If you want to play Magic: The Gathering, you need to know about the MTG banlist. It’s no good rocking up to your local game store with a deck stuffed to the brim with all the best Magic cards you could find, only to discover you’re playing with banned cards. We shudder with embarrassment at the very thought! But because Magic: The Gathering is a game that’s constantly evolving, with every new set there are new card bans to worry about.
Wizards of the Coast updates the MTG banlist via the Magic website every few months, usually making its Banned and Restricted Announcements on Mondays. Sometimes there’ll even be forewarning that an MTG ban is coming up, presumably to give cards on the chopping block some time to consider their sins.
In Magic: the Gathering, It’s inevitable, in fact intended, that some cards are better than others. But when a card is so strong that it warps formats, it may be a risk of getting banned. When the only MTG decks being played are those that contain a certain card and those specifically designed to counter it, Wizards usually reaches for the banhammer.
Because Magic: The Gathering is a game that spans multiple formats, there’s no such thing as the MTG banlist. Instead, each format has its own list of banned cards, some longer, some shorter. If a card is put on the banlist for your chosen format that means you can’t play it, plain and simple. It can’t be in your deck, and it can’t be hiding in your sideboard.
Below you’ll find a list of all the banned cards in Magic: The Gathering. Simply click on the format of your choice to navigate to the relevant section.
MTG Standard banlist
- Alrund’s Epiphany
- Divide by Zero
- Faceless Haven
- Omnath, Locus of Creation
MTG Modern Banlist
- Ancient Den
- Arcum’s Astrolabe
- Birthing Pod
- Blazing Shoal
- Bridge From Below
- Chrome Mox
- Cloudpost
- Dark Depths
- Deathrite Shaman
- Dig Through Time
- Dread Return
- Eye of Ugin
- Faithless Looting
- Field of the Dead
- Gitaxian Probe
- Glimpse of Nature
- Golgari Grave-Troll
- Great Furnace
- Green Sun’s Zenith
- Hogaak, Arisen Necropolis
- Hypergenesis
- Krark-Clan Ironworks
- Lurrus of the Dream-Den
- Mental Misstep
- Mox Opal
- Mycosynth Lattice
- Mystic Sanctuary
- Oko, Thief of Crowns
- Once Upon a Time
- Ponder
- Preordain
- Punishing Fire
- Rite of Flame
- Seat of the Synod
- Second Sunrise
- Seething Song
- Sensei’s Divining Top
- Simian Spirit Guide
- Skullclamp
- Splinter Twin
- Summer Bloom
- Tibalt’s Trickery
- Treasure Cruise
- Tree of Tales
- Umezawa’s Jitte
- Uro, Titan of Nature’s Wrath
- Vault of Whispers
MTG Commander Banlist
- Ancestral Recall
- Balance
- Biorhythm
- Black Lotus
- Braids, Cabal Minion
- Chaos Orb
- Coalition Victory
- Channel
- Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
- Erayo, Soratami Ascendant
- Falling Star
- Fastbond
- Flash
- Gifts Ungiven
- Golos, Tireless Pilgrim
- Griselbrand
- Hullbreacher
- Iona, Shield of Emeria
- Karakas
- Leovold, Emissary of Trest
- Library of Alexandria
- Limited Resources
- Lutri, the Spellchaser
- Mox Emerald
- Mox Jet
- Mox Pearl
- Mox Ruby
- Mox Sapphire
- Panoptic Mirror
- Paradox Engine
- Primeval Titan
- Prophet of Kruphix
- Recurring Nightmare
- Rofellos, Llanowar Emissary
- Shahrazad
- Sundering Titan
- Sway of the Stars
- Sylvan Primordial
- Time Vault
- Time Walk
- Tinker
- Tolarian Academy
- Trade Secrets
- Upheaval
- Yawgmoth’s Bargain
MTG LEGACY BANLIST
- Ancestral Recall
- Arcum’s Astrolabe
- Balance
- Bazaar of Baghdad
- Black Lotus
- Channel
- Chaos Orb
- Deathrite Shaman
- Demonic Consultation
- Demonic Tutor
- Dig Through Time
- Dreadhorde Arcanist
