Magic: The Gathering ban list March 2024
If you're hoping to go head to head with fellow Magic: The Gathering players at a local tournament or event, you'll probably put a lot of effort into making your deck more powerful. But what if I told you your deck could be too powerful to play? Bad news: if it contains any cards from the MTG ban list, you'll have to go back to the drawing board.
Magic: The Gathering has an active community and a scene that is constantly evolving and changing. This is part of why it's one of the best card games. As part of this, if certain cards are majorly disrupting the balance of the game or producing an overreliance on a singular metagame. they can be banned in sanctioned play.
Latest changes
As of March 11, 2023:
Ponder is unrestricted in Vintage.
Violent Outburst is banned in Modern.
Next MTG ban list update expected May 13, 2023.
They may still be fair game in casual games with friends, but don't expect to show up to your local game store with a deck full of banned cards and get away with it.
There are particular cards which are banned across all forms of sanctioned play due to their racially or culturally offensive content but outside of these exceptions, the cards that wind up being subjected to a ban or restriction differ from format to format. Here are the full ban lists for each Magic: The Gathering format.
Magic:The Gathering Standard ban list
As a format that solely encompasses the previous three years of MTG's catalogue, Standard has a relatively short list of banned cards. This list includes:
The Meathook Massacre
Fable of the Mirror-Breaker
Invoke Despair
Reckoner Bankbuster
Magic:The Gathering Modern ban list
The Modern format allows players to construct decks with cards from Eighth Edition (released Summer 2003) onwards. However, it doesn't allow for the following banned cards:
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 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
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
Violent Outburst
Yorion, Sky Nomad
Magic:The Gathering Vintage ban list
Vintage allows for almost all printed cards from Magic: The Gathering's thirty-plus year history, with the following exceptions:
Chaos Orb
Falling Star
Shahrazad
All cards that have the card type Conspiracy
Adrian's Valor
Advantageous Proclamation
Assemble Rank and Vile
Backup Plan
Brago's Favor
Double Stroke
Echoing Boom
Emissary's Ploy
Hired Heist
Hold the Perimeter
Hymn of the Wilds
Immediate Action
Incendiary Dissent
Iterative Analysis
Muzio's Preparations
Natural Unity
Power Play
Secret Summoning
Secrets of Paradise
Sentinel Dispatch
Sovereign Realm
Summoner's Bond
Unexpected Potential
Weight Advantage
Worldknit
All cards that reference "playing for ante"
Amulet of Quoz
Bronze Tablet
Contract from Below
Darkpact
Demonic Attorney
Jeweled Bird
Rebirth
Tempest Efreet
Timmerian Fiends
Restricted cards are cards which you may only have one copy of in both your main deck and your sideboard. At it stands, Vintage is the only Magic: The Gathering format with a restricted list.
The restricted card list for Vintage consists of:
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
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
Magic:The Gathering Legacy ban list
Like Vintage, Legacy allows for players to use cards dating all the way back to 1993. However, it has significantly more card bans. The banned cards in Legacy are:
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
Expressive Iteration
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
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
All cards that have the card type Conspiracy
Adrian's Valor
Advantageous Proclamation
Assemble Rank and Vile
Backup Plan
Brago's Favor
Double Stroke
Echoing Boom
Emissary's Ploy
Hired Heist
Hold the Perimeter
Hymn of the Wilds
Immediate Action
Incendiary Dissent
Iterative Analysis
Muzio's Preparations
Natural Unity
Power Play
Secret Summoning
Secrets of Paradise
Sentinel Dispatch
Sovereign Realm
Summoner's Bond
Unexpected Potential
Weight Advantage
Worldknit
All cards that reference "playing for ante"
Amulet of Quoz
Bronze Tablet
Contract from Below
Darkpact
Demonic Attorney
Jeweled Bird
Rebirth
Tempest Efreet
Timmerian Fiends
Magic:The Gathering Commander ban list
These cards are banned in sanctioned Commander games and can't be used a player's Commander or be present anywhere in their deck or sideboard:
All cards that have the card type Conspiracy
Adrian's Valor
Advantageous Proclamation
Assemble Rank and Vile
Backup Plan
Brago's Favor
Double Stroke
Echoing Boom
Emissary's Ploy
Hired Heist
Hold the Perimeter
Hymn of the Wilds
Immediate Action
Incendiary Dissent
Iterative Analysis
Muzio's Preparations
Natural Unity
Power Play
Secret Summoning
Secrets of Paradise
Sentinel Dispatch
Sovereign Realm
Summoner's Bond
Unexpected Potential
Weight Advantage
Worldknit
All cards that reference "playing for ante"
Amulet of Quoz
Bronze Tablet
Contract from Below
Darkpact
Demonic Attorney
Jeweled Bird
Rebirth
Tempest Efreet
Timmerian Fiends
Magic:The Gathering Block ban list
As each block uses different sets, each block in the Block MTG format has its own list of banned cards. These are:
Innistrad-Avacyn Restored
Intangible Virtue
Lingering Souls
Mirrodin
Aether Vial
Ancient Den
Arcbound Ravager
Darksteel Citadel
Disciple of the Vault
Great Furnace
Seat of the Synod
Tree of Tales
Vault of Whispers
Skullclamp
Masques
Lin Sivvi, Defiant Hero
Rishadan Port
Urza
Gaea's Cradle
Memory Jar
Serra's Sanctum
Time Spiral
Tolarian Academy
Voltaic Key
Windfall
Tempest
Cursed Scroll
Mirage
Squandered Resources
Ice Age
Amulet of Quoz
Thawing Glaciers
Zuran Orb
Magic:The Gathering Pauper ban list
The list of legal cards in Pauper includes cards that are of Common rarity. What it doesn't include are these banned cards:
Aarakocra Sneak
Arcum's Astrolabe
Atog
Bonder's Ornament
Chatterstorm
Cloud of Faeries
Cloudpost
Cranial Plating
Daze
Disciple of the 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
Magic:The Gathering Pioneer ban list
Pioneer supports the use of cards from 2012's Return to Ravnica onwards, although these cards are banned in the format:
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
Magic:The Gathering Historic ban list
This non-rotating format is only playable on MTG Arena, and has the following cards on its ban list:
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 Delta
Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer
Show and Tell
Sneak Attack
Spreading Seas
Swords to Plowshares
Thassa's Oracle
Tibalt's Trickery
Time Warp
Uro, Titan of Nature's Wrath
Veil of Summer
Wilderness Reclamation
Windswept Heath
Wooded Foothills
Magic:The Gathering Timeless ban list
Timeless is the digital-only equivalent to Vintage. As such, it has a relatively short ban list.
Channel
Demonic Tutor
Tibalt’s Trickery
Magic:The Gathering Brawl ban list
This twist on Commander only allows for Standard legal cards. As well as this, the following cards are banned in Brawl:
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
Magic:The Gathering Explorer ban list
This MTG Arena exclusive format, like Pioneer, permits cards from as far back as Return to Ravnica. These are the cards on the Explorer ban list:
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
Tibalt's Trickery
Underworld Breach
Uro, Titan of Nature's Wrath
Veil of Summer
Wilderness Reclamation
Winota, Joiner of Forces
Magic:The Gathering Alchemy ban list
There are currently no cards specifically banned in the Alchemy format.