Magic the Gatheringhas officially announced the newest bans coming to the game’s Standard format to close out June 2025, hitting several of the top decks. The massively popular trading card game from Wizards of the Coast has released plenty of exciting cards throughout its recent expansions, providing lots for players to try out in their decks. The recentFinal Fantasy-themed set forMagic the Gatheringhas been a smash hit with fans of the game, bringing powerful and unique cards based around the beloved RPG series. Now, one of the game’s most popular formats is seeing some big changes.
Among the many formats offered byMagic the Gathering, Standard has typically been one of its most popular competitive styles.Magic the Gathering’s Standard rotationfeatures the last couple of years of legal sets, regularly rotating out older sets while bringing new expansions into the format. While set rotation often helps to keep dominant strategies from staying in the game for too long, Wizards of the Coast will often look to make changes to the game through banning cards. The newest bans coming toMagic’s Standard format are now looking to be some of its biggest yet.
Wizards of the Coast officially announced the newest updates toMagic the Gathering’s banlist, with seven different cards being banned from the game. The suite of changes features a variety of cards from acrossmultiple different Standard-legal sets, ranging from powerful Instants like “This Town Ain’t Big Enough” and “Monstrous Rage” to the dominant “Cori-Steel Cutter.” The bans are expected to go into effect immediately, with Cori-Steel Cutter also banned inMagic the Gathering’s Alchemy format. Other formats like Pioneer Best-of-One and Historic also saw minor changes as well.
Pioneer Best-of-One on MTG Arena
Historic
The suite of Standard bans will look to hit several of the most powerful decks from the recent Pro Tour Las Vegas.“Mono-Red Aggro” was one of the hardest-hit deckswithin the bans, losing out on “Cori-Steel Cutter,” “Monstrous Rage,” and “Heartfire Hero” with the changes. The popular “Azorius Omniscience” deck also saw a major hit with “Abuelo’s Awakening” removed from the format, acting as one of the main set-up pieces for the deck.
Magic the Gathering’s newest banlist changes serve as a precursor for even bigger changes coming to the format in just over a month.Magic the Gathering’s annual Standard rotation is set to arrive on August 1 with the release of “Edge of Eternities,” removing every set from “March of the Machine” and older from the format. Edge of Eternities is also expected to introduce some game-changing cards to the format, with the"shock lands" coming back to Standard formatfor the first time since 2018’s “Guilds of Ravnica.“Magic’s Standard format is in for some major shake-ups between newly banned cards and rotation on the horizon.
