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The core set grows up
What this set is
Fourth Edition is the core set that broke from the original card list. It dropped 50 cards that were in Revised, the ten dual lands, Sol Ring, Demonic Tutor, Wheel of Fortune, Fork and Clone among them, and added 122 cards from the expansions: 55 from Legends, 32 from The Dark, 23 from Antiquities, 10 from Arabian Nights and 2 Alpha cards Revised had dropped. That gives 368 different cards, 380 with three arts of each basic land.
It still carries a lot of cards Commander players use today. Swords to Plowshares, Counterspell, Fellwar Stone, Birds of Paradise, Sylvan Library and Land Tax are all here, so a white-bordered Fourth Edition copy is often the least expensive old printing of a card that has had few reprints since.
None of its cards is on the Reserved List. The catalog's 4BB code is the foreign black-bordered printing of the same list, and it is legal everywhere the white-bordered cards are.
Where You Can Play It
Format legality
Two codes with one card list. Both are eternal-format cards, and Fourth Edition is the first set in Premodern.
Not Standard-legal, and not Modern-legal as a set: Modern starts at Eighth Edition (July 2003). A card from here that was reprinted in a later Modern-legal set is Modern-legal in this printing too, because legality follows the card, not the printing. Legacy bans 10 of its cards, including Balance, Channel, Mana Vault, Mind Twist and Strip Mine. Commander bans 7: Balance, Channel, Crusade, Pradesh Gypsies and the ante cards Bronze Tablet, Rebirth and Tempest Efreet. Every set from Fourth Edition to Scourge is also legal in Premodern, the community format built on that window. Commons from any set are Pauper-legal; that isn't listed per set here.
Boosters, precons and singles from Fourth Edition are on TCGplayer.
FAQ
Common questions
Where can I play Fourth Edition cards?
In Legacy, Vintage and Commander, minus the cards each format bans. Fourth Edition is too old for Standard, Pioneer or Modern as a set, though any card that was later reprinted in a Modern-legal set is Modern-legal in every printing. It is also legal in Premodern, a community format built on Fourth Edition through Scourge.
Does Fourth Edition have dual lands?
No. Fourth Edition removed the ten original dual lands, along with Sol Ring, Demonic Tutor, Wheel of Fortune and 46 other Revised cards.
What is 4BB?
The catalog's code for Fourth Edition's foreign black-bordered printing. The card list is the same, and so is the legality.
Is Fourth Edition on the Reserved List?
None of its cards is on the Reserved List.
All card names, art, and mechanics belong to Wizards of the Coast. Fourth Edition released on Apr 1, 1995; details reflect the set as published. Sources: Wizards of the Coast set pages and release notes, Draftsim, Untapped.gg.
Playing Fourth Edition in Commander?
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