Eras
An era names one moment in the game's history: the cards the TCG had printed by then, judged against the banlist the format ran on. These four are community convention rather than anything the dataset records — every rule below is this app's own assertion, so each one publishes its anchors and what backs them. Disagree with one, and you can see exactly which call to argue with.
How Eras Resolve
Every era reads the TCG release timeline and replays the TCG banlist, whatever region you browse in — era legality is TCG legality. Picking one returns the same cards in every language; only the text printed on them changes.
These four are shortcuts, not the limit. Card search reaches all 80 TCG banlists ever published, and its release bounds take any date or any set — an era only fills both in at once. A format we have not named is still yours to dial in by hand.
Goat
1,673 cards in the pool
- Cutoff set
- The Lost Millennium
- TCG cutoff
- June 1, 2005
- Banlist
- April 1, 2005
- Source
The April 2005 TCG banlist, verified against this dataset by replay: 17 forbidden, 41 limited and 15 semi-limited, with Cyber Jar limited and Metamorphosis untouched. The pool closes at The Lost Millennium — Cybernetic Revolution, which printed Cyber Dragon, ended the format and is out.
Edison
3,575 cards in the pool
- Cutoff set
- Absolute Powerforce
- TCG cutoff
- February 11, 2010
- Banlist
- March 1, 2010
- Source
Named for the Edison, New Jersey Shonen Jump Championship played on the March 2010 TCG banlist. The pool closes at Absolute Powerforce, the last set released before that event.
Tengu Plant
4,340 cards in the pool
- Cutoff set
- Extreme Victory
- TCG cutoff
- May 5, 2011
- Banlist
- March 1, 2011
- Source
The March 2011 TCG banlist, played on Reborn Tengu and the Plant engine. The pool closes at Extreme Victory, the last set before Generation Force introduced Xyz Monsters — the boundary confirms the format is pre-Xyz.
HAT
6,059 cards in the pool
- Cutoff set
- Primal Origin
- TCG cutoff
- May 15, 2014
- Banlist
- July 14, 2014
- Source
Hands, Artifacts and Traptrix — the mid-2014 TCG format. The pool closes at Primal Origin, the last set before Duelist Alliance ended it. The banlist is a developer judgement call: two lists fall inside the window, 2014-04-01 (in force as the format opened) and 2014-07-14 (the last before Duelist Alliance). Both are defensible; this app chose 2014-07-14.