Banned and restricted cards/Timeline

Banned and restricted cards/Timeline

 

Timeline

 

The DCI announces bans and restrictions of cards for their sanctioned formats if they deemed necessary to do so. In normal cases, these announcements are made on Mondays and take effect within a few days.

Previously, such announcements used to be made in a scheduled basis (usually two to three months) with coherence of Standard legal sets and major tournaments like the Pro Tour.

The following is a list of these announcements and their changes in chronological order. Formats that are not mentioned have seen no changes made to them in the respective announcements.

1994

The concept of formats doesn't yet exist as of this time. Vintage (Type 1) and Standard (Type 2) will be introduced in 1995.

January

• Formation of the original DCI banned/restricted list. Ali from Cairo, Ancestral Recall, Berserk, Black Lotus, Braingeyser, Dingus Egg, Gauntlet of Might, Icy Manipulator, Mox Emerald, Mox Jet, Mox Pearl, Mox Ruby, Mox Sapphire, Orcish Oriflamme, Rukh Egg, Sol Ring, Timetwister, Time Vault, and Time Walk are restricted ("Limited"). Ante cards and Shahrazad are banned. Use of cards from any of the expansion sets (at that time Arabian Nights) are banned unless the referee consents to their use (this would later be changed to allowed "unless expressly disallowed by the head judge prior to the event").

February

• Orcish Oriflamme and Rukh Egg are unrestricted.

March

• Channel, Copy Artifact, Demonic Tutor, Regrowth, and Wheel of Fortune are restricted. Icy Manipulator is unrestricted. Time Vault is banned.

May

• Candelabra of Tawnos, Feldon's Cane, Ivory Tower, and Library of Alexandria are restricted. Dingus Egg and Gauntlet of Might are unrestricted.

June

• Mishra's Workshop is restricted.

August

• Chaos Orb, Falling Star, Mind Twist, Mirror Universe, Recall, Sword of the Ages, Underworld Dreams are restricted. For flavor reasons, all legendary cards (of type "Summon Legends"—then called Legends—or "Legendary Land") are restricted. Divine Intervention is banned.

October

• Maze of Ith is restricted.

1995

January

• Standard: Format introduced on January 10 (then called "Type 2"), inheriting banned and restricted lists from Vintage. Legal standard expansions are then the most current basic set (Revised Edition at the time) and the latest two Magic expansions only (The Dark and Fallen Empires). Unlike in Vintage, the head judge cannot ban cards from any such legal expansion.

April

• Vintage: Balance is restricted. Fork is restricted.
• Standard: Balance is restricted.

October

• Standard: new deck construction rules. Standard (Type 2) can be composed of cards from the most recent edition of Magic The Gathering (Fourth Edition at the time), white border extensions (Chronicles), and all available limited edition expansions (Ice Age, Fallen Empires, and soon Homelands).

November

• Legendary cards are unrestricted.
• Vintage: Zuran Orb is restricted. Channel, Chaos Orb, and Falling Star are banned.
• Standard: Zuran Orb is restricted. Channel is banned.

1996

February

• Standard: Mind Twist is banned. Black Vise is restricted.
• Vintage: Mind Twist is banned. Black Vise is restricted.

April

• Standard: Feldon's Cane and Recall are unrestricted.
• Vintage: Time Vault is unbanned. Ali from Cairo, Black Vise, and Sword of the Ages are unrestricted.

Card Errata

• Time Vault now adds a time counter to itself when a turn is skipped for its cost. Taking an extra turn requires the removal of a time counter.

May

• Legacy: Format is created (then called Type 1.5). "Type 1.5 tournament decks may be constructed from Magic: The Gathering cards from the Limited (first edition, with black border) series, the Unlimited (second edition), Revised (third edition), Fourth Edition, any other Magic: The Gathering expansion (unless expressly disallowed by the head judge prior to the event), and promotional cards released by Wizards of the Coast in magazines or through books." There are no restricted cards. The list of banned cards is the sum of all cards that are either restricted or banned in Vintage or Standard.

July

• Standard: Land Tax is restricted.
• Legacy: Land Tax is banned.
• The fan format Commander, then called "Elder Dragon Highlander" (EDH) is popularized by the article "Elder Dragon Legend Wars" in The Duelist magazine.

