13 cards pre-banned for MTG Arena Historic in June 3 Banned and Restricted announcement

Wizards of the Coast has pre-banned 13 cards for the MTG Arena Historic format and one card for Brawl before the release of Modern Horizons 3. 

The Modern Horizons 3 set is packed with powerful cards meant to impact formats like Commander and Modern. These cards are also coming to MTG Arena, playable in Limited Draft and Sealed, Historic, Timeless, and Brawl formats. To keep the Historic digital format healthy, WotC pre-banned the cycle of Evoke Elementals and Flare cards from MH3 on June 3, along with Harbinger of the Seas and Winter Moon. 

Here are all the pre-banned MTG Arena cards for the Historic format from MH3, according to WotC. 

• Harbinger of the Seas
• Winter Moon
• Endurance
• Fury
• Grief
• Subtlety
• Solitude
• Flare of Fortitude
• Flare of Denial
• Flare of Malice
• Flare of Duplication
• Flare of Cultivation
• Enemy fetch lands

“We have been cautious of cards that can be cast for free with alternative payments as we believe they are too fast for this format,” WotC said. “So, it should not be surprising that we are banning the Evoke Elementals and Flare cycle for Modern Horizons 3, but they will be playable in Timeless.”

Many players are looking forward to building decks around the MH3 Flare cycle in Commander and Modern. Doing so isn’t possible within the MTG Arena Historic format, but you can have fun with the new MH3 cards in the Timeless format. 

Disruptor Flute was also pre-banned on June 3 within the Brawl MTG Arena format. The two-drop Artifact from MH3 can shut down a commander by increasing its mana cost while preventing activated abilities from activating.  

All MTG Arena pre-banned cards from the June 3 Banned and Restricted announcement will go into effect immediately since MH3 isn’t available yet on the digital platform.