A New Game is launched These Seven Magic: The Gathering Cards Are About To Be Banned In Standard Play is launched.
These Seven Magic: The Gathering Cards Are About To Be Banned In Standard Playnew features
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The massive ban list update is set to have a dramatic impact on Standard play.
These Seven Magic: The Gathering Cards Are About To Be Banned In Standard Play new features
Wizards of the Coast is banning a whopping seven cards in Magic: The Gathering Standard as part of its mid-year banned and restricted update for 2025, setting the format up for a dramatic change. While one dominant card tops the list, another six have been banned for fear of them taking a similar role.The main offender being banned is Cori-Steel Cutter, a card that has become so dominant in the Standard meta that Wizards says the card would meet the threshold for banning even outside its once-per-year window for Standard. The card made up the backbone of the Izzet Prowess deck, which has noticeably dominated the metagame since the release of Tarkir: Dragonstorm in April, making up a whopping 40% of Standard play at the recent Pro Tour MTG–Final Fantasy tournament.While Cori-Steel Cutter is a no-brainer for the ban list, Wizards explains that it is trying to avoid seeing another card rise up and take its place at the top, which is why there are six other cards joining it on the ban list.Abuelo’s Awakening has been banned to curb the power of the popular Azorius Omniscience deck, which saw a 20% share of the metagame at the Pro Tour tournament. Red aggressive decks are also getting a power check, with both Monstrous Rage and Heartfire Hero on the ban list. Wizards explains that it considered only banning one of the two, but ultimately decided that both had to go in order to balance aggressive decks.Up The Beanstalk, which has been banned in Modern since 2023, is also going on the Standard ban list. Wizards explains that the card is challenging to interact with, effectively removing a number of strategies from the meta for as long as it’s in play. Hopeless Nightmare is also being removed in the interest of restricting the “least-fun” elements of self-bounce decks. The last card on the ban list is another that played a role in the Izzet Prowess deck, This Town Ain’t Big Enough.The wave of bans makes up the once-per-year “early rotation” for Standard, which until now hadn’t had any cards banned for over two years. The major shake-up is part of Wizards’ aim to make the format as fun to play as possible, saying goodbye to cards that have proven their strength and are now getting monotonous.Wizards recently shifted to a three-year model for Standard, and says it’s still learning about adapting to that model with its larger pool of cards. The format will see two more early rotation banning windows before the next Standard rotation in early 2027.Other than Standard, only Magic: The Gathering Arena’s digital-only formats have any changes to their ban lists. Cori-Steel Cutter will be suspended from Alchemy pending a rebalance, while Tibault’s Trickery will be banned from Pioneer Best-of-One, and Counterspell is unbanned in Historic.Check out the full list of bans and changes below.Banned and Restricted Announcement – June 30, 2025StandardCori-Steel Cutter is banned.Abuelo’s Awakening is banned.Monstrous Rage is banned.Heartfire Hero is banned.Up the Beanstalk is banned.Hopeless Nightmare is banned.This Town Ain’t Big Enough is banned.PioneerNo changesModernNo changesLegacyNo changesVintageNo changesPauperNo changesAlchemyCori-Steel Cutter is suspended (pending rebalance).Pioneer Best-of-One on MTG ArenaTibalt’s Trickery is banned.HistoricCounterspell is unbanned.TimelessNo changesBrawlNo changesEffective Date: June 30, 2025Next Announcement Date: November 24, 2025Recently, a Magic: The Gathering Final Fantasy card sold for more than the average American’s salary. The Golden Traveling Chocobo sold for an eye-watering $40,000.We Built A Magic: The Gathering – Final Fantasy Lightning Commander DeckSee More