Looking for the MTG Commander banlist? With such a vast format, knowing which cards you aren’t allowed to use can be tricky. In this guide you’ll find a list of every card that’s forbidden in Commander, complete with the date it was added to the EDH banlist.
Commander has the potential to be a very high-powered format. You only have to glance at our cEDH Tier List or guide to the strongest MTG Commanders to see that. But there have to be limits, and when a card causes too much trouble, that’s when it’s confined to this MTG banlist.
Here are all the details on the MTG Commander banlist:
MTG Commander banlist
MTG Conspiracy cards
25 cards with the Conspiracy type are banned in Commander, and all other MTG formats. The full list of Conspiracy cards banned in Commander is:
- 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
MTG ante cards
Nine cards that reference ‘playing for ante’ are banned in Commander, and all other formats, because they don’t work within the rules. Playing for keeps in a four-player game is probably a bad bet anyhow. The banned MTG ante cards are:
- Amulet of Quoz
- Bronze Tablet
- Contract from Below
- Darkpact
- Demonic Attorney
- Jewelled Bird
- Rebirth
- Tempest Efreet
- Timmerian Fiends
Offensive MTG cards
The Commander banlist includes cards that are racially or culturally insensitive. These cards have been banned in all formats, and their images were even removed from Wizards of the Coast’s database in 2020. The seven cards currently included in this ban can be found here.
Latest MTG Commander banlist update
The most recent update from the Commander rules committee was the August 2023 quarterly. No extra cards were banned. In June, the RC acknowledged fans’ concerns about Mirkwood Bats and Orcish Bowmasters, but in August, said these cards hadn’t made as much of a splash as some players feared.
There hasn’t been a new addition to the Commander banlist for multiple years. In 2021, two cards were banned: Hullbreacher, for its brutal combo with wheel effects; and Golos, Tireless Pilgrim for being too generically powerful, and stifling deck diversity.
EDH banlist controversies
Over the years, countless Magic: The Gathering fans have voiced various complaints about the Commander banlist. A common point is that it’s confusing and inconsistent, with some cards banned for crimes that other, not-banned cards also commit.
Others argue that the Commander Rules Committee has too light a touch, relying too much on playgroups to self-police powerful cards.
Recently, some fans and Magic commentators have suggested that the Commander banlist may be unnecessary. This is because the EDH community is strongly bound by a social contract, dictating what cards players should and shouldn’t play.
Unlike other MTG formats such as Modern and Standard, where many fans just want to locate and then play the best Standard decks, Commander players, outside of cEDH, are less focused on winning at all costs.
Often, matches will involve some form of ‘Rule 0’ discussion, where players talk about the relative power levels of their decks, and try to find a rough equilibrium that will ensure everyone has a chance at a good game.
Such discussions often keep powerful but not banned cards like Mana Crypt out of casual games. On the flipside, if all participants in a game agree, there’s nothing to stop someone using Golos as their Commander, or heck, even a made-up card they created themselves.
Because of the casual multiplayer aspect of Commander, the value of the Commander banlist is called into question. It provides a useful list of potentially problematic cards, but given that that list is in no way comprehensive, just how useful really is it?
For more content, check out our guide to the MTG release schedule, or this list of all MTG sets in order.
Source: Wargamer
