MTG Banned List 2026: Every Banned Card in Every Format

The last banned and restricted update landed on 10 August 2026, four days before the Standard RCQ season opened, and it hit three formats at once. This page is the complete, current picture: every card banned in every format Magic supports, what each ban actually means, and — the part most lists skip — where each banned card is still perfectly legal.

Every card name, mana cost, type line, price and legality below was pulled directly from the Scryfall API on 18 August 2026 rather than copied from another list. Where these numbers disagree with the count you will see elsewhere, the reason is explained — and there are two places where they do.

The 10 August 2026 banned and restricted update

Wizards banned three cards in Standard, banned one in Legacy, and restricted that same card in Vintage. Pioneer, Modern, Pauper, Alchemy, Historic, Timeless, Brawl and Competitive Brawl were left untouched. All changes took effect immediately on 10 August 2026.

The Standard bans were aimed at a format that had settled into a two-deck standoff. Wizards described Badgermole Cub as an extremely powerful and format-defining card, and noted that the Selesnya Offense deck built around it maintained high win rates while also having high play rates. Stormchaser’s Talent and Gran-Gran were removed alongside it so that cutting green’s best threat would not simply hand the format to the blue-red spell decks waiting behind it.

The Fantasticar is the more remarkable entry. It was printed in Marvel Super Heroes Commander on 26 June 2026 and was banned in Legacy roughly six weeks later — while remaining entirely legal in Commander, the format it was designed and sold for.

The next announcement is scheduled for 12 October 2026.

Banned, restricted, rebalanced, not legal — four different things

These words get used interchangeably and they should not be. Confusing them is how players turn up to an RCQ with an illegal deck.

That last row matters more than it looks. A card that rotated out of Standard is not legal, not banned. Only 13 cards are genuinely banned in Standard; thousands more are merely out of the pool.

How many cards are banned in each format

Counts derived from Scryfall format-legality data on 18 August 2026.

Timeless is the outlier worth noticing. Arena’s deepest format has an empty banned list. It controls power through restriction and rebalancing instead of removal, which is why cards that are unplayable-by-ban elsewhere still turn up there.

MTG Standard banned list (13 cards)

Sorted by market price. Three of these arrived on 10 August 2026.

Why some lists say 14

You will find lists that add Leyline of Resonance as a fourteenth card. It is banned — but only in MTG Arena’s best-of-one Standard queue, which is a matchmaking rule rather than a format. Its paper Standard legality reads legal, and it is legal in Pioneer and Modern as well. If you are building for tabletop Standard, the list is 13.

Every Standard-banned card is legal in Commander

This is the single most useful thing on the page. All 13 cards banned in Standard are legal in Commander right now, including both of the expensive ones. A Standard ban usually depresses a card’s price while leaving 100-card singleton demand untouched, which makes the week after an announcement a genuinely good time to buy.

Only three of the thirteen carry a second ban: Cori-Steel Cutter and Heartfire Hero are also banned in Pioneer, and Up the Beanstalk is also banned in Modern.

MTG Commander banned list — why every site gives a different number

Search for the Commander banned list and you will be told it is 39 cards, or 42, or 83. All three are defensible, and the disagreement is the most confusing thing about this format’s list. Here is the exact arithmetic.

Scryfall marks 83 cards as banned in Commander. That number decomposes cleanly:

So the number you want is 42. The other 41 entries are category bans no deckbuilder will ever run into — you cannot put a Conspiracy in a Commander deck whether or not anyone bans it. Every card named on the official list appears in Scryfall’s data; none are missing.

The 42 cards actually banned in Commander

A dash in the price column means no current market price is published — almost always a Reserved List card whose printings trade too rarely for a reliable figure.

The Power Nine are banned in Commander but legal in Vintage

One of Magic’s better ironies. Eight of the nine most powerful cards ever printed are banned outright in Commander, the format people play at kitchen tables, while Vintage — the most powerful format in the game — merely restricts them to one copy. You may legally cast Black Lotus at a sanctioned Vintage event. You may not put it in your Commander deck.

The ninth is the exception. Timetwister is not on the Commander banned list at all — it is a legal, if eye-wateringly expensive, inclusion. If you have wondered why high-powered Commander tables see Timetwister and never a Mox, that is why.

Two more oddities worth knowing. Chaos Orb is banned in Commander, Legacy and Vintage, one of very few cards banned in all three, because its ability requires physically flipping it onto the table from at least a foot in the air. And Flash, an unassuming two-mana instant, is banned in Commander for enabling a two-card combo; we pulled that rules interaction apart in our guide to flash, priority and the stack.