October

• Standard: Hymn to Tourach and Strip Mine are restricted.
• Legacy: Fastbond Hymn to Tourach and Strip Mine are banned. The head judge can't disallow any Magic expansion anymore.
• Vintage: Fastbond is restricted. The head judge can't disallow any Magic expansion anymore.

1997

January

• Standard: New deck construction rules. New editions of the basic set replace old versions and are permitted in Standard play thirty days after the release date of the new edition. New standalone expansions (e.g., Ice Age, Mirage, etc.) replace previous stand-alone expansions and are permitted in Standard play thirty days after the release date of the new edition. Limited-edition expansions are replaced thirty days after the release date of the next limited-edition expansion which has a release date of more than 10 months later than the release date of the outgoing limited-edition expansion.
• Standard: All cards on the restricted list are moved to the banned list.

May

• Ice Age block: Thawing Glaciers and Zuran Orb are banned.

June

• Standard: Zuran Orb is banned.

July

• Standard: New deck construction rules. Standard decks can be composed of cards from the most recent edition of Magic: The Gathering (then Fifth Edition) and all sets from the two most recent "blocks" of expansions (at the time the Ice Age block which originally contained Homelands instead of Coldsnap, and the Mirage block).
• Extended: Extended, announced in May, is now officially sanctioned. Initial banned list includes all cards from Limited Edition, Unlimited Edition, Arabian Nights, Antiquities, and Legends which have not been reprinted in a more recent set, plus ante cards, and additionally: Demonic Tutor, Balance, Fastbond, Regrowth, Black Vise, Ivory Tower, Serendib Efreet, Braingeyser, Sol Ring, Juggernaut, Strip Mine, Channel, Kird Ape, Mana Crypt, Maze of Ith, Wheel of Fortune, Mind Twist, and Zuran Orb are banned.
• Vintage: Black Vise is restricted.
• Mirage block: Squandered Resources is banned.

October

• Extended: Hypnotic Specter is banned. Juggernaut is unbanned.
• Vintage: Candelabra of Tawnos, Copy Artifact, Feldon's Cane, Mishra's Workshop, and Zuran Orb are unrestricted.

1998

January

• Vintage: Strip Mine is restricted.

July

• Extended: Land Tax is banned.
• Tempest block: Cursed Scroll is banned.

December

• Standard: Tolarian Academy and Windfall are banned.
• Extended: Tolarian Academy and Windfall are banned. Braingeyser is unbanned.
• Legacy: Stroke of Genius, Tolarian Academy, and Windfall are banned. Feldon's Cane is unbanned.
• Vintage: Stroke of Genius, Tolarian Academy, and Windfall are restricted.

1999

March

• Standard: Dream Halls, Earthcraft, Fluctuator, Lotus Petal, Recurring Nightmare, and Time Spiral are banned. Memory Jar is banned retroactively in mid-March.
• Extended: Memory Jar is banned. This was retroactively added to the March 1st bannings as an emergency ban in mid March.
• Urza's block Constructed: Time Spiral, Memory Jar, and Windfall are banned.
• Legacy: Time Spiral and Memory Jar are banned. Candelabra of Tawnos, Copy Artifact, Maze of Ith, Zuran Orb, and Mishra's Workshop are unbanned.
• Vintage: Memory Jar and Time Spiral are restricted. Maze of Ith is unrestricted.

June

• Standard: Mind Over Matter is banned.
• Extended: Time Spiral is banned.
• Urza block Constructed: Gaea's Cradle, Serra's Sanctum, Tolarian Academy, and Voltaic Key are banned.

Card Errata

• The errata issued for the “free” creatures (“When <this permanent> comes into play, if you played it from your hand, …”) applies to two additional cards: Karmic Guide and Treachery.

August 1st

• Extended: Yawgmoth's Bargain is banned.

Card Errata

• Iridescent Drake receives the same erratum as the "free" creatures. It should read, "When Iridescent Drake comes into play, if you played it from your hand, return target enchant creature card from a graveyard to play enchanting Iridescent Drake. (You control that enchantment.)"
• Lion's Eye Diamond should read, "Sacrifice Lion's Eye Diamond, Discard your hand: Add three mana of any one color to your mana pool. Play this ability as an instant." This erratum causes Lion's Eye Diamond to function as it did under Fifth Edition rules.
• Lotus Vale should read, "When Lotus Vale comes into play, you may sacrifice two untapped lands. If you don't, sacrifice Lotus Vale. If you do, Lotus Vale gains ': Add three mana of any one color to your mana pool.'" This erratum causes Lotus Vale to function as it did under Fifth Edition rules; you can't tap it for mana without first sacrificing two untapped lands.
• Scorched Ruins should read, "When Scorched Ruins comes into play, you may sacrifice two untapped lands. If you don't, sacrifice Scorched Ruins. If you do, Scorched Ruins gains ': Add four colorless mana to your mana pool.'" This erratum causes Scorched Ruins to function as it did under Fifth Edition rules; you can't tap it for mana without first sacrificing two untapped lands.

