Standard
No changes
Pioneer
No changes
Modern
No changes
Legacy
No changes
Vintage
No changes
Pauper
No changes
Alchemy
No changes
Historic
Food Chain is banned.
Timeless
No changes
Brawl
No changes
View the list of all banned and restricted cards by format.
Howdy, gamers!
My name is Carmen Klomparens, and I'm a senior game designer on Magic's Play Design team. Time to gather 'round for 2026's second banned and restricted announcement. In the first announcement of this year, tabletop 60-card formats saw stability and we announced a number of refreshes for MTG Arena. Today's announcement is a bit closer to the previous one than the updates we've had over the last couple of years and is in line with our current approach: check in often for the sake of giving ourselves windows to act.
As usual, we'll be on WeeklyMTG on twitch.tv/magic tomorrow, March 24, at 10 a.m. PT to discuss these changes. Until then, let's have a look at how our formats are doing, shall we?
Standard
Written by Jadine Klomparens
No changes
Standard has continued to look diverse and healthy in the months since our last banned and restricted update. We continue to see decks go up and down in popularity and win rate as new technology is discovered. No deck or strategy has emerged as the clear winner of this Standard format.
The big picture of the Standard format remains the same as it did in the aftermath of Pro Tour Lorwyn Eclipsed. Green-based Badgermole Cub decks battle a wide array of primarily blue, black, and red decks looking to beat the Cub with plenty of removal and a powerful proactive strategy of their own. A handful of aggro and combo decks round out the format, each aiming to find victory by going under or over, respectively, the rest of the format.
But within that tapestry, the details of Standard have changed enormously. Last we spoke, the chief Badgermole Cub decks were powered by Nature's Rhythm and sought to end games with an overpowering Craterhoof Behemoth. Things have changed.
2 Surrak, Elusive Hunter
1 Promising Vein
4 Earthbender Ascension
4 Mightform Harmonizer
4 Esper Origins
2 Meltstrider's Resolve
3 Escape Tunnel
2 Royal Treatment
4 Sazh's Chocobo
4 Ba Sing Se
4 Llanowar Elves
4 Icetill Explorer
4 Badgermole Cub
4 Fabled Passage
14 Forest
1 Scrapshooter
2 Meltstrider's Resolve
1 Surrak, Elusive Hunter
2 Pawpatch Formation
3 Soul-Guide Lantern
4 Mossborn Hydra
2 Eumidian Terrabotanist
Mono-Green Landfall has taken the crown of the most-played Badgermole Cub deck. It's a different take on how to utilize Badgermole Cub that has more of a focus on beating the interactive decks. As a full-fledged landfall beatdown strategy, the deck has a diverse array of meaningful threats that can overload opponents' removal spells. It even gets to play the powerful duo of Icetill Explorer and Mightform Harmonizer that formed the backbone of the Temur Harmonizer deck that took 2nd place at Pro Tour Lorwyn Eclipsed.
Magic: The Gathering® | Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles did not create a major shakeup in the Standard metagame, but it did provide some new tools for existing decks. For instance:
3 Swamp
3 Inti, Seneschal of the Sun
4 Starting Town
3 Mountain
4 Multiversal Passage
1 Bitter Triumph
4 Moonshadow
4 Marauding Mako
3 Requiting Hex
3 Fear of Missing Out
4 Cool but Rude
4 Blazemire Verge
4 Bloodghast
4 Flamewake Phoenix
1 Carnage, Crimson Chaos
1 Restless Vents
4 Blood Crypt
4 Bloodthorn Flail
2 Casey Jones, Vigilante
2 Hobgoblin, Mantled Marauder
1 Qarsi Revenant
1 Requiting Hex
2 Intimidation Tactics
1 Duress
1 Bitter Triumph
1 Pyroclasm
2 Soul-Guide Lantern
2 Case of the Crimson Pulse
2 Sunspine Lynx
The Rakdos Rummaging deck previously saw play in Standard, and the printing of Cool but Rude has given it a new burst of popularity. With a Top 8 appearance at Magic Spotlight: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles under its belt, it is likely we will continue to see this deck find success as Standard evolves from here.
To close this section on Standard, I'd like to again acknowledge that despite the format being very diverse from a metagame perspective, there's still room for improvement. The speed of the format is higher than our internal target, with some decks exerting too much pressure too early in the game. Addressing this in future sets has been on Play Design's mind for a while now. We're very excited for the future of Standard as we get better and better at designing for it.
