VIDEO: Every Card on the Modern Ban List Ranked

The Modern ban list is a scary place where dark memories of the format's broken past come back to haunt us. However, there is no doubting some cards are a little more broken than some of the others. In today's list video, MTGTavern grades every card on the modern ban list from A-E.



Video Summary

Today I bring you the 41 cards on the Modern banlist ranked using a 5-tier system that goes from A to E. To classify the cards, there are two approaches: first, the brokenness of the card itself, and second, how unlikely it is to be unbanned. For example, is both unlikely to be unbanned (tier B) although it is not broken on its own (tier E). Following this, tier A stands for broken cards unlikely to leave the list; in tier B cards are remotely possible to be unbanned in 20 years and are slightly less broken than in tier A; cards in tier C have a lower power level than in B and are more likely to see the unban; tier D contains cards that may have a serious discussion for the unban; and in tier E there are cards that probably should not be in the banlist anymore due to the overall power level increase in the format. Without further ado, here is the ranking:

TIER A

  • will never be unbanned as it is an insane card.

  • is not powerful enough by itself. It would be in B tier, but it will never be unbanned unless a miracle happens.

  • belongs to low tier A although it is extremely broken. Despite that, it allowed for a somewhat diverse format as many decks could play it.

  • and are here due to the delve mechanic. Modern is about generating value and these cards use the leftovers from other cards to generate value from the graveyard. They will never be unbanned.

TIER B

  • has a power level that belongs to A tier, but it requires some bad cards to go alongside it. Should better land destruction spells be printed – such as – it may be unbanned in 5-10 years.

  • receives the same treatment as Dark Depths, if there will be better land destruction in the future, it may return.

  • is even better than , which is banned, as any deck can play it.

  • and were banned for similar reasons. Dredge is a fragile deck in the sense that it is either extremely broken or okay at best. Besides, Wizards will not take the risk of unbanning the troll again any time soon.

  • provides ridiculous amounts of value, but in 10-15 years the discussion may re-open when no one cares about drawing your entire deck in one turn due to the increase in the format's power level.

  • is approaching tier A as it would provide gargantuan amounts of strength to Titan decks. It is highly unlikely to be unbanned any time soon.

  • is in high B as it warps decks into playing it if they play one-drops. Then, it creates situations on turn one where the player with more copies of the card gets the advantage.

  • takes blue decks and transforms them into Legacy Miracles, a banned deck. I can see Wizards unbanning it in the future as they have been helping W/U Control lately with cards such as or .

TIER C

  • and are neither tier A not B regarding their power level. I can imagine a world with them unbanned.

  • and were collateral damage. At the time there were bigger issues in the format, but undoubtedly, Modern is healthier now.

  • has a similar argument as the previous ones, it contributed to make the format dull.

  • broke infect. We have better removal and counters now, but free spells will always be a problem.

  • is unlikely to leave the list as it is a free card.

  • may be unbanned if leaves the format.

  • becomes more powerful every time a new creature gets printed. Besides, better artifact destruction is needed first.

  • fetching T1 is no longer as powerful as it once was.

  • is controversial and comparable to as it is a similar card. It also has the same drawback of not playing one and two-mana spells in your deck.

  • was a misprint which makes it the only "truly broken" card of the list. Despite that, it is easier to interact with now.

  • is not especially great when your opponent is casting , gaining 3 life, drawing a card, and playing a land.

TIER D

  • was banned to power down Jund. Nowadays it is nowhere near being a top-tier deck. It also answers Uro.

  • was sometimes good, and other times awful when we playtested it.

  • is the least powerful card that was banned because of Eggs. It made games last for – literally – hours.

  • was banned during Hogaak Summer, but it is gone now.

  • and can make Storm decks skyrocket.

  • and can be discussed. One may argue that Opt is better than Preordain for being an instant.

TIER E

  • The artifact lands , , , , and . It is understandable that they were banned with Mox Opal in the format, but there is enough artifact-ability hate in the form of or . It would be a huge risk to play them right now.

  • was a massive liability – most of the times – during our testing. Although it is supposed to dominate creature decks, they did not care. It felt really underpowered.

That's it from me, Dan aka MTG Tavern for Cardmarket's YouTube channel. I hope you enjoyed the video, and see you next time.

Opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and not necessarily Cardmarket.