MTG Modern banned list (52 cards)

Modern’s is the most expensive banned list in Magic. Several of these still trade above $40 because they remain staples in Legacy, Vintage or Commander.

Modern was untouched by the August 2026 announcement. Note that five of these are the artifact lands — Ancient Den, Great Furnace, Seat of the Synod, Tree of Tales and Vault of Whispers — banned as a group for making artifact synergies effectively free.

MTG Pioneer banned list (31 cards)

Pioneer also took no changes in August 2026.

Legacy, Vintage and Pauper

These three carry the longest lists, and the raw counts mislead in exactly the way Commander’s does.

The August 2026 change to this group was a single card: The Fantasticar, banned in Legacy and restricted in Vintage on the same day.

Arena formats: Brawl, Historic, Timeless and Alchemy

Arena manages balance differently. Alongside bans it rebalances cards, altering their digital text while the paper card stays untouched, which is why its lists stay short.

None of the four changed in August 2026.

What to do the week after a ban

A ban announcement is the most predictable price event in Magic, and it moves in two directions at once.

• The banned card falls — but only as far as its demand in other formats allows. Badgermole Cub is still a $45.30 card after being banned in Standard, because Commander still wants it.
• Its replacements rise, usually within days, as everyone rebuilds the same decks around the next-best option.
• Cards banned in one format get bought for another. Every one of the 13 Standard bans above is a legal Commander card today.

If you are rebuilding a deck that just lost a card, the public deck browser is the fastest way to see what other players moved to, and the card price tool tracks the swings described above. If you would rather skip the research, describe what you want and the AI deck builder will assemble a legal list for your format — it validates every card against the current banned list automatically, so a banned card cannot end up in your deck by accident.

Frequently asked questions

What is the MTG banned list?

It is the set of cards a format’s rules forbid you from including in a deck or sideboard. Each format keeps its own list, so a card banned in Standard may be entirely legal in Commander, Modern or Vintage — and usually is.

When is the next MTG ban announcement?

12 October 2026. The most recent announcement was 10 August 2026.

What was banned in August 2026?

Badgermole Cub, Stormchaser’s Talent and Gran-Gran were banned in Standard. The Fantasticar was banned in Legacy and restricted in Vintage. Pioneer, Modern, Pauper, Alchemy, Historic, Timeless and Brawl were unchanged.

How many cards are banned in Standard?

Thirteen in tabletop Standard. Lists showing fourteen are including Leyline of Resonance, which is banned only in MTG Arena’s best-of-one queue and is legal in paper Standard.

How many cards are banned in Commander?

Forty-two are named individually. Scryfall reports 83 because it also counts 25 Conspiracy cards, 9 ante cards and 7 cards removed for offensive content in December 2020 — none of which could ever have gone in a Commander deck anyway.

What is the difference between banned and restricted?

Banned means zero copies. Restricted means exactly one copy across your deck and sideboard combined, and it exists only in Vintage.

Is Black Lotus banned in Commander?

Yes. Black Lotus is banned in Commander and in Legacy, but only restricted in Vintage — so you can legally play one copy in Vintage and none in Commander.

Are all of the Power Nine banned in Commander?

Eight of the nine are. Timetwister is the exception and remains legal in Commander.

Can I play Standard-banned cards in Commander?

Yes. All thirteen of the currently Standard-banned cards are legal in Commander as of 18 August 2026.

Why is Chaos Orb banned everywhere?

Its ability asks you to physically flip the card onto the table from at least a foot in the air, which cannot be adjudicated consistently. It is banned in Commander, Legacy and Vintage.

Does Timeless have a banned list?

No. Timeless is the only format here with an empty banned list. It manages power through restriction and digital rebalancing rather than removal.

What are ante cards?

Cards that play for ownership of other cards — you wager a card from your deck on the outcome. They are banned as a category in every sanctioned format, which is why nine of them appear on Commander’s list.

Do banned cards lose all their value?

No. A ban removes demand from one format only. Modern’s banned list still contains cards trading above $100 because Legacy, Vintage and Commander players keep buying them.

Ban announcements reshape formats, but they are only one of the rules layers deciding what you can legally build. If you play Commander, the bracket system now governs power level alongside the banned list, the legend rule decides which of your commanders can share a battlefield, and the budget commander guide covers what to build when the expensive answers are off the table. Confident about your card knowledge? Try Guess That Commander.

Card data, prices and legality pulled from the Scryfall API on 18 August 2026. Prices are USD market prices and move daily. Magic: The Gathering is © Wizards of the Coast; card images via Scryfall.

For what the post-ban Standard format actually looks like now that those three cards are gone, see our breakdown of the August 2026 Standard meta — including the measured winner’s metagame from the first RCQ weekend.