Peasant Magic Allowed Cards

This is a short FAQ on rarity in Peasant Magic. Because Peasant Magic decks rely heavily upon rarity determinations, this short page just provides an overview of the rarity rules. For the complete rules, see the Rules page elsewhere on this site.

Authorized cards

1. Cards must have been issued in a published Magic set AND
2. Cards must have been issued with a rarity rating at least once.
3. Common cards include any card that was EVER published as a Common, or as a C1, C2, or C3 (or higher). Yes, I know that technically C1 rarity is Uncommon, but for Peasant Magic, it counts as a Common card.
   • Exception: Strip Mine was published once as a C1, but it is considered Uncommon despite this due to a ruling by the Peasant Council. Strip Mine was deemed to be too powerful when available as a Common card, so the rarity was modified.
   • You may have any number of Common cards in your deck.
4. Uncommon cards include any card that was EVER published as an Uncommon, or as a U1, U2, U3 (or higher). Again, technically U1 is Rare, but not in Peasant Magic.
   • Exceptions: The Banned List. The following cards have been banned by the Peasant Council because they require Lordly resources to acquire, and are beyond the spirit of the game: Ali From Cairo, Bazaar of Baghdad, Berserk, Candelabra of Tawnos, Diamond Valley, Juzam Djinn, Library of Alexandria, Mana Drain, Mishra’s Workshop.
   • Exception: Brain Freeze is also banned, because it is horribly broken and it was on the verge of ruining all of our fun, also by order of the Council.
   • Exception: Jeweled Bird, Timmerian Fiends, and Bronze Tablet are banned because Peasant format does not use ante, and these cards require the use of ante rules.
   • You may have no more than five (5) uncommon cards. In Peasant Magic Tourneys that permit Sideboarding, these cards may be present either in the deck or in the sideboard.
5. Rare cards are forbidden.
6. There may be no more than four (4) copies of any single card except basic land.
   • Snow-covered land counts as a basic land.
7. In the event that a deck contained cards that must be physically destroyed to be used (like Chaos Confetti from Unglued), players were allowed to replace the destroyed card after each game in which they destroyed a copy of the card.
8. If a player runs out of copies of a card that must be destroyed to be played, then they must fill their deck with basic land(s) of their choice.

Card rarity

Card rarities are listed on the Wizards of the Coast website, in text files for each expansion. If a card does not have a listed rarity, then it is not allowed in Peasant Magic Tournaments. In general, all card sets listed under Starter Sets, Limited-edition Expansion Sets, and Basic Sets on that page are allowed. From Special sets, only Unglued and Chronicles/Renaissance are generally allowed.

Cards from other Special sets (like World Championship decks or Vangaurd) are allowed if the card was issued is another set with a legal rarity (Common or Uncommon). However, players must use deck protectors if their decks contain cards with different backs.

Card issued with different rarity ratings

If a card is listed with two different rarities in two different editions, use the most common rating for calculating rarity. For example, Wyluli Wolf is Rare in Fifth Edition, but Common in Arabian Nights. For Peasant Master tourneys, Wyluli Wolf is Common.

Restricted / Banned cards

Cards that are restricted or banned in Type 1, Type 1.5, and other DCI constructed tournaments are allowed in Peasant Magic unless explicitly banned by these rules.