]

I'm loving the commentary, but please stop eating your microphone. A way to stop the popping is to talk past your microphone instead of talking directly into it. Also get a pop filter if you don't have one. If you're using a headset microphone, well... if it's adjustable, move it to the side so that you're talking past it.

[@EliMitchellLarson]

No discussion of Extended, the spiritual predecessor to Modern?

[@macreadymusings4043]

I was tempted to discuss Extended and Block Constructed, but it added on a few minutes of extra time for formats which aren't played at the moment. I think I probably could have squeezed in a brief history of extend and how it transformed into Modern over time though, that's my bad.

[@EliMitchellLarson]

@@macreadymusings4043 No worries! Was just pointing it out. Extended was a really rich and interesting format in its time. But has now faded into obscurity, which is probably fine

[@Mannfr3d]

Bit of a hyperbole with the price of formats bit. Sure, a great condition black border black lotus costs tens of thousands, but you could buy a poorer condition white border one from unlimited for a lot less. Black lotus is also the most expensive card in vintage, but there's a lot of great powerful cards that cost a lot less. Something like brainstorm (1 dollar or smth probably) or treasure cruise (20cents or whatever) are equally restricted as black lotus. Duals, power 9 and few choice cards cost hundreds or 1-5000 dollars, but most of the deck can be bought for a lot less. There's also the possibility of playing without power (9), but that's beside the point. If the most expensive car costs millions, you don't say "driving a car is very expensive, even a single car will cost you millions!"

[@drewhb1985]

I played from 97 to 03 i guess im just old school lol but haven't played since then and I might be looking to get my 2 done into it

[@JoseSuarez-jy1yr]

revisiting Magic after 14 years without playing it. I regret leaving my old cards in my chieldhood house in Venezuela. I live on spain now , im looking for the best format to start over agin with 0 cards. Should I buy a Standard pre-made deck? or Starter packs? Draft?,

[@macreadymusings4043]

Exciting to hear you're thinking of getting back into the game, hope you have a good time. :) There are a few options I would recommend... Commander is probably the most popular way of playing right now in local game stores. You can get pre constructed Commander decks for about £30, give or take a few pounds depending on where you're shopping, and these are honestly provide a pretty good gameplay experience right out of the box. Going to a Draft, or a sealed event, is also a great time. The pre-release for the upcoming set Dominaria United will be happening on the fourth September at game stores across the world and that could be a nice way of getting back into the game, and getting some cards which could act as the building blocks for a potential standard deck. Pioneer has also grown a lot in popularity since I made this video, so that's an available option too, but it's a bit costlier than Standard. :)

[@dalecowles3406]

Could u talk about mtgo formats like penny dreadful and freedom?

[@stringdoll50]

1 note: you should have the Image+ the name of the format so players can know Because you speak fast and small, not everyone can understand you, it's AlWAYS better to have Visual+ Text , so that even casuals or who are new to the game can know

[@ellemurfrances7060]

No Planechase? :( (I know it's not a format, but it's one of the best ways to keep every other format more interesting)

[@ZeusTheGodSoA]

So when the cards are bumped out of standard does that mean thwyre no longer printed?

[@macreadymusings4043]

Yeah, once sets have left Standard Wizards of the Coast stop printing them. :)

[@Gmanu29]

Hi guys just wanna ask, is there a format where you cant use expensive cards? I mean theres a lot of cards there from common to mythic rare that only cost like 3$ below

[@macreadymusings4043]

Hey, thanks for the question. :) There's Penny Dreadful on Magic: the Gathering Online. In Penny Dreadful you can only play with cards that cost 0.02 Tix (the currency of Mtg Online) or less. You can bring up a list of these cards using a service like Scryfall and then build a physical deck with them if you want. Pauper is often quite cheap, although that is only common cards. If you're just playing with your friends locally there's nothing stopping you from inventing your own local format and just having a house rule that you won't use any cards that cost more than $3. :)

[@Gmanu29]

@@macreadymusings4043 maybe my small group of friends we'll try penny dreadful but on paper :) We dont play pauper and mtgo. Thanks!

[@macreadymusings4043]

@@Gmanu29 no problem. :)

[@nathanielpatterson6963]

@@Gmanu29 if you are playing on paper couldn't you just play any format printed on paper?

[@dasblooop]

Was thinking about this today. Rarity and market price have at best a moderate correlation. Some useful uncommons+ are cheap, but banned by definition which ironically goes against the spirit of the format: everyone can afford it.

[@drewhb1985]

And start back myself i played at a bunch of tournaments but im sure there's alot of rust

[@brainofmilk1238]

King

[@Arlano76]

I don't think you're supposed to take the land out of the pack when you draft it. You draft the land along the rest of the pack, most sets often replace the basic land inside by something more interesting like snow land or dual tap land.

[@macreadymusings4043]

Yeah it depends on the set you're right. In sets like Guilds of Ravnica or Ravnica Alligence you keep the lands in because they're dual lands. In most cases though you're okay to remove the lands, perhaps I could have been more specific on that point.

[@Arlano76]

@@macreadymusings4043 Every standard set since Ixalan (when I started) had tapland. The trend is just about to come to a halt I think with the full-art basic of Zendikar.

[@macreadymusings4043]

@@Arlano76 Yeah I should have said 'remove the basic lands' rather than just 'remove the lands'.

[@Arlano76]

@@macreadymusings4043 That would also cause problems by changing the size of booster for those that have basic compared to those (about 1 in 3 or 4) that got a dualland. I think that generally the rule of thumbs is let the land in, and made an exception depending on your pod and set (In unstable a lot of people wanted to keep their full-art lands with and there was no dual in the set).

[@stevenglowacki8576]

There was a time when every booster pack had a basic land but they weren't removed from drafting. This caused many people to make comments about how awful a card was by saying they'd take a basic land over it.

[@TheCrankyDank]

Lol kitchen table. I've never heard it called that. Oh and what about brawl? Is that newer than this vid?

[@briansneary7535]

two-headed giant, battlestar, generals?

[@magatsu82]

I only play and like kitchen table magic, I feel standard specially is the death of magic (I know it's what keep them selling cards, I don't mean it that way). Standard kills creativity, all decks look sort of the same, you are forced to follow the meta or be obliterated, the amount of possibilities is so limited, it makes your old cards useless. You spent more than a decade collecting cards only to then restrict yourself discarding most of your collection?. I never understood the appeal of this beyond selling (for wizard of the costs) or to ppl how are extremely competitive at the point is not enough to win for fun with friends, you need peer recognition. Sadly is what pushes the game, the prices, everything. And old time players who actually play for fun are ignored. I once play in a local store small tournament when the extended format was present. Manage to modify one of my "kitchen table" decks to make it legal for extended, it was a completely original deck, taking clues from no where but my head. Managed to make it to the final where I lost to a guy who admited after winning he copy his deck from one he saw on the internet (a meta boros deck). Never played again competitively since I understood competitive is a whole different game.

[@killerbee1974]

this is why i say yugioh is better, if a card came out 20 years ago, you can play it in the current format

[@josephcourtright8071]

Its a trade. Rotating formats is a much more balanced than other formats. By balanced I mean that the lowest and highest have a small power difference. Interestingly enough the more cards exist in a format, the less variety you will see in it.

[@ich3730]

10:40 lands are also singleton, only basic lands are not. Also, not every card in the deck has to have a color of the commanders identity. That would be impossible for lands and artifacts