5 Cards That Were Almost Instantly Banned in Magic: The Gathering

Sometimes the powerlevel of new cards goes too far. We are counting down the 5 fastest bans in the history of Magic the Gathering.
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[@CardmarketMagic]

honorable mentions: bit.ly/3ugq0j3

[@marcofrancischello676]

There is something wrong with the prices of the cards you display. I’m pretty sure you cannot find a playable black lotus for

[@frikifit]

"Companions was a mechanic that brought lots of joy!" LMAO

[@nickniehaus1763]

I like Obosh… mono black or red Obosh was cool.

[@Sidnv]

At least it's true in limited and cube. Nice that they find a home somewhere. Lurrus is so fun in draft.

[@TheFrosken]

I just want to say to Jamin that you’re owning alopecia. I have it myself and I know how difficult it can be to be around people when it’s present, and I want just to say that you’re a strong person putting yourself in a public eye like you are with patches. It’s a huge step for everyone suffering with it to see someone being comfortable in front of a camera having it. Thank you.

[@ShinkuDragon]

i was there for the lutri thing. off the top of my head the commander commitee mentioned they pre-banned it just so people wouldn't go buy/reserve their copy, and then when they drop the bomb on set release people wouldn't feel bad.

[@HurricaneGregor]

Exactly. Also, Sheldon was a member of said committee, which these folks seemed to not realize in the video.

[@casteanpreswyn7528]

Honestly, the Companion mechanic is what should've been banned.

[@justinfriedman2039]

​@@casteanpreswyn7528It was just an awful mechanic to play against. If the cards were absolutely awful, it still would've been too strong.

[@stormycat0905]

Memory Jar should be on this list. It was legal for ten days in 1999 before being added to the banned list. However, the banned list wasn't published until the first of the month at that time so people were playing it unaware for a month.

[@josephmathes]

This is in the honorable mentions in the pinned comment

[@robertdascoli949]

I can't believe Magic printed a card that said "draw 7 cards" with the downside of "you only get to use them for 1 turn" and thought that good enough.

[@dstreetz91]

I mean it was urza block, powerlevel back then was wild in terms of what they would do. Necropotence was a card they always wanted in standard, they thought making it more expensive so you drew the card immediately was much cleaner, time spiral was printed in the same set as tolarian academy...oh and they thought yawgmoth's will, one of the most powerful cards ever, would be a block constructed only card that would be used with whetstone.

[@alexpimentel7170]

I remember playing in a regional right after Urza's Legacy was released. The opening rounds were sealed, then next round was type 2, then concluded with draft. To this day, the judge's repeated announcements that Jar was playable if opened in sealed or draft but banned in constructed sits in my head. They must've repeated that line 50 times throughout the day

[@Morphling92]

The Urza block has to be filled with the most broken cards outside the original set. Memory jar. Academy(and its two slightly less broken land friends). Tinker. All the blue untap your land spells. Grim Monolith. The list just continues.

[@nedcurfman3486]

You forgot the obvious one- Pot of Greed. Pot of Greed has NEVER been legal in any format

[@BaronSengir1008]

But does anyone actually know what Pot of Greed even does?!?

[@Ezullof]

@@BaronSengir1008In Yu Gi Oh, reading the card lets you pretend that you know what it does, so it depends on the player really

[@christianhanel2129]

​@BaronSengir1008 it's a magic card that allows me to draw 2 cards from the top of my deck

[@peskywombat4915]

Oh, so that’s why I wasn’t allowed to play one at the most recent mtg tournament(joke)

[@BaronSengir1008]

​@@EzullofNobody can read Yu-Gi-Oh cards... The text is so small!