In the meantime, this Standard format is still very fun, diverse, and popular. We look forward to what new developments emerge when Secrets of Strixhaven releases next month.
Pioneer
Written by Carmen Klomparens
No changes
Pioneer is in a unique place. By and large, red is showing up at a higher clip than desired across several different archetypes, but each of those archetypes appears at an acceptable range. We've talked a bit over our last few announcements about flavors of Mono-Red Aggro, Izzet Lessons, Steel Cutter Prowess, and Arclight Phoenix decks, but we're seeing each of those decks succeed at a clip we'd expect to see strong decks perform. If red and blue aren't your favorite, Greasefang, Okiba Boss is currently the centerpiece for two different graveyard combo decks. Greasefang has both Orzhov and Abzan variants, each with its own strengths and weaknesses because of differences in how they play.
2 Bitter Triumph
2 Bleachbone Verge
2 Brightclimb Pathway
4 Concealed Courtyard
1 Duress
4 Fatal Push
4 Fleeting Spirit
1 Geier Reach Sanitarium
4 Godless Shrine
4 Greasefang, Okiba Boss
3 Guardian of New Benalia
4 Iron-Shield Elf
4 Monument to Endurance
4 Parhelion II
2 Plains
2 Shadowy Backstreet
1 Swamp
1 Takenuma, Abandoned Mire
4 The Mycosynth Gardens
4 Thoughtseize
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
2 Vanishing Verse
1 Beza, the Bounding Spring
3 Doorkeeper Thrull
1 Duress
1 Go Blank
2 High Noon
3 Pest Control
1 Sheltered by Ghosts
2 Soul-Guide Lantern
1 Vanishing Verse
The Ozhov version of Greasefang is largely playing a "discard matters" midrange deck with a combo flourish. Several different variants of Guardian of New Benalia flip the idea that discarding cards is a cost on its head, making discarding cards an upside with Monument to Endurance and graveyard synergies with the deck's namesake. On the other side of the aisle …
3 Bitter Triumph
1 Yathan Roadwatcher
1 Voice of Victory
3 Cache Grab
4 Temple Garden
1 Emptiness
4 Esika's Chariot
4 Formidable Speaker
1 Swamp
4 Greasefang, Okiba Boss
1 Lush Portico
3 Multiversal Passage
1 Overlord of the Balemurk
4 Parhelion II
1 Plains
3 Raffine's Informant
1 Skysovereign, Consul Flagship
1 Godless Shrine
1 Takenuma, Abandoned Mire
4 Concealed Courtyard
1 Brushland
1 Thundering Broodwagon
1 Boseiju, Who Endures
4 Blooming Marsh
4 Thoughtseize
3 Witherbloom Command
2 Ashiok, Dream Render
2 Duress
1 Loran of the Third Path
1 Sheoldred, the Apocalypse
1 Unlicensed Hearse
2 Vanishing Verse
3 Pest Control
3 Fatal Push
We have the Abzan flavor of Greasefang. Rather than leaning as hard on organically drawing and discarding cards, green is here to help the deck focus on being a graveyard combo deck. Formidable Speaker and Cache Grab enable the deck's core combo with more consistency.
Both variants of Greasefang are seeing their fair share of success, but it's within what we consider to be a healthy member of the format. By our data from MTG Arena, we aren't seeing any individual deck at the top of the Constructed metagame taking a ten percent share of the metagame. On Magic Online, we're also seeing several kinds of decks find success in Challenge Top 8s. The format has a defined few decks that are going to see success the most reliably, but it's an environment where players can pick their favorite kind of strategy and champion it to find success over time.
Honestly? I'd recommend giving it a shot.
