MTG Ban List 2026 — Banned & Restricted

This guide lists every banned and restricted card in Standard, Pioneer, Modern, Legacy, Vintage, Commander and Pauper, and covers the Arena formats below. The latest Banned & Restricted announcement was August 10, 2026; the next is scheduled for October 12, 2026. Card lists were last verified against Scryfall on September 27, 2026, and each format links to Scryfall’s live legality search so you can confirm the list yourself.

Recent Update — August 10, 2026

The August 10, 2026 B&R announcement (effective August 10, 2026) hit Standard hardest and left Pioneer and Modern untouched:

Standard: Badgermole Cub, Stormchaser's Talent, and Gran-Gran are all banned. Wizards pointed to Selesnya Offense decks holding win rates above 57% and acted before the Regional Championship Qualifier season, aiming to slow the format and widen the metagame.
Legacy: The Fantasticar is banned — it turned up in more than a dozen archetypes, which Wizards said made it near impossible to answer with any single card.
Vintage: The Fantasticar is restricted to one copy, which makes building a deck around it far harder while accepting it survives as a one-of.
Pauper: no changes, and the trial unban of Bonder's Ornament is now permanent — Wizards judged the card had "mostly been normalized."
Pioneer, Modern, Alchemy, Historic, Timeless, Brawl: no changes.
Commander: no changes.

The prior announcement, June 29, 2026, banned Candelabra of Tawnos (Legacy) and Seeker of Skybreak (Pauper) and trimmed six cards from Brawl. The next Banned & Restricted announcement is scheduled for October 12, 2026.

Jump to: Standard · Pioneer · Modern · Legacy · Vintage · Commander · Pauper · Alchemy · Historic, Timeless & Brawl · Next announcement

How Bans Work

Wizards of the Coast reviews the health of each format through internal data, tournament results, and player feedback. When a card is determined to be too dominant, they take one of three actions:

Banned: The card cannot be played in the format at all. This is the most common action. A banned card in Modern cannot appear in any Modern deck—main deck or sideboard.
Restricted (Vintage only): The card is limited to one copy per deck. Vintage does not ban cards for power level—it restricts them. This is why you can play one Black Lotus in Vintage but zero in every other format.
Suspended (Arena only): A temporary ban that may be reversed. Suspended cards are removed from play while WotC evaluates them. They can be unbanned, permanently banned, or rebalanced.

Bans and restrictions are announced through official WotC channels, and each announcement names the date of the next one. In 2026 there have been five so far — February 9, March 23, May 18, June 29 and August 10 — and the next is scheduled for October 12, 2026.

Why Cards Get Banned

Cards are banned for several reasons, and understanding them helps you predict future bans:

Metagame dominance: When one deck represents 30%+ of the field and has a positive win rate against everything. Oko, Thief of Crowns was banned in Standard, Pioneer, Modern, and Legacy for this reason.
Unfun play patterns: Cards that create repetitive, non-interactive games. Nexus of Fate was banned in BO1 Arena because it created infinite-turn loops with no way for the opponent to interact.
Homogenization: When a card is so good that every deck in the format plays it regardless of strategy. Omnath, Locus of Creation was banned partly because every midrange deck in Standard became "the Omnath deck."
Combo speed: When a combo can consistently win before the opponent can reasonably interact. Mycosynth Lattice + Karn, the Great Creator was effectively banned from Modern by banning Mycosynth Lattice.

Standard Banned Cards

Standard's ban list is typically short because the card pool is small and WotC has gotten better at design testing. Cards that get banned in Standard are usually design mistakes that slipped through testing. The August 10, 2026 announcement banned three at once — Badgermole Cub, Stormchaser's Talent and Gran-Gran — one card from each of the three decks at the top of the format (Selesnya Offense, Izzet Prowess and Jeskai Lessons), acting before the Standard Regional Championship Qualifier season rather than waiting for it to prove the problem.

The current Standard ban list changes with new sets. Check the official WotC page for the live list. Notable past Standard bans that shaped the format include Oko, Thief of Crowns (2019), Uro, Titan of Nature's Wrath (2020), and The Meathook Massacre (2022).

Verify the live list: Scryfall banned:standard.

Complete Standard ban list — 13 cards

Every card currently banned in Standard. Each date links to the announcement; older pages link to an archived copy. Verified against Scryfall on September 27, 2026 — current as of the August 10, 2026 Banned & Restricted announcement. Next announcement: October 12, 2026.

Card	Banned	Stated reason
Badgermole Cub	August 10, 2026	A cheap, format-defining threat that demanded an immediate answer, built an insurmountable mana advantage, and powered the top-win-rate Selesnya Offense deck.
Gran-Gran	August 10, 2026	A one-mana engine for Lessons decks that demanded a quick answer and gave too much late-game advantage; banned to keep Jeskai Lessons from dominating.
Stormchaser's Talent	August 10, 2026	Izzet Prowess's keystone card, it gave fast starts plus a strong late game, too well-rounded for a one-mana card.
Proft's Eidetic Memory	November 10, 2025	The engine of the dominant Izzet Cauldron core; Wizards feared it would remain a top or clear-best deck even without Vivi Ornitier.
Screaming Nemesis	November 10, 2025	Banned to keep Mono-Red Aggro from becoming the clear best deck after Izzet Cauldron, since it insulated Mono-Red from life gain and blocking.
Vivi Ornitier	November 10, 2025	Half of the Izzet Cauldron combo with Agatha's Soul Cauldron, which was far stronger than the rest of Standard; Vivi posed more future risk.
Abuelo's Awakening	June 30, 2025	Its cheap reanimation powered an Azorius Omniscience combo deck that proved too powerful and consistent, warping Standard and reducing viable decks.
Cori-Steel Cutter	June 30, 2025	Too strong and hard to interact with profitably, it powered a dominant Izzet Prowess deck the format had no tools to challenge.
Heartfire Hero	June 30, 2025	Gave red aggro decks too much explosive power combined with resilience to removal, forcing opponents to interact on turn one or two.
Hopeless Nightmare	June 30, 2025	Its repeated forced discard was among the least-fun parts of self-bounce decks, and it gave those decks both interaction and damage.
Monstrous Rage	June 30, 2025	It enabled combo-style aggro, lowered Standard's fundamental turn, and its trample eroded blocking as a defense against aggressive decks.
This Town Ain't Big Enough	June 30, 2025	Its flexible interaction with any permanent-based strategy, plus a frustrating lockout loop with Stormchaser's Talent, made Standard less fun.
Up the Beanstalk	June 30, 2025	A best-in-class, hard-to-interact-with card advantage source for slower decks, squeezing other strategies out and expected to grow monotonous.

Pioneer Banned Cards

Pioneer launched in 2019 with zero bans and has accumulated a ban list through iterative format health updates. Key bans include:

All fetch lands (Flooded Strand, Polluted Delta, etc.) — banned at format creation to differentiate Pioneer from Modern and keep mana bases more constrained
Inverter of Truth / Walking Ballista / Underworld Breach — combo pieces that enabled degenerate kills too early for the format
Leyline of Abundance — banned November 4, 2019, in Pioneer's first ban announcement, for giving Green Devotion its fastest starts. Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx, the land the deck is built around, is legal.
Geological Appraiser — banned December 4, 2023. Its discover trigger let decks win as early as turn three. (Smuggler's Copter, once banned in Pioneer, has since been unbanned.)
Cori-Steel Cutter — banned May 18, 2026. WotC said the Izzet decks' play and win rates on MTG Arena had “looked clearly out of line” and called Cutter “the clear power-level and play-pattern outlier” among their tools.

Pioneer's ban philosophy is more conservative than Standard's. WotC lets formats develop before intervening, which means problematic cards sometimes persist for months before action.

