As the name would imply, Standard has long been a mainstay format of Magic: The Gathering. Made up of cards from sets that were the most recently released, Standard allows players to build decks around the newest cards in the format, while it allows Magic’s play design team to cultivate an ever-changing format with unique deckbuilding potential.
While most cards in Standard-legal sets are designed with the format in mind, some powerhouses are so strong that they warp the entire meta, resulting in their ban in the format. Standard bans are currently topical due to their recent frequency, so today we’re going to examine cards from Standard’s history that were so powerful that they needed to be banned!
10 Channel
Prior to being known as Standard, the format was known as “Type 2.” One of the earliest cards to be banned in the format was Channel in November of 1995. A green sorcery for two mana, Channel is among the most over-powered and abusable mana ramp cards in the game’s history, allowing a player to turn any amount of life into colorless mana. When paired with cards with X in their cost such as Fireball, Channel could instantaneously end a game just as it began.
9 Tolarian Academy
Tolarian Academy is among the strongest land cards to ever see print and it was banned from Standard in December of 1998. Toting a straightforward and simple ability, this land is capable of producing an amount of blue mana equal to the number of artifacts its owner controls.
This card allows a player to generate absurd amounts of mana at an alarming rate, and like Channel, it has since been banned in every format save for Vintage in which it is restricted.
8 Mind Over Matter
Though it costs a hefty six mana to put into play and is currently legal in three formats, Mind Over Matter is an incredible blue enchantment that enables a wide range of combos. Banned in Standard in June of 1999, the card allows players to untap or tap an artifact, creature, or land by discarding a card.
7 Skullclamp
Players of the Commander format are likely quite familiar with the sheer power of Skullclamp. Currently banned in Modern and Legacy, the card was swiftly banned in Standard in 2004. An equipment for one mana with an equip cost of one, Skullclamp provides the equipped creature with +1/+0 and states that when that creature dies, it’s controller draws two cards.
Rather than using the card to buff a creature, once on board, Skullclamp essentially allows a player to pay one mana to sacrifice a creature with 1 toughness to draw two cards.
6 Artifact Lands
It isn’t often that an entire cycle of lands are banned from Standard, but that’s exactly what happened with the artifact lands in March of 2005. A series of five lands, one for each color, these lands were simply non-basic lands that counted as artifacts in addition to being lands. These cards synergized in oppressive fashion with the Affinity mechanic as well as the various artifact synergies in Mirrodin. While they can now be played in numerous formats, these lands are still banned to this day in Modern.
5 Stoneforge Mystic
Often regarded as one of the strongest mono-white cards from Magic’s history, Stoneforge Mystic is an incredible card that supports and enables equipment more than any other card in the game. A 1/2 for two mana, when this creature enters the battlefield, it tutors for any equipment.
It can then subvert high mana costs of equipment cards with its activated ability that allows its owner to pay two mana to put any equipment directly into play. Due to its high power, the card was banned in Standard in June of 2011.
4 Jace, The Mind Sculptor
Banned at the same time as Stoneforge Mystic, Jace the Mind Sculptor was the first Planeswalker to be banned in Standard. A blue planeswalker with four abilities, Jace could bounce an opponent’s creatures off the board, determine an opponent’s next draw, or produce the effects of the card, Brainstorm. In the case a player was unfortunate enough to let an opponent’s Jace use its ultimate ability, Jace could exile an entire library, then forcing the given player to shuffle whatever cards were in their hand into their library.
3 Once Upon A Time
Many of the strongest cards from Magic’s past are those that can be cast without spending any mana. Banned in Standard in November of 2019, Once Upon a Time is a green instant that can be played for free as long as its the first spell a player cast that game.
Looking at the top five cards of a player’s library and putting a creature or land from among them into its casters hand, Once Upon a Time allowed decks to be much more consistent, as they could easily raise the chances of a player gaining access to key cards as soon as a game began.
2 Oko, Thief Of Crowns
Oko, Thief of Crown is one of the most notorious cards of recent memory. A Simic planeswalker that is capable of gaining its controller life through the creation of food tokens, it can render any artifact or creature useless by turning it into a 3/3 elk with no abilities, all whilst raising its loyalty. Banned alongside Once Upon a Time in 2019, it has since been banned in every format save for Commander and Vintage.
1 Uro, Titan Of Nature’s Wrath
Banned in September of 2020, like Oko, shortly after its printing Uro, Titan of Nature’s Wrath has been banned in several formats. Another Simic card like Oko, Uro allows its controller to repetitively gain absurd amounts of value through gaining life, drawing, cards, and even additional land drops. Through the significant value it supplied and the manner it had quickly warped Standard’s metagame, the card was banned.