[@paprika6282]

I was surprised to not see Geological Appraiser on this list, i think it was banned in pioneer in 14 days or something like that

[@jacobfife7273]

Yeah it was 17 days after release or 24 after prerelease. Not sure when the start date for this begins

[@janmelantu7490]

For those wondering about Lutri’s timeline, Wizards often gives the commander rules committee and advisory group a preview of new cards for discussion and consulting, and when they sent over the file for Ikoria, they said “hey you’re probably going to want to ban Lutri in some way”. The RC and CAG discussed whether or not to ban it fully or just as a companion (like they used to do with certain commanders like Braids and Kokusho), and they decided for simplicity to just ban it outright. The immediate announcement was so people didn’t try pre-ordering it. Fun fact: the only Highlander format where Lutri is legal as a companion is 7-point (Australian), where it sits at 2 points if it’s your companion, so you can only have 5 other points in your deck.

[@lachlanrussell18]

I have a bunch of friends who play 7 point, I had no idea it was an Australia specific format. Nice that we’re having an impact on the game, however small. Dope!

[@therealax6]

In the end, the problem with Lutri is that it's free. If it has a deckbuilding cost, it's perfectly fine. Making the card essentially read "Companion - Your deck only contains cards worth up to 5 points total" makes it have a real restriction.

[@EldritchSquiggle]

Leviathan in the intro is a deep cut at this point

[@Gwinnmusic]

Lutri is one of the reasons why I wish Commander would bring back the "Banned as" banlist instead of just banning everything altogether. I really loved the idea of an Elemental Otter, and as someone who couldn't care less about companions (and I feel like Commander should just ban that mechanic altogether), I wished that it could be used as my Commander. Yeah, sure, you can always Rule 0 it (and so far there has been zero problems with it), but this just perfectly represents how some cards are only problematic in ONE specific way, but easily could be used and utilized in another.

[@casteanpreswyn7528]

The mechanic absolutely needs to be banned. It fundamentally breaks the rules of the format.

[@Miluric]

I agree, but I personally just want to run it as a second copy of Dualcaster Mage in the 99.

[@Gwinnmusic]

@@MiluricThat’s fair and I think both of us should have that option! Both as a 99 and commander Lutri is a fair card, it’s just the already fundamentally broken companion mechanics that makes it unplayable in that one specific way. If it was “Banned as Companion” (or as I proposed, just ban companions) then we both could get what we wanted

[@Gwinnmusic]

@@casteanpreswyn7528I agree, but I wouldn’t say it breaks the rules, it’s more about breaking the core design and philosophy behind the format. In general, Companion, while could have been interesting, it was obvious that WotC pushed it because they wanted other formats becoming commander - without fundamentally understanding what made commander popular to begin with. I just hope the rule committee comes to their senses and bring back “Banned as” soon enough

[@casteanpreswyn7528]

@Gwinnmusic I mean, it does break the rules, though. 100 cards, no more, no less. Companion says, "Nah, let's break a foundational rule of the format." It shouldn't be allowed.

[@Enchurito]

"Why would they print a card where half of your magic audience can't play it?" That's the perfect argument for never printing any card just for commander.

[@chadmrrsn]

+1

[@garrettneary3755]

Kids today don't remember how big of a deal it used to be for a card to be banned in a format, particularly standard. From 2005 -2016, there were only ever 2 cards banned in standard: Jace the Mind Sculptor & Stone Forge Mystic. Between 2017 - 2024, 33 cards have been banned in standard.

[@alilhard]

As an addon to Lutri Yoshimaru from Kamigawa also got preemptively banned from duel commander, although it recently got unbanned which is... a decision...

[@JE-mg1zj]

Cool, a card got banned from a sub-sub-sub Format. Ty

[@DeadlyGrim]

14:52 Honestly, it's probably my favorite part about Magic that they don't _just_ print stuff that will fit into an existing specific archetype or are obviously useful. Sometimes those cards become good later on (Lion's Eye Diamond was a junk rare for several years until "Burning Desire"/"Burning Academy"/"Long.dec" got it banned/restricted). Sometimes they enable a new archetype that hadn't existed before. And sometimes you just want to make a janky deck with a 10% winrate that is _really_ funny when it wins.

