The game of Magic: The Gathering is played through tabletop and digital platforms, each containing multiple formats, so we’ve put together a list to help you keep track of all Banned and Restricted announcements.
Wizards of the Coast changed up the Banned and Restricted announcements for the 2023/2024 MTG season, creating a schedule that included one annual ban slot at the start of each season and several slots throughout the year. The bans and unbans can take place at an announcement, along with temporary suspensions on digital cards. Be sure to check out when the next MTG Banned and Restricted announcement is scheduled to take place.
Banned MTG cards explained
Despite multiple digital formats within MTG Arena containing nerfed and buffed cards, banned and unbanned cards are the primary method behind keeping the meta balanced across every format. There are a bunch of formats in Magic, both digital and tabletop.
Can MTG cards get unbanned?
There are cards unbanned from formats, but not regularly. The most recent unbans took place during the December Banned and Restricted announcement.
What are Suspended MTG cards?
These bans aren’t permanent, but cards may remain unplayable for an extended time. A Suspension is still a ban, but a short-term one, allowing the meta to play out as new cards are added to the MTG format.
What are Restricted MTG cards?
A Restricted MTG card means only one copy can be added to a deck. This includes the main deck and sideboard.
What are all the MTG formats?
The number of formats in Magic is continually growing from competitive to casual. Some casual formats have a separate ban list, but it is most often closely related to an official one. Here are the official formats WotC bans, unbans, suspends, and restricts cards.
| Constructed | Eternal | MTG Arena |
| Standard | Commander | Historic |
| Pioneer | Vintage | Explorer |
| Modern | Legacy | Brawl |
| Block | Alchemy | |
| Pauper | Timeless |
Keeping track of every banned and restricted card within each of those formats is a pain, so we’ve broken down every banned and suspended card across all the formats. All MTG banned cards will get updated after each official Banned and Restricted announcement.
Here’s every banned card in Magic: The Gathering.
Full list of MTG banned cards in Standard
Standard MTG cards are legal to play within the format for a total of three years. After three years, four sets are rotated out and four more are added throughout the season. At time of writing, there are no banned cards in the Standard format.
Full list of banned MTG cards in Pioneer
The Pioneer format in Magic is a Constructed format, like Standard. But the difference between the two formats is that legal cards in Pioneer start with expansion and Core sets from Return to Ravnica to present-day Magic sets.
| Balustrade Spy | Bloodstained Mire | Expressive Iteration |
| Felidar Guardian | Field of the Dead | Flooded Strand |
| Geological Appraiser | Inverter of Truth | Karn, the Great Creator |
| 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 | Teferi, Time Raveler | Undercity Informer |
| Underworld Breach | Uro, Titan of Nature’s Wrath | Veil of Summer |
| Walking Ballista | Wilderness Reclamation | Windswept Heath |
| Winota, Joiner of Forces | Wooded Foothills | Amalia Benavides Aguirre |
| Sorin, Imperious Bloodlord |
Full list of MTG cards in Modern
The Modern format is much larger than Standard and Pioneer. Cards legal to play within the format are expansion, Core, and Modern Horizons sets from the Eighth Edition.
| 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 | Fury |
| Gitaxian Probe | Glimpse of Nature | Golgari Grave-Troll |
| Great Furnace | Green Suns’s Zenith | Hogaak, Arisen Necropolis |
| Hypergenesis | Krark-Clan Ironworks | Lurrus of the Dream-Den |
| Mental Misstep | Mox Opal | Mycosynth Lattice |
| Mystic Sanctuary | Oki, Theif of Crowns | Once Upon a Time |
| Ponder | 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 |
| Up the Beanstalk | Uro, Titan of Nature’s Wrath | Vault of Whispers |
| Yorion, Sky Nomad | Nadu, Winged Wisdom | Grief |
List of banned MTG cards in Commander, Legacy, and Vintage
The Commander format is an Eternal MTG format, much like Legacy and Vintage. All three formats share a specific ban on over 30 cards.
- 25 cards with the card type Conspiracy
- Nine cards with the text “playing for ante.”
- Multiple cards that contain racial or culturally offensive art, text, and/or name.
