Banned
Tendrils of Agony
Sorcery · {2}{B}{B}
Rationale
Why 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.
Oracle text
What the card does
! This card is currently banned in Premodern. The oracle text is shown for reference only.
Target player loses 2 life and you gain 2 life. Storm (When you cast this spell, copy it for each spell cast before it this turn. You may choose new targets for the copies.)
Format authority
Cited from premodernmagic.com
Per Martin Berlin's Premodern format-authority site: premodernmagic.com/rules . premodernmtg.com mirrors the canonical banlist within 24 hours of any update.
Full analysis
The combo, the data, and the new metagame
Banned 2003-05-26. Rationale: 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. Source: Martin Berlin, premodernmagic.com.
See also: /tendrils-of-agony/