Premodern is a community-created constructed format consisting of the sets from Fourth Edition to Scourge. The card pool thus roughly spans the period inbetween the formats 93/94 and Modern. A rule of thumb for the card pool is: all cards with the old frame printed between 1995 and 2003, which were standard legal at some point during this period. Portal and promo cards are thus not legal (sorry, Nalathni Dragon). See the list of all legal sets here, or you can browse the entire card pool here.

An underlying idea is that the format should be a home for iconic and fun cards that don't see play in other formats—either because their relative power level has withered over time, or because they are not tournament legal due to their interactions with newer cards (e.g. Survival of the Fittest and Vengevine in Legacy). In line with this idea, some cards that are dominant in other formats are banned in Premodern (e.g. Brainstorm and Force of Will) in order to leave room for other cards to prosper, and to make the format distinct from others. See the deck gallery or the blog for inspiration, or start brewing from scratch!

Premodern was invented in 2012 by Martin Berlin, as he switched gears from competitive to casual play. At that point, he was already into the 93/94 format, but felt that it didn’t fully satiate his cravings for old school Magic. Martin is responsible for maintaining the banned list, based on input from the community. See here for a short introduction video about Premodern.

Premodern has an active community for discussing decks and events.