The Magic: The Gathering Reserved List, Explained

The Reserved List is the single most important document in Magic: The Gathering’s secondary market. It’s why a 1994 Underground Sea costs $500 and a 2015 Underground Sea reprint doesn’t exist. It’s why Legacy is expensive. It’s why the Power Nine will never drop below five figures.

Here’s what it is, why Wizards maintains it, and what it means if you collect.

What the Reserved List actually is

The Reserved List is a public commitment by Wizards of the Coast to never reprint a specific list of approximately 570 Magic cards. Not in Standard sets. Not in Masters sets. Not in Secret Lairs. Not in any product, ever, with identical art.

The current policy (established in 1996, updated 2010) has one narrow carve-out: promotional foils. So while a non-foil 1994 Mox Ruby will never be reprinted, a foil version for a VIP promo theoretically could be. In practice, Wizards has not done this since the mid-2010s, and has said publicly they likely never will again.

The rest of the Reserved List is permanent. The supply is frozen at whatever was printed between 1993 and 2002.

Why Wizards made the Reserved List

In 1996, Magic had been out for three years and was already experiencing reprint backlash. Collectors who had paid $50 for an Alpha Lightning Bolt (tiny print run) felt cheated when Lightning Bolt was reprinted in Fourth Edition (huge print run) and dropped to $2.

Wizards promised to “never devalue collectors’ investments” by reprinting rare early cards. That promise, in writing, is the Reserved List.

The list started huge (every uncommon and rare from Alpha–Fourth Edition, plus early expansion rares) and got trimmed twice — in 2002 and 2010 — to remove uncommons and commons. The 2010 revision also removed the ability to print foil reprints of Reserved List cards, closing that loophole permanently.

Today the Reserved List is strictly rare-or-higher cards from:

• Limited Edition Alpha, Beta, Unlimited (1993)
• Arabian Nights, Antiquities, Legends, The Dark (1993–1994)
• Fallen Empires, Ice Age, Homelands, Alliances (1994–1996)
• Mirage, Visions, Weatherlight (1996–1997)
• Tempest block, Urza block, Masques block (1997–2000)
• Invasion, Odyssey, Onslaught blocks (2000–2003)
• Specific chase rares from 2002 (Judgment, Torment)

Which cards are on it

The short version: if a card was printed before 2003 and is played competitively, assume it’s Reserved List unless you’ve checked otherwise.

The exceptions (cards you’d assume are Reserved but aren’t): anything that got a reprint between 2003 and now. That includes the original Mana Crypt (reprinted multiple times), Lightning Bolt (reprinted every few years), and the ten shock lands (non-Reserved, introduced 2005).

The inclusions (cards that surprise people):

• All 10 dual lands from Alpha–Revised
• The entire Power Nine
• Mishra’s Workshop, Bazaar of Baghdad, Mishra’s Factory
• The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale, Gaea’s Cradle
• All the original Sliver rares, City of Traitors, Lion’s Eye Diamond
• Candelabra of Tawnos, Juzám Djinn, Nicol Bolas, The Wretched
• Arena of the Ancients, Book of Rass, The Hive
• Every early legendary creature (though most aren’t played)

The full list is published by Wizards on their website and mirrored in Scrytics — filter the card database by “Reserved List” to see it.

Why the Reserved List matters for prices

Three forces push Reserved List prices upward:

1. Supply is fixed forever. Every Mox Sapphire that exists was printed in 1993. There are no new ones coming. Ever.
2. Demand keeps growing. Magic’s player base expanded significantly through Arena (2018+), Commander’s rise (2015+), and the rise of nostalgia-driven formats (Old School, Premodern, Pre-Revised Commander).
3. The cards are irreplaceable in competitive formats. You literally cannot play Legacy or Vintage without owning actual pieces of 1993–1996 cardboard. Proxies are legal in casual play but banned in tournaments.

Combined, Reserved List prices compound over time. A Mishra’s Workshop was $800 in 2012, $2,500 in 2019, $5,000+ in 2024, and is still climbing.

The anti-Reserved-List argument

Not everyone likes the Reserved List. The arguments against:

• It creates a barrier to entry for Legacy and Vintage. New players can’t afford duals ($500+ each, times ten) to build a competitive deck.
• It turns Magic cards into speculative assets, changing the community’s culture.
• The original 1996 promise was made in a different market — Commander didn’t exist, Arena didn’t exist, and the player base was 5% of what it is today.

Wizards has periodically signalled they might revisit the Reserved List. Most recently, during the 2020 Secret Lair Ultimate Edition release, some players thought a modification was coming. It wasn’t. Wizards’ current official stance: the Reserved List is permanent, and they won’t change it.

What this means if you collect

If you own Reserved List cards:

• Their value is unlikely to decrease in the long term, modulo a surprise Reserved List reversal (low probability).
• Condition matters enormously. A played Mox is worth 30–50% of a near-mint one.
• Storing them in rigid top-loaders and a climate-controlled binder is worth the investment.

If you’re building a Legacy or Vintage deck:

• Reserved List staples are effectively real-estate investments with a 5–15 year horizon.
• Proxy decks are the norm in casual play. Don’t feel pressure to buy a $2,000 dual land until you’re playing sanctioned tournaments.

If you’re new to Magic:

• Focus on Commander, Modern, or Pioneer. None of those formats require Reserved List cards.
• Standard and Draft don’t touch the Reserved List at all — the format-rotation structure guarantees fresh print runs every year.

Track Reserved List prices on Scrytics

The Scrytics web database already has a Reserved List filter that sorts the list by current market value. The iOS app (coming soon) includes 365 days of price history per Reserved List card, so you can see the upward drift on a real chart rather than anecdotally.

The Reserved List isn’t going anywhere. Neither are the prices.