[@Scotch20]

right, but they're not talking about new bad jank, they're talking about cards which are just strictly worse and don't do anything, like a 6 mana 6/6

[@DeadlyGrim]

@@Scotch20 Thoralf is talking about Lutri.

[@DarthSmirnoff]

"People sometimes complain." - The Internet, Explained.

[@cyburger7257]

Love you guys. Much love from Australia, you guys got me and my mates into proxying all kinds of formats!

[@Ezullof]

Must be so weird to play Magic when most creatures are actually less dangerous that the local fauna

[@IavraPlays]

I was thinking Skullclamp, but apparently it took over half a year for that to get banned. But that was the period where I really started to play Magic, so I have Affinity PTSD to this day.

[@darthretor8466]

Lutri's Companion criterion was super challenging for Commander! You couldn't play it in your Dragon's Approach/Persitent Petioners/Shadowborn Apostle/Rat Colony or these days Slime Against Humanity decks ;D

[@TH-dg2mm]

The one I remember most is Oko. Oko was in literally every single deck in Standard and it warped 6 separate formats. The litmus test for whether every other card was good was, "can I play this vs Oko."

[@DaichiAudios]

No. 6: Grand Arbiter Augustin IV after I played it in my playgroup

[@SRPowers2891]

You guys are great, coming home from a crappy day at work and seeing a new video from y’all when I finally get to sit down makes my day. Keep on keepin on fellas.

[@CardmarketMagic]

I hope your day gets better :) or that your boss suddenly gets replaced with a puppy in a suit 😅 both of those are good options

[@LotusPaintball]

You guys should do a comparison of Old Legacy vs current Modern: When Modern first came out in 2011, Legacy had cards all the way back from 1993. That means it had 18 years worth of cards. Since modern includes all sets back to 8th edition which came out in 2003, that means Modern now has 21 years worth of cards. Can a 2011 Legacy deck beat a 2024 Modern deck? Are old cards really better?

[@MaximumImpactGames]

Modern does not have the answers for fast mana combo decks from legacy, even from back in 2011. Painter, Storm, and Helm were all still pretty strong back then. The fair decks probably would not compete well, but it's hard to beat Brainstorm + Fetches + Force of Will, plus Temur Delver isn't much different from the murktide decks that exist in modern, but it has better cantrips, counterspells, and better mana disruption as well.

[@JohnFromAccounting]

Modern decks can't beat Brainstorm, Daze, Wasteland, Force of Will.

[@concernedcitizen9208]

Urza block was one of the most powerful sets ever printed it’s hard to compete with all the stuff printed with the cards printed in those sets

[@Reuben.Aotearoa]

Great idea for a vid. Pioneer is now bigger than Modern was when it was first announced so that could be fun too. I’d go for 2012 Modern so that it matches up with the start of Pioneer.

[@azraksash]

@@JohnFromAccountingThey for sure can since fair decks in Legacy in 2011 Legacy were slower than what is in Modern and they were OK performance wise vs Delver variants, despite having worse win cons (I am assuming that is what you will play with these cards you mentioned since anything else would lose)

[@josephmathes]

I was wondering whether they'd remember Mind's Desire. Oscar Tam broke that card in playtesting and wrote about it in his online column before it was even released. Wizards just forgot about vintage, which was called type 1 at the time

[@KingsRow55]

1:17 Explorer is the MTG Arena version of Pioneer. Pioneer isn’t on Arena yet

[@moshimeshowu747]

Wait really? Wild

[@ICantThinkOfAFunnyHandle]

The formats are almost identical, the only difference really is that some pioneer cards aren't on arena yet

[@alexiswigginton452]

Omnath was also the perfect pitch card for the elementals in mh2, it was sooo versatile

[@CelticGods]

I started playing Magic on Arena and remember vividly how confused I was with Tibalt's Trickery. It had a mountain of text, I had zero knowledge of the game and once it resolved I was left more confused why does the opponent have a 8/8 on turn three on the board.