September

• Extended: Dream Halls, Earthcraft, Lotus Petal, Mind Over Matter, and Yawgmoth's Will are banned.
• Vintage: Crop Rotation, Doomsday, Dream Halls, Enlightened Tutor, Frantic Search, Grim Monolith, Hurkyl's Recall, Lotus Petal, Mana Crypt, Mana Vault, Mind Over Matter, Mox Diamond, Mystical Tutor, Tinker, Vampiric Tutor, Voltaic Key, Yawgmoth's Bargain, and Yawgmoth's Will are restricted. Divine Intervention and Shahrazad are unbanned. Ivory Tower, Mirror Universe, and Underworld Dreams are unrestricted.
• Legacy: Crop Rotation, Doomsday, Dream Halls, Enlightened Tutor, Frantic Search, Grim Monolith, Hurkyl's Recall, Lotus Petal, Mana Crypt, Mana Vault, Mind Over Matter, Mox Diamond, Mystical Tutor, Tinker, Vampiric Tutor, Voltaic Key, Yawgmoth's Bargain, and Yawgmoth's Will are banned. Divine Intervention, Ivory Tower, Mirror Universe, Shahrazad, and Underworld Dreams are unbanned.

2000

March

• Extended: Dark Ritual and Mana Vault are banned.

June

• Masques block constructed: Lin Sivvi, Defiant Hero and Rishadan Port are banned.

September

• Vintage: Demonic Consultation and Necropotence are restricted. Channel and Mind Twist, previously banned, are restricted.
• Legacy: Demonic Consultation and Necropotence are banned.

2001

March

• Extended: Necropotence, Replenish, Survival of the Fittest, and Demonic Consultation are banned.

December

• Vintage: Fact or Fiction is restricted.
• Legacy: Fact or Fiction is banned.

2002

October

• Commander: First known banlist, synchronized with the Vintage banlist. Test of Endurance is the first card banned in EDH for power reasons.

2003

March

• Vintage: Earthcraft and Entomb are restricted. Berserk, Hurkyl's Recall, and Recall are unrestricted.
• Legacy: Earthcraft and Entomb are banned. Berserk, Hurkyl's Recall, and Recall are unbanned.

May

• Commander: Burning Wish, Cunning Wish, Death Wish, Golden Wish, Living Wish, and Ring of Ma'ruf are banned. Basic lands are unrestricted — previously they were limited to one per deck like all other cards in EDH.

June

• Vintage: Gush and Mind's Desire are restricted.
• Legacy: Gush and Mind's Desire are banned.

September

• Extended: Goblin Lackey, Entomb, and Frantic Search are banned.

December

• Extended: Goblin Recruiter, Grim Monolith, Tinker, Hermit Druid, Ancient Tomb, and Oath of Druids are banned.
• Vintage: Burning Wish, Chrome Mox, and Lion's Eye Diamond are restricted.
• Legacy: Burning Wish, Chrome Mox, and Lion's Eye Diamond are banned.

2004

June

• Standard: Skullclamp is banned.
• Mirrodin block constructed: Skullclamp is banned.

September

• Extended: Metalworker and Skullclamp are banned.
• Vintage: Braingeyser, Doomsday, Earthcraft, and Fork are unrestricted.
• Legacy: Format becomes independent of Vintage. Cards that were already banned in Type 1.5 continue to be banned in Legacy, with the following exceptions:
  • Bazaar of Baghdad, Goblin Recruiter, Hermit Druid, Illusionary Mask, Land Tax, Mana Drain, Metalworker, Mishra's Workshop, Oath of Druids, Replenish, Skullclamp, and Worldgorger Dragon are banned.
  • Braingeyser, Burning Wish, Chrome Mox, Crop Rotation, Doomsday, Enlightened Tutor, Fact or Fiction, Fork, Lion's Eye Diamond, Lotus Petal, Mox Diamond, Mystical Tutor, Regrowth, Stroke of Genius, and Voltaic Key are unbanned.

