The Commander Ban List: All 85 Cards Banned in EDH

Chris Reay April 22, 2025 Commander

Last updated on April 22, 2025

Golos, Tireless Pilgrim | Illustrated by Joseph Meehan

Commander is the MTG format with one of the widest pools of cards out there, but with access to so many Magic cards it’s probably expected that some of them are problematic enough to be banned (at least in most people’s eyes). While the ban list might look quite long at first glance, it’s really quite small when you consider the tens of thousands of cards that you can play there.

Let’s take a look at what these banned cards are, as well as a little bit about why they’re banned.

Much of the list is broken down into groups, as many cards are banned for very similar reasons. There are a good number of sections to go into, so let's get started!

Table of Contents show

Power 9

We have to kick off with the Power 9. These are some of the most powerful cards ever printed in Magic, if not the actual most powerful. Each of these could fit into another section, but it makes sense to keep them separate here simply because of their impact and history.

The astute reader might notice that there’s only eight cards here, which begs the question, what’s missing? Timetwister has been omitted from the list, mainly because it’s not quite as ubiquitous as the rest, and not every deck would want to play it if it could. It’s still powerful, though, just not as useful in every EDH deck as the rest.

Could we ever see a Power 9 card come off the Commander ban list? It’s extremely unlikely. Outside of power level, they’re all on the Reserved List, and therefore absurdly expensive. Even if there were something that would make it reasonable on a power level basis, I think anyone in charge of the format would avoid unbanning one of these because of that.

Ante Cards

Ante is one of a handful of mechanics that has its own whole section on the ban list. Ante is a mechanic that was included in the early sets in the game where you could permanently own some of your opponent’s cards if you beat them. Quite early on it was decided that this was something that many players didn’t like, and it was removed from the game, so you just can’t play these in Commander. Of course, you could use house rules to include them, but you might end up falling out with your playgroup when you get your friend’s thousand-dollar card!

Conspiracies

Similar to ante, conspiracies just don’t really work in Magic games that aren't designed to specifically use them. Unlike ante, they weren’t designed to be used in these games, and they’re also very fun. If you haven’t played Conspiracy Draft I can’t recommend it highly enough. If you’re creative, you could also probably find a way to play some Rule 0 Commander using these cards. If you do, let me know how you get on!

Dexterity Cards (and Shahrazad)

The final mechanical block of cards that no longer have a place in Magic is dexterity cards. These require you to throw the cards around, with Chaos Orb being the most famous. This is also the inspiration behind Chaos Confetti, which according to myth actually happened when you could play Chaos Orb….

I’ve also included Shahrazad here, as it arguably fits with the dexterity cards. It’s just a pain to play with, and it has been banned from every format just to improve the lives of everyone involved. Don’t get me wrong; it’s one of my favorite cards ever. I just don’t ever want my opponents to play with it!

Fast Mana

Fast mana is one of the most common ways to end a game of cEDH, even if it isn’t directly the thing that wins. By fast mana, I mean methods to get ahead of the curve early in the game, most likely on turn 1. There’s a reason why two-thirds of the Power Nine is fast mana.

Fast mana almost defines Commander, especially as Sol Ring is a stalwart of the format and is also more powerful than many cards that are banned in the format. I can’t think of any of these that Wizards would want to take off the ban list, as they’re all problematic in their own way. Maybe Rofellos, Llanowar Emissary, but even then it’s significantly more powerful than a typical mana dork in the right deck.

Combo Pieces

Maybe “combo pieces” is a bit of a generic title, but most of these cards are essentially 1-card combos. You might not think that Primeval Titan is a combo card, until you realize that playing it lets you get any two lands from your deck, and there are some powerful lands out there. The classic is Dark Depths and Thespian's Stage, but there’s likely better options these days. Other options may not exactly combo with themselves, but the other combo pieces needed are so generic that it might as well be a 1-card combo.

There are some cards that I could see coming off this section, especially if the Commander bracket system comes into play fully. Coalition Victory feels like it was justifiably banned early on but is just a strong card now. Yes, it can just win a game in an instant these days, but is it any different from dropping Craterhoof Behemoth? Another contender is Panoptic Mirror, and Ben Wheeler of Loading Ready Run fame, who is now on the Commander Format Panel (and was part of the CAG for a couple of years) has voiced thoughts that it doesn’t need to be banned. We’ll just have to wait and see!

Stax Pieces

Stax cards are very controversial, especially in casual pods, but the stax cards that made it onto the Commander ban list are particularly egregious. These cards can turn a game into a non-game, and they do it early. It’s one thing for a combo to win a game and end it, but the worst banned cards will stop your opponents from doing anything from early in the game (think about cheating out a Sundering Titan on turn 1), but won’t let you win for a long time. They’re not particularly fun, they can lock specific players out, and they don’t make the game better by and large. Control decks have their place in the game, and interaction is needed in Commander, but sometimes it’s too much.

Ubiquitous Cards

These cards are banned from Commander not only for being very powerful, but they’re so powerful that there’s no reason not to play them in most instances. Of course, cards like Command Tower and Sol Ring also fall into this category, but they’re seen to be part of the format (and are also cheap, which helps a lot).