Verify the live list: Scryfall banned:pioneer.

Complete Pioneer ban list — 31 cards

Every card currently banned in Pioneer. Each date links to the announcement; older pages link to an archived copy.

Card	Banned	Stated reason
Cori-Steel Cutter	May 18, 2026	The clear power-level and play-pattern outlier among Izzet tools, compressing games and insulating Izzet decks against interaction.
Heartfire Hero	November 10, 2025	Banned to lower Mono-Red's win rate by easing the pressure to have first-turn interaction or risk dying on turn three.
Jegantha, the Wellspring	December 16, 2024	As a near-automatic companion it reduced card diversity, pushing decks away from cards with repeated mana symbols.
Amalia Benavides Aguirre	August 26, 2024	Its resilient, consistent creature combo was among the format's most successful decks and could force games to end in a draw.
Sorin, Imperious Bloodlord	August 26, 2024	Its turn-three discounted Vein Ripper play made Rakdos Vampires a growing, hard-to-interact-with metagame force.
Geological Appraiser	December 4, 2023	Discover decks could win on turn three, or kill as early as the opponent's second turn, pushing every deck toward cheap interaction.
Karn, the Great Creator	December 4, 2023	It kept Mono-Green Nykthos a long-term metagame pillar by finding answers and threats, enabling convoluted combos and suppressing artifacts.
Expressive Iteration	June 7, 2022	It gave Izzet decks card selection and advantage at a far higher rate than other decks, making attrition wars against them very difficult.
Winota, Joiner of Forces	June 7, 2022	Naya Winota suppressed diversity with a large metagame share, high win rate, and frustrating removal-check gameplay.
Lurrus of the Dream-Den	March 7, 2022	Banned preemptively: Wizards expected its metagame share to grow with Pioneer's card pool and accelerate homogenization toward cheap efficient cards.
Balustrade Spy	February 15, 2021	Part of Oops! All Spells, which had a concerning win rate and metagame share and was hard to interact with.
Teferi, Time Raveler	February 15, 2021	It had overstayed its welcome in Standard, and removing it also lowered the power of Niv to Light decks.
Undercity Informer	February 15, 2021	Part of Oops! All Spells, which had a concerning win rate and metagame share and was hard to interact with.
Uro, Titan of Nature's Wrath	February 15, 2021	One of Pioneer's most dominant creatures, in several top decks, with a power level out of line with the format.
Wilderness Reclamation	February 15, 2021	It had overstayed its welcome in Standard, and was banned preemptively since its decks would rise once Teferi was gone.
Inverter of Truth	August 3, 2020	One of four bans to push Pioneer's competitive metagame away from combo decks, aimed at disrupting Inverter of Truth decks.
Kethis, the Hidden Hand	August 3, 2020	Kethis combo decks were already showing signs of being problematic and would grow more so as other top decks were weakened.
Underworld Breach	August 3, 2020	One of four bans to push Pioneer's competitive metagame away from combo decks, aimed at disrupting Underworld Breach decks.
Walking Ballista	August 3, 2020	One of four bans to push Pioneer away from combo decks, aimed at the Heliod, Sun-Crowned plus Walking Ballista combo.
Nexus of Fate	December 16, 2019	Simic Nexus had the second-highest win rate, and Nexus of Fate decks risked frustrating play patterns and long matches.
Oko, Thief of Crowns	December 16, 2019	A hard-to-answer threat that powered Simic Food Ramp's near-60% win rate and appeared in several other top decks.
Field of the Dead	December 2, 2019	Field of the Dead ramp decks were suppressing controlling and reactive decks.
Once Upon a Time	December 2, 2019	It was a key common factor in the prevalence and dominance of green decks as a group.
Veil of Summer	November 11, 2019	Green aggro and ramp were overrepresented; banning it let natural metagame forces pressure those strategies.
Felidar Guardian	November 4, 2019	Its combo with Saheeli Rai forced decks to present specific early interaction or lose immediately, threatening metagame diversity.
Leyline of Abundance	November 4, 2019	It enabled explosive ramp starts and free devotion for Nykthos, giving Green Devotion its fastest, most powerful openings.
Bloodstained Mire	October 21, 2019	Banned at Pioneer's launch: fetch lands with shock lands make three- or four-color mana too easy and decks more homogenous.
Flooded Strand	October 21, 2019	Banned at Pioneer's launch: fetch lands with shock lands make three- or four-color mana too easy and decks more homogenous.
Polluted Delta	October 21, 2019	Banned at Pioneer's launch: fetch lands with shock lands make three- or four-color mana too easy and decks more homogenous.
Windswept Heath	October 21, 2019	Banned at Pioneer's launch: fetch lands with shock lands make three- or four-color mana too easy and decks more homogenous.
Wooded Foothills	October 21, 2019	Banned at Pioneer's launch: fetch lands with shock lands make three- or four-color mana too easy and decks more homogenous.

Modern Banned Cards

Modern has the longest and most impactful ban list of any format because the card pool is enormous and new sets (especially Modern Horizons) regularly introduce powerful cards. Key categories of Modern bans:

Fast mana: Chrome Mox, Rite of Flame, Simian Spirit Guide, Seething Song. Modern does not tolerate free or ultra-cheap mana acceleration because it enables degenerate combo kills. (Mox Opal is legal again; WotC has since unbanned it, along with Green Sun's Zenith and Faithless Looting.)
Card selection: Ponder, Gitaxian Probe, Treasure Cruise, Dig Through Time. Cheap card selection that finds combo pieces too efficiently. Preordain is legal. Brainstorm has never been legal in Modern because it was never printed in a Modern-legal set.
Combo enablers: Birthing Pod, Hogaak, Arisen Necropolis, Summer Bloom, Underworld Breach. Each of these created combo decks that were too fast or too consistent for the format.
Format warpers: Oko, Thief of Crowns, Uro, Titan of Nature's Wrath, Field of the Dead. Cards so powerful that they pushed out other strategies entirely.
Fury — banned December 4, 2023. The free evoke elementals from MH2 were controversial, and Fury's ability to kill two creatures for free on turn zero was deemed too format-warping.
Phlage, Titan of Fire's Fury — banned May 18, 2026. Boros Energy had been climbing in metagame share, and WotC pointed to the Phlage and Arena of Glory pair: most aggro and midrange decks were either adopting it or “almost disappear[ing] from the metagame.” WotC kept Arena of Glory and banned Phlage.
Lotus Field — banned the same day. The strongest Amulet Titan builds used Lotus Field with Aftermath Analyst and Shifting Woodland for an infinite-mana loop whose “non-deterministic lines of play” WotC called “a nightmare for tournament logistics.” The ban is meant to weaken the deck, not remove it.

Recent unbans (May 18, 2026):

Violent Outburst — unbanned. It was banned about two years earlier, before Modern Horizons 3 and before strong new hate cards for cascade decks (Consign to Memory, Vexing Bauble). WotC called the unban “certainly risky” but a calculated one.
Umezawa's Jitte — unbanned after about fifteen years; it had been on Modern's banned list since the format began in 2011. WotC hopes it brings back combat-oriented and Stoneforge Mystic decks.

Verify the live list: Scryfall banned:modern.

Complete Modern ban list — 52 cards

Every card currently banned in Modern. Each date links to the announcement; older pages link to an archived copy.