October

• Commander: Beacon of Immortality is banned. Burning Wish, Cunning Wish, Death Wish, Enlightened Wish, Living Wish, and Ring of Ma'ruf are unbanned.

December

• Vintage: Stroke of Genius is unrestricted.

2005

March

• Standard: Arcbound Ravager, Disciple of the Vault, Darksteel Citadel, Ancient Den, Great Furnace, Seat of the Synod, Tree of Tales, and Vault of Whispers are banned.
• Vintage: Trinisphere is restricted.

April

• Commander: Ancestral Recall, Balance, Black Lotus, Biorhythm, Chaos Orb, Falling Star, Library of Alexandria, Mox Emerald, Mox Jet, Mox Pearl, Mox Ruby, Mox Sapphire, Panoptic Mirror, Sway of the Stars, Time Walk, Upheaval, Worldgorger Dragon, and all ante cards are banned.

September

• Extended: Aether Vial and Disciple of the Vault are banned.
• Legacy: Imperial Seal is banned
• Vintage: Imperial Seal and Personal Tutor are restricted. Mind Over Matter is unrestricted.
• Two-Headed Giant: Erayo, Soratami Ascendant is banned.

October

• Commander, Legacy and Vintage: Starter Level sets Starter 1999, Starter 2000, Portal, Portal Second Age, and Portal Three Kingdoms become legal.

December

• Commander: Crucible of Worlds and Shahrazad are banned.

2006

February

• Commander: Heartless Hidetsugu, Kaervek the Merciless, and Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind are banned as commanders only. They may still be included in an EDH deck as ordinary cards.

March

• Mirrodin block constructed: Aether Vial, Ancient Den, Arcbound Ravager, Darksteel Citadel, Disciple of the Vault, Great Furnace, Seat of the Synod, Tree of Tales, and Vault of Whispers are banned.

May

• Commander: Yawgmoth's Bargain is banned.

November

• Commander: Heartless Hidetsugu, Kaervek the Merciless, and Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind are unbanned as commanders.

2007

March

• Commander: Coalition Victory is banned. Rofellos, Llanowar Emissary is banned as a commander only.

June

• Legacy: Flash is banned. Mind Over Matter and Replenish are unbanned.
• Vintage: Gifts Ungiven is restricted. Voltaic Key, Black Vise, Mind Twist, and Gush are unrestricted.

September

• Legacy: Shahrazad is banned.
• Vintage: Shahrazad is banned.

November

• Commander: Beacon of Immortality is unbanned.

2008

February

• Commander: Kokusho, the Evening Star and Recurring Nightmare are banned.

March

• Extended: Rotation of the format is modified.

June

• Commander: Limited Resources is banned.
• Vintage: Brainstorm, Flash, Gush, Merchant Scroll, and Ponder are restricted.

September

• Commander: Grindstone, Karakas, Lion's Eye Diamond, Protean Hulk, and Riftsweeper are banned. Test of Endurance is unbanned.
• Extended: Sensei's Divining Top is banned.
• Legacy: Time Vault is banned.
• Vintage: Time Vault is restricted. Chrome Mox, Dream Halls, Mox Diamond, Personal Tutor, and Time Spiral are unrestricted.

December

• EDH: Time Vault is banned.
• Pauper: Becomes an officially supported Magic Online format. Cranial Platingis banned.

2009

March

• Commander: Metalworker and Tinker are banned. Crucible of Worlds is unbanned. Rofellos, Llanowar Emissary is unbanned as a commander.

June

• Commander: Fastbond and Gifts Ungiven are banned. Braids, Cabal Minion is banned as a commander only.
• Vintage: Thirst for Knowledge is restricted. Crop Rotation, Enlightened Tutor, Entomb, and Grim Monolith are unrestricted.

September

• Commander: Riftsweeper is unbanned.
• Legacy: Dream Halls, Entomb, and Metalworker are unbanned.

December

• Commander: Painter's Servant is banned. Grindstone is unbanned.

2010

June

• Commander: Channel, Staff of Domination, and Tolarian Academy are banned. Rofellos, Llanowar Emissary is banned as a commander only.
• Extended: Change to the rotation. Sword of the Meek and Hypergenesis are banned.
• Legacy: Mystical Tutor is banned. Grim Monolith and Illusionary Mask are unbanned.

