Looking for the MTG Commander banlist? With such a vast format, knowing which cards you aren't allowed to use can be tricky. In this guide, you'll find a list of every card that's forbidden in Commander, complete with the date it was added to the EDH banlist.
For more bans in other formats, see our full MTG banlist guide. We can also give you more details about upcoming MTG sets and the best MTG Arena decks to play after each new release.
As of December 1, 2025, there are 85 banned cards in MTG's Commander format. Use the links below to check out the latest changes and updates; the full banlist; or Wizards' new system of Game Changers and play brackets in EDH, explained.
Latest Commander banlist update
On April 22, 2025, Wizards of the Coast unbanned five cards in the Commander format: Gifts Ungiven; Sway of the Stars; Braids, Cabal Minion; Coalition Victory; and Panoptic Mirror.
Although no cards were banned in this update, the unbanning of several cards marked a historic moment for the Commander format. These cards were unbanned not long after Wizards of the Coast introduced its new 'Game Changers list' (see later on in this guide).
The cards reintroduced to the format were apparently considered "safe at the power level of Bracket 3 and above". They're also considered to encourage positive play patterns rather than negative ones, or they have "fond memories associated with them".
The five unbanned cards haven't been legal to play since the early 2000s, so they'll undoubtedly perform very differently in the modern meta. "We are not opposed to banning them again at some point in the future if they still prove problematic", Wizards of the Coast says. "However, these feel in line with our expectations and are okay to try given where the format is today."
No further banlist changes are expected for the rest of the year. Wizards promises that we will return to a more regular ban schedule in 2026.
Full Commander banlist as of December 2025
- Ancestral Recall - banned April 2005
- Balance - banned April 2005
- Biorhythm - banned April 2005
- Black Lotus - banned April 2005
- Channel - banned April 2005
- Chaos Orb - banned June 2010
- Dockside Extortionist - banned September 2024
- Emrakul, the Aeons Torn - banned December 2010
- Erayo, Soratami Ascendant - banned September 2014
- Falling Star - banned April 2005
- Fastbond - banned June 2009
- Flash - banned April 2020
- Golos, Tireless Pilgrim - banned September 2021
- Griselbrand - banned June 2012
- Hullbreacher - banned July 2021
- Iona, Shield of Emeria - banned July 2019
- Jeweled Lotus - banned September 2024
- Karakas - banned September 2008
- Leovold, Emissary of Trest - banned April 2017
- Library of Alexandria - banned April 2005
- Limited Resources - banned June 2008
- Lutri, the Spellchaser - banned April 2020
- Mana Crypt - banned September 2024
- Mox Emerald - banned April 2005
- Mox Jet - banned April 2005
- Mox Pearl - banned April 2005
- Mox Ruby - banned April 2005
- Mox Sapphire - banned April 2005
- Nadu, Winged Wisdom - banned September 2024
- Paradox Engine - banned July 2019
- Primeval Titan - banned September 2012
- Prophet of Kruphix - banned January 2016
- Recurring Nightmare - banned February 2008
- Rofellos, Llanowar Emissary - banned September 2014
- Shahrazad - banned September 2011
- Sundering Titan - banned June 2012
- Sylvan Primordial - banned February 2014
- Time Vault - banned December 2008
- Time Walk - banned April 2005
- Tinker - banned March 2009
- Tolarian Academy - banned June 2010
- Trade Secrets - banned April 2013
- Upheaval - banned April 2005
- Yawgmoth's Bargain - banned May 2006
Conspiracy cards
25 cards with the Conspiracy type are banned in Commander and all other formats. The full list of Conspiracy cards banned in Commander is:
- Adriana's Valor
- Advantageous Proclamation
- Assemble the Rank and Vile
- Backup Plan
- Brago's Favor
- Double Stroke
- Echoing Boon
- Emissary's Ploy
- Hired Heist
- Hold the Perimeter
- Hymn of the Wilds
- Immediate Action
- Incendiary Dissent
- Iterative Analysis
- Muzzio's Preparations
- Natural Unity
- Power Play
- Secret Summoning
- Secrets of Paradise
- Sentinel Dispatch
- Sovereign's Realm
- Summoner's Bond
- Unexpected Potential
- Weight Advantage
- Worldknit
Ante cards
Nine cards that reference 'playing for ante' are banned in Commander and all other formats. This is because they don't work within the rules. Playing for keeps in a four-player game is probably a bad bet anyhow. The banned MTG ante cards are:
- Amulet of Quoz
- Bronze Tablet
- Contract from Below
- Darkpact
- Demonic Attorney
- Jewelled Bird
- Rebirth
- Tempest Efreet
- Timmerian Fiends
Offensive cards
The Commander banlist includes cards that are racially or culturally insensitive. These cards have been banned in all MTG formats, and their images were even removed from Wizards of the Coast's database in 2020. The seven cards currently included in this ban are:
Game Changers list
In 2025, Wizards of the Coast introduced a separate but linked 'Game Changers' list to the banlist conversation. Game Changers are cards that dramatically warp a game when (or shortly after) they're played. The number of game changers a deck contains is one factor in determining which Commander 'bracket' it falls into during pre-game discussions.