Card	Banned	Stated reason
Lotus Field	May 18, 2026	It added major power to Amulet Titan and enabled complicated, non-deterministic combo loops that strain tournament logistics.
Phlage, Titan of Fire's Fury	May 18, 2026	Its combo with Arena of Glory consolidated Boros Energy, and most aggro and midrange decks either adopted it or disappeared.
Underworld Breach	March 31, 2025	Temur Grinding Breach became Modern's strongest deck, resilient to hate and able to win as early as turn one.
Amped Raptor	December 16, 2024	Banned to weaken Boros Energy, Modern's dominant deck; it appeared only in that deck and powered its most explosive starts.
Jegantha, the Wellspring	December 16, 2024	A nearly free 5/5 companion in about 40% of decks, it narrowed deck building and propped up Boros Energy.
The One Ring	December 16, 2024	Its opportunity cost was too low in nearly any deck, it bolstered dominant Boros Energy, and players found it tiresome.
Grief	August 26, 2024	Grief, cheaply returned by one-mana cards, strips key cards on turn one and was among Modern's least fun elements.
Nadu, Winged Wisdom	August 26, 2024	Nadu's combo dominated the Pro Tour through long, convoluted loops; Wizards called it a design mistake and a tournament-logistics problem.
Fury	December 4, 2023	Fury made creature decks nearly impossible to play and kept several diverse strategies out of Modern.
Up the Beanstalk	December 4, 2023	It was hard to interact with profitably, replacing itself immediately and rewarding cheap alternative-cost spells.
Yorion, Sky Nomad	October 10, 2022	Yorion Omnath decks were strong, and the oversized deck and repetitive triggers created dexterity burdens and long, slow games.
Lurrus of the Dream-Den	March 7, 2022	Lurrus was ubiquitous across archetypes, homogenizing Modern because it added power at too little deck-building cost.
Field of the Dead	February 15, 2021	It created repetitive, noninteractive late-game states for a low deck-building cost, decreasing diversity of gameplay.
Mystic Sanctuary	February 15, 2021	It created repetitive, noninteractive late-game states for a low deck-building cost, decreasing diversity of gameplay.
Simian Spirit Guide	February 15, 2021	An enabler that sped up fast combo decks; banned to slow them and give opponents time for early interaction.
Tibalt's Trickery	February 15, 2021	Its interaction with cascade was uniquely problematic in Modern, producing non-games that made the format less fun.
Uro, Titan of Nature's Wrath	February 15, 2021	Uro dominated many top decks at a power level that crowded out other midrange and control strategies.
Arcum's Astrolabe	July 13, 2020	Multicolor Astrolabe decks reached unhealthy win rates; it provided excellent mana and synergy at too low a cost.
Once Upon a Time	March 9, 2020	It made top decks too consistent at executing early plans and makes creature- and land-based combos too easy to assemble.
Mycosynth Lattice	January 13, 2020	Its Karn, the Great Creator combo could lock opponents out at low deck-building cost, an unfun pattern that also trimmed Tron.
Oko, Thief of Crowns	January 13, 2020	Oko became the most played card in competitive Modern, near 40% of decks, reducing metagame and gameplay diversity.
Hogaak, Arisen Necropolis	August 26, 2019	Hogaak decks kept a high win rate and oppressive metagame effect even after the earlier Bridge from Below ban.
Bridge from Below	July 8, 2019	Banned to weaken the Hogaak Bridgevine deck, whose win rate stayed too high; Bridge was judged most likely to cause future imbalance.
Krark-Clan Ironworks	January 21, 2019	Ironworks led Modern Grand Prix Top 8s; polarized games, long turns, and arcane rules interactions were secondary factors.
Gitaxian Probe	January 9, 2017	It increased third-turn kills by giving all-in decks perfect information plus a card, doing too much for too little cost.
Golgari Grave-Troll	January 9, 2017	Dredge pushed Modern too far toward a battle of sideboards; the dredge mechanic itself was the real offender.
Eye of Ugin	April 4, 2016	Eldrazi decks dominated via land-based mana acceleration; banning Eye of Ugin instead of Eldrazi Temple leaves more diverse, beatable builds.
Summer Bloom	January 18, 2016	Amulet Bloom frequently won before turn four; Summer Bloom was banned to cut the explosive mana behind those wins.
Birthing Pod	January 19, 2015	Pod decks won far more Grand Prix than other Modern decks and suppressed other creature decks, so it was banned for diversity.
Dig Through Time	January 19, 2015	Efficient card drawers pushed many decks out; Dig and Treasure Cruise were interchangeable, so both were banned.
Treasure Cruise	January 19, 2015	Efficient card drawers pushed many decks out; Treasure Cruise and Dig were interchangeable, so both were banned.
Deathrite Shaman	February 3, 2014	Black-green attrition decks were among the best, and Deathrite Shaman was powerful at every stage of the game, squeezing out synergy decks.
Second Sunrise	April 22, 2013	Eggs decks used Second Sunrise for extremely long turns that delayed rounds at large tournaments; this was the narrowest fix.
Seething Song	January 28, 2013	Storm was top-tier with frequent turn-three wins; Seething Song was the most efficient, reliable turn-three acceleration.
Punishing Fire	December 20, 2011	With Grove of the Burnwillows, it gave repeatable damage that devastated low-toughness creature decks, part of a ban to diversify aggro beyond Zoo.
Blazing Shoal	September 20, 2011	Blazing Shoal infect decks delivered turn-two and turn-three kills too consistently.
Cloudpost	September 20, 2011	Decks generating fifteen or more mana per turn from turn four kept many decks out, greatly reducing diversity.
Ponder	September 20, 2011	Ponder and Preordain helped blue-red combination decks find their combos, keeping the field less diverse.
Rite of Flame	September 20, 2011	It was used mainly in combination decks to deliver very quick wins.
Ancient Den	August 12, 2011	No reason stated in the announcement
Chrome Mox	August 12, 2011	No reason stated in the announcement
Dark Depths	August 12, 2011	No reason stated in the announcement
Dread Return	August 12, 2011	Dredge could still win on turn three and forced an unsatisfying sideboarding subgame, so its most explosive graveyard card was banned.
Glimpse of Nature	August 12, 2011	Glimpse of Nature was the engine of a consistent turn-three Elf combination deck.
Great Furnace	August 12, 2011	No reason stated in the announcement
Hypergenesis	August 12, 2011	Hypergenesis could be cast via cascade as early as turn two, breaking the rule against consistent turn-three kills.
Mental Misstep	August 12, 2011	The most-played Modern-legal blue card in Legacy, it would pressure beatdown decks that want to start on turn one.
Seat of the Synod	August 12, 2011	No reason stated in the announcement
Sensei's Divining Top	August 12, 2011	No reason stated in the announcement
Skullclamp	August 12, 2011	No reason stated in the announcement
Tree of Tales	August 12, 2011	No reason stated in the announcement
Vault of Whispers	August 12, 2011	No reason stated in the announcement

Legacy Banned Cards

Legacy bans are rare and carefully considered because the format is designed to allow most of Magic's history. Cards that get banned in Legacy are truly broken:

Ante cards (Contract from Below, etc.) — gambling is against tournament rules
Manual dexterity cards (Chaos Orb, Falling Star) — physical skill is not part of competitive Magic
Conspiracy cards — designed for multiplayer draft, not constructed
Power-level bans: Channel (one-card fast mana combo), Fastbond (free land drops), Mind Twist (hand disruption too good), Earthcraft + Hermit Druid + other combo enablers
Undercity Informer — banned May 18, 2026. The Oops, All Spells! deck's win rate had been rising, and WotC cited how often it could win on turn one. Balustrade Spy stays legal, so the deck survives in a weaker form.
Candelabra of Tawnos — banned June 29, 2026. WotC: it “rarely shows up unless it is in a problematically strong combo deck.”
The Fantasticar — banned August 10, 2026 (and restricted in Vintage the same day).

Verify the live list: Scryfall banned:legacy.

Complete Legacy ban list — 171 cards

Every card currently banned in Legacy. That is 73 individually named cards plus 25 Conspiracy cards, 9 ante cards, 7 culturally offensive cards and 57 sticker and Attraction cards. Each date links to the announcement; older pages link to an archived copy.