September

• Vintage: Frantic Search and Gush are unrestricted.

December

• Commander: Officially renamed from EDH to Commander with the release of the Commander (2011) set. Emrakul, the Aeons Torn is banned.
• Legacy: Survival of the Fittest is banned. Time Spiral is unbanned.

2011

June

• Commander: Worldgorger Dragon is unbanned.
• Standard: Jace, the Mind Sculptor and Stoneforge Mystic are banned. An exception is made for the War of Attrition event deck, which contains two copies of Stoneforge Mystic, if the decklist has not been modified.
• Pauper: Frantic Searchis banned.

August

• Modern: Becomes a sanctioned paper format from an online format. The initial ban list is: Ancestral Vision, Ancient Den, Bitterblossom, Chrome Mox, Dark Depths, Dread Return, Glimpse of Nature, Golgari Grave-Troll, Great Furnace, Hypergenesis, Jace, the Mind Sculptor, Mental Misstep, Seat of the Synod, Sensei's Divining Top, Skullclamp, Stoneforge Mystic, Sword of the Meek, Tree of Tales, Umezawa's Jitte, Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle, and Vault of Whispers.

September

• Commander: Erayo, Soratami Ascendant is banned as a commander only. Lion's Eye Diamond is unbanned.
• Extended: Jace, the Mind Sculptor, Mental Misstep, Ponder, Preordain, and Stoneforge Mystic are banned.
• Modern: Blazing Shoal, Cloudpost, Green Sun's Zenith, Ponder, Preordain, and Rite of Flame are banned.
• Legacy: Mental Misstep is banned.
• Vintage: Fact or Fiction is unrestricted.

December

• Modern: Punishing Fire and Wild Nacatl are banned.

2012

March

• Innistrad Block Constructed: Intangible Virtue and Lingering Souls are banned.

June

• Commander: Griselbrand and Sundering Titan are banned.
• Legacy: Land Tax is unbanned.

September

• Commander: Primeval Titan and Worldfire are banned. Kokusho, the Evening Star is unbanned for deck use only; it remains banned as a commander.
• Modern: Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle is unbanned.
• Vintage: Burning Wish is unrestricted.

2013

January

• Modern: Bloodbraid Elf and Seething Song are banned.
• Pauper: Empty the Warrens, Grapeshot, and Invigorate are banned.

April

• Commander: Trade Secrets is banned. Staff of Domination is unbanned.

May

• Modern: Second Sunrise is banned.
• Vintage: Regrowth is unrestricted.

September

• Pauper: Cloudpost and Temporal Fissure are banned.

2014

February

• Commander: Sylvan Primordial is banned.
• Modern: Deathrite Shaman is banned. Bitterblossom and Wild Nacatl are unbanned.

June

• Commander, Legacy and Vintage: Cards with Conspiracy card type are preemptively banned.

September

• Commander: The "banned only as commander" rule is eliminated. Braids, Cabal Minion, Erayo, Soratami Ascendant, and Rofellos, Llanowar Emissary, previously banned only as commanders, are fully banned. Kokusho, the Evening Star and Metalworker are unbanned.

2015

January

• Modern: Dig Through Time, Treasure Cruise, and Birthing Pod are banned. Golgari Grave-Troll is unbanned.
• Legacy: Treasure Cruise is banned. Worldgorger Dragon is unbanned.
• Vintage: Treasure Cruise is restricted. Gifts Ungiven is unrestricted.

March

• Pauper: Treasure Cruise is banned.
• Singleton: Skullclamp is banned.

September

• Legacy: Dig Through Time is banned. Black Vise is unbanned.
• Vintage: Chalice of the Void and Dig Through Time are restricted. Thirst for Knowledge is unrestricted.

2016

• Modification of Magic Tournament Rules: The 34 cards that play with ante or have the Conspiracy card type (both banned in all Constructed/Eternal formats) are simplified into two entries in respective ban lists.

January

• Commander: Prophet of Kruphix is banned.
• Modern: Splinter Twin and Summer Bloom are banned.
• Pauper: Cloud of Faeries is banned.

April

• Modern: Eye of Ugin is banned. Ancestral Vision and Sword of the Meek are unbanned.
• Vintage: Lodestone Golem is restricted.

