Magic the Gathering is an incredibly old game. In its 30 years, over 20,000 cards have been published across more than 100 sets, and more are being released all the time. It's also got a bustling second-hand market, with players buying and selling cards to either collect or include in their decks.

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But one of the most controversial aspects of the game that has been a part of it for almost its entire history has been The Reserved List. A constant source of discourse amongst the community, some argue it's damaging the game, while others have staked their entire fortunes on it. Here's everything you need to know about Magic's Reserved List.

What Is The Reserved List?

Time Walk by Chris Rahn
Time Walk by Chris Rahn

The Reserved List is part of Wizards of the Coast's official reprint policy for Magic the Gathering. Reprints are when a card is reprinted in a different set at a later date, like how Village Rites has been reprinted in both Kaldheim and Strixhaven since its debut in Core 2021.

While Wizards says that Reserved List cards will "never be reprinted", the truth is more that the cards won't be reprinted for as long as the Reserved List is in effect. Ongoing controversy and discourse surrounding it may eventually convince Wizards to abolish the Reserved List or relax the restrictions on it, but in the game's long history that's only ever happened once for a handful of cards.

One important thing is that when Wizards says "reprints", it doesn't just mean a card with the same name. The Reserved List also bans the printing of "functional reprints" that have the same qualities as the original card in every way but the name, such as how Krenko's Command and Dragon Fodder are both one generic, one red sorceries that create two 1/1 Goblin tokens. This means we'll not only never see Reserved List cards be reprinted, but we'll also never see a card that does the exact same thing as it as a replacement.

The Reserved List bans physical printings of cards on the list in any playable format. This means digital services like Arena and Online can release Reserved List cards, and non-legal cards like oversized ones can still be printed.

What Cards Are On The Reserved List?

Power Nine
The Power Nine are Magic's most powerful cards, and are all on the Reserved List

As of 2021, there are 575 cards on the Reserved List. Every card on it was released between the game's first release, Alpha, and its 17th expansion, Urza's Destiny.

Despite the Reserved List being a big, revered list of cards meant to retain their value, a lot of them are pretty rubbish by today's design standards. It even includes some cards considered to be the worst ever printed, like Wood Elemental.

That being said, the Reserved List also includes some of the most powerful cards as well. The Power Nine (Black Lotus, Mox Emerald, Mox Jet, Mox Pearl, Mox Ruby, Mox Sapphire, Timetwister, Time Walk, and Ancestral Recall) are all on there, as are other notable cards like Divine Intervention, Time Spiral, the ten Dual Lands, and Fastbond.

No cards after 1999's Urza's Destiny are on the Reserved List, and "never" will be.

Where Did The Reserved List Come From?

Ancestral Recall by Mark Poole
Ancestral Recall by Mark Poole

Way back in the early days of the game, packs were incredibly difficult to get a hold of. Wizards of the Coast wasn't expecting Magic to be as popular as it was and were struggling to keep up with the demand. It wasn't until a few years into its life that cards became readily available, and by then several sets had come and gone – leaving powerful cards in the hands of the few who managed to get them at the time.

Wanting to ensure the long-term health of the game, in 1995 Wizards printed its first reprint set, Chronicles. Chronicles included cards from the first four expansions: Arabian Nights, Antiquities, Legends, and The Dark. At the time, original editions of cards were printed with black borders, while reprints had white ones to differentiate them.

Unfortunately, this distinction made no difference, as Wizards hadn't realised that cards could be valuable because of their abilities in the game as well as their status as collector's pieces. It massively overprinted Chronicles, completely tanking the secondhand value of any cards it included. This upset players who had been financially invested in the game, as the cards that were worth potentially hundreds of dollars before were now a couple of dollars each at most.

With players threatening to abandon the game, Wizards introduced the Reserved List as a soft guarantee that it wouldn't reprint certain cards. Excluding cards that had already been reprinted, Wizards said it would no longer reprint any cards from Alpha and Beta, no uncommon or rares from Arabian Nights and Antiquities, and no rare cards from Legends or The Dark.

Over time, the Reserved List changed slightly. In sets released after its introduction, Wizards had a policy of only reprinting a maximum of 25% of their rare cards, with the remaining 75% going into the Reserved List. At the time, Wizards would announce which sets would have cards reprinted from them, and if a card wasn't reprinted by the time it 'rotated out', it would enter the Reserved List.