Card	Banned	Stated reason
The Fantasticar	August 10, 2026	The Fantasticar spread across over a dozen archetypes and proved nearly impossible to answer, so it was banned for ubiquity and power.
Candelabra of Tawnos	June 29, 2026	Colorless Tron was rising in share and win rate; Candelabra was judged the card most likely to cause long-term problems.
Undercity Informer	May 18, 2026	Oops, All Spells! had a rising win rate and frequent turn-one wins; banning Informer de-powers the deck while keeping Balustrade Spy.
Entomb	November 10, 2025	After surviving multiple bans, Dimir Reanimator stayed dominant; Entomb made powerful threats too easy to deploy without combo-deck weaknesses.
Nadu, Winged Wisdom	November 10, 2025	Nadu was a power-level outlier whose decks were hard to attack and created long, undesirable play patterns.
Sowing Mycospawn	March 31, 2025	Sowing Mycospawn attacked lands, even basics, so efficiently that it compressed games into the first few turns.
Troll of Khazad-dûm	March 31, 2025	Troll let Dimir Reanimator straddle fair and combo play for two years; Wizards wanted Reanimator to be a more committed synergy deck.
Psychic Frog	December 16, 2024	Psychic Frog kept Dimir Reanimator dominant and narrowed blue tempo decks to Dimir, so it was banned to increase diversity.
Vexing Bauble	December 16, 2024	Vexing Bauble let fast combo decks cheaply ignore free counter magic, a pillar of Legacy, with a concerning win rate.
Grief	August 26, 2024	Grief paired with Reanimate attacked opponents' hate cards, and Legacy could not self-correct against growing Dimir Reanimator.
Expressive Iteration	March 6, 2023	Expressive Iteration let Izzet Delver adapt to stay on top, so it was banned to lower the deck's win rate and share.
White Plume Adventurer	March 6, 2023	Fast-mana Mono-White Initiative decks gained hard-to-overcome early advantages; banning this three-mana initiative creature reduces their speed and consistency.
Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer	January 25, 2022	Ragavan let Blue-Red Delver snowball games early, so it was banned to weaken the deck and encourage more back-and-forth play.
Arcum's Astrolabe	February 15, 2021	Astrolabe let Snowko decks have both wide color flexibility and resilience to mana denial too cheaply, reducing metagame diversity.
Dreadhorde Arcanist	February 15, 2021	Arcanist made games revolve around it too early, with too many games decided by whether it was removed immediately.
Oko, Thief of Crowns	February 15, 2021	Oko remained a major metagame presence that lowered diversity and homogenized gameplay, against the spirit of Legacy.
Lurrus of the Dream-Den	May 18, 2020	Lurrus as a companion gave too much power for its deck-building cost, and Lurrus decks were growing with win rates above 55%.
Zirda, the Dawnwaker	May 18, 2020	Zirda companion decks combined with Grim Monolith showed very high win rates and data suggested they would become problematic.
Underworld Breach	March 9, 2020	Underworld Breach's combo with Lion's Eye Diamond was producing rising win rates and would stay problematic in Legacy.
Wrenn and Six	November 18, 2019	Wrenn and Six made Temur Delver dominant in Legacy, so it was banned to weaken that deck and rebalance the metagame.
Deathrite Shaman	July 2, 2018	Deathrite Shaman decks dominated Legacy, reducing diversity and creating a strategy hostile to rogue decks and innovation.
Gitaxian Probe	July 2, 2018	Probe powered the top Legacy decks as a free spell and gave cheap information that undermined bluffing and counterplay.
Sensei's Divining Top	April 24, 2017	Top powered Miracles, the long-dominant deck, and its repeated activations slowed matches and caused tournament delays.
Dig Through Time	September 28, 2015	Blue decks reloading cheaply with Dig Through Time were pushing other strategies out and shrinking Legacy's strategic diversity.
Treasure Cruise	January 19, 2015	Blue-Red Delver decks using Treasure Cruise were so successful in tournaments that they were hurting format diversity.
Mental Misstep	September 20, 2011	Wizards said Mental Misstep backfired: rather than helping nonblue decks fight combo, it led to more blue decks than ever.
Survival of the Fittest	December 20, 2010	Survival decks were outperforming other Legacy decks, making the competitive format significantly less diverse.
Mystical Tutor	June 18, 2010	No reason stated in the announcement
Time Vault	September 1, 2008	No reason stated in the announcement
Shahrazad	September 1, 2007	No reason stated in the announcement
Flash	June 1, 2007	No reason stated in the announcement
Imperial Seal	September 1, 2005	No reason stated in the announcement
Ancestral Recall	September 1, 2004	No reason stated in the announcement
Balance	September 1, 2004	No reason stated in the announcement
Bazaar of Baghdad	September 1, 2004	No reason stated in the announcement
Black Lotus	September 1, 2004	No reason stated in the announcement
Channel	September 1, 2004	No reason stated in the announcement
Chaos Orb	September 1, 2004	No reason stated in the announcement
Demonic Consultation	September 1, 2004	No reason stated in the announcement
Demonic Tutor	September 1, 2004	No reason stated in the announcement
Earthcraft	September 1, 2004	No reason stated in the announcement
Falling Star	September 1, 2004	No reason stated in the announcement
Fastbond	September 1, 2004	No reason stated in the announcement
Frantic Search	September 1, 2004	No reason stated in the announcement
Goblin Recruiter	September 1, 2004	No reason stated in the announcement
Gush	September 1, 2004	No reason stated in the announcement
Hermit Druid	September 1, 2004	No reason stated in the announcement
Library of Alexandria	September 1, 2004	No reason stated in the announcement
Mana Crypt	September 1, 2004	No reason stated in the announcement
Mana Drain	September 1, 2004	No reason stated in the announcement
Mana Vault	September 1, 2004	No reason stated in the announcement
Memory Jar	September 1, 2004	No reason stated in the announcement
Mind Twist	September 1, 2004	No reason stated in the announcement
Mishra's Workshop	September 1, 2004	No reason stated in the announcement
Mox Emerald	September 1, 2004	No reason stated in the announcement
Mox Jet	September 1, 2004	No reason stated in the announcement
Mox Pearl	September 1, 2004	No reason stated in the announcement
Mox Ruby	September 1, 2004	No reason stated in the announcement
Mox Sapphire	September 1, 2004	No reason stated in the announcement
Necropotence	September 1, 2004	No reason stated in the announcement
Oath of Druids	September 1, 2004	No reason stated in the announcement
Skullclamp	September 1, 2004	No reason stated in the announcement
Sol Ring	September 1, 2004	No reason stated in the announcement
Strip Mine	September 1, 2004	No reason stated in the announcement
Time Walk	September 1, 2004	No reason stated in the announcement
Timetwister	September 1, 2004	No reason stated in the announcement
Tinker	September 1, 2004	No reason stated in the announcement
Tolarian Academy	September 1, 2004	No reason stated in the announcement
Vampiric Tutor	September 1, 2004	No reason stated in the announcement
Wheel of Fortune	September 1, 2004	No reason stated in the announcement
Windfall	September 1, 2004	No reason stated in the announcement
Yawgmoth's Bargain	September 1, 2004	No reason stated in the announcement
Yawgmoth's Will	September 1, 2004	No reason stated in the announcement

Plus 25 Conspiracy cards (designed for Conspiracy draft)

Adriana's Valor
Advantageous Proclamation
Assemble the Rank and Vile
Backup Plan
Brago's Favor
Double Stroke
Echoing Boon
Emissary's Ploy
Hired Heist
Hold the Perimeter
Hymn of the Wilds
Immediate Action
Incendiary Dissent
Iterative Analysis
Muzzio's Preparations
Natural Unity
Power Play
Secret Summoning
Secrets of Paradise
Sentinel Dispatch
Sovereign's Realm
Summoner's Bond
Unexpected Potential
Weight Advantage
Worldknit

