A SET-BASED Magic: the Gathering CUSTOM Format
You can find more details about these rules and the legal sets and banned cards lists on our rules page.
Primordial is a format where rares are rare, uncommons are uncommon, commons are common, money is not a concern, almost all mechanics can be exploited, and each deck tells a story about the Multiverse.
Inspired by limited and starter decks, it was made for casual players, lore enthusiasts, tireless brewers, and for all those cards waiting in your shoe box.
Primordial Etiquette
In any format, having a good time depends largely on how you and your opponent behave.
Before your games, take a shower and put on clean clothes.
During the game, communicate politely with your opponent and try not to get distracted by what’s going on around you.
After the game, winner or loser, don’t overdo it.
Primordial Friends
Magic Set Editor Modern (custom Magic: the Gathering format with custom sets): https://snapdragonfirework.wixsite.com/msem2
Moxfield (deck building website for Magic: the Gathering – that supports Primordial): https://www.moxfield.com/
Mythic Tools (Magic: The Gathering companion app with playgroups, decks listing, life counter, games statistics, card scanner, price information, oracle and rulings – that supports Primordial): Android and iOS
Primordial History
2013 – The idea of working on a new format began to take shape in the head of Fanfan. Following a Dragon’s Maze FNM Booster Draft, where he played a Teysa deck, he got fed up with seeing all those cards thrown into a shoe box, never to be played again, again.
2017 – After several months of testing, reflection and, above all, laziness, Fanfan officially launches the format. A first group of Primordial players will form in his town, the Mages Primordiaux. The website and Discord server will be created shortly afterwards.
May 2019 – The format moves up to v1 (it was previously considered to be in beta). This change was arbitrarily decided as the format was considered to be mature enough following the various adjustments it had undergone since its launch. On this occasion, Fanfan will post a message on Reddit about the format for the first time (that was stressful).
December 2019 – The format moves up to v2. This change in the version numbers will be linked to a rule update then considered as significant: Primordial decks were to contain no more than 3 of any individual common (instead of 4).
March 2020 – The format moves up to v3. This change in the version numbers will be linked to a rule update then considered as significant: Primordial decks were to contain no more than 4 of any individual common (instead of 3).
September 2020 – Fanfan passes on format management to kayiu102 (many thanks to him for keeping the format alive during the following 2 years).
October 2022 – kayiu102 passes on format management to Schwa77 (many thanks to him for keeping the format alive during the following 1 and half year).
January 2024 – Schwa77 passes on format management to Fanfan.
Primordial Readme
Hi, I’m Fanfan, the person behind Primordial.
I’m only a French casual player, gently approaching 40, and Primordial is only an humble side project I work on in my spare time (mostly on Sunday afternoons, when I’m not outside or completely absorbed by a video game).
I don’t have WotC’s firepower when it comes to events, community management or in-depth game balancing. On the other hand, I do my best to offer something that looks serious, while remaining as minimalist as possible, both in form and content (so it stays easy to comprehend and maintain). Primordial was once described as an “inexpensive, easy, quick and interesting format” by someone on our Discord server (hi @Scrublord) and I think that it describes pretty well what I’m aiming at.
If you have any suggestions, I’m always open to hear or read them as it’s good for me to have things to think about. However, don’t take it personally if it doesn’t lead to any immediate change, please.
Don’t hesitate to come by our Discord server to say hi, it’s always nice.
“It seems that perfection is reached not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away” – Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
You can find more details about the format in our Frequently Asked Question page / About the Format section.
PRIMORDIAL FORMAT 