Modern
Written by Carmen Klomparens
No changes
Looking a bit further back at our nonrotating formats, Modern continues to flourish. Last time we peeked into the format, we referenced the fact that cards from new sets were having an impact on the format and revitalizing past archetypes. One Modern Showcase Challenge later …
1 Island
1 Forest
4 Misty Rainforest
2 Polluted Delta
1 Hedge Maze
1 Undercity Sewers
2 Underground Mortuary
1 Overgrown Tomb
1 Breeding Pool
1 Watery Grave
4 Generous Ent
2 Sink into Stupor
1 Otawara, Soaring City
2 Formidable Speaker
4 Endurance
4 Shardless Agent
1 Halo Forager
4 Force of Negation
4 Overlord of the Balemurk
4 Wistfulness
2 Deceit
1 Flooded Grove
2 Curator of Mysteries
2 Street Wraith
4 Subtlety
3 Living End
1 Flare of Denial
3 Foundation Breaker
1 Flare of Denial
1 Mai, Scornful Striker
1 Damping Sphere
3 Dismember
2 Inevitable Betrayal
4 Mystical Dispute
Lorwyn Eclipsed completely changed how Living End is built. Formidable Speaker means that the deck doesn't need to play as many ways for the deck to cascade into a Living End. The Speaker fills two roles by filling the graveyard and finding Shardless Agent. Formidable Speaker also allows for a nice toolbox of options to let the deck play a more reactive game in the face of disruption or faster combo. This also provides a more robust game plan against graveyard hate, letting the deck reliably play the game plan we saw from older versions of Living End which would start simply casting its huge creatures if the game progressed long enough. On the topic of graveyard hate, Wistfulness letting you effectively put two creatures in the graveyard for is a great way to get four copies in the main deck, but the fact that its green mode can remove a lot of the main deckable hate from Urza's Saga shells is fantastic.
In the online metagame, we're seeing a slightly higher representation of Boros Energy than is normally desirable, but the rate that the deck has risen and fallen over the last year looks like healthy churn for a nonrotating format. Heading into the upcoming Modern RCQ season, we're going to keep an eye on the metagame as it evolves and continue to watch the impact that Amulet Titan has on the clock of Modern events. I'll reiterate that we think Modern looks like it's in a healthy and fun place right now, and we don't want to act unless we must. We also want to make sure we're setting our premiere nonrotating format up for success this year. Luckily, I'd say we're on a great path.
Legacy
Written by Carmen Klomparens
No changes
In life, it's said that two things are certain.
1 Canoptek Scarab Swarm
1 Flickerwisp
3 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
4 White Orchid Phantom
4 Stoneforge Mystic
4 Aether Vial
1 Lion Sash
1 Phyrexian Metamorph
4 Recruiter of the Guard
4 Swords to Plowshares
4 Karakas
4 Witch Enchanter
1 Pre-War Formalwear
1 Meteor Sword
4 Solitude
4 Flagstones of Trokair
4 Wasteland
4 Ghost Quarter
4 Phelia, Exuberant Shepherd
1 Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire
4 Clarion Conqueror
2 Shadowy Backstreet
10 Plains
3 Skyclave Apparition
1 Containment Priest
1 Loran of the Third Path
1 Batterskull
1 Yorion, Sky Nomad
2 Mindbreak Trap
4 Deafening Silence
3 Disruptor Flute
3 Wrath of the Skies
1 Faerie Macabre
1 Path to Exile
In addition to Death and Taxes winning a Legacy Showcase Challenge in the last month, we've seen the format's top dog in Dimir Tempo come down in metagame share and win rate, and we've seen Oops! All Spells begin to fall off a bit as people tune their answers to the current Legacy metagame. We're elated to see games decompress in Legacy as they become fairer. One of the more observable symptoms of that decompression is that Swords to Plowshares has started to be a more reasonable part of the format at large. Players have also begun to find success with another flavor of white creature-based aggro, reminiscent of Modern's Boros Energy deck.
4 Ajani, Nacatl Pariah
4 Amped Raptor
4 Arid Mesa
1 Badlands
3 Cabal Therapy
1 Elegant Parlor
2 Goblin Bombardment
4 Guide of Souls
3 Hexing Squelcher
2 Karakas
4 Marsh Flats
4 Ocelot Pride
3 Orcish Bowmasters
1 Plains
2 Plateau
2 Scrubland
1 Shadowy Backstreet
1 Silent Clearing
4 Swords to Plowshares
3 Thoughtseize
3 Voice of Victory
4 Wasteland
2 Clarion Conqueror
3 Containment Priest
4 Leyline of the Void
2 Null Rod
2 Prismatic Ending
1 Pyroblast
1 Red Elemental Blast
This has a lot of the threats that players who play a good bit of Modern are familiar with, backed up by Legacy-powered disruption in the likes of Wasteland and Cabal Therapy. To be a bit mask-off, it's hard for me to not get excited to see the fair version of Cabal Therapy making its way back to the Legacy tables.