Plus 9 cards that reference playing for ante

Amulet of Quoz
Bronze Tablet
Contract from Below
Darkpact
Demonic Attorney
Jeweled Bird
Rebirth
Tempest Efreet
Timmerian Fiends

Plus 7 cards banned in all formats for culturally offensive content

Cleanse
Crusade
Imprison
Invoke Prejudice
Jihad
Pradesh Gypsies
Stone-Throwing Devils

Plus 57 cards that use stickers or Attractions

_____ _____ _____ Trespasser
_____ _____ Rocketship
_____ Balls of Fire
_____ Bird Gets the Worm
_____ Goblin
_____-o-saurus
"Lifetime" Pass Holder
"Name Sticker" Goblin
Aerialephant
Ambassador Blorpityblorpboop
Baaallerina
Bioluminary
Carnival Carnivore
Chicken Troupe
Clandestine Chameleon
Coming Attraction
Command Performance
Complaints Clerk
Deadbeat Attendant
Dee Kay, Finder of the Lost
Discourtesy Clerk
Done for the Day
Draconian Gate-Bot
Fight the _____ Fight
Finishing Move
Glitterflitter
Last Voyage of the _____
Line Cutter
Lineprancers
Make a _____ Splash
Minotaur de Force
Monitor Monitor
Myra the Magnificent
Park Bleater
Petting Zookeeper
Pin Collection
Prize Wall
Proficient Pyrodancer
Quick Fixer
Rad Rascal
Ride Guide
Robo-Piñata
Roxi, Publicist to the Stars
Scampire
Seasoned Buttoneer
Soul Swindler
Spinnerette, Arachnobat
Squirrel Squatters
Step Right Up
Stiltstrider
Sword-Swallowing Seraph
The Most Dangerous Gamer
Ticketomaton
Tusk and Whiskers
Wicker Picker
Wizards of the _____
Wolf in _____ Clothing

Vintage Restricted List

Vintage is unique: instead of banning cards for power, it restricts them to one copy per deck. This means you can play one Black Lotus, one Ancestral Recall, one Time Walk, and one of each Mox in your Vintage deck. The philosophy is that every card should be playable somewhere in Magic, and Vintage is that somewhere.

The Vintage restricted list includes the Power 9 (Black Lotus, Ancestral Recall, Time Walk, five Moxen, Timetwister), fast mana (Sol Ring, Mana Crypt, Mana Vault), draw spells (Brainstorm, Treasure Cruise, Dig Through Time), and tutors (Demonic Tutor, Vampiric Tutor, Mystical Tutor). The newest addition is The Fantasticar, restricted on August 10, 2026.

Only a handful of cards are outright banned in Vintage: ante cards, manual dexterity cards, and conspiracies. Shahrazad is also banned for creating subgames that cause time issues in tournaments.

Complete Vintage restricted list — 52 cards

Every card currently restricted in Vintage. Each date links to the announcement; older pages link to an archived copy.

Card	Restricted	Stated reason
The Fantasticar	August 10, 2026	The Fantasticar greatly empowered Shops decks and warped the format, even appearing in non-Workshop shells.
Urza's Saga	August 26, 2024	Lurrus Saga led Vintage, and running four Sagas cost almost nothing since nearly every deck plays cheap artifacts.
Vexing Bauble	August 26, 2024	A Bauble resolved before the opponent's first turn shuts off their free spells, Moxen, and Lotus, against the spirit of Vintage.
Narset, Parter of Veils	November 18, 2019	An early Narset's static ability was soft-locking opponents and producing too many one-sided games amid Vintage's fast mana.
Golgari Grave-Troll	August 26, 2019	Bazaar of Baghdad Dredge decks grew stronger with the London mulligan, so Grave-Troll was restricted to slow them down.
Karn, the Great Creator	August 26, 2019	Karn turbo-charged Shops decks with early lockouts and a tutorable win condition, so it was restricted to make Shops more interactive.
Mental Misstep	August 26, 2019	Misstep taxed interactive decks fighting each other and protected Dredge; restricting it aims to boost diversity and weaken Shops and Dredge.
Mystic Forge	August 26, 2019	Mystic Forge gave Shops decks card advantage in longer games, so it was restricted to make them more interactive and attackable.
Monastery Mentor	August 28, 2017	Mentor had become the clear best blue win condition and hard to combat, so it was restricted to diversify win conditions.
Thorn of Amethyst	August 28, 2017	Shops decks dominated Vintage; Thorn was their most powerful disruptive tool, restricted to promote interaction and reduce the play/draw gap.
Gitaxian Probe	April 24, 2017	Restricting free draw spells like Probe, which also gives perfect information, was meant to weaken Monastery Mentor decks.
Gush	April 24, 2017	Gush was one of the free draw spells fueling Monastery Mentor decks, restricted to weaken that strategy and open the metagame.
Lodestone Golem	April 4, 2016	Workshop decks were overrepresented, and Lodestone Golem created some of the least interactive games, so it was restricted.
Chalice of the Void	September 28, 2015	Too many games were decided on turn one, as a turn-one Chalice for zero stopped opponents from playing Moxen.
Dig Through Time	September 28, 2015	Dig Through Time was replacing other card-drawers and reducing diversity, and is comparable to other restricted card-drawers.
Treasure Cruise	January 19, 2015	Blue-Red Delver decks using Treasure Cruise were so successful in tournaments that they were hurting Vintage diversity.
Time Vault	September 1, 2008	No reason stated in the announcement
Brainstorm	June 1, 2008	No reason stated in the announcement
Flash	June 1, 2008	No reason stated in the announcement
Merchant Scroll	June 1, 2008	No reason stated in the announcement
Imperial Seal	September 1, 2005	No reason stated in the announcement
Trinisphere	March 1, 2005	No reason stated in the announcement
Lion's Eye Diamond	December 1, 2003	Recent deck designs showed its drawback was not enough to balance a zero-mana artifact that produces three mana.
Mind's Desire	June 1, 2003	Wizards restricted it preemptively because testing showed multiple copies quickly led to degenerate turns that cast the whole deck.
Channel	September 1, 2000	Moved from banned to restricted: Type 1 had sped up so much that Channel no longer unbalanced the game as before.
Demonic Consultation	September 1, 2000	With every other tutor already restricted, Demonic Consultation stood out as a powerhouse, arguably stronger than many of them.
Necropotence	September 1, 2000	Necropotence had grown more dominant over three years as the top card-drawing engine, with a swing on par with restricted cards.
Lotus Petal	September 1, 1999	Restricted as "fast mana" in a batch meant to slow down very fast Type 1 combo decks that won with little interaction.
Mana Crypt	September 1, 1999	Restricted as "fast mana" in a batch meant to slow down very fast Type 1 combo decks that won with little interaction.
Mana Vault	September 1, 1999	Restricted as "fast mana" in a batch meant to slow down very fast Type 1 combo decks that won with little interaction.
Mystical Tutor	September 1, 1999	Restricted as a "combo searcher" in a batch meant to slow down very fast Type 1 combo decks that won with little interaction.
Tinker	September 1, 1999	Restricted as a "combo searcher" in a batch meant to slow down very fast Type 1 combo decks that won with little interaction.
Vampiric Tutor	September 1, 1999	Restricted as a "combo searcher" in a batch meant to slow down very fast Type 1 combo decks that won with little interaction.
Yawgmoth's Will	September 1, 1999	Restricted as a "combo engine" in a batch meant to slow down very fast Type 1 combo decks that won with little interaction.
Tolarian Academy	December 1, 1998	Academy gave too much mana for too little cost with cheap artifacts, and the Academy deck dominated every format.
Windfall	December 1, 1998	Windfall gave too many cards for too little cost and was a key part of the dominant Academy decks.
Strip Mine	December 3, 1997	No reason stated in the announcement
Ancestral Recall	No published date	On the list before any surviving announcement
Balance	No published date	On the list before any surviving announcement
Black Lotus	No published date	On the list before any surviving announcement
Demonic Tutor	No published date	On the list before any surviving announcement
Library of Alexandria	No published date	On the list before any surviving announcement
Memory Jar	No published date	On the list before any surviving announcement
Mox Emerald	No published date	On the list before any surviving announcement
Mox Jet	No published date	On the list before any surviving announcement
Mox Pearl	No published date	On the list before any surviving announcement
Mox Ruby	No published date	On the list before any surviving announcement
Mox Sapphire	No published date	On the list before any surviving announcement
Sol Ring	No published date	On the list before any surviving announcement
Time Walk	No published date	On the list before any surviving announcement
Timetwister	No published date	On the list before any surviving announcement
Wheel of Fortune	No published date	On the list before any surviving announcement

