The MTG Arena banlist doesn’t change often, but when it does, it’s always a big deal. After all, not only do bans have format-warping consequences, but they also inherently increase confusion. Thanks to this, Wizards of the Coast doesn’t ban cards lightly, but it does happen. Since 2023, MTG bans now happen on a mostly fixed schedule.
Thanks to this schedule, we know the next MTG ban announcement will take place on March 31st, 2025.
Thankfully, on MTG Arena, bans are both easy to keep track of and provide compensation. If you own a card that gets banned in any format, you’ll receive an equal amount of Wildcards for your trouble. Unfortunately, Wildcards are not awarded when a card is rebalanced in Historic or Alchemy.
Here is everything you need to know about each format’s banlist on MTG Arena.
MTG Arena Banlist Standard
Currently, there is only one card that is banned in the Standard format on MTG Arena. This banning, however, is unlike most others in Magic: The Gathering’s history, as it only affects half the format.
Here’s the entire banlist for the Standard format on MTG Arena
- Leyline of Resonance (Best-of-One)
Notably, Leyline of Resonance is only banned in best-of-one matches. In Traditional/Best-of-Three games, the card is able to be used in either the main deck or sideboard. The card is also still legal in Limited events and in special formats.
Almost exclusively affecting MTG Arena, this unusual ban was necessitated by the lack of counterplay available in Best-of-One matches. Potentially fueling turn-two kills, Leyine of Resonance necessitated instant removal, which is difficult in Best-of-One matches. In Best-of-Three matches, however, the sideboard becomes a valuable tool, allowing opponents to stabilize.
Without the sideboard, Leyline of Resonance was able to completely dominate in the Best-of-One Standard metagame. No top of being overly powerful, it was also incredibly un-fun to play against, typically winning before interaction is available. As a result, this card was banned, but only in Best-of-One matches on MTG Arena.
MTG Arena Banlist Historic
Wizards of the Coast tends to be rather aggressive with the Historic banlist. Time and time again when new powerful sets have been released, Wizards has chosen to pre-ban cards. This is done to keep the format’s metagame intact while keeping it distinct from other formats.
Alongside pre-bans, Wizards of the Coast will often ban problematic cards out of Historic when needed. Thankfully, the rigorous pre-ban policy tends to prevent massive changes being required whenever a major ban window rolls around.
The cards currently banned in Historic on MTG Arena are as follows:
- Agent of Treachery
- Arid Mesa
- Blood Moon
- Bloodstained Mire
- Brainstorm
- Channel
- Commandeer
- Counterspell
- Dark Ritual
- Demonic Tutor
- Endurance
- Field of the Dead
- Flare of Cultivation
- Flare of Denial
- Flare of Duplication
- Flare of Fortitude
- Flare of Malice
- Flooded Strand
- Force of Vigor
- Fury
- Grief
- Harbinger of the Seas
- Intruder Alarm
- Land Tax
- Lightning Bolt
- Mana Drain
- Marsh Flats
- Memory Lapse
- Misty Rainforest
- Natural Order
- Necropotence
- Nexus of Fate
- Oko, Thief of Crowns
- Once Upon a Time
- Polluted Delta
- Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer
- Reanimate
- Scalding Tarn
- Show and Tell
- Sneak Attack
- Solitude
- Spreading Seas
- Subtlety
- Swords to Plowshares
- Temporal Manipulation
- Thassa’s Oracle
- Tibalt’s Trickery
- Time Warp
- Uro, Titan of Nature’s Wrath
- Veil of Summer
- Verdant Catacombs
- Wilderness Reclamation
- Windswept Heath
- Winter Moon
- Wooded Foothills
MTG Arena Banlist Timeless
There is no banlist for the Timeless format on MTG Arena. Instead, Timeless has a Restricted List, just like Vintage on paper. When a card is on the Restricted List, only one copy of it can be used in the main deck and sideboard combined.
Currently, three cards are on the Restricted List for Timeless. These cards were determined following a series of preliminary events that tested the format’s viability. Since its debut, Wizards has been hesitant to add more cards to the Restricted List, but it is an option where needs be.
