Magic: The Gathering designers Mark Rosewater and Gavin Verhey have expressed openness to further supporting popular fan-created formats like Pauper and Premodern, though official integration presents unique challenges. Speaking at MagicCon: Amsterdam 2026, the designers addressed the growing player interest in these formats, drawing parallels to the evolution of Commander from a community project to an official product line.
Pauper, a format where only cards that have ever been printed at common rarity are legal, has seen significant growth and player engagement. The format's accessibility, due to the lower cost of common cards, is a major draw. Despite being limited to commons, Pauper features powerful staples like Counterspell, Brainstorm, and Lightning Bolt, enabling complex strategies and fast game-enders. Wizards of the Coast already officially recognizes Pauper, with a dedicated ban list and a Pauper Format Panel established in 2022, led by Gavin Verhey.
"It has become an official format in Magic terms, but speaking of large qualifying-level events, or official precon decks, that's harder to say," Verhey stated. "But I would love that. I'd love to be able to just give players a full deck to get started. And the format is super diverse. So if you never played it, go give it a try, and maybe someday we'll get there."
Paupergeddon, a flagship Pauper event held in Lucca, Italy, drew 1,069 players, underscoring the format's considerable player base.
Premodern, a format designed to capture nostalgia for Magic's late 1990s and early 2000s era, includes sets from Fourth Edition to Scourge and has its own ban list. Created in 2012, it bridges the gap between Old School and Modern formats. While it has gained significant traction, particularly with its inclusion on Magic: The Gathering Online, Premodern faces more significant hurdles for official support due to its strictly defined card pool.
Mark Rosewater explained that supporting a format with a fixed card pool is difficult for Wizards of the Coast. "We can't give you more cards," he noted. "The only way that Wizards has to contribute to it would be through reprints, and that's a tricky point." While reprints are being considered as part of a broader effort to make cards more accessible, distributing these across various products makes it challenging to dedicate resources solely to Premodern.
Rosewater also questioned the essence of creating new cards specifically for a format that celebrates a past era. "Let's say we made new cards for Premodern," he mused. "Doesn't that fly in the face of what Premodern is? The whole point is to represent a slice of history." Despite these challenges, Rosewater teased that dedicated reprints are planned, indicating Wizards is aware of the format's popularity.
While Pauper's path to broader official integration, such as dedicated products and wider event support, depends on continued player engagement, Premodern's future official involvement is complicated by its historical card set limitations. However, the designers' willingness to explore possibilities suggests that both formats hold a place in the future of Magic: The Gathering discussions at Wizards of the Coast.