Commander Banned Cards

Commander has its own ban list and recently introduced the Game Changers system as part of the 5-bracket power level framework:

Banned cards (83 total): Cards deemed too problematic for any Commander game. Includes Emrakul, the Aeons Torn, Griselbrand, Primeval Titan, Recurring Nightmare, Hullbreacher, Paradox Engine and Golos, Tireless Pilgrim. Also includes Conspiracy draft cards (Power Play, Worldknit, etc.) which are non-functional outside draft, plus the ante cards and a handful of cards removed from all formats for offensive content.
Banned as companion: Lutri, the Spellchaser can be your commander or in the 99 but cannot be used as a companion (February 2026 change).
Game Changers (53 cards): Powerful cards that signal higher bracket play. Includes Rhystic Study, Cyclonic Rift, Demonic Tutor, Smothering Tithe, and Farewell (added February 2026). Biorhythm was unbanned and moved to the Game Changers list in the same update.

Commander bans are managed by Wizards of the Coast (as of September 30, 2024, previously by the Commander Rules Committee). The last Commander-specific update was the February 9, 2026 bracket update, which unbanned Biorhythm, added Farewell to Game Changers, and created the "banned as companion" category for Lutri. Neither the May 18, 2026 nor the August 10, 2026 B&R announcement made any Commander changes. The next announcement is scheduled for October 12, 2026. Use our Bracket Calculator to check if your deck contains any Game Changers and where it falls in the bracket system.

Verify the live list: Scryfall banned:commander (83 cards) and Scryfall is:gamechanger (53 cards).

Complete Commander ban list — 83 cards

Every card currently banned in Commander. That is 42 individually named cards plus 25 Conspiracy cards, 9 ante cards and 7 culturally offensive cards. Bans before September 30, 2024 were set by the Commander Rules Committee, and their dates and reasons come from its announcements. Each date links to the announcement; older pages link to an archived copy.

Card	Banned	Stated reason
Dockside Extortionist	September 23, 2024	Banned among the most explosive plays: it can go mana-positive on turn two and frequently contributes to egregious snowballing starts.
Jeweled Lotus	September 23, 2024	Gives five mana on turn two without needing a good hand, powering strong four- and five-mana commanders far ahead of the table.
Mana Crypt	September 23, 2024	A free turn-one accelerant that enables explosive snowball starts; its damage drawback is meaningless when games end by turns six to eight.
Nadu, Winged Wisdom	September 23, 2024	Its long, non-deterministic, unshortcuttable sequences let one player monopolize game time, even in decks not built to abuse it.
Golos, Tireless Pilgrim	September 13, 2021	In casual tiers it was simply a better commander than nearly anything else, crushing commander diversity and effectively casting spells for free.
Hullbreacher	July 12, 2021	Combined with mass-draw effects and wheels, it easily stripped opponents' hands while accelerating its controller, even in casual play.
Flash	April 20, 2020	An exceptional step at the request of trusted cEDH players, signaling that cheating things into play quickly and non-interactively isn't interesting.
Iona, Shield of Emeria	July 8, 2019	It creates a negative experience without a positive application, shutting players out of games, and could be cheated out without its mana cost.
Paradox Engine	July 8, 2019	Easily added to any deck, it generated huge mana and sudden wins with no deck-building cost, and could unintentionally wreck games.
Leovold, Emissary of Trest	April 24, 2017	It created undesirable game states by easily locking other players out of the game, even unintentionally.
Prophet of Kruphix	January 18, 2016	Casual groups couldn't adapt; it did everything U/G players wanted with built-in protection and was centralizing U/G deck choice.
Erayo, Soratami Ascendant // Erayo's Essence	September 12, 2014	When Banned as Commander was eliminated, Erayo moved to the full banlist as a miserable card to play against at all levels.
Rofellos, Llanowar Emissary	September 12, 2014	When Banned as Commander was eliminated, fully banning Rofellos was an easy call, given its last stint.
Sylvan Primordial	February 3, 2014	Combining big ramp with land destruction, it was easy to accelerate into early and made games ubiquitous, overwhelming, and repetitive.
Trade Secrets	April 21, 2013	Two players can use it to draw huge numbers of cards, effectively turning a four-player game into a two-player game.
Primeval Titan	September 18, 2012	Heavy ramp strategies were overrepresented, and Primeval Titan was the most egregious offender; its ubiquity and effect on games couldn't be ignored.
Griselbrand	June 19, 2012	It drew too many cards immediately, its lifelink fueled more draws, and it was easy to cheat into play, creating degenerate game states.
Sundering Titan	June 19, 2012	It created undesirable, game-warping states, was easily abused, and the community overwhelmingly saw it as a negative experience.
Shahrazad	September 20, 2011	Its special rules exemption was removed because it was used mostly to troll opponents by forking and recurring it to drag games out.
Emrakul, the Aeons Torn	December 14, 2010	Near-universal community dislike: games devolved into a war over this single card, and its abilities made it unfun to play against.
Channel	June 18, 2010	Super-fast, reliable early mana was dangerous to the format; turn-one or -two Channel into Emrakul was negatively format-warping.
Tolarian Academy	June 18, 2010	It fueled easy early-game super-production of mana, and early reliable hyper-production of mana works against interactive games.
Fastbond	June 18, 2009	Mostly played to fuel degenerate combos; Commander's high life total makes its damage trivial, and it enables asymmetrical mass land destruction.
Tinker	March 20, 2009	It cheaply put high-cost artifacts into play early in games, significantly impacting their outcome.
Time Vault	December 21, 2008	After its errata was reversed to work with untap effects, it became game-wrecking and as broken as expected in testing.
Karakas	September 1, 2008	Too hard to deal with and too good at disrupting generals to be allowed in EDH games.
Limited Resources	June 4, 2008	No reason stated in the announcement
Recurring Nightmare	February 28, 2008	Extremely powerful for its cost, hard to stop with enchantment removal, and able to reuse enter-the-battlefield effects, making for degenerate games.
Ancestral Recall	No published date	On the list before any surviving announcement
Balance	No published date	On the list before any surviving announcement
Black Lotus	No published date	On the list before any surviving announcement
Chaos Orb	No published date	On the list before any surviving announcement
Falling Star	No published date	On the list before any surviving announcement
Library of Alexandria	No published date	On the list before any surviving announcement
Mox Emerald	No published date	On the list before any surviving announcement
Mox Jet	No published date	On the list before any surviving announcement
Mox Pearl	No published date	On the list before any surviving announcement
Mox Ruby	No published date	On the list before any surviving announcement
Mox Sapphire	No published date	On the list before any surviving announcement
Time Walk	No published date	On the list before any surviving announcement
Upheaval	No published date	On the list before any surviving announcement
Yawgmoth's Bargain	No published date	On the list before any surviving announcement