November

• Pauper: Peregrine Drake is banned.

2017

The announcement schedule changed to Monday following each expansion's release prerelease event as well as the fifth Monday after the Pro Tour of respective expansion. The schedule was scaled back and revised in June 2017: Banned and restricted announcements are decoupled from set releases and the competitive schedule. Instead, updates are announced on a scheduled basis, which mostly in a 2-3 months span.

January

• Standard: Emrakul, the Promised End, Smuggler's Copter, and Reflector Mage are banned.
• Modern: Gitaxian Probe and Golgari Grave-Troll are banned.

April

• Standard: Felidar Guardian is banned. The initial announcement was that there would be no changes to Standard; an addendum banning Felidar Guardian came two days later.
• Legacy: Sensei's Divining Top is banned.
• Vintage: Gitaxian Probe and Gush are restricted.
• Commander: Leovold, Emissary of Trest is banned. Protean Hulk is unbanned.

June

• Standard: Aetherworks Marvel is banned.

August

• Vintage: Thorn of Amethyst and Monastery Mentor are restricted. Yawgmoth's Bargain is unrestricted.

December

• Commander: Silver-bordered cards are unbanned for 45 days, from December 1, 2017 to January 15, 2018. The following silver-bordered cards remained banned: Ashnod's Coupon, Double Cross, Double Deal, Double Dip, Double Play, Double Take, Enter the Dungeon, Magical Hacker, Mox Lotus, Once More With Feeling, R&D's Secret Lair, Richard Garfield, Ph.D., Staying Power, and Time Machine.

2018

January

• Standard: Attune with Aether, Rogue Refiner, Ramunap Ruins, and Rampaging Ferocidon are banned.

February

• Modern: Jace, the Mind Sculptor and Bloodbraid Elf are unbanned.

May

• The Brawl format is created. Aetherworks Marvel, Attune with Aether, Felidar Guardian, Rampaging Ferocidon, Ramunap Ruins, and Rogue Refiner are unbanned. Baral, Chief of Compliance, Smuggler's Copter, and Sorcerous Spyglass are banned.

July

• Legacy: Deathrite Shaman and Gitaxian Probe are banned.

2019

January

• Modern: Krark-Clan Ironworks is banned.

February

• Arena Standard: Nexus of Fate is banned.

May

• Pauper: Gush, Gitaxian Probe, and Daze are banned.

June

• Pauper: With the sanctioning and unification of Pauper, High Tide, Hymn to Tourach, and Sinkhole are added to the banned list.

July

• Modern: Bridge from Below is banned.
• Commander: Iona, Shield of Emeria and Paradox Engine are banned. Painter's Servant is unbanned.

August

• Standard: Rampaging Ferocidon is unbanned. However, it remains banned in Arena Standard.
• Modern: Hogaak, Arisen Necropolis and Faithless Looting are banned. Stoneforge Mystic is unbanned.
• Vintage: Karn, the Great Creator, Mental Misstep, Golgari Grave-Troll, and Mystic Forge are restricted. Fastbond is unrestricted.

October

• Standard: Field of the Dead is banned.
• Pauper: Arcum's Astrolabe is banned.
• Pioneer: Introduced as a format for tabletop and Magic Online. Banlist changes will be announced every Monday, separate from the other formats. The fetch lands Bloodstained Mire, Flooded Strand, Polluted Delta, Windswept Heath and Wooded Foothills are banned.

November

• Pioneer:
  • Week 1: Felidar Guardian, Leyline of Abundance and Oath of Nissa are banned.
  • Week 2: Veil of Summer is banned.
• Brawl: Oko, Thief of Crowns is banned.
• Standard: Oko, Thief of Crowns, Once Upon a Time and Veil of Summer are banned.
• Legacy: Wrenn and Six is banned.
• Vintage: Narset, Parter of Veils is restricted.
• Historic: Introduced as a format for Magic Arena. Nexus of Fate is banned in BO1.

December

• Pioneer:
  • Week 1: Field of the Dead, Once Upon a Time and Smuggler's Copter are banned.
  • Week 3: Oko, Thief of Crowns and Nexus of Fate are banned.
• Historic: Field of the Dead, Oko, Thief of Crowns, Once Upon a Time, and Veil of Summer are suspended.

2020

Starting from this year, banned and restricted announcements are no longer made on a fixed schedule. Changes may occur on any given Monday. In addition, Pioneer will no longer make a weekly banned list update and sync up with current updates in other formats.

