The Premodern Banlist — Every Banned Card

Post-MTGO era

2026 onward

1

Parallax Tide 2026-01-18 Banned Parallax Tide combined with Opalescence (or similar enchantment-as-creature effects) produced a game-ending lock by removing all of an opponent's lands from the game indefinitely. The combination proved too oppressive and was banned effective January 18, 2026.

Format founding

2003

32

Amulet of Quoz 2003-05-26 Banned Amulet of Quoz is an ante card (printed in Ice Age) — it can make a player lose the game outright via an ante coin-flip, and ante mechanics are not used in tournament or community play. Banned at the format's founding alongside the other ante cards.
Brainstorm 2003-05-26 Banned Brainstorm provides exceptional card selection and combo-enabling power, particularly with fetchlands. Banned at the format's founding per format design philosophy.
Balance 2003-05-26 Banned Balance is a one-mana sorcery that simultaneously devastates lands, hand, and creatures, offering unmatched efficiency. Banned at the format's founding as an unfair resource-denial effect.
Bronze Tablet 2003-05-26 Banned Bronze Tablet involves a wagering mechanic (exchanging cards with the opponent) that is inherently unsuitable for tournament play. Banned at founding.
Channel 2003-05-26 Banned Channel converts life totals directly into colorless mana, enabling explosive kills with Fireball and similar cards. Banned at the format's founding as a foundationally broken effect.
Demonic Consultation 2003-05-26 Banned Demonic Consultation provides instant-speed library access at the cost of removing cards, enabling deterministic combo lines. Banned at the format's founding.
Earthcraft 2003-05-26 Banned Earthcraft combined with token generators (notably Squirrel Nest) produces infinite mana and creatures in one card combination, creating a two-card game-winning loop. Banned at the format's founding.
Entomb 2003-05-26 Banned Entomb tutors directly to the graveyard for a single black mana at instant speed, enabling trivially consistent reanimator and Recurring Nightmare strategies. Banned at the format's founding.
Goblin Recruiter 2003-05-26 Banned Goblin Recruiter stacks the entire library's worth of Goblins onto the top of the deck for two mana, enabling deterministic lethal turns with Goblin Lackey or Goblin Ringleader. Banned at the format's founding.
Grim Monolith 2003-05-26 Banned Grim Monolith provides mana acceleration and combined with Power Artifact creates infinite colorless mana. Banned at the format's founding.
Jeweled Bird 2003-05-26 Banned Jeweled Bird is an Ante card inherently unsuited to tournament play. Banned at the format's founding.
Land Tax 2003-05-26 Banned Land Tax draws three basics per turn when behind on lands, providing a nearly cost-free card advantage engine that warps deck construction and game states. Banned at the format's founding.
Mana Vault 2003-05-26 Banned Mana Vault produces three colorless mana for one mana with minimal drawback at tournament timescales, representing broken mana acceleration. Banned at the format's founding.
Memory Jar 2003-05-26 Banned Memory Jar draws seven cards (effectively) for five mana at instant speed, enabling explosive combo turns. Banned at the format's founding.
Mind Twist 2003-05-26 Banned Mind Twist discards an opponent's entire hand for X black mana, offering unmatched early resource denial with no symmetry. Banned at the format's founding.
Mind's Desire 2003-05-26 Banned Mind's Desire is a storm spell that copies itself for each spell cast this turn, producing game-winning cascades with even modest storm counts. Banned at the format's founding.
Mystical Tutor 2003-05-26 Banned Mystical Tutor fetches any instant or sorcery to the top of the library for a single blue mana at instant speed, acting as a fourth copy of any combo piece and enabling degenerate consistency. Banned at the format's founding.
Necropotence 2003-05-26 Banned Necropotence draws up to seven additional cards per turn cycle at the cost of life, providing card advantage so efficient it warps formats. Banned at the format's founding.
Strip Mine 2003-05-26 Banned Strip Mine unconditionally destroys any land for no mana, enabling turn-one land destruction that creates unplayable game states. Banned at the format's founding.
Tempest Efreet 2003-05-26 Banned Tempest Efreet is an Ante card (can remove opponent's top card from the game) inherently unsuitable for tournament play. Banned at the format's founding.
Time Spiral 2003-05-26 Banned Time Spiral draws seven cards, untaps all permanents, and is effectively free — enabling degenerate storm and combo turns. Banned at the format's founding.
Timmerian Fiends 2003-05-26 Banned Timmerian Fiends is an Ante card inherently unsuitable for tournament play. Banned at the format's founding.
Tolarian Academy 2003-05-26 Banned Tolarian Academy produces mana equal to the number of artifacts in play, enabling arbitrarily large mana with artifact engines. Banned at the format's founding as a fundamentally broken land.
Vampiric Tutor 2003-05-26 Banned Vampiric Tutor fetches any card to the top of the library at instant speed for minimal cost, providing combo-enabling consistency comparable to Mystical Tutor across all card types. Banned at the format's founding.
Yawgmoth's Bargain 2003-05-26 Banned Yawgmoth's Bargain draws cards equal to life paid, providing essentially unlimited card draw in any life-gain shell. Banned at the format's founding as a Necropotence-plus that warps deck construction.
Yawgmoth's Will 2003-05-26 Banned Yawgmoth's Will replays all cards in the graveyard for a turn, producing mana, spells, and card advantage simultaneously. Banned at the format's founding as among the most powerful individual spells ever printed.
Flash 2003-05-26 Banned Flash lets you put any creature onto the battlefield for a fraction of its cost — sacrificing it immediately if you can't pay the difference — which turns it into a free, instant-speed engine for explosive and unfair combo starts. Banned at the format's founding.
Force of Will 2003-05-26 Banned Force of Will is free interaction — a hard counter you can cast for 1 life and a blue card instead of its mana cost — letting combo and control decks defend their plan or stop yours without ever tapping out. Banned at the format's founding to keep interaction mana-based and honest.
Rebirth 2003-05-26 Banned Rebirth is an ante card — it plays for ownership of cards staked before the game — and ante mechanics are not used in community or sanctioned play. Banned at the format's founding alongside the other ante cards.
Tendrils of Agony 2003-05-26 Banned Tendrils of Agony is the premier Storm payload: with a high enough storm count it drains 20 or more life in a single turn, making fast ritual-and-tutor combo decks lethal out of nowhere. Banned at the format's founding to keep Storm combo out of the format.
Windfall 2003-05-26 Banned Windfall refills your hand while forcing everyone to discard and redraw, a cheap and explosive card-advantage engine that powers combo and lock shells — especially alongside fast artifact mana. Banned at the format's founding as an overpowered draw-and-combo enabler.
Worldgorger Dragon 2003-05-26 Banned Worldgorger Dragon, looped with Animate Dead or Necromancy, repeatedly exiles and returns all of your other permanents to generate infinite mana and a game-ending payoff. Banned at the format's founding as an infinite-combo engine.

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