Plus 25 Conspiracy cards (designed for Conspiracy draft)

Adriana's Valor
Advantageous Proclamation
Assemble the Rank and Vile
Backup Plan
Brago's Favor
Double Stroke
Echoing Boon
Emissary's Ploy
Hired Heist
Hold the Perimeter
Hymn of the Wilds
Immediate Action
Incendiary Dissent
Iterative Analysis
Muzzio's Preparations
Natural Unity
Power Play
Secret Summoning
Secrets of Paradise
Sentinel Dispatch
Sovereign's Realm
Summoner's Bond
Unexpected Potential
Weight Advantage
Worldknit

Plus 9 cards that reference playing for ante

Amulet of Quoz
Bronze Tablet
Contract from Below
Darkpact
Demonic Attorney
Jeweled Bird
Rebirth
Tempest Efreet
Timmerian Fiends

Plus 7 cards banned in all formats for culturally offensive content

Cleanse
Crusade
Imprison
Invoke Prejudice
Jihad
Pradesh Gypsies
Stone-Throwing Devils

Pauper Banned Cards

Pauper has a surprisingly active ban list because commons from 30 years of Magic sometimes combine in unexpected ways. Notable bans include:

Storm cards: Chatterstorm, Galvanic Relay — storm combo was too consistent in a format without Force of Will
Initiative cards: Underdark Explorer and other initiative creatures from Battle for Baldur's Gate — the Undercity dungeon was too powerful at common rarity
Peregrine Drake — untaps five lands on ETB, enabling infinite mana combos with flicker effects
Daze — free counterspell that was oppressive in a format of low-cost spells

Unban confirmed (August 10, 2026): Bonder's Ornament, unbanned on a trial basis in May 2026, is now permanently legal. WotC concluded the card had "mostly been normalized and become another playable card." The last Pauper ban was Seeker of Skybreak on June 29, 2026, over a new combo with Hawkeye's Bow “that can kill extremely quickly.”

Verify the live list: Scryfall banned:pauper.

Complete Pauper ban list — 76 cards

Every card currently banned in Pauper. That is 37 individually named cards plus 10 Conspiracy cards, 2 culturally offensive cards and 27 sticker and Attraction cards. Each date links to the announcement; older pages link to an archived copy.

Card	Banned	Stated reason
Narcomoeba	September 4, 2026	Banned on arrival from The Zeta Set: it would push already strong Spy decks, alongside Dread Return, over the top.
Price of Progress	September 4, 2026	Red aggro was already among the strongest decks, and six or more damage for two mana is an inappropriate rate.
Seeker of Skybreak	June 29, 2026	Its combo with Hawkeye's Bow could kill extremely quickly, so it was banned before large July tournaments.
High Tide	November 10, 2025	Re-banned after a trial unban for strong results, very long combo turns, an unfun play pattern, and format polarity.
Basking Broodscale	March 31, 2025	Banned to remove the Broodscale combo deck from Pauper.
Deadly Dispute	March 31, 2025	Banned to tune down the ubiquitous Ichor Wellspring sacrifice engine.
Kuldotha Rebirth	March 31, 2025	Banned to take some power and polarity out of Mono-Red.
Cranial Ram	June 6, 2024	Nearly equal to banned Cranial Plating, it was pre-banned before Modern Horizons 3 so it would not warp major upcoming events.
All That Glitters	May 13, 2024	It spread beyond Affinity, sped up Pauper, and created polarizing games where players could never safely tap out.
Monastery Swiftspear	December 4, 2023	Pauper had become too fast and polarized, and Swiftspear drove red's rise and its most explosive draws.
Aarakocra Sneak	September 19, 2022	No reason stated in the announcement
Stirring Bard	September 19, 2022	No reason stated in the announcement
Underdark Explorer	September 19, 2022	No reason stated in the announcement
Vicious Battlerager	September 19, 2022	No reason stated in the announcement
Disciple of the Vault	March 7, 2022	Affinity kept a high win rate after Atog's ban, and Disciple enabled its game-ending kills with no good substitute.
Galvanic Relay	March 7, 2022	Experimental Synthesizer made Galvanic Relay storm the top deck; banning the enabler would only invite repeated bans.
Atog	January 20, 2022	Affinity was hugely popular and metagame-warping, and Atog was the real engine of its fast, unblockable, noninteractive kills.
Chatterstorm	September 8, 2021	Storm had the best non-mirror win rate and most 5-0 finishes, and its Chatterstorm kill was hard to interact with.
Sojourner's Companion	September 8, 2021	Affinity beat many less-played decks; banning it lowers the deck's consistency without changing how it plays.
Fall from Favor	January 14, 2021	As removal plus card advantage, it pushed out aggressive decks and put too much emphasis on becoming the monarch early.
Mystic Sanctuary	July 13, 2020	Multiple archetypes used it to create repetitive loops or lockout states, putting negative pressure on the metagame.
Arcum's Astrolabe	October 21, 2019	It became one of Pauper's most ubiquitous cards, giving multicolor decks easy fixing and card advantage with strong win rates.
Hymn to Tourach	June 27, 2019	No reason stated in the announcement
Sinkhole	June 27, 2019	No reason stated in the announcement
Daze	May 20, 2019	Free spells powered dominant blue tempo decks, and Daze led to less interactive gameplay with fewer shields-down moments.
Gitaxian Probe	May 20, 2019	Free spells powered dominant blue tempo decks; Probe let decks run fewer lands and reduced interaction and bluffing.
Gush	May 20, 2019	Free spells powered dominant blue tempo decks; Gush let decks run fewer lands and made Foil problematic.
Peregrine Drake	November 3, 2016	Izzet Drake doubled its metagame presence and raised its win rate, significantly harming competitive diversity.
Cloud of Faeries	January 18, 2016	Esper Familiars used it to generate mana and blue was badly overplayed, so it was banned for color diversity.
Treasure Cruise	March 23, 2015	Treasure Cruise decks grew more efficient and made the Pauper metagame significantly less diverse.
Cloudpost	September 16, 2013	With little downside, Cloudpost turned free spells into mana in a strong loop deck that most decks struggled to interact with.
Temporal Fissure	September 16, 2013	Storm has few answers in Pauper, and in large numbers the Temporal Fissure loop deck narrowed the competitive metagame.
Empty the Warrens	January 28, 2013	Pauper had too few answers to storm spells, so Storm decks kept the metagame from being diverse.
Grapeshot	January 28, 2013	Pauper had too few answers to storm spells, so Storm decks kept the metagame from being diverse.
Invigorate	January 28, 2013	Zero-mana Invigorate made Infect's fast kills overwhelming and hard for other decks to interact with.
Frantic Search	June 20, 2011	No reason stated in the announcement
Cranial Plating	December 1, 2008	No reason stated in the announcement

Plus 10 Conspiracy cards (designed for Conspiracy draft)

Adriana's Valor
Assemble the Rank and Vile
Brago's Favor
Hired Heist
Immediate Action
Incendiary Dissent
Muzzio's Preparations
Natural Unity
Secrets of Paradise
Sentinel Dispatch

Plus 2 cards banned in all formats for culturally offensive content

Pradesh Gypsies
Stone-Throwing Devils

Plus 27 cards that use stickers or Attractions

_____ Bird Gets the Worm
_____ Goblin
_____-o-saurus
"Name Sticker" Goblin
Aerialephant
Carnival Carnivore
Chicken Troupe
Coming Attraction
Command Performance
Deadbeat Attendant
Draconian Gate-Bot
Finishing Move
Glitterflitter
Line Cutter
Minotaur de Force
Petting Zookeeper
Prize Wall
Rad Rascal
Ride Guide
Robo-Piñata
Seasoned Buttoneer
Soul Swindler
Step Right Up
Stiltstrider
Ticketomaton
Wizards of the _____
Wolf in _____ Clothing

Alchemy Banned Cards

Alchemy is MTG Arena's rebalanced digital-only format. WotC can rebalance cards in Alchemy rather than outright banning them, but a small handful of cards are still removed entirely. Because Alchemy uses digital adjustments, its ban list is shorter than the paper formats — usually a card is rebalanced before a ban is needed.