January

• Modern: Oko, Thief of Crowns, Mox Opal, and Mycosynth Lattice are banned.

March

• Brawl: Golos, Tireless Pilgrim is banned.
• Legacy: Underworld Breach is banned.
• Historic: Oko, Thief of Crowns, Once Upon a Time, and Veil of Summer are banned. Field of the Dead is unsuspended.
• Modern: Once Upon a Time is banned.

April

• Commander: Lutri, the Spellchaser and Flash are banned. Lutri's ban announcement was preemptively made right after it was spoiled.
• Brawl: Lutri, the Spellchaser is banned the day at the release of Ikoria in digital form.

May

• Brawl: Drannith Magistrate and Winota, Joiner of Forces are banned.
• Legacy: Lurrus of the Dream-Den and Zirda, the Dawnwaker are banned.
• Vintage: Lurrus of the Dream-Den is banned. It is the first power level ban in Vintage since 1996, as if it were to be restricted its companion mechanic would have made restricting it meaningless.
• Commander: With the legal card definition synced up with other constructed formats, the previous "non-legal" cards (i.e. banned cards in Vintage prior to Lurrus of the Dream-Den) are banned instead.. This in response to the banning of Lurrus of the Dream-Den in Vintage, which the rules committee decided could remain legal in Commander.

June

• Standard: Agent of Treachery and Fires of Invention are banned.
• Historic: Agent of Treachery and Fires of Invention are suspended. Winota, Joiner of Forces is emergency suspended.

A change to the Companion mechanic was also included in the announcement:

• New companion rule: Once per game, any time you could cast a sorcery (during your main phase when the stack is empty), you can pay 3 generic mana to put your companion from your sideboard into your hand. This is a special action, not an activated ability.

On June 10, in the wake of the Black Lives Matter protests. WotC made an announcement that "cards whose art, text, name, or a combination thereof that are racially or culturally offensive" are banned in sanctioned events. Seven cards were banned immediately when the announcement was made, and their card images and flavor texts were removed from the Gatherer database. This ban also applied to Commander and some non-sanctioned formats.

July

• Historic: Agent of Treachery, Fires of Invention,and Winota, Joiner of Forces are banned. Nexus of Fate which was banned in Bo1 is also banned in Bo3. Burning-Tree Emissary is suspended.
• Modern: Arcum's Astrolabe is banned.
• Pauper: Expedition Map and Mystic Sanctuary are banned.
• Pioneer: Oath of Nissa is unbanned.

August

• Standard: Cauldron Familiar, Growth Spiral, Teferi, Time Raveler and Wilderness Reclamation are banned.
• Brawl:
  • Week 2: Teferi, Time Raveler is banned.
  • Week 3: Runed Halo is banned.
• Historic:
  • Week 2: Teferi, Time Raveler and Wilderness Reclamation are suspended.
  • Week 4: Field of the Dead is banned.
• Historic Brawl: Runed Halo and Gideon's Intervention are banned.
• Pioneer: Inverter of Truth, Kethis, the Hidden Hand, Underworld Breach and Walking Ballista are banned.

September

• Standard: Uro, Titan of Nature's Wrath is banned.

October

• Standard: Omnath, Locus of Creation, Lucky Clover, and Escape to the Wilds are banned.
• Historic: Omnath, Locus of Creation is suspended. Teferi, Time Raveler and Wilderness Reclamation are banned. Burning-Tree Emissary is unsuspended
• Brawl: Omnath, Locus of Creation is banned.

2021

January

• Pauper: Fall from Favor is banned.

February

• Historic: Omnath, Locus of Creation and Uro, Titan of Nature's Wrath are banned.
• Pioneer: Balustrade Spy, Teferi, Time Raveler, Undercity Informer, Uro, Titan of Nature's Wrath, and Wilderness Reclamation are banned .
• Modern: Field of the Dead, Mystic Sanctuary, Simian Spirit Guide, Tibalt's Trickery and Uro, Titan of Nature's Wrath are banned
• Legacy: Arcum's Astrolabe, Dreadhorde Arcanist and Oko, Thief of Crowns are banned.
• Vintage: Lurrus of the Dream-Den is unbanned.

