MTG banlist 2024 – every banned card in Magic The Gathering

If you want to play Magic: The Gathering, you need to know about the MTG banlist. It’s no good rocking up to your local game store with the most powerful cards you could collect, only to discover they’ve been banned. Because Magic: The Gathering is a game that’s constantly evolving, there are always new card bans to worry about.

In Magic: the Gathering, It’s inevitable, in fact intended, that some MTG cards are better than others. But when a card is so strong that it warps formats, it may be at risk of getting banned. When all the top MTG decks contain the same card, and you need to specifically plan answers for it when you build an MTG deck, Wizards usually reaches for the banhammer.

Wizards of the Coast updates the MTG banlist via the Magic website. These Banned and Restricted Announcements used to come every few months, but Wizards recently changed its banning strategy. Now Wizards is aiming for just one set of bans for all formats each year, coming before the third main set in the MTG release schedule.

There’s no such thing as the MTG banlist. Instead, each format has its own list of banned cards, so there’s a Commander banlist, a Modern banlist, and so on. If a card is put on the banlist for your chosen MTG format that means you can’t play it, plain and simple. It can’t be in your deck, and it can’t be hiding in your sideboard.

The most recent update to the MTG banlist was March 11, 2024. This update saw Ponder unrestricted for Vintage, and MTG Cascade card Violent Outburst banned for Modern. Thunder Junction cards were also pre-emptively banned in Historic on April 8, 2024.

Before that, we saw new bans in early December, with Wizards of the Coast banned a whopping five cards at once, across multiple formats. As you can see, this ‘once a year’ thing isn’t working, and Wizards has given itself a generous grace period around each new set release.

The next MTG banlist update will be May 13, 2024.

Below you’ll find a list of all the banned cards in Magic: The Gathering in 2024. Simply click on the format of your choice to navigate to the relevant section.

MTG Standard banlist
MTG Modern banlist
MTG Commander banlist
MTG Legacy banlist
MTG Vintage banlist
MTG Historic banlist
MTG Pioneer banlist
MTG Explorer banlist
MTG Alchemy banlist
MTG Brawl banlist
MTG Pauper banlist
MTG Timeless banlist
Universally Banned MTG Cards
Are MTG Arena bans different?

MTG Standard banlist

MTG Modern banlist

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

For more on the Modern format, check out our MTG Modern guide.

MTG Commander banlist

Here’s the full MTG Commander banlist:

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
Karakas
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

MTG Legacy banlist

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

MTG Vintage banlist

Very few cards are actually outright banned in Vintage. These are:

Chaos Orb
Falling Star
Shahrazad

Instead of a banlist, for the most part Vintage uses a restricted list. A card that’s restricted in Vintage can only appear once in your deck, including in your sideboard. There are a fairly large number of restricted cards in Vintage:

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

MTG Historic banlist

The MTG Arena format Historic also has a unique approach to MTG card bans. Sometimes, a card is ‘suspended’ instead of banned.

This is sort of a holding cell for potential bans. While you can’t use a suspended card, Wizards says it plans to make use of the flexibility of a digital format to shuffle cards on and off the suspended list on a regular, and somewhat experimental basis. In contrast, full blown bans are intended to be more permanent and considered.

That said, there are no suspended cards in Historic at the moment. Here’s the banlist:

Agent of Treachery
Brainstorm
Chalice of the Void (only in Historic Brawl)
Channel
Commandeer
Counterspell
Dark Ritual
Demonic Tutor
Field of the Dead
Force of Vigor
Gideon’s Intervention (only in Historic Brawl)
Lightning Bolt
Mana Drain
Memory Lapse
Meddling Mage (only in Historic Brawl)
Mishra’s Bauble (preemptively banned before The Brothers’ War)
Natural Order
Nexus of Fate
Oko, Thief of Crowns
Omnath, Locus of Creation
Pithing Needle (only in Historic Brawl)
Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer (preemptively banned before March of the Machine)
Reanimate
Runed Halo (only in Historic Brawl)
Swords to Plowshares
Thassa’s Oracle
Tibalt’s Trickery
Time Warp
Uro, Titan of Nature’s Wrath
Veil of Summer
Wilderness Reclamation

MTG Pioneer banlist

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

MTG Explorer banlist

Expressive Iteration
Field of the Dead
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

MTG Alchemy banlist

The Alchemy format had no banlist until July 2022. Wizards of the Coast can usually avoid Alchemy bans by altering the effects of cards, and does this regularly, to nerf dominant strategies. However, the first MTG Arena Alchemy ban took place on July 5, 2022. Here it is:

Grinning Ignus

But since Strixhaven, School of Mages has now rotated out of Standard and Alchemy, it’s once again correct to say that there is no banlist for Alchemy.

MTG Brawl banlist

While Brawl uses Standard-legal cards, the regular Standard banlist doesn’t apply. Instead, here’s the MTG Brawl banlist:

Chalice of the Void
Drannith Magistrate
Lutri, the Spellchaser
Oko, Thief of Crowns
Omnath, Locus of Creation
Runed Halo
Sorcerous Spyglass
Winota, Joiner of Forces
Pithing Needle

MTG Pauper banlist

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

MTG Timeless Banlist

Like Vintage, Timeless has a Restricted list as well as a banlist. Or perhaps that should read instead. Currently the Timeless banlist has zero cards on it. Instead, there are a handful of restricted cards, which can only appear in your deck once. The Timeless restricted cards are:

Channel
Demonic Tutor
Tibalt’s Trickery

Universally banned MTG cards

There are a number of cards that, for various reasons, have been banned across all formats. These include the following 25 cards from Conspiracy, which can only be used in limited play:

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

Then there’s a list of nine cards that refer to ‘ante’. This was a way of playing Magic, back in MTG’s earliest days, where you would essentially ‘gamble’ your cards on the outcome of a game. It was largely unpopular and soon scrapped, the following cards banned across all formats:

Amulet of Quoz
Bronze Tablet
Contract from Below
Darkpact
Demonic Attorney
Jewelled Bird
Rebirth
Tempest Efreet
Timmerian Fiends

The MTG banlist also includes a number of cards that have been deemed racially or culturally insensitive. This is a universal ban that applies to sanctioned tournaments in all formats, and the cards’ images were removed from Wizards of the Coast’s database in 2020. The seven cards currently banned for being culturally or racially insensitive can be found here.

Are MTG Arena bans different?

Card bans affect MTG Arena just as they do paper Magic – so the above MTG banlists apply to Arena too. The main difference is, when your rare cards get banned in MTG Arena, you get something back for it.

When cards you own on MTG Arena are banned, you get wildcards back of an equal rarity, which you can then spend on new cards. It’s a pretty good deal – in fact, in a funny way you could say that (as well as MTG Arena codes), card bans are one of the main free sources of wildcards on the platform.