In 2002, the Reserved List was effectively frozen. Wizards reserved the rights to reprint any cards released in Mercadian Masks onward, ending the program of sets gradually rotating into reserved status. 2002 was also the first time cards were removed from the Reserved List, when commons and uncommon from Alpha and Beta were taken off the list following a public vote from the community.

Since then, the Reserved List has pretty much always stayed the same. The only change came in 2011, when Wizards closed a loophole it had used to print Reserved List cards in the premium Phyrexia vs. the Coalition Duel Decks and the From the Vault: Relics collection. The decision to print Reserved List cards like Mox Diamond, Masticore, Karn the Silver Golem and Phyrexian Negator in foil (therefore making them "premium" and not bound by the Reserved List) was met with almost universal criticism, resulting in the decision to ban Reserved List cards from ever being printed in any playable product.

Why Is The Reserved List Controversial?

Eladamri, Lord of Leaves by  Ron Chironna
Eladamri, Lord of Leaves by Ron Chironna

There is a lot of argument among Magic the Gathering players as to whether the Reserved List should still be in effect, or even if it's possible to revoke the list.

On the one hand, people in support of the Reserved List argue that the Reserved List ensures that older collections retain their value. Players who pulled a Black Lotus in 1994 are sitting on a veritable goldmine right now, and the concern is that a reprint could completely demolish what realistically could be somebody's pension or investment plan.

There's also the argument of whether it would be right for Wizards of the Coast to go back on a 'promise' it made in the past. The Reserved List is a rare example of a company sticking to its word on something – if Wizards suddenly abolished it, players argue they wouldn't be able to trust anything Wizards says after that. People would no longer heavily invest in the game, as the trust that Wizards would keep it going in a mutually beneficial way would be gone.

The other argument 'for' the Reserved List is more of a legal one, and concerns whether or not the policy constitutes an actual, legal duty for Wizards to uphold it. The most commonly held argument is that of Promissory Estoppel, which, in massively reductive terms, says a promise can be legally binding, even if there was originally no legal declaration or intent. With so much money held in these cards, if Wizards decided to do away with the Reserved List, there would almost certainly be a majorly expensive legal backlash against them that they wouldn't necessarily win. That Wizards of the Coast has upheld the list in its current form for over 10 years, and before that for almost another 20, puts a lot of stock in it being something it must keep going.

On the other hand, people argue the Reserved List should be abolished for the sake of accessibility to the game. Formats like Vintage and Legacy are currently incredibly expensive to get into, and having reprints available would make doing so much easier. Also with the rising popularity of an eternal format that can use Reserved List cards like Commander, having them be reprinted more often would improve the game's most popular format considerably.

The second argument is that reprints don't lower the value of cards to the same extent they did when Chronicles was first released. People would likely still pay the ridiculous prices they do now for an Alpha Black Lotus, even if there was a newer one readily available. As long as Wizards of the Coast controls the supply and doesn't overprint as it did back in the day, there's no reason to think a Reserved List Masters or something similar would hurt collectors in any significant way.

The other reason is much more political: people see the Reserved List as a way rich traders maintain power over the community. Some even argue that veterans at Wizards of the Coast, who have been there since near the start, may be financially incentivised to keep the Reserved List so they can retire with a folder full of cards from it. While this doesn't seem to be the case, as lead designer Mark Rosewater has already said he's experimented with getting rid of the Reserved List in the past, people see the Reserved List as an unnecessary restriction that only helps the already profiting players.

Will The Reserved List Ever Be Removed?

Lion's Eye Diamond by Lindsey Look
Lion's Eye Diamond by Lindsey Look

Though 'never say never' certainly applies, the chances of it happening any time soon are slim. Since 2011, there has been no movement from Wizards of the Coast on changing its reprint policy, though it has released Reserved List casts digitally in Vintage Masters on Magic the Gathering Online.

Reserved List cards have also appeared as extra effects, with a noteworthy example being Garth One-eye from Modern Horizons 2's ability to make a Black Lotus. Again, this doesn't violate the spirit of the Reserved List, but does show that Reserved List cards are a space Wizards is willing to step into every once in a while.

If we were ever going to see Reserved List card get reprinted, it would likely be in incredibly small numbers. Maybe a Secret Lair release, or a limited print set like Time Spiral Remastered. These would certainly be many years from now, though, when players who own Reserved List cards have left the game in big enough numbers to make a demand for it near-universal.

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