What is the Reserved List?
The Reserved List is a published commitment from Wizards of the Coast (WotC) that specific Magic: The Gathering cards will never be reprinted in a tournament-legal form. The list was first introduced in March 1996 and has been updated a small number of times since, with the current policy locking the list from further additions or removals.
For a card on the list, WotC has publicly promised:
- No functional reprint in any Standard, Modern, or supplementary expansion.
- No new tournament-legal English printings in any product.
- Any premium (foil) or alternate-art reprint, if it happened at all, has been explicitly excluded from this policy. In 2010 WotC removed the foil exception, so even foil reprints of Reserved List cards are now off the table.
The practical effect is simple: the printed supply of any Reserved List card is fixed at whatever was printed originally, with the only ongoing changes being cards leaving circulation through loss, damage, or long-term storage.
Why does the Reserved List exist?
The Reserved List was created in response to collector reaction to the Chronicles set (1995), which reprinted a number of previously rare and expensive cards. The reprints significantly reduced the market value of the original versions, and collectors who had paid high prices for the originals pushed back on WotC.
To restore trust in the long-term scarcity of older cards, WotC created a published list of cards that would be protected from future reprints. The list includes most rare and uncommon cards from the earliest Magic sets, including Alpha, Beta, Unlimited, Arabian Nights, Antiquities, Legends, and The Dark.
What kinds of cards are on the list?
Several widely recognised card groups sit on the Reserved List:
- The Power Nine: Black Lotus, Ancestral Recall, Time Walk, Mox Pearl, Mox Sapphire, Mox Jet, Mox Ruby, Mox Emerald, and Timetwister. These are the highest-profile Reserved List cards.
- The original dual lands (sometimes called "ABUR duals"): the ten two-colour untapped lands from Alpha, Beta, Unlimited, and Revised, such as Underground Sea, Tundra, and Taiga.
- Many rare and uncommon cards from Arabian Nights, Antiquities, Legends, The Dark, and parts of Fallen Empires and Homelands.
Not every old card is on the list. Many commons from early sets are specifically excluded, and WotC does continue to reprint non-Reserved-List older cards in supplementary products such as Masters sets and Commander releases.
The complete, current list is maintained on the official WotC Magic site.
What does this mean for collectors?
The Reserved List status of a card changes the economics in a few concrete ways:
- Supply is fixed. New demand pushes against a static printed supply, so a Reserved List card is more sensitive to shifts in interest than a card that could be reprinted.
- Format relevance drives demand. Reserved List cards power the Vintage and Legacy formats and are central to Commander lists built around older strategies. Format shifts in those communities move Reserved List prices more directly than they do for cards that could be reprinted into a Modern Horizons style set.
- Condition matters more. With a fixed supply, high-grade copies and well-preserved early-print copies carry a stronger premium than they would for a reprintable card.
For anyone building a long-term Magic collection, understanding which of your older cards are Reserved List and which are not is a useful separation. A Reserved List card you already own is protected from reprint-driven dilution. A non-Reserved-List older card may be reprinted at any time, which can affect its market value.
Common questions
Can WotC change the Reserved List? WotC has publicly stated it will not add cards to the list and will not remove cards from it. The policy has been reaffirmed multiple times. In 2010 the foil exception was closed.
Why is the Reserved List controversial? Some players argue it prevents reprints that would make older formats more accessible. Others argue the list protects the trust of older collectors and preserves the historical character of early Magic. Both views are widely held in the community.
Does the Reserved List apply to Online or Arena? Magic: The Gathering Online and Arena are separate products from paper Magic. The Reserved List is a paper-reprint policy; it does not restrict the digital clients.
Where can I check whether a specific card is on the list? The authoritative source is WotC's official Reserved List article. Any serious Magic card database will also note Reserved List status on card detail pages.
Related
This article summarises the Reserved List policy as published by Wizards of the Coast and as understood by the collector community as of 2026-10-14. The authoritative wording lives on magic.wizards.com.