- Pauper, Vintage, and Legacy only: All Sticker and Attraction MTG cards
Banned Commander cards
| 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 |
| Krakas | 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 |
Banned Vintage cards
The Vintage format contains restricted MTG cards, restricting the number of card copies to one. This includes the main deck and sideboard. Other than shared Eternal bans, the Vintage format only has three other banned cards: Chaos Orb, Falling Star, and Shahrazad. There are over 30 restricted cards, though.
| 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 |
| Mox Emerald | Mox Jet | Mox Pearl |
| Mox Ruby | Mox Sapphire | Mystic Forge |
| Mystic 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 |
| Urza’s Saga restricted | Vexing Bauble restricted |
Banned Legacy cards
In addition to the shared Eternal bans, there are banned MTG cards in the Legacy format.
| Ancestral Recall | Arcum’s Astrolabe | Balance |
| Bazaar of Baghdad | Black Lotus | Channel |
| Chaos Orb | Deathrite Shaman | Demonic Consutation |
| Demonic Tutor | Dig Through Time | Dreadhorde Arcanist |
| Earthcraft | Expressive Iteration | Demonic Consultation |
| 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 | 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 |
| White Plume Adventurer | Windfall | Wrenn and Six |
| Yawgmoth’s Bargain | Yawgmoth’s Will | Zirda, the Dawnwaker |
| Grief |
Full list of all MTG cards banned in Pauper format
Pauper is a unique MTG format that only uses cards with a rarity of Common. Here are all the banned cards in Pauper.
| Aarakocra Sneak | Arcum’s Astrolabe | Atog |
| Bonder’s Ornament | Chatterstorm | Cloud of Faeries |
| Cloudpost | Cranial Plating | Daze |
| Disciple of Vault | Empty the Warrens | Fall from Favor |
| Frantic Search | Galvanic Relay | Gitaxian Probe |
| Grapeshot | Gush | High Tide |
| Hymn to Tourach | Invigorate | Monastery Swiftspear |
| Mystic Sanctuary | Peregrine Drake | Prophetic Prism |
| Sinkhole | Sojourner’s Companion | Stirring Bard |
| Temporal Fissure | Treasure Cruise | Underdark Explorer |
| Vicious Battlerager | All That Glitters |
List of MTG Arena banned cards in Historic, Explorer, Timeless, Brawl, and Alchemy
Digital formats in Magic, like Alchemy, apply nerfs and buffs to existing tabletop cards that aren’t considered banned and restricted. But other formats like Timeless have Restricted cards and Historic had Suspended cards at one time.
MTG Arena Historic banned cards
| Agent of Treachery | Blood Moon | Bloodstained Mire |
| Brainstorm | Channel | Counterspell |
| Dark Ritual | Demonic Tutor | Field of the Dead |
| Flooded Strand | Intruder Alarm | Land Tax |
| Lightning Bolt | Memory Lapse | Natural Order |
| Necropotence | Nexus of Fate | Oko, Thief of Crowns |
| Once Upon a Time | Polluted Data | Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer |
| Sneak Attack | Spreading Seas | Swords to Plowshares |
| Thassa’s Oracle | Tibalt’s Trickery | Time Warp |
| Uro, Titan of Nature’s Wrath | Veil of Summer | Windswept Heath |
| Wilderness Reclamation | Wooded Foothills |
MTG Arena Explorer banned cards
| Expressive Iteration | Field of the Dead | Geological Appraiser |
| Karn, the Great Creator | Kethis, the Hidden Hand | Leyline of Abundance |
| Lurrus of the Dream-Den | Nexus of Fate | Oko. Thief of Crowns |
| Once Upon a Time | Teferi, Time Raveler | Tiblat’s Trickery |
| Underworld Breach | Uro, Titan of Nature’s Wrath | Veil of Summer |
| Wilderness Reclamation | Winota, Joiner of Forces | Sorin, Imperious Bloodlord |
| Amalia Benavides Aguirre |
MTG Arena Timeless Banned and Restricted cards
There are no banned MTG cards in the Timeless format at the time of writing, but there are three Restricted cards: Channel, Demonic Tutor, and Tabalt’s Trickery.
MTG Arena Brawl banned cards
| Agent of Treachery | Chalice of the Void | Channel |
| Demonic Tutor | Drannith Magistrate | Field of the Dead |
| Gideon’s Intervention | Lutri, the Spellchaser | Meddling Mage |
| Natural Order | Nexus of Fate | Oko, Thief of Crowns |
| Phyrexian Revoker | Pithing Needle | Runed Halo |
| Sorcerous Spyglass | Tainted Pact | Ugin, the Spirit Dragon |
MTG Arena Alchemy banned cards
At the time of writing, there are no banned Magic cards in the MTG Arena Alchemy format.