[@keithmpire]

Is the CGB clip foreshadowing for a future crossover? My fingers are crossed!

[@obadijahparks]

Yup! It must be!

[@nolimbsjohnny]

CGB and card market forcing Rarran to play commander but every deck has sharahazad in it

[@GraemeGunn]

8:42 that's awesome, he got a laugh from off-camera, that's always the best.

[@thingsthatgobomb]

Emerakul in standard for shadows over innistrad. That one FNM tourney was rough

[@jii-ro7083]

You guys missed Apprentice ban from ixalan. 17 days. The fastest pioneer ban ever

[@MatthewLittler-zs4sm]

Awesome content as always Think you guys should come over Birmingham uk for command fest April 😊😅

[@notcaboose4415]

Great video! another day goes by without plancechase in constructed

[@ajpbrunet]

My first Cardmarket order came in the mail this morning! Got a bunch of commons & unco to try my hand at Pauper (I also grabbed a couple beautiful banned companions cards for dirt cheap so sometimes bans can be pretty great if you ask me). Anyway you guys & your amazing videos have really played a big part in getting me interested in (and excited for) paper Magic again after many years. Hopefully whenever you need to bargain for a raise you can show this comment to whoever's in charge :)

[@narius4241]

For the longest time while you were explaining minds desire i was just thinking "whats wrong with this, it looks fair" then you zoomed in on the storm part and i was instantly like "oh good lord it has storm". That card would actually be super fair if it wasnt for that one line of text

[@eqqaia3856]

People have been playing Ugin Spirit Dragon in T2 of trickery on Arena. But it was easy to spot them, they mulligan'ed hard to get their combopieces.

[@reset6292]

I thought number 1 was gonna be memory jar bcs I vaguely remember in the MTG manga (which was more like a retrospective through the OLD days of MTG) a tournament happened where memory jar turbo dominated it and the deck was promptly never used in the manga EVER after that single chapter or something

[@Uncle_Troy]

I still remember seeing the spoiler for "Omnath, Locus of Creation" and thinking this was the best card in the set. Sure enough, there was an official Standard tourney on MtG Arena the next weekend and 80% of decks in the meta were using it, including a mirror match for the grand finals. The key thing about it was the amount of synergy it had with so many different things that were multicolored back then in Standard (especially Gruul) and which gave it triple Landfall every turn.

[@GraemeGunn]

I'm not yet at the part of the video where you reveal the last card, but I feel like I know what it is - wasn't it something that was banned even before the set it was in was released?

[@TheEutrophic]

This was the best. Love those long games.

[@sethb3090]

I remember opening Oko from a pack and just immediately handing it back to the store for credit. I knew it wasn't going to last.

[@MrPlow-jc4cr]

IIRC, Lurrus (pre eratta) was also insta-banned in Vintage before the set was even released

[@DukaM9432]

In my opinion, Lutri got done dirty, they should of just banned it to be used as companion, having it as a commander is just fine

[@IsaacJoyce]

Great video

[@Bassman94Firenze]

blue shell at beginning killed me 🤣🤣🤣

[@hampusbergqvist1791]

I remember that minds desire Were spoiled on the vintage restricted list, might be wrong, but back then all restricted vintage cards Were banned in legacy(type 1.5 back then)

[@jordantaylor4390]

I have a Killian Runes 5 color deck that runs Jegantha as companion just because he was free! Built the deck and after the fact found out it met the jegantha requirements!

[@swordrush]

You know, I always thought Skullclamp got banned really quickly after it got released. But apparently it took them a couple months to see its catastrophic effect.

