On Monday, February 9th, Wizards of the Coast will announce the latest MTG ban list update. Usually, we’d say this ban list update has been a long time coming, but Wizards is trying something different in 2026. Last year, Wizards announced there would be seven ban windows throughout 2026 to prevent any deck running amok for too long. While this sounded great in theory, now that the ban window is almost upon us, the usual fanfare is nowhere to be seen.
For once, no format is currently plagued by a ban-worthy menace that MTG players can’t wait to see dealt with. Thankfully, while most competitive formats are remarkably healthy, Wizards is still able to shake things up. Commander, in particular, could be due for a whole host of changes this coming Monday.
Commander
Alongside 10 cards being removed from the Game Changers list in October of 2025, Wizards revealed that Thassa’s Oracle and Rhystic Study were considerations for future bannings. Of the two, Thassa’s Oracle seems more likely to get the axe, given its homogeneity as a win condition. Rhystic Study, meanwhile, feels more like a pillar of the format, making it more difficult to remove, even if it’s not entirely fun.
Realistically, while there’s a chance that bans might happen, there are still a handful of unbans that could take place. Thanks to the Game Changers list, these unbans aren’t nearly as scary as they once were, but even then, Biorhythm feels totally fine nowadays. The same is slightly less true for Emrakul, the Aeons Torn and Iona, Shield of Emeria, but both of these cards would be fine as Game Changers.
Alternatively, Wizards may steer clear of Commander ban list changes entirely, opting to update the format’s rules instead. During the last Commander format update, Wizards announced that a change to the hybrid mana rules was up for debate, encouraging players to weigh in. Now, four months on, there’s a good chance that Wizards will formally introduce these changes.
Considering the reaction from players surrounding this proposed change has been fairly positive, it certainly feels like a safe move. On top of this, the timing couldn’t be better, as Lorwyn Eclipsed included a ton of hybrid mana cards. With more and more of these cards appearing at lower rarities recently, this rule change becoming reality feels inevitable.
Ultimately, with so many directions to go, it’s impossible to know which way the Commander Format Panel will go. If you ask us, Emrakul, Biorhythm, and Iona will all be unbanned, and the hybrid mana rules change will be implemented. Whether or not this will actually happen, however, remains to be seen.
Standard
Despite needing repeated bans throughout 2025, miraculously, now we’re in 2026, the Standard format looks remarkably healthy. While there was some ban speculation about Badgermole Cub over the past few months, this was all put to bed recently. At Pro Tour Lorwyn Eclipsed, players showcased a remarkably balanced metagame, with multiple new strategies stealing the show.
Thanks to this, Standard is currently looking better than ever, at least for the time being. While there’s still potential that the metagame could shift in the future, it’s surprisingly stable now. Due to this, we don’t expect there to be any bans in Standard on February 9th.
Pioneer
Out of all the competitive MTG formats, Pioneer is in the most need of attention at the moment. Following the release of MTG Avatar last year, multiple Pioneer decks got a serious boost, but none more so than Izzet Prowess. Adopting many of the new Lessons, this deck could leverage Academic Dispute to gain access to a massive, reasonably-costed toolbox in the sideboard.
While this Learn card has boosted the deck’s resiliency significantly, Cori-Steel Cutter remains the deck’s most problematic card. Much like in Standard, this artifact’s ability to churn out tokens and effectively end games on its own makes it a huge threat. Due to this, MTG players have been complaining about the format for some time.
That being said, the Pioneer format does appear to be slightly self-correcting following the release of Lorwyn Eclipsed. Thanks to Formidable Speaker, Abzan Greasefang is putting up better results than usual against Izzet Prowess. Whether or not this will be enough of a sustainable fix, however, is unclear.
While Cori-Steel Cutter arguably needs to be banned in Pioneer, it remains to be seen if Wizards will give it any love. This once-beloved format hasn’t had major competitive events for quite some time, making players doubt Wizards’ commitment to it. Considering this format is still fairly popular, especially on Magic Online, hopefully Wizards will end up making the right decision.
Modern
Despite its troubled past, Modern is actually in a pretty good spot at the moment. With no single deck dominating the format, there’s a good amount of variety at the top for a change. At the moment, Aggro, Combo, and Control decks are all viable against each other, and the format isn’t stale either.
Between Quantum Riddler and Badgermole Cub, many once lackluster strategies have been given a major boost recently. Now, Moonshadow and Deepway Navigator from Lorwyn Eclipsed are having a similar effect on the format, keeping things feeling fresh and interesting. With this in mind, we don’t expect any changes to the Modern ban list on Monday, February 9th.
Legacy
Following Entomb being banned back in November of last year, alongside Nadu, Winged Wisdom, Legacy has been in a much better place. While Dimir Tempo is still dealing the charge, combo decks like Oops! All Spells, Storm, and Show and Tell decks are now more viable. Even Reanimator decks are still alive and kicking, albeit at a much more respectable and balanced level.
Overall, messing with Legacy in its current state feels like it would do more harm than good. With this in mind, we expect no changes to be made in the format.
As a whole, most major formats are in a very solid state at the moment. This is one of the few times where public outcry for bans has been kept to a minimum. For now, all eyes are on the Commander side of things, and it’ll be interesting to see how Wizards decides to address the format at large. With bans scheduled for 11 a.m. EST on February 9th, thankfully we won’t have to wait long to find out what happens.
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