Recent ban (May 18, 2026): Sewer-veillance Cam is banned in Alchemy. The common's untap effect, combined with Boomerang Basics, brought the rebalanced A-Vivi Ornitier back to the top of the format.

Verify the live list: Scryfall banned:alchemy.

MTG Arena Formats: Historic, Timeless and Brawl

MTG Arena's own formats have separate lists that change in the same announcements. Every 2026 change so far:

February 9, 2026: Historic banned Eldrazi Temple, Ajani, Nacatl Pariah, Crop Rotation and Scholar of the Lost Trove, and unbanned Magus of the Moon, Harbinger of the Seas, Force of Vigor, Force of Negation, Endurance, Wilderness Reclamation and Agent of Treachery. Timeless restricted Necropotence.
March 23, 2026: Historic banned Food Chain.
June 29, 2026: Brawl banned Force of Will, Subtlety, Wash Away, Ugin's Labyrinth, Time Warp and Temporal Manipulation.
August 10, 2026: no changes to Historic, Timeless or Brawl.

For the complete current Arena lists, see Wizards' banned and restricted list. In paper, two cards are banned only in MTG Arena best-of-one play and are legal at the table: Leyline of Resonance in Standard and Tibalt's Trickery in Pioneer.

When Is the Next B&R Announcement?

The next Banned & Restricted announcement is scheduled for October 12, 2026, per WotC's August 10, 2026 announcement. Each announcement names the next date, and 2026 has run at roughly six-week intervals: February 9, March 23, May 18, June 29 and August 10. Historically, announcements cluster around set releases (1–3 weeks after a new set's impact becomes clear) and major tournament results. Follow official WotC news for announcements.

Every 2026 Banned & Restricted announcement so far:

February 9 — no paper-format changes; Historic and Timeless bans and 13 Alchemy rebalances (Commander changes came in a separate Commander announcement the same day)
March 23 — Historic only (Food Chain)
May 18 — Pioneer (Cori-Steel Cutter), Modern (Phlage, Lotus Field banned; Violent Outburst, Umezawa's Jitte unbanned), Legacy (Undercity Informer), Pauper (Bonder's Ornament trial unban), Alchemy (Sewer-veillance Cam)
June 29 — Legacy (Candelabra of Tawnos), Pauper (Seeker of Skybreak), six Brawl bans
August 10 — Standard (Badgermole Cub, Stormchaser's Talent, Gran-Gran), Legacy and Vintage (The Fantasticar), Bonder's Ornament made permanent in Pauper
Next: October 12, 2026

If you expect a ban on a card you own, do not panic-sell. Cards that get banned are usually debated openly for weeks before the announcement, so there is time to sell or trade if you want to keep the value; do not hold a card only on the hope that it escapes.

How to Prepare for Bans

Play competitive Magic long enough and you will own a card that gets banned. Ways to manage the risk:

Watch the numbers Wizards watches. Ban announcements cite metagame share and win rates; the August 10, 2026 Standard bans pointed to Selesnya Offense decks holding win rates above 57%. Tournament results on sites such as MTGGoldfish and Melee show the same trends as they build.
Diversify your collection. Do not invest your entire budget into one deck. If that deck gets a key card banned, you want alternatives ready.
Sell early if you expect a ban. A banned card’s price usually falls sharply once the announcement lands, so selling before it keeps more of the value.
On Arena, do not panic. Wizards has sometimes refunded wildcards for newly banned cards, and a card banned in Standard stays legal in Arena’s other formats unless it is banned there too.
Keep banned decklists intact. Cards that get banned are sometimes unbanned later. Stoneforge Mystic, Jace the Mind Sculptor, and Bloodbraid Elf were all unbanned in Modern after years on the ban list. Store your cards rather than selling at the bottom.

The Commander Ban Controversy

On September 23, 2024, the Commander Rules Committee banned four cards simultaneously: Dockside Extortionist, Mana Crypt, Jeweled Lotus, and Nadu, Winged Wisdom. The bans were extremely controversial — Mana Crypt alone was worth $150+, and many players felt blindsided. The community backlash was severe enough that the Rules Committee transferred governance of Commander to Wizards of the Coast on September 30, 2024.

Under WotC governance, the Game Changers system was introduced as an alternative to outright banning. Rather than banning powerful-but-not-broken cards, WotC restricts them by bracket. This approach lets players use these cards in higher-power games while protecting casual pods. We think the Game Changers system is a better approach than banning for most cards, though the four September 2024 bans were justified — Dockside and Mana Crypt were genuinely too powerful for any bracket.

Sources & Verification

This guide is verified against primary sources every B&R announcement. Last verified September 27, 2026, against the August 10, 2026 announcement and WotC's current banned and restricted list.

Banned and Restricted Announcement — May 18, 2026 (Wizards of the Coast)
Commander Brackets Beta Update — February 9, 2026 (Wizards of the Coast)
On the Future of Commander — September 30, 2024 (Wizards of the Coast)
December 4, 2023 Banned and Restricted Announcement (Wizards of the Coast)
Scryfall live legality search — cross-reference any ban claim against the canonical card database
Magic: The Gathering Comprehensive Rules

Related Resources

Learn about every format in our Formats Explained Guide. Check current Standard-legal sets in the Standard Rotation Guide. Understand Commander's Game Changers system in our Game Changers List and Commander Brackets guide. See which legal cards players dislike most in our Commander salt score list. Build your next deck with the Sideboard Strategy Guide. Browse our deck gallery for legal decklists, and use the Price Checker to monitor card values around ban announcements.

Frequently Asked Questions

What changed in the most recent MTG ban announcement?

The August 10, 2026 announcement, effective the same day, hit Standard hardest: Badgermole Cub, Stormchaser's Talent and Gran-Gran are all banned. Legacy banned The Fantasticar and Vintage restricted it to one copy. Pauper had no new bans, and the trial unban of Bonder's Ornament was made permanent. Pioneer, Modern and Commander were untouched. The next Banned & Restricted announcement is scheduled for October 12, 2026.

How often are MTG cards banned?

WotC names the date of the next announcement in each one. In 2026 there have been five so far (February 9, March 23, May 18, June 29 and August 10), roughly every six weeks, though several of them changed only digital formats such as Historic. The next is October 12, 2026.

What happens to banned cards on MTG Arena?

When a card is banned on Arena, it is removed from the format's card pool. You can still use banned cards in other formats where they are legal (e.g., a Standard-banned card may still be legal in Historic). WotC sometimes grants wildcard refunds for newly banned Arena cards, but this is not guaranteed.

What is the difference between banned and restricted?

Banned means the card cannot be played at all in that format. Restricted (used only in Vintage and MTG Arena's Timeless) means you can play exactly one copy in your deck. Vintage restricts powerful cards instead of banning them so that every card in Magic has at least one format where it is legal.

Can banned cards be unbanned?

Yes. WotC periodically unbans cards when they believe the format can handle them. Notable unbans include Jace, the Mind Sculptor and Bloodbraid Elf in Modern (2018), and Stoneforge Mystic in Modern (2019). Unbans are less common than bans but they do happen, usually when the surrounding metagame has shifted enough to contain the formerly problematic card.

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