Unlike previous announcements, this month’s update to Magic: The Gathering‘s list of banned cards is quite sizable, to say the least.
As is standard practice for the card game, Wizards of the Coast routinely cycles out creatures, sorceries and anything else deemed problematic from sanctioned play, making them illegal to use until (and oftentimes never) it finds them ‘safe’ for reintroduction. Fans of a certain powerhouse Companion first printed with last year’s Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths will be happy to hear that Lurrus of the Dream-Den is one of the fortunate few to be re-legalized for the Vintage format, though on this occasion, he’s an outlier.
Every remaining card on the list is either being banned wholesale from every format or as close to it that secondary market prices will plummet to unrecoverable levels. A big victim (and one that was expected based on prior comments) of the ban hammer is Uro, Titan of Nature’s Wrath, which, following his surprisingly swift removal from Standard last year, is essentially now only worth the cardboard it’s printed on, as the green/blue elder giant is no longer playable in Hisotric, Pioneer or Modern.
The full list is as follows:
Historic:
Omnath, Locus of Creation is banned (from suspended).
Uro, Titan of Nature’s Wrath is banned.
Pioneer:
Balustrade Spy is banned.
Teferi, Time Raveler is banned.
Undercity Informer is banned.
Uro, Titan of Nature’s Wrath is banned.
Wilderness Reclamation is banned.
Modern:
Field of the Dead is banned.
Mystic Sanctuary is banned.
Simian Spirit Guide is banned.
Tibalt’s Trickery is banned.
Uro, Titan of Nature’s Wrath is banned.
Legacy:
Arcum’s Astrolabe is banned.
Dreadhorde Arcanist is banned.
Oko, Thief of Crowns is banned.
Vintage:
Lurrus of the Dream-Den is unbanned.
Besides those mentioned above, others present here worth noting are Oko, Thief of Crowns, Field of the Dead and Omnath, Locus of Creation. All three have been hit with varying restrictions previously, so it should come as little surprise that Wizards has seen fit to further curb their prevalence in non-standard formats.
What’ll be interesting to see from here on out is whether any cards from Magic: The Gathering‘s Kaldheim set will be joining the ever-growing list once the honeymoon period is over. Think you know some likely candidates already? Sound off down below.