Announcement Date: April 22, 2025

Commander:

  • Gifts Ungiven is unbanned
  • Sway of the Stars is unbanned
  • Braids, Cabal Minion is unbanned
  • Coalition Victory is unbanned
  • Panoptic Mirror is unbanned

Effective date: April 22, 2025

View the list of all banned and restricted cards by format.

Hello! This is Gavin Verhey, on behalf of the Commander Format Panel.

We have said we would do an evaluation of the format's ban list ever since the panel was announced last year. We've now finished the evaluation of that list, and today, we are unbanning five cards.

For those using brackets to define your decks, it should be noted that cards being unbanned will immediately move to the Game Changers list. And if you're interested in more talk about brackets, you can check out today's update on those (including several new Game Changers) in this article.

When it came to reviewing the banned list and unbanning cards, we felt the cards we unban should meet some or all of these criteria:

  1. Cards that have some fond memories associated with them
  2. Cards that can contribute to positive play patterns, enjoyable decks, and/or splashy moments
  3. Cards that don't create runaway games or negative play patterns

These are also cards we felt would be safe at the power level of Bracket 3 and above, where Game Changers generally sit. However, we also wanted to recognize that the idea of Commander Brackets and the Game Changers list is still relatively new and that not everybody will be using these systems. We want to be mindful with the cards we chose to unban.

Over the rest of the year, we'll be curious to see how the adoption of brackets continues to go, and how these unbans affect players' games. That will tell us a lot about any future unbans we may make.

Let us explain each of these five unbans.

Gifts Ungiven

This is a beloved card with a great history. Many of you out there have enjoyed casting this card in all sorts of formats. We're excited to return it to Commander. The previous concern had been the nature of this as a power tutor, the time-intensive casting process, and the combos enabled by this card.

We considered this within the structure of brackets and just regular pregame conversations. If your deck is trying to infinite combo people with this, they should often help sort out if you are playing in the right environment. On the other hand, a fair Gifts Ungiven is very fun and akin to Fact or Fiction in the politics and interplay between players it can create.

Sway of the Stars

A ten-mana way to reset the game akin to Worldfire, which was previously unbanned in Commander to little fanfare or play. There are some players who enjoy this effect. It is an impactful card but not very powerful. There are plenty of other spells that cost eight or more mana that have a far higher impact than Sway. Our guess is this will see little play, but the people who enjoy cards like these will now be able to play another one.

Braids, Cabal Minion

This card is a beloved character, and a card many are nostalgic for. When played as one of your 99 cards or later in the game, it is a totally reasonable effect with an appropriate impact on the game.

The most frustrating Braids games are when it's put out extremely quickly and people feel locked under it. However, as little as a single removal spell can really set that entire plan back. As Commander decks have become more efficient, with more targeted removal spells, and players have gotten better at identifying commanders they don't want to play against and having pregame conversations, so that gives us the confidence to bring back Braids.

A lot has changed since Braids was banned in 2009. We mostly believe people will know what they're signing up for in a game with Braids as a commander, and as a card in the 99, it is reasonable and acceptable.

Coalition Victory

This card engendered a great deal of discussion. A lot of it boils down to how impactful and how much of an auto-include it is. In a deck with a five-color commander, it essentially reads, "You win the game if you control your commander." That is not the most satisfying end to a game, and it does begin to become an auto-include for many decks. Is that an appropriate card to exist?

However, it can easily be interacted with. A single removal spell in response to your five-color commander means you spent eight mana to do nothing. You also need to untap with your commander and eight mana, and there are many expensive spells that will do something akin to ending the game in a five-color deck if you resolve them.

Additionally, for those engaging with Commander Brackets, it is within the timeframe of where we expect an "I win" combo to fall.

Panoptic Mirror

I, personally, have been a Panoptic Mirror enjoyer since it was originally printed back in Darksteel. The promise of using a cool spell turn after turn is so fun! That's still true today. A value Mirror is a blast. There are two problems with it.

The first is imprinting an extra-turn spell. The game is over immediately. The second is imprinting something extremely repetitive, such as a board sweeper, so that the game cannot move forward.