The cards currently Restricted in the Timeless format on MTG Arena are as follows:
- Channel
- Demonic Tutor
- Tibalt’s Trickery
As a note, when a card is added to Timeless’ Restricted List, players can receive compensation. Somewhat unlike typical bans, players will receive wildcards for each copy of the card in their collection greater than one. For example, if you have four copies of Show and Tell and the card gets restricted, you’ll receive three mythic Wildcards.
MTG Arena Banlist Explorer
Currently, there are 30 cards on the Explorer banlist on MTG Arena. Notably, this list is much smaller than Pioneer’s current banlist. As more cards get added to Arena and the formats become more aligned, this divide between banlists will slowly be closed.
The cards currently banned in Explorer on MTG Arena are as follows:
- Amalia Benavides Aguirre
- Arid Mesa
- Bloodstained Mire
- Expressive Iteration
- Field of the Dead
- Flooded Strand
- Geological Appraiser
- Jegantha, the Wellspring
- Karn, the Great Creator
- Kethis, the Hidden Hand
- Leyline of Abundance
- Lurrus, of the Dream-Den
- Marsh Flats
- Misty Rainforest
- Nexus of Fate
- Oko, Thief of Crowns
- Once Upon a Time
- Polluted Delta
- Scalding Tarn
- Sorin, Imperious Bloodlord
- Teferi, Time Raveler
- Tibalt’s Trickery
- Underworld Breach
- Uro, Titan of Nature’s Wrath
- Veil of Summer
- Verdant Catacombs
- Wilderness Reclamation
- Windswept Heath
- Winota, Joiner of Forces
- Wooded Foothills
MTG Arena Banlist Brawl
While the Brawl format primarily relies on matchmaking to keep games fair, there’s also a robust banlist. For better or worse, some MTG cards are just too strong, even for this vastly diverse casual-oriented format. At the moment, there are 19 cards banned in Brawl on Arena.
The cards currently banned in Brawl on MTG Arena are as follows:
- Agent of Treachery
- Chalice of the Void
- Channel
- Demonic Tutor
- Disruptor Flute
- Drannith Magistrate
- Field of the Dead
- Gideon’s Intervention
- Lutri, the Spellchaser
- Meddling Mage
- Natural Order
- Nexus of Fate
- Oko, Theif of Crowns
- Phyrexian Revoker
- Pithing Needle
- Runed Halo
- Sorcerous Spyglass
- Tainted Pact
- Ugin, the Spirit Dragon
MTG Arena Banlist Standard Brawl
Currently, no cards are banned in the Standard Brawl format on MTG Arena.
Previously, Pithing Needle was banned, hence the image above, but this card has since rotated out of the format. From this past banning, we can rest assured that any cards which prevent you from playing your Commander, won’t be playable in Standard Brawl. This follows the rationale behind many banned Brawl cards.
MTG Arena Banlist Alchemy
Currently, one card is banned in the Alchemy format on MTG Arena.
- Monstrous Rage
According to Wizards of the Coast, Monstrous Rage is one of the rare cards that can’t be fixed by one of Alchemy’s trademark rebalancings. Speaking in an announcement post, Wizards stated the card has a “very tight design” which makes tweaks nigh-impossible. Rebalancing this card would either completely reinvent it, or make it entirely unplayable. As a result of this design difficulty, the card was banned from Alchemy outright.
Thankfully, the vast majority of Alchemy cards can be rebalanced in order to make them more fair in the format’s metagame. Most recently, we saw this with Leyline of Resonance, which was briefly suspended from the format. After some tweaking, however, Wizards was able to return this once meta-dominating card to the fray.
With this in mind, Alchemy bans should be very few and far between, but they evidently can happen.
The Next MTG Bans
As we mentioned at the beginning of this article, the MTG Arena banlist now changes on a fixed schedule. Once per year, and following the release of each set, Wizards of the Coast has assigned a window to make ban changes, if needed. Alongside this loose calendar, Wizards confirms the exact date for the next bans whenever making a ban announcement.
Currently, the next ban announcement is scheduled to take place on March 31st, 2025. While this is quite a while away, many MTG Arena formats aren’t in need of massive changes right now. Historic, Standard and even Alchemy are all in pretty good places at the time being. With this in mind, the next MTG ban announcement may be rather uneventful when it rolls around.
