Maintaining a healthy and well-balanced game is particularly challenging in the Modern format, which includes cards from all the way back in 2003. A Constructed 60-card format, Modern encourages players to invest in a deck for the long-haul. It’s all the more important, then, to know what cards are banned and which sets are legal.
Understanding the metagame is an essential aspect of playing Modern—but so is expertly piloting your deck. We’ve covered everything a new player needs to know about Modern. Here is our complete list of banned cards in the Modern set, as well as a full list of the legal sets in the format.
List of Banned Magic Cards in Modern
Most recently, Lurrus of the Dream-Den was banned from the Modern format. This change has major implications to the metagame moving forward.
The following MTG cards are currently banned in the Modern format:
- Ancient Den
- Arcum’s Astrolabe
- Birthing Pod
- Blazing Shoal
- Bridge From Below
- Chrome Mox
- Cloudpost
- Dark Depths
- Deathrite Shaman
- Dig Through Time
- Dread Return
- Eye of Ugin
- Faithless Looting
- Field of the Dead
- Gitaxian Probe
- Glimpse of Nature
- Golgari Grave-Troll
- Great Furnace
- Green Sun’s Zenith
- Hogaak, Arisen Necropolis
- Hypergenesis
- Krark-Clan Ironworks
- Lurrus of the Dream-Den
- Mental Misstep
- Mox Opal
- Mycosynth Lattice
- Mystic Sanctuary
- Oko, Thief of Crowns
- Once Upon a Time
- Ponder
- Preordain
- Punishing Fire
- Rite of Flame
- Seat of the Synod
- Second Sunrise
- Seething Song
- Sensei’s Divining Top
- Simian Spirit Guide
- Skullclamp
- Splinter Twin
- Summer Bloom
- Tibalt’s Trickery
- Treasure Cruise
- Tree of Tales
- Umezawa’s Jitte
- Uro, Titan of Nature’s Wrath
- Vault of Whispers
What Sets are Legal in Modern?
The Modern format allows cards from Eighth Edition forward. This excludes supplementary sets (aside from Modern Horizons and Modern Horizons 2) and commander decks. However, “Timeshifted cards in Time Spiral (even never reprinted in the modern frame), cards from Planeswalker decks, and Buy-a-Box promos are considered legal in this format.”
The following sets are legal in Modern tournaments:
- Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty
- Innistrad: Crimson Vow
- Innistrad: Midnight Hunt
- Adventures in the Forgotten Realms
- Modern Horizons 2
- Strixhaven
- Kaldheim
- Zendikar Rising
- Core Set 2021
- Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths
- Theros Beyond Death
- Throne of Eldraine
- Core Set 2020
- Modern Horizons
- War of the Spark
- Ravnica Allegiance
- Guilds of Ravnica
- Core Set 2019
- Dominaria
- Rivals of Ixalan
- Ixalan
- Hour of Devastation
- Amonkhet
- Aether Revolt
- Kaladesh
- Eldritch Moon
- Shadows over Innistrad
- Oath of the Gatewatch
- Battle for Zendikar
- Magic Origins
- Dragons of Tarkir
- Fate Reforged
- Khans of Tarkir
- Magic 2015
- Journey into Nyx
- Born of the Gods
- Theros
- Magic 2014
- Dragon’s Maze
- Gatecrash
- Return to Ravnica
- Magic 2013
- Avacyn Restored
- Dark Ascension
- Innistrad
- Magic 2012
- New Phyrexia
- Mirrodin Besieged
- Scars of Mirrodin
- Magic 2011
- Rise of the Eldrazi
- Worldwake
- Zendikar
- Magic 2010
- Alara Reborn
- Conflux
- Shards of Alara
- Eventide
- Shadowmoor
- Morningtide
- Lorwyn
- Tenth Edition
- Future Sight
- Planar Chaos
- Time Spiral
- Coldsnap
- Dissension
- Guildpact
- Ravnica: City of Guilds
- Ninth Edition
- Saviors of Kamigawa
- Eighth Edition
- Betrayers of Kamigawa
- Champions of Kamigawa
- Fifth Dawn
- Darksteel
- Mirrodin
Wizards of the Coast (WotC) monitors the competitive health and balance of every MTG format. As such, this list will inevitably change as more cards are banned and new sets are released. These two factors affect the metagame more than any other. As such, it’s important for competitive and casual players alike to stay updated on their current deck-building options.
Last Updated: March 7, 2022
What About Brothers war