The latter is something to be a lot less worried about in 2025: there are so many answers to artifacts in decks that, even if you're under a board lock, can get you out of it.

The first one is well addressed by bracketed play through the restrictions on combos and a lower overall density of extra-turn effects. And regardless of the bracket system, many tables have a good idea of whether they enjoy infinite combos appearing in their games and if that's something they want players to do in their decks.

Finally, it does take a full turn and a large mana investment, and people have several windows to respond to it in. They can kill it before you untap, in response to the ability, or after the ability resolves and your opponent is down a card.

These cards have not been legal in Commander for a long time (originally being banned between 2005 and 2009), and a lot has changed in both Magic and Commander since. We are not opposed to banning them again at some point in the future if they still prove problematic. However, these feel in line with our expectations and are okay to try given where the format is today. I know many of you out there will be excited to try them, and I look forward to reading about what you all come up with.

These changes are effective immediately in tabletop and will be reflected on Magic Online later today.

If you're interested in more background on the brackets, go read our other article up today.

On Dockside Extortionist, Jeweled Lotus, and Mana Crypt

We would be plugging our ears if we did not acknowledge the elephants in the room when it comes to this series of unbans: the September bans of Dockside, Lotus, and Mana Crypt. Many players out there probably immediately scrolled down this long article as quickly as they could to discover the fates of these cards.

We did talk about these cards and are not unbanning them at this time.

Opinions from the Commander Format Panel varied. Some believe Commander is more fun without them, others would like more time to see how the Commander Bracket system is adopted before doing anything here, and others felt it's too soon to do anything with these cards. There were a few people who were open to doing something with Jeweled Lotus now, but that was not the majority opinion. The overwhelming majority of the panel did not want to do anything with any of these cards at this time.

I will be transparent and say that I believe if any of these are ever to return, the most likely one is Jeweled Lotus due to its one-shot nature, iconic feel, and ability to help support high-mana value commanders. I want to be clear, this is not me saying that will ever happen, but that was the one among the panel with the most traction.

I know many of you love these cards. Many of you are also glad you no longer have to play against these cards. There's always that kind of push and pull with powerful and potentially ban-worthy cards in Commander. I appreciate there are many people in both camps, and that no matter what happens with these cards, somebody will feel like they didn't get the result they wanted. However, we wanted to talk about the cards here honestly and what was said internally for transparency.

These cards will be something I'm sure we'll talk about next year. But for this year, the book is closed on these three cards.

Future Bans

Commander has been through a lot since last September. It's been a time with a change of hands, a new panel being formed, and lots of uncertainty around what will remain on the banned list. After this appraisal of the banned card list and changes, we'd like to take some time to just let things sit, for everybody to exhale after waiting on this announcement and have a bit more of a relaxed time in the Commander news world. Additionally, we'd love to give more time for the Commander Brackets system to develop, which will help inform how much moving cards off of the banned list and onto the Game Changers list does for how often and where those cards show up.

So, we are committing no further changes to the banned list for the rest of this year. Starting next year, we can touch the banned list again, and at more regular intervals (so not just one ban window a year), but we want to hold off for the rest of this year.

The only exception will be what I am calling the "Nadu contingency," which is if a new or unbanned card begins to become generally reviled and people just want it gone as soon as possible, we can break that seal and act earlier. However, I'm hopeful we do not need to do this, as it would need to be a fairly extreme circumstance.

As has often been stressed to me, Commander moves slowly. It's fine to take our time and let everything settle. Stability is a core tenant of Commander's philosophy. Recently, it hasn't always felt that way. Let's get back to that stability again.

If you're interested in a review of cards on the banned list, we've included a summary below.