All therapeutic bias aside, Legacy looks like it hasn't reached a solved end state, and it appears players are enjoying the journey they're on. The top of the standings at different events are distinct from one another, with different macro-archetypes and decks taking turns in the spotlight. We can't wait to see the next stage of the format.
Vintage
Written by Carmen Klomparens
No changes
Vintage is more or less what we perceive as the ideal state of an Eternal format. There are clearly defined pillars in Mishra's Workshop, Bazaar of Baghdad, Lurrus of the Dream-Den, Oath of Druids, and Initiative decks, along with a smattering of other archetypes. Different pillars are going to find success week after week, depending on which versions of each deck players bring, how hate cards line up, and so on. Despite upper-echelon decks taking up so much space in conversation and metagame share, there is still room for deck building and chances for less-popular decks to shine. On top of all of that, the last year or so has seen a steady drip of content from new releases giving each of these archetypes new tools to inspire new ways to build their decks.
We believe the Vintage of today is wonderful to play and are heartened to see the ways that it's evolving over time.
Pauper
Written by Gavin Verhey
No changes
Overall, the format continues to look fairly healthy. As the Pauper Format Panel and I have been monitoring Pauper, it's clear that Terror has remained one of the better decks for a while, though it hasn't crossed the line to make us take action so far. It remains the deck we have had our eye on most.
However, with the release of Magic: The Gathering | Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles the landscape has changed a bit with several cards showing up. There are two new additions that have been the most notable.
2 Idyllic Grange
4 Novice Inspector
4 Thraben Inspector
4 Lunarch Veteran
4 Thraben Charm
4 Raffine's Informant
3 Prismatic Strands
2 Guardians' Pledge
4 Battle Screech
3 Leonardo, Big Brother
1 Eagles of the North
17 Plains
4 Kor Skyfisher
4 Militia Bugler
4 Dust to Dust
2 Journey to Nowhere
2 Holy Light
2 Standard Bearer
3 Martyr of Sands
2 Revoke Existence
Leonardo, Big Brother has given aggressive decks a strong tool that turns all those tokens into plenty of damage. The card has seen play in white aggressive decks and is even being splashed in Elves decks to finish off opponents right away after a big turn. The rise of this card is especially notable given that, traditionally, these white aggressive decks have been advantaged against Terror, which may change the shape of the metagame.
Utrom Monitor has given Affinity another tool, with a larger and cheaper Somber Hoverguard. Somber Hoverguard has occasionally shown up in Affinity, and this is a substantial upgrade, allowing them to mount a strong flying offense early.
1 Makeshift Munitions
1 Cast Down
4 Thoughtcast
3 Krark-Clan Shaman
4 Myr Enforcer
2 Great Furnace
3 Seat of the Synod
3 Vault of Whispers
4 Ichor Wellspring
3 Galvanic Blast
3 Nihil Spellbomb
4 Drossforge Bridge
4 Mistvault Bridge
3 Silverbluff Bridge
2 Blood Fountain
4 Reckoner's Bargain
1 Hunter's Blowgun
1 Eviscerator's Insight
4 Refurbished Familiar
4 Utrom Monitor
1 Toxin Analysis
1 Chromatic Star
1 Duress
1 Hydroblast
1 Pyroblast
4 Blue Elemental Blast
4 Red Elemental Blast
1 Krark-Clan Shaman
1 Nihil Spellbomb
1 Breath Weapon
1 Toxin Analysis
Pauper is a format full of rate outliers and powerful cards, so this upgrade with Utrom Monitor is not out of bounds. It's not something I expect we're going to ban unless things really start going sideways. I do want to take a moment to acknowledge that this common being gated behind Turtle Team-Up in paper is not the ideal situation for a card which is likely to be a staple in perpetuity. Plus, there's not even a foil version of it made for those who like blinging out their decks!
However, the good news for digital players: I talked with the Daybreak Games team that runs Magic Online, where a lot of Pauper is played, and they are going to be turning up the drop rate of Utrom Monitor in Treasure Chests starting April 1! That should make it easier for players to obtain the card.
And speaking of Magic Online, starting just a couple days from now on March 25, it'll be Pauper's turn to be featured for the new MOCS season on the platform. We look forward to following the metagame and seeing how it settles!
