Player creativity has always been at the heart of Magic: The Gathering. Formats like Commander started out as fun casual variants, dreamed up by fans who wanted a different experience, before becoming officially sanctioned later down the line. Kitchen tables worldwide play host to other experimental formats too, less widely successful but no less important to the game as a whole. Over the last few days, one such format has been garnering a lot of attention on the r/MagicTCG subreddit. That format is called Primordial, and it could just be your new favorite way to play MTG.
What Is The Primordial Format In MTG?
Primordial has a fairly intricate ruleset compared to most MTG formats. At the top level, players build decks of 40 cards, like in Sealed or Draft. Said decks can contain any number of commons and basic lands, but there are restrictions on other rarities. You can only run up to 6 uncommons, and no more than 2 copies of each. In addition, you can only play 2 rares, with just one copy of each.
Last but not least, Primordial decks must consist of 40 cards from the same set. This is the format’s key selling point as far as I can see. Without this, a format built of 40-card decks of mostly commons would likely resemble Pauper. With this restriction in place, however, it’s more like a modified Set Constructed. This has been a limited-time feature format on MTG Arena a few times, and it results in games where lesser-seen archetypes get a chance to shine.
Interestingly, Primordial doesn’t specify that decks played against each other must use cards from the same single set. This means that, in theory, a deck full of Alpha commons could take on the furry friends of Bloomburrow in a Primordial game. Even more interestingly, the official rules page positions Primordial as a multiplayer format, each game featuring 3-5 players with starting totals of 20 life. There is a ban list, but at the moment it only includes Chaos Orb, Falling Star, Shahrazad, every card with Ante, and all the cards on WotC’s problematic card list. Just the top-level stuff, in other words.
A Single-Set Showcase
With all of that taken into account, Primordial sounds like a fascinating format to dive into. It has actually been around since 2017 when it began as the brainchild of French casual MTG player Fanfan. Since then it has seen many rule changes, and multiple shifts in management, but now Fanfan is back in charge, and they’re pushing the format hard.
The Reddit thread that brought Primordial to our attention contained a link to an official trailer for the format. It’s not every day you see a fan project with that level of production behind it. The trailer largely served to communicate the rules we covered above, but it was enough to get people talking. In the comments below, players started discussing Primordial, and the cards and sets that could thrive there.
Naturally Alpha got a mention, but more people seemed concerned about Urza’s Saga, which features Dark Ritual at common as well as many, many broken cards to cast with it. Mirrodin, within which you can build a very viable all-common Affinity deck, also got a few nods. Future Sight got an honorable mention thanks to Sprout Swarm, a card very capable of winning games on its own. Players were less than convinced of the other commons in the set, however.
Primordial’s rarity rules make theory-crafting for the format a fascinating process. Rare and uncommon slots need to be dedicated to buildarounds, rather than efficient Aggro tools or generically ‘good’ cards. Being restricted to one set also forces you to become intimately familiar with it, and lets you replicate your favorite Limited experiences from the past, albeit in a more consistent way.
One To Watch?
Many in the comments were quick to praise the design of Primordial as a format. As DCzisMe put it, “This sounds pretty cool. Gonna let the fellas down at the LGS know about this one. Thanks for the efforts!” MTG_3K_On_Arena agreed, adding “I love set constructed and anything that enforces power restrictions so this looks good to me.”
In addition to those just discovering Primordial for the first time, some actually had existing experience with the format, having discovered it in the past before the official trailer launched.
“I’ve been playing this with my wife everytime we buy a box for the last couple of years lol. great experience, 100% recommend.”
eusebioadamastor
The fact that Primordial already has enfranchised players is a great sign. With this new push from Fanfan, it could even pick up enough steam to become a real, sanctioned format a few years from now. It combines the affordability of Pauper with the power balance of single-set Constructed, with a nice dollop of Commander’s multiplayer goodness thrown in for good measure. A recipe for success, if ever there was one.
Of course, the chances of Primordial getting sanctioned are fairly low. There are countless MTG fan formats out there, with new ones rising and falling every year the game exists. That said, the timing of this marketing push couldn’t be better. Other than Standard, which remains an unknown until Bloomburrow arrives, most other formats are in a sorry state. Nadu dominates Modern, Grief dominates Legacy and calls for emergency bans are all too common.
In a situation like this, perhaps Primordial is the format to bring back the joy of Magic for those who have lost it. Or perhaps it’s just another flash in the pan. As always, time will tell.
Read More: MTG Designer Is Already Considering a Second Bloomburrow Set