The Gathering December 2024 Bans – Which MTG Cards Are Banned and Unbanned Right Now

Wizards of the Coast has just released its December 2024 update for the banned Magic: The Reunion list of cards. The announcement was made on December 16th and the update takes effect immediately, impacting only some game formats. Although some cards have appeared in the update, it brings significant changes to some decks. The list also includes a ban on a specific special card that has not been recognized in game formats for over a year.

The update of Wizards of the Coast not only includes the prohibition of certain MTG cards, but also announces the unbanning of somebringing them back to the legal game. Like the recently banned cards, only a few cards have been brought back and can be played again. However, this only affects one format, but may not change in the future due to how the specific format works. With this interesting update, the MTG the 2024 releases are being wrapped up with a gameplay wrap.

All new cards banned in December 2024

The latest banned cards from Magic: The Gathering

Five cards in total made the banned list for legal play in Magic: The Reunion. THE the most notable on the list is The One Ring from The Lord of the Rings: Tales from Middle Earththe famous card that only has one copy. Despite its extreme rarity in physical form, players can obtain it in Magic: The Reunion Arena and play with it in History format as the set is included in it. Other cards banned in the update include three of the recent Modern Horizons 3 and a reprinted card from Machine March.

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

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

All new unbanned cards in December 2024

Modern MTG game format sees new unbans

The recent banned update Magic: The Reunion The 2024 card list also saw some unbannings for some select cards. The list is short and all for one game format: modern format. Some cards return to legal play, like Green Sun's Zenith, which has been banned in the Modern format since 2011. It's rare for cards to be banned shortly after being released and return years later. Since the game is constantly changing with the release of new sets, this still happens from time to time.

Here are the cards that have not been banned from legal play, as of December 2024:

The reasons for the decision to unban these cards are elaborated in Wizards of the Coast's official announcement, where it is explained that “the purpose of today's reversed bans is to call back to the Modern of old.” With Magic: The Reunion constantly introduces new cards, where older ban decisions may no longer be relevant. This was considered for the recent announcement, which further details how “every card has been justifiably removed from Modern in the past, but times change and we realize that Modern isn’t what it used to be.”

When will the next MTG banned and restricted list be released?

There are more MTG card bans early next year

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

The latest update to the list of banned cards for Magic: The Reunion both bring new bans and undo part of the collectible card game's recent history. While the list update was short, it saw significant cards banned from legal play in select formats. Most notable on the list is 2023's very powerful The One Ring The Lord of the Rings Universes beyond the set. With another update already scheduled for banned and restricted coming in the early months of 2025, players will have to keep an eye on the constantly updated list.

Source: Wizards of the Coast

Systems

Platform(s)

Computer, Android, iOS

Released

September 27, 2018

Multiplayer

Online Multiplayer

Engine

Unit

CERS

T for Teen // Blood and Gore, Mild Fantasy Violence

How long to win

OpenCritic Rating

Strong