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Sorcery
Each player discards their hand, then draws cards equal to the greatest number of cards a player discarded this way.
"To fill your mind with knowledge, we must start by emptying it." —Barrin, master wizard
Ban history
Academy's partner in the December 1998 bans; one of Premodern's policy-banned draw spells.
- Banned in Premodern
- On or before May 2018
- On earliest archived list; likely since 2012 founding
- Category
- Power
- Research
- Research confidence: High confidence
- First printed
- First printed in Urza's Saga (12 October 1998).
Why it’s banned
Power level / draw-seven (official framing 2019).
Official reason
Berlin (2019): the ban list "already includes powerful draw spells like Time Spiral, Windfall and Memory Jar, while being more tolerant to fast mana and tutors."
Context (not an official statement)
Analytical/community: with Ancient Tomb, Mox Diamond and Lotus Petal, Windfall refuels after dumping mana (Draftsim). Combo Winter: banned in Standard, Extended and Type 1.5 and restricted in Vintage in December 1998 alongside Tolarian Academy; still restricted in Vintage, banned in Legacy.[1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
The story
Windfall (Urza's Saga, 1998) was banned with Tolarian Academy on December 1, 1998, the first Combo Winter bans, in Standard, Extended and Type 1.5 (restricted in Vintage). Premodern has banned it on every archived list, and Berlin's 2019 post names it with Time Spiral and Memory Jar as the draw spells the list deliberately excludes.
Premodern changes
- On listOn the earliest archived Premodern ban list.[6]
Other formats (Wizards)
Historical context, not Premodern decisions.
- StandardBanned
- VintageRestricted
- LegacyBanned
- ExtendedBanned
Related cards
Sources
- Ban List Update 2019 (Martin Berlin, 2019-08-20)
- Draftsim: The Premodern Ban List: All 33 Cards Banned (A.L. Walser, 2026-04-24) — community
- MTG Wiki: Combo Winter
- MTG Wiki: Banned and restricted cards/Timeline
- MTGBans.info per-card timelines (effective dates; site's AI-generated rationales NOT used)
- Wayback: premodernmagic.com/banned-watched/ 2018-05-06 (34 banned, 5 watched)
- Scryfall card data (printings, release dates)
- premodernmagic.com legal sets endpoint
Research as of 18 October 2026.
In our decks
Not in any of our curated decklists yet. Find similar cards.
Played in tournaments
Share of published Premodern decklists that play Windfall (main or sideboard): 2,457 lists from paper events and MTGO in the last 90 days, through .
Not seen in any of the 2,457 tournament lists from the last 90 days. Browse the meta.
Printings (20)
Every tournament-legal paper printing (no gold-border, World Championship or oversized cards). Hover or tap a row to preview that printing.
