Wizards of the Coast updated its Magic: The Gathering Banned and Restricted List on August 10, 2026.
A few key cards in the Standard and Legacy formats were banned. The list of changes is as follows:
- Badgermole Cub, Gran Gran, and Stormchaser’s Talent are banned in Standard.
- The Fantasticar is banned in Legacy.
- The Fantasticar is restricted in Vintage.
The Standard cards mentioned above were no-brainer bans, which had these bans come sooner, they may have done less damage to the format over the last six months. Badgermole Cub was essentially a card that was overpowered out of the gates because it allowed players to ramp their creature strategies too quickly. Gran Gran was one of the key drivers of the Lessons decks, which made up over 15% of the metagame; Stormchaser’s Talent was part of Izzet Prowess decks which also made up over 15% of the metagame. Izzet-colored decks accounted for something like over 40% of the decks in Standard metagame.
Fantasticar should’ve been banned in Legacy as it was being previewed in June 2026. Pretty much every Magic streamer and Pro Tour player that routinely played Legacy or Vintage inherently knew this card was a bad idea to be legal any format with an abundance of free spells and zero cost artifacts. WotC designers gave it a trial run for a month or so, and apparently came to a similar conclusion.
For more information on 2026 Magic: The Gathering releases, click here to check out ICv2’s release calendar.
Source: ICv2