Most of these are colorless cards, which means they can go in literally any deck, but the one that stands out is Lutri, the Spellchaser. This was controversially (and correctly, in my opinion) banned from Commander on release as it’d otherwise be an auto-include in any deck playing blue and red (almost any Commander deck fulfills the companion restriction, as this was clearly not designed for Commander). Some players take umbrage with this stance, but mainly it’s down to them wanting to play with the cute otter, not the actual gameplay.

Golos, Tireless Pilgrim is clearly a 5-color commander, but it became the go-to commander for 5-color decks and was hurting diversity in the format in the same way (if not worse than) the rest of Commander’s banned cards.

40-Life Matters Cards

One of the biggest, but most underrated differences between Commander and other formats is that you start at 40 life instead of the usual 20. This means that cards that were designed around 20 starting life can be a little more broken in EDH. Griselbrand is banned for other reasons, of course, but the ability to draw that many more cards is what sets it apart in Commander.

You may not initially think that Biorhythm is relevant enough to be banned, but taking an opponent to low single digits from 40 is much different to doing that from 20. That, and the fact that most players have a handful of board wipes in their deck!

Miscellaneous

As much as I’ve tried fitting cards into different sections, some didn’t really fit in one of the other categories. These cards are kind of just “generically good”, and may be classed as “Game Changers” if they were legal. There’s a lot of card advantage in these banned cards, mainly for doing things you’d want to be doing anyway. Just too much value for a single cardboard rectangle!

Some of these are problematic with the fundamentals of the format, like Karakas‘s ability to shut off any commander at virtually no cost, or the way Trade Secrets lets you collude with an opponent to each virtually draw your deck.

Community Standards

Cleanse
Crusade
Invoke Prejudice
Imprison
Jihad
Pradesh Gypsies
Stone-Throwing Devils

These are cards that Wizards essentially removed from the entire game of Magic due to community standards and cultural issues. These cards were seen to be problematic for non-gameplay reasons, and they’re no longer even referenced in most Wizards properties like Gatherer.

Is “Banned as a Commander” Still Around?

No, “Banned as Commander” no longer exists. At one time, there were two separate ban lists, one that tracked cards that were banned from the Commander format in general, and another listing specific creatures that were banned as a commander but ones you could still play in your 99. These were generally cards that were seen to be too problematic when you always had access to them from the command zone (Rofellos, Llanowar Emissary is a great example, as it could consistently come out on turn 2, or even turn 1 with a particularly spicy hand!).

The rule went away in September 2014 because the two separate ban lists were confusing for new players, and the cards on this list were just banned from Commander in general as a result. There have been many rumblings about bringing it back, though, with thoughts that cards like Golos, Tireless Pilgrim could have been banned as a commander instead of just removed from the format.

Does cEDH Have the Same Ban List as Commander?

Yes, there’s no difference between the cEDH ban list and the general Commander ban list. Some cards like Flash were banned specifically because of their effects in cEDH, although most of the cards are banned because of their effects on the format in general.

Does the Game Changers List Affect the Commander Ban List?

The Commander Game Changers list, as well as the Bracket system, may have an effect on the ban list going forward. Gavin Verhey doesn’t call it a watch list, but it’s the closest thing we have for a watch list for bans in Commander. It’s generally expected that any future unbans become a Game Changer as they’re unbanned, and future bans are likely to be added to the Game Changer list first.

It also opens the scope for more unbans. Previously it was a very binary system: A card was either banned or not. Now, we have a bit of a middle ground, and helps open up the playability of these cards a little. A handful of cards unbanned because means we could see a few cards reintroduced into the format over time.

When Was the Last Time a Card Got Banned in Commander?

The last time we had a ban in Commander was the relatively large banning in September 2024 when Dockside Extortionist, Jeweled Lotus, Mana Crypt, and Nadu, Winged Wisdom were all banned, and which ultimately lead to the dissolution of the Commander Rules Committee and Commander Advisory Group, and control of the format moving entirely over to Wizards.

Are Silver-Border Cards Banned in Commander? Acorn-Stamped Cards?

Acorn-stamped and silver-bordered cards aren’t legal in Commander. There was a “Silver-Bordered Project” which was looking to classify silver-bordered cards for casual play, but I don’t know where this stands with the dissolution of the Commander Rules Committee.

Are Stickers and Attractions Banned in Commander?

No, they aren’t. Stickers and attractions were banned from Legacy and Vintage in May 2024, but this decision did not affect Commander.

Wrap Up

Iona, Shield of Emeria | Illustration by Jason Chan

The Commander ban list is quite large, although not that large when you consider the size of the card pool, and it has some very powerful or unfun cards that dip into every section of the color wheel. While some players may think that there shouldn’t be a ban list for this powerful format, it does make sense to me, although it could maybe do with some tweaking.

What do you think of the ban list? Would you make any changes if you had the power, or would you abolish it all together? How do you think Brackets will affect the list going forward? Be sure to let us know which cards you’d like to see removed, as well as anything else ban list adjacent, down below in the comments or over on the Draftsim Discord.

Until next time, may all your decks remain unbanned (unless you play mill, of course)!

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Chris Reay

Chris is a passionate drafter who loves limited formats both online and (particularly) in person. He started his YouTube Channel, Pass Left Drafts MTG as a lockdown project and still loves putting out content for Magic players of all varieties.