As I write this, the first Paupergeddon of 2026 has not yet happened. But at the time this is published, the event will have just finished, and we definitely want to take the time to review those results.
Finally, there is one thing we were potentially talking about: a trial unban of Bonder's Ornament. It's been a while since that card was banned, and Pauper has changed dramatically since then. A slow draw engine would have trouble dealing with a lot of the decks of today. Unbanning this would potentially give some slower decks an additional tool. That said, it was incredibly powerful before, so a trial unban is something we want to approach with caution. What do you think? Please share your feedback.
Have fun out there with Pauper, and we look forward to hearing all your thoughts!
Alchemy
Written by Daniel Xu
No changes
Since our last update, Izzet Lessons, Azorius Birds, Mono-Green Ouroboroid, and Dragons variations continue to top the Best-of-Three Alchemy ladder, while Best-of-One Alchemy is more diverse. There are no clear power outliers among these decks, and the format is still being explored with emerging builds around Magic: The Gathering | Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cards and rebalanced cards. We are keeping an eye on Aquatic Subtlety decks in Best-of-One that pair the namesake card with Sin, Spira's Punishment and Omniscience, but we believe these strategies are not consistent enough to take action on at this time.
We expect to continue shipping rebalances throughout the year. You can look forward to more dynamic changes on that axis as the metagame stabilizes.
Historic
Written by Daniel Xu
Food Chain is banned.
Since the changes from February's banned and restricted announcement, we have been happy with the response from the Historic ecosystem. Interactive decks such as Jund and Dimir now rank among the top contenders in Best-of-Three, and the range of viable strategies is much broader than before. Our unbans have widened the scope of answers in the format, allowing players to respond appropriately to combo decks such as Reanimator and Valakut Combo. While we are still monitoring the impact of Magus of the Moon and Harbinger of the Seas, the top of the metagame has adapted well by flexing Prismatic Vista and the basic land cyclers from The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth™ into their mana bases, and the two Blood Moon-esque creatures have fallen out of favor as main deck options. We currently feel that they have had the intended effect of providing clear, viable answers to powerful nonbasic lands as sideboard options.
4 Avacyn's Pilgrim
4 Esper Sentinel
2 Extraction Specialist
1 Imodane's Recruiter
4 Juggernaut Peddler
4 Noble Hierarch
4 Recruiter of the Guard
4 Sigardian Evangel
1 Tajic, Legion's Valor
1 Witch Enchanter
4 Birthing Ritual
4 Food Chain
4 Cavern of Souls
3 Echoing Cavern
2 Forest
4 Mana Confluence
2 Plains
4 Prismatic Vista
4 Starting Town
1 A-Haywire Mite
4 Brutal Cathar
1 Dauntless Dismantler
1 Faerie Macabre
1 Jegantha, the Wellspring
3 Jirina, Dauntless General
4 Seam Rip
Magic: The Gathering | Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles introduced Food Chain to Historic. In retrospect, this was a mistake. We missed the interaction between Sigardian Evangel and Food Chain, which combo to create an arbitrarily large number of 3/1s. Competitive builds utilizing this interaction are still developing, but they are already near the top of Best-of-Three in both metagame share and win percentage. This is much higher than we would want for a deck that can consistently combo and end the game on turn three, and semi-consistently combo on turn two, especially with the frustrating digital execution the combo requires. Philosophically, we would also prefer to keep turn-two combo out of the range of viable Historic strategies and as a feature of Timeless. For these reasons, Food Chain is banned.
Timeless
Written by Daniel Xu
No changes
The restriction of Necropotence has opened the door for a broader band of viability in Timeless. Mardu Energy has surged to the front of the pack on the ladder, but Show and Tell, Reanimator, and Mono-Red Stompy are not far behind. The lack of clear power outliers in this cohort is encouraging for the health of the format. While Strip Mine remains a highly played card, decks focusing on Strip Mine as an engine piece have dropped in presence. We believe its current spot in the metagame is healthy by Timeless standards.
Brawl
Written by Daniel Xu
No changes
Magic: The Gathering | Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles added several exciting new commanders to Brawl, with Raph & Mikey, Troublemakers topping the popularity charts while Leonardo, the Balance and Splinter, Radical Rat trail closely behind. We continue our regular matchmaking updates with most releases to improve opponent selection. Lastly, we are still finalizing plans for our next competitive Brawl event, so look out for that announcement in the near future.