This has been Gavin Verhey, on behalf of the entire Commander Format Panel:

Attack on Cardboard
Bandit
Ben Wheeler
Charlotte Sable
DeQuan Watson
Deco
Greg Sablan
Ittetu
Josh Lee Kwai
Kristen Gregory
Lua Stardust
Olivia Gobert-Hicks
Rachel Weeks
Rebell Lily
Scott Larabee
Tim Willoughby
Toby Elliott

Appendix: Ban List Review

First, the list of cards that don't need a lot of additional explanation, either because they are classically powerful or don't make sense for Commander:

  • Ancestral Recall
  • Black Lotus
  • Chaos Orb
  • Channel
  • Falling Star
  • Karakas
  • Library of Alexandria
  • Mox Emerald
  • Mox Jet
  • Mox Pearl
  • Mox Ruby
  • Mox Sapphire
  • Shahrazad
  • Time Vault
  • Time Walk

Moving on to cards that could use some amount of explanation and a gauge for whether they will return.

Balance

This card massively strips resources out of the game, providing mass land denial, hand disruption, and a board sweep all in one. Balance is especially brutal in decks that are all about mana rocks, which are already strong. I think this is unlikely to return.

Biorhythm

We discussed this card a great deal. We ultimately decided not to unban it. It can go in any green deck, requires very little setup to cast, and really disproportionally impacts the player to your right. Compared to Coalition Victory, which only goes in five-color decks and requires you to control five colors worth of permanents, it is a bit much. It could potentially come off someday, but we're leaving it for now.

Emrakul, the Aeons Torn

Emrakul is a powerhouse, whether cast or cheated onto the battlefield. As a colorless card that any deck can play, it was the de facto top-end in a ton of decks while legal and saw a lot more play than was fun. It's possible as the bracket system grows and takes off that it may be more tolerable at Bracket 3 and above, but for the moment, we've elected to leave it on the banned list and see how these other changes go.

Erayo, Soratami Ascendant

This card is incredibly unfun when flipped early, and structuring your deck to do that on the second, or even first turn, is fairly easy. Combining it with Arcane Laboratory can end the game, but even without that, it's an oppressive force. It's not that beloved or fun, and not something we're eager to unban at this time.

Fastbond

Not only is this an incredibly strong way to continuously play additional lands for little cost, but there are all kinds of loops you can pull off with cards like Crucible of Worlds.

Flash

In cEDH, so many games were coming down to Flash and Protean Hulk, leading to Flash's ban. Cheating in enters effects with Flash is only going to become more powerful with time. It's staying banned.

Golos, Tireless Pilgrim

Golos is an incredibly powerful five-color option that both finds any land—ensuring that, even if dead, you likely had enough mana to recast it next turn—and has an activated ability that can be an extremely strong spout for all that mana. It really homogenized games and was a de facto best commander option for many, many decks. Perhaps it's an acceptable card in higher brackets, but it's not something we wanted to touch today.

Griselbrand

Cheating out a Griselbrand and drawing an absurd number of cards was an incredibly powerful thing to do during the one-month window where it was legal—leading to quick action. Once in play, you tend to draw either 28 or 35 cards immediately, and the game often ends that turn. I can imagine a world in which Griselbrand returns for high-bracket players to enjoy, but I would say it is more likely than not Griselbrand permanently remains on the banned list.

Hullbreacher

This is an incredibly unfun card that stifled a popular part of Commander, spiked the popularity of wheel effects, and made an outrageous number of Treasure tokens. There is a theoretical rejiggering of brackets where you could tell me this is acceptable, but I wouldn't expect it, and certainly not with the brackets as they are now.

Iona, Shield of Emeria

Iona was discussed heavily. On one hand, it's an awesome nine-mana Angel that can  create some pretty interesting decisions against a table of three-color decks. On the other, it can shut down monocolor decks and turn off half of a two-color deck. The play pattern of this card is not the most fun, and we wanted to hold off for now. It could theoretically return to Commander in the future.

Leovold, Emissary of Trest

As is a theme today, stopping your opponents from drawing extra cards is very powerful in Commander. Coupled with the fact you can play it as your commander and get value if people try and target you makes Leovold unlikely to return.

Limited Resources

Locking each player to five lands forever is extremely constraining and not that much fun, all for a single mana. I think it is unlikely to see this return.

