Summary

• The ban of The One Ring and the unban of Splinter Twin in Modern are the biggest changes in the latest banlist update.

• The dominance of the red-white energy decks led to the ban of The One Ring.

• Jegantha’s ubiquity across all formats led to its ban, and continued evidence that companions were a huge mistake.

Magic: The Gathering has finally brought the Banhammer to one of the game’s most powerful cards by removing The One Ring from the game’s Modern format.

In addition to the Legacy and Pioneer bans, the December 2024 banlist update also marks the return of Splinter Twin to Modern after years of players asking for the ban to be lifted.

The full list of bans by format is:

Modern

• The One Ring banned.

• Amped Raptor banned.

• Jegantha, the source forbidden.

• Mox opal no longer banned.

• Zenith Unlocked by Green Sun.

• Faithless looting is no longer prohibited.

• Splinter Twin unbanned.

legacy

• Psychic frog banned.

• Vexing Bauble banned.

Pioneer/discoverer

• Jegantha, The Wellspring banned.

By far the biggest changes in these announcements are the banning of The One Ring and the unbanning of Splinter Twin in Modern. The One Ring has caused problems in multiple formats since its debut in Tales Of Middle-earth last year and has been played in over 60 percent of meta decks for the format for months.

Regarding the ban, Wizards explained that the decision to ban it was due to the dominance of red-white energy decks since Modern Horizons 3 earlier this year, which saw heavy use of the card. Banning The One Ring is something of a double whammy: it solves a long-standing problem in the format while weakening the most-played deck.

The power of energy decks is why Amped Raptor, an unusual game from Modern Horizons 3, was also banned.

Splinter Twin, on the other hand, has been banned in Modern since 2016. The introduction of free and cheap answers to it, such as Force of Negation and Flare of Denial, means that it may not be as strong in the format as it once was. Because it was such a popular archetype at the time, its lifting of the ban makes sense given Wizards’ goal of returning Modern to its heyday when Splinter was playable.

The lifting of the Mox Opal ban is also interesting. A no-cost artifact means Affinity decks could creep back into Modern, which would be a nice change from the endless Energy decks and the Nadu decks that came before it.

Jegantha has disappeared from several formats

In Modern and Pioneer, Jegantha, The Wellspring has become an extremely popular card. It’s the latest in a long line of Ikoria: Lair of Behemoth companions to be banned, and follows Lutri, Yorion, and Lurrus, as it’s an incredibly simple companion requirement that every card in your deck have at most a single mana point must.

It’s a simple inclusion that gives you access to WUBRG mana, making it an automatic inclusion in almost every deck. It’s a generally good card that’s boring to play against, which puts it squarely in the firing line of a ban.

Legacy doesn’t ban cards often, with the intention of it being a powerful format with a little more curation than Vintage. So the fact that two cards from Modern Horizons 3 were banned showed just how powerful (or, if you want to be less charitable, how distorting) this set was.

The ban on Psychic Frog is intended to continue the work started with the recent ban on Grief. The blue/black reanimation decks have not yet been sufficiently destroyed, resulting in the Frog being dropped from the format. Meanwhile, Vexing Bauble was another generally good card that can shut down an opponent’s deck with its counter ability, causing it to skyrocket in the meta.

Nadu, Winged Wisdom will be closely watched as the metagame adjusts to these bans, which could result in it being removed from one of the only four official formats where it is still legal.

It’s not all bad news, however. Wizards has highlighted Standard as a particularly healthy format right now, as no card is considered too powerful. The format features a wide variety of decks, with success coming from Duskmourn and Foundations.

These bans and repeals take effect immediately. The next bans will not occur until March 31, 2025, after the launch of Aetherdrift.