Since mid-2023, Wizards of the Coast has used a mostly fixed ban schedule. In each ban announcement, a new date is announced that players can look forward to. Considering MTG formats aren’t always the most balanced, many players end up looking forward to this pre-announced date. As such, it’s always worthwhile to know exactly when the next MTG bans are going to be.
If you’re one of the many MTG players keen to keep tabs on bans, you’re in luck. We’ve got the rundown of when the next MTG bans are, and what to expect when they happen.
When Are the Next MTG Bans?
The next MTG bans are scheduled to take place on March 23rd, 2026. This upcoming ban was announced last year, along with six other ban announcement dates for 2026. Thanks to these reveals, MTG players now know, roughly, when every ban should happen this year.
This is intended to give players more security, so they’re not surprised by bans happening out of the blue. This will be incredibly important for 2026, since some of the ban dates overlap with major MTG tournaments.
Here are all of the confirmed dates for MTG bans in 2026.
- February 9th, 2026
- March 23rd, 2026
- May 18th, 2026
- June 3rd, 2026
- August 10th, 2026
- October 12th, 2026
- December TBD
Notably, some MTG formats have their own ban schedules that do not follow the preannounced cadence. Commander, for instance, tends to do its own thing, even now that Wizards of the Coast runs the format. Similarly, Duel Commander, which is a player-run format, does not have a fixed ban schedule.
MTG Next Bans
With the next round of MTG bans just a few days away, many players are speculating on what will get hit. In a surprising twist, especially given how packed last year’s ban schedule was, there aren’t any obvious candidates for a ban right now, in any format.
While Standard certainly has its frontrunners, specifically Mono-Green Landfall and Izzet Prowess, none of these decks have a problematic meta share. Badgermole Cub had players calling for bans soon after its release, but now that things have settled, it seems fairly reasonable. There’s a healthy balance of archetypes in Standard right now, which is great to see after the long Vivi Summer of 2025.
It’s the same story in Modern, with the format being quite well-balanced as well right now. Boros Energy is definitely the best deck, but not by too big a margin, so there’s nothing that screams “essential ban” in here. In fact, we might actually see some Modern unbans in this announcement. As the recent No Ban List Modern events have shown, cards like Punishing Fire and Umezawa’s Jitte could likely come back with no problems.
Things are similar in Pioneer, Legacy, and Pauper as well. Overall, we’re in a strangely balanced period for Magic, which is great news indeed. With Commander’s next update coming sometime in “May or June” according to Gavin Verhey, the next couple of months should be quiet ones on the MTG bans front.
2026 MTG Bans
So far, 2026 has been fairly uneventful in terms of MTG bans. We’ve had one announcement, and that barely made any changes at all to paper Magic. Heck, MTG Arena has seen more updates at this early stage of the year. With how balanced the formats are feeling right now, hopefully this can continue for a while yet. Here are all the bans and unbans of 2026, in chronological order:
February 9th Banned and Restricted Announcement
- Commander: Biorhythm and Farewell are unbanned. Lutri, the Spellchaser is unbanned, but banned as a Companion.
- Historic: Eldrazi Temple, Ajani, Nacatl Pariah, Crop Rotation, and Scholar of the Lost Trove are banned. Magus of the Moon, Harbinger of the Seas, Force of Vigor, Force of Negation, Endurance, Wilderness Reclamation and Agent of Treachery are unbanned.
- Timeless: Necropotence is restricted.
- Alchemy: Kona, Rescue Beastie, Val, Marooned Surveyor, Dazzling Flameweaver, Marshland Hordemaster, Charged Conjuration, Tempest Trapper, Sanguine Soothsayer, Polterheist, Valiant Emberkin, Ethrimik, Imagined Fiend, Network Marauder, Prototype X-8, and Sliver Weftwinder are rebalanced.
2025 MTG Bans
While things have calmed down a bit now on the MTG bans front, 2025 was a different story. For better or worse, the year was busy one, with 30 cards being banned across four announcements. Here are all the bans that happened during 2025, in chronological order.
March 31st Banned and Restricted Announcement
- Modern: Underworld Breach is banned
- Legacy: Sowing Mycospawn and Troll of Khazad-dum are banned.
- Pauper: Basking Broodscale, Kuldotha Rebirth, and Deadly Dispute are banned. Prophetic Prism and High Tide are unbanned.
April 22nd Banned and Restricted Announcement
- Commander: Gifts Ungiven, Sway of the Stars, Braids, Cabal Minion, Coalition Victory, and Panoptic Mirror are unbanned.
June 30th Banned and Restricted Announcement
- Standard: Cori-Steel Cutter, Abuelo’s Awakening, Monstrous Rage, Heartfire Hero, Up the Beanstalk, Hopeless Nightmare, and This Town Ain’t Big Enough are banned.
- Pioneer Best-of-One on MTG Arena: Tibalt’s Trickery is banned.
- Historic: Counterspell is unbanned.
November 10th Banned and Restricted Announcement
- Standard: Vivi Ornitier, Screaming Nemesis, and Profit’s Eidetic Memory are banned
- Pioneer: Heartfire Hero is banned.
- Legacy: Entomb and Nadu, Winged Wisdom are banned.
- Pauper: High Tide is banned.
- Historic: Force of Negation, Frantic Search, Mystical Tutor, Entomb, and Dark Depths are pre-banned.
- Brawl: Strip Mine, Mana Drain, Chrome Mox, and Ancient Tomb are banned.
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