Lutri, the Spellchaser

Poor Lutri. While the shell of the card is no doubt fine, and many players would love to see the Otter freed for their decks in a post-Bloomburrow world, the companion restrictions mean that every deck with blue and red in its color identity could include a copy at no cost. That's not appropriate or tenable. I could imagine a world with a "allowed in the 99 only" list that would free the Otter to go into people's decks. But we're not doing this now, nor is there any guarantee we'll do that ever. So, Lutri stays. We welcome your feedback!

Nadu, Winged Wisdom

This incredibly problematic card has earned its ban in most formats, Commander included. It leads to very long and unfun combo turns and is extremely strong with staples like Lightning Greaves. Not to mention it easily refunds the mana to play itself out of your command zone again! It is unlikely to return.

Paradox Engine

An incredibly easy combo and mana-generation card, with all the artifact mana played in Commander. I could imagine, if brackets are strongly and widely adopted, us talking about it as a potential Game Changer, but we are a long way off from that.

Primeval Titan

While it is beloved and nostalgic, the amount this card accelerates is massive and can really dominate the game. Those who played back when it was legal know how often the game would revolve around a Primeval Titan—whether it died or not, cloning it, or otherwise. I do think this is a card that could potentially return and be put in the Game Changers list, but this card can be extremely warping and now was not the time.

Prophet of Kruphix

Seedborn Muse just got promoted to the Game Changers list, and Prophet is that, but you also get free reign to play your spells on everyone else's turn. It's a really powerful card that also monopolized the time in the game: the Prophet player gets an extra turn of playing creatures for each other person over and over again. Absolutely dominating at lower-power tables and still quite strong higher up. It isn't necessarily locked on the banned list forever, but now is not the time to remove it.

Recurring Nightmare

The play pattern of repeatedly looping the same creatures, and without an interaction window because the returning of the enchantment is a cost, and the combo potential, leads to a card that is more likely to create harm and frustration than good. It is nostalgic, which is nice, but not a card we wanted to touch at this time.

Rofellos, Llanowar Emissary

The mana provided by Rofellos out of the command zone is massive. Maybe this is something that could only be in your deck and not as a commander, as it's much stronger when your deck is built around it, but the card is unlikely to return at this time.

Sundering Titan

This card is miserable at low-power tables, as it blows up tons of your opponents' lands and tends to get blinked, reanimated, or otherwise triggered time and time again. It's a fairly unfun experience. It's possible that, as brackets continue to increase in adoption, maybe this would be an acceptable Game Changer, though, even then, Upgraded decks don't want mass land denial around. I'd say this one is possible, but an uphill battle.

Sylvan Primordial

Speaking of blinking and land destruction, Sylvan Primordial puts you ahead while setting everybody else back and is a prime candidate to clone, blink, and flicker. It is not the most fun card, especially at more casual tables. This one I could see unbanned in the future as we adapt and evolve brackets, but we decided not to touch it for now.

Tinker

Being able to turn any mana rock into a large, game-ending artifact threat early is wildly powerful, which is why this has caught an appropriate ban in many formats—Commander being one of them.

Tolarian Academy

Artifacts are everywhere in Commander, more now than ever with the proliferation of Clue, Food, and Treasure tokens. This mana producer would be up to the same kind of fast-mana nonsense alongside artifact ramp it always has been, and I would say it is unlikely to be unbanned.

Trade Secrets

This is an unusual one: it's a collusion card, meaning two players can collude to each draw tons of cards. It's not the most fun to resolve or play against, and the games where it is cast are rather silly. While there is a bit of politics in that you must opt into making it work, in general, it's not the kind of gameplay to be promoted. It is unlikely to be unbanned.

Upheaval

This board sweeper resets the entire game back to square one for only six mana, which would be problem enough … and when you factor in all that mana you floated and are about to recast your mana rocks, its chances only get worse. Unlikely to be unbanned.

Yawgmoth's Bargain

Necropotence is very strong and is now a Game Changer. Bargain, while more expensive, gives you the cards immediately and lets you combo off. It's possible that this could become a Game Changer, since Necropotence is similar, but I would not plan on this returning.