[@iku908]

also geological appraiser was banned in 17 days, thats one of the most recent and fastest bans

[@nightowl0815]

actually they should allow lutri be playable regularly in a commander deck (not as companion)

[@stevenashley27]

Editor error: in the description for Pioneer in the Winota entry, it said it was a format on arena. Not true. It’s a paper and MTGO format

[@cerealforserious]

Another day another great jacket worn by Carl 🔥🔥

[@Verlisify]

Yoooo shoutouts to Leviathan. Even though Heart of Gold got broken harder

[@bluesmanshoes]

0:13 the worlds smoothest "now"

[@Korwinga]

Winota has seen occasional play in Legacy boros stompy decks, though it's fallen out of favor more recently. Playing turn 1 goblin rabble master into turn 2 Winota with 3 triggers that pull you into Initiative creatures is a hell of a drug.

[@Archerforthelord]

6:04 CGB appearance on cardmarket?! Please tell me this is a teaser for a future collab!

[@therealax6]

Isn't he sponsored by a competitor of Cardmarket?

[@Archerforthelord]

@@therealax6so are like all the other guests they have

[@GabesaurusDTGandMTG]

We need a Cardmarket podcast.... PLEASE. Y'all are the only ones talking about 60 card formats first and commander second.

[@hansoskar1911]

small correction: Mind's Desire was not legal for 6 days. At the time new expansions became legal only the 1st of the next month and Scourge released on the May 26th so it didnt became legal until July 1st. (this was to give people time to aquire cards) The ban announcement came on June 1st going into effect July 1st which would be the day Scourge became tournament legal. Mind's Desire was also banned long before it was legal to play. Toffel should remember this tbh.

[@amgrabowska]

I totally thought Oko would be on this list. Surprised Winota was banned faster.

[@hitmangfx7162]

I love the irony that Tibalt sucked as a two mana planeswalker, then proceeded to have two cards that had a massive impact on the game (Trickery required banning and Cosmic Imposter required a rules change).

[@cread13]

Luttri is one of the main reason why they should bring back the "banned as" banned list for commander so cards like it can still be used in the 99 but not as commanders or in this case companion.

[@dalemackenzie4320]

I'm surprised lurrus wasn't on the list, I don't know how fast it got banned but I do remember that it was incredibly fast. Then Companion mechanic was erratad and it was unbanned

[@UnuUO]

Winota is playable in Timeless now :D

[@Lcngopher]

The commander rules committee was aware of lutri before it was announced as a card in the set. Thats why the card was banned when it was

[@andrewcampbell9277]

Never ever forget Rampaging Ferocidon, that card was too pure to exist in standard

[@user-zk7fr2yl5r]

I have a plate full of tacos, a cold beverage and this video to watch. Lifes good

[@NateTmi]

I think they need to take advantage of Key words & rule books. Making an easy key word, where the meaning is only on something u get with the card but not on the card itself, so the word can be updated to mean something different.

[@QuickScope771]

I'm going to leave this here.... Winota into Auratouched mage, grab Colossification or Eldrazi Conscription. Now that's a lot of value!

[@Lucasinbrawl]

Pretty sure I know what'll be number 1. Poor Otter. I get the reasons but he's so cute! Q__Q

[@jordantaylor4390]

I play an elementals deck in explorer… loaded with Spark doubles and other clones to copy risen reef… you feel like a super villain woth 3 Omnaths on board…

[@Thatdudenice]

What if you had Tibalt's Trickery say, Counter target spell an opponent controls? Wouldn't that have just been better? lol

[@mrsnufflegums]

Two related fun facts: Rampaging Ferocidon is the only card to have been unbanned in standard, and Lurrus is the first time (and only, so far) where a card was banned in Vintage for power level concerns and not because of the actual logistics, gambling laws, cultural insensitivity, or because it just doesn't work in constructed (chaos orb, ante, invoke prejudice, and conspiracies, respectively)

[@stone5against1]

Lutri? Banned? After seeing Filipa playing it as her companion in the video from the other day, I can totally see why hahaha

[@hobrev]

how fast was the Copy Cat combo banned in standard?

