Wizards of the Coast issued an update to its Magic: The Gathering Banned and Restricted Lists on February 15 that affects Eternal formats.

WotC's focus of this ban announcement was cleaning up multiple Eternal formats, which had been experiencing a general lack of attention since in-person Magic had been on hiatus over the course of 2020 into 2021 (see "Wizards of the Coast Extends 'Magic: The Gathering' In-Store Play Suspension Till January"). The following changes were made to Eternal formats:

  • Omnath, Locus of Creation and Uro, Titan of Nature's Wrath are banned in Historic.
  • Balustrade Spy, Teferi, Time Raveler, Undercity Informer, Widerness Reclamation, and Uro, Titan of Nature's Wrath are banned in Pioneer.
  • Field of the Dead, Mystic Sanctuary, Simian Spirit Guide, Tibalt's Trickery, and Uro, Titan of Nature's Wrath are banned in Modern.
  • Arcum's Astrolabe, Dreadhorde Arcanist, and Oko, Thief of Crowns are banned in Legacy.
  • Lurrus of the Dream-Den is unbanned in Vintage.

The Cascade triggered ability was tweaked to accommodate modal card types.

Not too many of these bannings were earth-shattering surprises by any means, and most were overdue because they've been wrecking formats for months already. The two most significant bannings were of Tibalt's Trickery and Uro, Titan of Nature's Wrath. Tibalt's Trickery is a brand-new card that interacts poorly with Cascade effects in Modern, and the banning should devalue this card even further from its high marks of $7 to $8 when it was released. WotC had already warned collectors about the Uro ban, and it is unlikely to affect sales of the Smitten Superdrop, which Uro is featured in (see "Wizards of the Coast Unveils 'Magic: The Gathering' 'Secret Lair: Smitten Superdrop'"), as the card is still legal to play in both the Commander and Legacy formats for the time being.

For more information on Magic: The Gathering releases, check out the release calendar (see " 'Magic: The Gathering' Release Calendar for 2020/2021").