Though certainly not banned - or even at risk of banning - Wizards has made it clear that future banned cards are likely to come from this list. Similarly, any cards that get unbanned are likely to move onto the Game Changers list.
Wizards of the Coast updated the Game Changers list along with the latest Commander banlist update on April 22.
Removed from the Game Changers list:
- Trouble in Pairs
- Trinisphere
Added to the Game Changers list:
- Teferi's Protection
- Humility
- Narset, Parter of Veils
- Intuition
- Consecrated Sphinx
- Necropotence
- Orcish Bowmasters
- Notion Thief
- Deflecting Swat
- Gamble
- Worldly Tutor
- Crop Rotation
- Seedborn Muse
- Natural Order
- Food Chain
- Aura Shards
- Field of the Dead
- Mishra's Workshop
Current Game Changers list
- Drannith Magistrate
- Thassa's Oracle
- Urza, Lord High Artificer
- Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur
- Opposition Agent
- Tergrid, God of Fright
- Vorinclex, Voice of Hunger
- Kinnan, Bonder Prodigy
- Yuriko, the Tiger's Shadow
- Winota, Joiner of Forces
- Grand Arbiter Augustin IV
- Enlightened Tutor
- Cyclonic Rift
- Force of Will
- Fierce Guardianship
- Mystical Tutor
- Vampiric Tutor
- Ad Nauseam
- Serra's Sanctum
- Gaea's Cradle
- Ancient Tomb
- Glacial Chasm
- The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale
- Smothering Tithe
- Rhystic Study
- Underworld Breach
- Survival of the Fittest
- Expropriate
- Demonic Tutor
- Imperial Seal
- Jeska's Will
- Bolas's Citadel
- The One Ring
- Chrome Mox
- Grim Monolith
- Lion's Eye Diamond
- Mox Diamond
- Mana Vault
- Teferi's Protection
- Humility
- Narset, Parter of Veils
- Intuition
- Consecrated Sphinx
- Necropotence
- Orcish Bowmasters
- Notion Thief
- Deflecting Swat
- Gamble
- Worldly Tutor
- Crop Rotation
- Seedborn Muse
- Natural Order
- Food Chain
- Aura Shards
- Field of the Dead
- Mishra's Workshop
Brackets explained
The beta brackets system is a tool to help Commander players talk about the gameplay experience they want to create with their deck. Each bracket has a set of deck-building conditions: if a deck meets those conditions, it sits in that bracket.
1. Exhibition
Decks prioritize theme over function and showcase a unique idea or experience over valuing winning.
- No game changers
- No mass land denial
- No extra turns
- No two-card infinite combos (game-enders, lockouts, or infinite)
- Few tutors
2. Core
Decks are focused, even if every card choice isn't the highest power, and comparable to an average precon. Wins are often telegraphed or incremental.
- No game changers
- No mass land denial
- No chaining extra turns
- No two-card infinite combos (game-enders, lockouts, or infinite)
- Few tutors
3. Upgraded
Decks are thoughtfully designed, full of synergistic or strong cards. Games could end out of nowhere with powerful spells and late-game combos.
- No mass land denial
- No chaining extra turns
- Late game, two-card infinite combos allowed
- Up to three game changers
4. Optimized
Decks are turbocharged with the most powerful cards in the format. Everybody intends to win and is ready to play against anything.
No restrictions other than the banlist.
5. CEDH
Decks are built to win in the competitive metagame. Players intend to use only the most powerful strategies.
- No restrictions other than the banlist.
Are Commander brackets power levels?
Commander brackets are numbered, but these numbers don't measure the power level of a deck. The higher the bracket, the more tools the deck has to succeed in competitive, meta-focused gameplay. The lower the bracket, the more casual and focused on 'doing something neat with friends' the deck is.
Hopefully, players can use the brackets to choose decks that have similar gameplay goals. There will still be decks that perform well above or below what their bracket suggests.
Commander has the potential to be a very high-powered format. You only have to glance at our cEDH Tier List or guide to the strongest MTG Commanders to see that. For more on Magic: The Gathering, here's the latest on the MTG release schedule, plus the MTG Arena codes that still work.
We also maintain an up-to-date Yugioh banlist and Yugioh MasterDuel banlist, if you're a duelist as well as a planeswalker.