Magic: The Gathering: All banned and restricted cards across all formats

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 window 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 that contain 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?

Bans aren’t permanent but 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.

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. 

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.

Full list of MTG cards in Modern

Much larger than Standard and Pioneer is the Modern format. Cards legal to play within the format are expansion, Core, and Modern Horizons sets from the Eighth Edition.

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.

Banned Commander cards

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.

Banned Legacy cards

In addition to the shared Eternal bans, there are banned MTG cards in the Legacy format.

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.

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

MTG Arena Explorer banned cards

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

MTG Arena Alchemy banned cards

At the time of writing, there are no banned Magic cards in the MTG Arena Alchemy format.