Magic the gathering, help a noob plz?

Question

im pretty new to mtg and i bought a box of eventide booster packs, and some shadowmore ones too... however i was wondering if its against the rules to use cards from all the old sets?

i dont want to buy old cards and find out they are no longer used. thanks for the advice and any other advice you may want to give. :)

Answer 1

Welcome to MTG, it is refreshing to have a new player....  now I will say it is "legal" to use almost all cards and depending on what format you perfer (which there are several to choose from).

Standard/type 2-Usually consists the 2 most recent blocks and the last core edition (in this case Shadowmoor and Eventide/Lowyrn and Morningtide with Timespiral block and 10th core edition).

Extended/type 1-The most recent set to several years back (Eventide to Legions).

Legacy-Every set and almost every card (My personal favorite, less restrictions and more room to be creative.  Banned-Skullclamp, Channel, Black Lotus, etc.)

Vintage-Classic cards only (such as portals, 4th edition etc.)

Then we have other formats that really have the basics listed above but in multi-player form.

Two Headed Giant-The name is different depending where you live or due personal taste.  Two teams of 2 face each other and the rules differ from person to person.

Team Battles-Once you create a team you can battle against others, once again rules are different from region to region.

This should help.

Answer 2

Depends on what you are trying to play.

Type 2 (standard) only allows for the newest sets and core edition.

Type 1.5 (extended) allows for cards from sets that date a few years back.  I don't know where Extended ends right now.

Type 1 (Vintage/Legacy) is the hardest to win by unless you have power cards.  There are many decks that will win before you get a turn.  But those sets use most all the cards.

There are banned and restricted cards for each type.

Standard has no banned or restricted cards.

Extended has 4 banned/restricted cards.

http://ww2.wizards.com/Gatherer/index.as...

Vintage has 60 banned/restricted cards.

http://ww2.wizards.com/Gatherer/index.as...

There is one exception to the rule.  If a card is legal in a tournament, all copies of that card is legal in that type of tournament.  You can use Alpha Llanowar Elves in Standard games because Llanowar Elves were reprinted in Xth edition.

Answer 3

First off just let me say welcome to the world of Mtg.  Secondly there are many formats to Mtg (Magic the Gathering) if you want to know what all the formats are you can do one of three thins. 1) do a web search, 2) buy a Scrye magazine, and 3) you can go to your local hobby store most of them carry the latest info on what cards are banned or restricted in certain formats.

Answer 4

The other three people answered your question already. I just wanted to add (in regards to the third answer.) While old cards are allowed in T2 if there is a modern version, the Alpha version is still banned. In fact, Alpha is banned in all regulated play. I clarify regulated because if you own a card, you can play with it against friends all you want. The only reason to buy an Alpha card is to invest in it. Alpha is banned because the corners are cut differently, so it would be like playing with a marked card. Have fun learning the game.