Rules for Peasant Format

Introduction

The Peasant format is an unofficial Magic: The Gathering format created in 2001 by Robert Baronowski. The Peasant was created to provide a competitive format that is accessible in terms of budget to as many people as possible.

When the format was created, each community was free to create its own Ban List. With the increasing success of the Peasant in France and Germany, these two communities expressed the wish to play the same format and agree on common rules and Ban List. Since 2015, the Peasant format has thus followed unique rules worldwide.

Changes to the rules and Ban list are debated and voted by a committee. The details of their activities, debates, and decisions are available here.

Deck Construction

A Peasant deck follows the usual rules for construction (60 card minimum, maximum four copies of each card) and must contain:

The rarity of a card is defined as the lowest rarity among all Magic editions. (Renaissance and Anthologies are excluded as there is no reliable source on the rarity of these cards).

As with any other format, the card text takes precedence over official rule limitations. Thus, it is possible to play more than 5 Uncommons if the card explicitly allows it (e.g., Nazgûl, Templar Knight). In the case of an uncommon that would exceed 5 occurrences, it will not be allowed to play other uncommons than this card.

Practical examples

Not allowed:
  • Cards planes, schemes, conspiracies and ante (not allowed in Vintage)
  • Cards from Unglued, Unhinged, Unstable, or with the acorn-shaped holofoil from Unfinity (not allowed in Vintage)
  • Cards that reference stickers or attractions (not allowed in Vintage)
  • Cards from Renaissance and Anthologies (no known rarity)
  • Cards from the Conjure mechanic (not allowed in Vintage)
Allowed:
  • Cards from Commander and Planechase sets (if Vintage-legal)
  • Digital-only editions (if Vintage-legal), which means that a reprint in these formats can make certain cards common or uncommon.

Ban List

Restrictions in other format aren't applied to Peasant. Example: Limitations of 1 card in vintage isn't applied in Peasant

Additionnal Informations

How to use the Gatherer

By default, the Gatherer is configured in the language of your country and therefore only displays results in your language. For example, if you are French, a search for Lotus Noir will not give you any results because the card has never been published in French. To set the rarity of a Peasant card, you must configure the Gatherer in English. To do this, click on Settings, then at the bottom of the page select 'English' in 'Preferred Language' and then click 'Save'.

To test the validity of a Peasant deck

It's possible to try to see the validity of your deck with this link : http://mtg-peasant.com/valideck/