April

• Historic: the Mystical Archive cards Channel, Counterspell, Dark Ritual, Demonic Tutor, Lightning Bolt, Natural Order, and Swords to Plowshares are preemptively banned.
• Historic Brawl: the Mystical Archive cards Channel, Demonic Tutor, Natural Order and Tainted Pact are preemptively banned.

May

• Historic: Thassa's Oracle is banned.

June

• Historic: Time Warp is banned.
• Historic Brawl: Golos, Tireless Pilgrim and Winota, Joiner of Forces are unbanned.

July

• Commander: Hullbreacher is banned.
• Arena Standard 2022: The Book of Exalted Deeds is banned in the preview-queue Standard 2022 format. The ban is set to expire automatically after the next month's rotation.
• Historic: Brainstorm is suspended.

September

• Arena Standard: The Book of Exalted Deeds is automatically unbanned due to rotation.
• Pauper: Chatterstorm and Sojourner's Companion are banned.
• Commander: Golos, Tireless Pilgrim is banned. Worldfire is unbanned.
• Brawl: Pithing Needle is banned.
• Historic Brawl: Pithing Needle is banned.

October

• Historic: Brainstorm and Tibalt's Trickery are banned. Memory Lapse is suspended.

December

• Historic Brawl: Agent of Treachery, Field of the Dead, and Ugin, the Spirit Dragon are banned.

2022

January

• Pauper: Atog, Bonder's Ornament and Prophetic Prism are banned.
• Standard: Alrund's Epiphany, Divide by Zero, and Faceless Haven are banned.
• Legacy: Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer is banned.
• Historic: Memory Lapse is banned. Teferi, Time Raveler is rebalanced into A-Teferi, Time Raveler and unbanned.

February

• Historic: Fires of Invention is rebalanced into A-Fires of Invention and unbanned.

March

• Modern: Lurrus of the Dream-Den is banned.
• Pioneer: Lurrus of the Dream-Den is banned.
• Pauper: Galvanic Relay and Disciple of the Vault are banned. Expedition Map is unbanned

April

• Introduction of Explorer, adopting the pioneer ban list.

May

• Explorer: Tibalt's Trickery and Winota, Joiner of Forces are banned.

June

• Pioneer: Expressive Iteration and Winota, Joiner of Forces are banned.
• Explorer: Expressive Iteration is banned.

July

• Alchemy: Grinning Ignus is banned.
• Historic: Winota, Joiner of Forces is rebalanced into A-Winota, Joiner of Forces and unbanned.

August

• The Gladiator format is formally established: Oko, Thief of Crowns, Nexus of Fate, Field of the Dead, Natural Order and Teferi, Time Raveler are banned.
• Historic Brawl: Chalice of the Void is banned.

September

• Pauper: Aarakocra Sneak, Stirring Bard, Underdark Explorer, and Vicious Battlerager are banned.

October

• Standard: The Meathook Massacre is banned.
• Modern: Yorion, Sky Nomad is banned.

November

• Historic: The Brothers' War Retro Artifact card Mishra's Bauble is preemptively banned.
• Historic Brawl: The Brothers' War Retro Artifact card Phyrexian Revoker is preemptively banned.

2023

March

• Legacy: Expressive Iteration and White Plume Adventurer are banned.
• The Oathbreaker format becomes officially recognized. At the time of recognition, the ban list for Oathbreaker was the Vintage ban list plus: Ad Nauseam, Ancestral Recall, Balance, Biorhythm, Black Lotus, Channel, Dark Ritual, Doomsday, Emrakul, the Aeons Torn, Expropriate, Fastbond, Gifts Ungiven, Griselbrand, High Tide, Jeweled Lotus, Library of Alexandria, Limited Resources, Lion's Eye Diamond, Mana Crypt, Mana Geyser, Mana Vault, Natural Order, Painter's Servant, Primal Surge, Saheeli, the Gifted, Sol Ring, Sundering Titan, Sylvan Primordial, Time Vault, Time Walk, Tinker, Tolarian Academy, Tooth and Nail, Trade Secrets, Upheaval, and Yawgmoth's Bargain.

April

• Historic: The Multiverse Legends card Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer is preemptively banned.

May

Banned and restricted updates are announced to be moved to a yearly schedule when the Fall set comes out and rotation occurs. There will also be “extremely rare” mini-ban windows three weeks after a new set is released.

• Standard: Fable of the Mirror-Breaker, Invoke Despair and Reckoner Bankbuster are banned.