[@TheRealPlato]

i gave up on arena when they added digital cards to historic and spent my money on paper pauper

[@TCG9777]

Before I see the list, number one has to be Tolarian Academy

[@shteevuk]

GODDAMN IT LIED TO BY A THUMBNAIL AGAIN WILL I NEVER LEARN

[@jordantaylor4390]

Omnath, Lovus of Creation! Banned before he was paper legal

[@joshtyree7755]

Memory Jar had a really fast banning as well

[@thaneofstuff7340]

I'm sitting here, yelling "Memory Jar!" at every one after the first one because I know that card got banned early, 10 days or something, but not exactly how early. My disappointment to read the article, immeasurable, but it was fun to read the comments describing the banning at the time. And then I completely forgot just how long it took for Oko to get banned, but it was quite a few days wasn't it? Wild stuff.

[@SuPeRHeRoDuDe3124]

was that might of menethil at the beginning??

[@Prionato]

my poor emrakul (2nd favorite card) that I'll never be able to play in Commander 😢

[@shadowfan115]

I can't believe you guys forgot about Oko

[@jiij8313]

minds desire is really powerfull combined with Narset

[@matthewsawczyn6592]

I don’t understand how Magic R&D can play test these cards, approve them for print, and then instantly ban them

[@lancewilson9274]

Why no Mind Over Matter or Memory Jar. These got banned during the 1st tournament they were played. Should be mentioned due to the lack of online play I. That era.

[@testecu5804]

Cadê os créditos do vídeo do UMotivo?

[@Razomka]

I feel that lutri could be unbanned. Sure its an extra card but it's only in Izzet colours and now costs +3 mana to get going etc etc.

[@bricelory9534]

Regarding Tibalt's Trickery - to me it just shows how dedicated they are to one of my most disliked mechanics: Cascade. Cascade is the real culprit, but they can't have that go, unfortunately.

[@BaronSengir1008]

Brawl is just Commander Lite...

[@BerniPro]

i get why lutri was banned, but only as a companion. why was it also banned from the 99? the commander committee should split the banlist into "banned as commander, banned as a card and banned for something else (companion)" just like ante cards are separately listed in banlists

[@adamstewart5188]

Agreed. The only spot where Lutri is a problem in EDH is as a companion.

[@charcharmunr]

For the same reason they dropped "banned as commander" as a category, I think, just simplification.

[@xchronox0]

​@@charcharmunr "banned as commander/etc" too complex for... Magic the Gathering, a game known for it's simplicity 😂

[@vsgvictorystrikegaming2229]

Memory Jar, was banned before it was released

[@rav5373]

Wasn't Geological Appraiser also banned after 17 days?

[@jorgechust9799]

I thought geological apprasier in pioneer was one of the fastest in history wasnt it?

[@jeremy3169]

why does ledger shredder tell me that pioneer is an arena format?

[@whalepower]

I think its very apparent und obvious that 4 of 5 of those cards were released in the last decade. Playtesting used to be a thing, you know. Carl justifies Winota with "the designer could ahve missed this". its true. But the playtesters must not!

[@nvvv_]

I actually never got the Lutri ban. EDH doesn't have a sideboard, so you don't have a location for the Otter to hang out. Unless you're Rule 0'ing a companion zone, in which case I never want to play with your playgroup anyway.

[@xchronox0]

"The Commander format normally has no sideboard. However, a companion is the only card that can exist there, if both the cards in the library and the commander card meet the companion criteria." Though yeah. Some of them seem like they're either "fine" or just downright actually impossible to play. I can see not allowing companions like Gyruda, Obosh, or Lurrus, because they're easier to build around and produce some pretty powerful effects. Yorion simply cannot exist as a companion in an EDH deck because of rulings (A deck is exactly 100 cards, Yorion would require you to have 120, which is against EDH rules)

[@trveheimer6360]

lutri genuinely should be allowed in the 99. izzet decks with dualcaster loops would be happy.

[@jasonalexander7308]

Yeah I'd have to agree that it's jus a fixed point in time

[@stratuvarious8547]

You know that WotC has made some serious mistakes when Tolarian Academy and Memory Jar don't even make the list.