Wizards of the Coast just released its December 2024 update to the banned Magic: The Gathering cards list. The announcement was made on December 16 and the update goes into effect immediately, impacting only a few play formats. Although a handful of cards appeared in the update, it makes significant changes to certain decks. The list also includes the ban of a specific special card that went unacknowledged in play formats for over a year.

The update from Wizards of the Coast not only includes the ban of certain MTG cards, but it also announces the unban of some, bringing them back into legal play. Like the newly banned cards, only a few cards have been brought back and are allowed to be played again. This only affects one format, however, but may not see any changes in the future due to the way the specific format works. With this interesting update, the MTG releases of 2024 are being wrapped up with a finalization to their gameplay.

All New Banned Cards In December 2024

The Latest Banned Cards In Magic: The Gathering

Five cards in total have entered the banned list for legal play in Magic: The Gathering. The most notable on the list is The One Ring from The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth, the infamous card that only has one copy in existence. Despite its extreme rarity in the physical format, players can obtain it in Magic: The Gathering Arena and play with it through the Historic format as the set is included in it. Other banned cards in the update include three from the recent Modern Horizons 3 and one reprinted card from March of the Machine.

Here is the list of newly banned MTG cards, as of December 2024:

Jegantha, the Wellspring is the card banned in more than one format. Alongside being a Companion card, it can also be tapped for all colors of land for a player's mana pool. Amphed Raptor is another notable card, which allows for the exchange of energy counters for a method of drawing without spending mana cost. Each newly banned card is powerful in its own way and the playing fields have been levelled for the select formats seen being updated. The Legacy format also sees the ban of a few more cards from Modern Horizons 3, with Psychic Frog and Vexing Bauble no longer being legal.

All New Unbanned Cards In December 2024

Modern Play Format In MTG Sees New Unbans

The recent update to the banned Magic: The Gathering cards list of 2024 also received some unbans for a few select cards. The list is short and all for one format of play: Modern format. Some cards see a return to legal play, like Green Sun's Zenith which has been banned in Modern format since 2011. It is rare for cards to receive a ban early on after it is released, and then for it to make a return years later. As the game is constantly changing with the release of new sets, it still happens on occasion.

Here are the cards that are now unbanned for legal play, as of December 2024:

The reasons for the decision to unban these cards are elaborated on in the official Wizards of the Coast announcement, where it is explained that "the whole point of today's reversed bans is to call back to the Modern of yesteryear." With Magic: The Gathering constantly introduces new cards, where older ban decisions may become no longer relevant. This was considered for the recent announcement, that further details how "each card was justifiably removed from Modern in the past, but times change, and we've realized that Modern isn't what it used to be."

When The Next MTG Banned And Restricted List Will Be Released

There Are More MTG Card Bans To Come Early Next Year

The next banned and restricted announcement is already scheduled and will be released on March 31, 2025. With plenty of more MTG sets scheduled for release in 2025, there are two that will be released before the scheduled ban announcement: Innistrad Remastered and Aetherdrift. It is possible that cards from these sets, as well as ones from sets released in 2024, will appear on the list. There may also be the possibility of some currently banned cards to make a return to legal play, as some did during this recent December 2024 announcement.

The latest update to the banned cards list for Magic: The Gathering both brings new bans and undoes some from the trading card game's recent history. Although the update to the list was short, it saw significant cards being banned from legal play in selected formats. The most notable on the list being the very powerful The One Ring from 2023's The Lord of The Rings Universes Beyond set. With another already scheduled banned and restricted update coming in the early months of 2025, players will have to keep an eye out for the constantly updated list.

Source: Wizards of the Coast