- Earthcraft
- Falling Star
- Fastbond
- Flash
- Frantic Search
- Gitaxian Probe
- Goblin Recruiter
- Gush
- Hermit Druid
- Imperial Seal
- Library of Alexandria
- Lurrus of the Dream-Den
- Mana Crypt
- Mana Drain
- Mana Vault
- Memory Jar
- Mental Misstep
- Mind Twist
- Mind’s Desire
- Mishra’s Workshop
- Mox Emerald
- Mox Jet
- Mox Pearl
- Mox Ruby
- Mox Sapphire
- Mystical Tutor
- Necropotence
- Oath of Druids
- Oko, Thief of Crowns
- Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer
- Sensei’s Divining Top
- Shahrazad
- Skullclamp
- Sol Ring
- Strip Mine
- Survival of the Fittest
- Time Vault
- Time Walk
- Timetwister
- Tinker
- Tolarian Academy
- Treasure Cruise
- Underworld Breach
- Vampiric Tutor
- Wheel of Fortune
- Windfall
- Wrenn and Six
- Yawgmoth’s Bargain
- Yawgmoth’s Will
- Zirda, the Dawnwaker
MTG Vintage banlist
Very few cards are actually outright banned in Vintage. These are:
- Chaos Orb
- Falling Star
- Shahrazad
Instead of a banlist, for the most part Vintage uses a restricted list. A card that’s restricted in Vintage can only appear once in your deck, including in your sideboard. There are a fairly large number of restricted cards in Vintage:
- Ancestral Recall
- Balance
- Black Lotus
- Brainstorm
- Chalice of the Void
- Channel
- Demonic Consultation
- Demonic Tutor
- Dig Through Time
- Flash
- Gitaxian Probe
- Golgari Grave-Troll
- Gush
- Imperial Seal
- Karn, the Great Creator
- Library of Alexandria
- Lion’s Eye Diamond
- Lodestone Golem
- Lotus Petal
- Mana Crypt
- Mana Vault
- Memory Jar
- Mental Misstep
- Merchant Scroll
- Mind’s Desire
- Monastery Mentor
- Mox Emerald
- Mox Jet
- Mox Pearl
- Mox Ruby
- Mox Sapphire
- Mystic Forge
- Mystical Tutor
- Narset, Parter of Veils
- Necropotence
- Ponder
- Sol Ring
- Strip Mine
- Thorn of Amethyst
- Time Vault
- Time Walk
- Timetwister
- Tinker
- Tolarian Academy
- Treasure Cruise
- Trinisphere
- Vampiric Tutor
- Wheel of Fortune
- Windfall
- Yawgmoth’s Will
MTG HISTORIC BANLIST
The MTG Arena format Historic also has a unique approach to MTG card bans. Sometimes, a card is ‘suspended’ instead of banned.
This is sort of a holding cell for potential bans. While you can’t use a suspended card, Wizards says it plans to make use of the flexibility of a digital format to shuffle cards on and off the suspended list on a regular, and somewhat experimental basis. In contrast, full blown bans are intended to be more permanent and considered.
That said, there are no suspended cards in Historic at the moment. Here’s the banlist:
- Agent of Treachery
- Brainstorm
- Channel
- Counterspell
- Dark Ritual
- Demonic Tutor
- Field of the Dead
- Gideon’s Intervention (only in Historic Brawl)
- Lightning Bolt
- Memory Lapse
- Meddling Mage (only in Historic Brawl)
- Natural Order
- Nexus of Fate
- Oko, Thief of Crowns
- Omnath, Locus of Creation
- Pithing Needle (only in Historic Brawl)
- Runed Halo (only in Historic Brawl)
- Swords to Plowshares
- Thassa’s Oracle
- Tibalt’s Trickery
- Time Warp
- Uro, Titan of Nature’s Wrath
- Veil of Summer
- Wilderness Reclamation
- Winota, Joiner of Forces
MTG Pioneer Banlist
- Balustrade Spy
- Bloodstained Mire
- Felidar Guardian
- Field of the Dead
- Flooded Strand
- Inverter of Truth
- Kethis, the Hidden Hand
- Leyline of Abundance
- Lurrus of the Dream-Den
- Nexus of Fate
- Oko, Thief of Crowns
- Once Upon a Time
- Polluted Delta
- Smuggler’s Copter
- Teferi, Time Raveler
- Undercity Informer
- Underworld Breach
- Uro, Titan of Nature’s Wrath
- Veil of Summer
- Walking Ballista
- Wilderness Reclamation
- Windswept Heath
- Wooded Foothills
Source: Wargamer
