It was free
The original power cards produce mana or draw cards at no real cost, which in a format this deep means a turn-one win is a matter of finding them. Legacy removes them entirely rather than allowing a single copy.
Format reference
Legacy Banlist
In Legacy, 171 cards are banned as of September 24, 2026.
Legacy is an eternal format: nearly every card ever printed is legal, and nothing rotates out. What keeps it in shape is a banned list, which is the longest of any 60-card format. All of it is below.
This banlist is generated from Scryfall rather than typed out, so it follows every announcement.
Legacy by the numbers
- Card pool
- Almost everythingEvery tournament-legal set
- Rotation
- NoneEternal format
- Deck size
- 60+Plus a 15-card sideboard
- Copy limit
- 4No restricted list
- Cards banned
- 171Updated automatically
Legacy's banned cards, in full
Legacy handles its most powerful cards by banning them outright rather than limiting them to one copy, which is the single biggest difference between it and Vintage. The list is long, and much of it is not about power at all: the Conspiracy draft-matters cards, cards that play for ante, cards that ask you to physically flip or drop something, and novelty cards never printed for tournament play are all banned here too, alongside the genuinely broken ones.
- Adriana's Valor
- Advantageous Proclamation
- Aerialephant
- Ambassador Blorpityblorpboop
- Amulet of Quoz
- Ancestral Recall
- Arcum's Astrolabe
- Assemble the Rank and Vile
- Baaallerina
- Backup Plan
- Balance
- _____ Balls of Fire
- Bazaar of Baghdad
- Bioluminary
- _____ Bird Gets the Worm
- Black Lotus
- Brago's Favor
- Bronze Tablet
- Candelabra of Tawnos
- Carnival Carnivore
- Channel
- Chaos Orb
- Chicken Troupe
- Clandestine Chameleon
- Cleanse
- Coming Attraction
- Command Performance
- Complaints Clerk
- Contract from Below
- Crusade
- Darkpact
- Deadbeat Attendant
- Deathrite Shaman
- Dee Kay, Finder of the Lost
- Demonic Attorney
- Demonic Consultation
- Demonic Tutor
- Dig Through Time
- Discourtesy Clerk
- Done for the Day
- Double Stroke
- Draconian Gate-Bot
- Dreadhorde Arcanist
- Earthcraft
- Echoing Boon
- Emissary's Ploy
- Entomb
- Expressive Iteration
- Falling Star
- Fastbond
- Fight the _____ Fight
- Finishing Move
- Flash
- Frantic Search
- Gitaxian Probe
- Glitterflitter
- _____ Goblin
- Goblin Recruiter
- Grief
- Gush
- Hermit Druid
- Hired Heist
- Hold the Perimeter
- Hymn of the Wilds
- Immediate Action
- Imperial Seal
- Imprison
- Incendiary Dissent
- Invoke Prejudice
- Iterative Analysis
- Jeweled Bird
- Jihad
- Last Voyage of the _____
- Library of Alexandria
- "Lifetime" Pass Holder
- Line Cutter
- Lineprancers
- Lurrus of the Dream-Den
- Make a _____ Splash
- Mana Crypt
- Mana Drain
- Mana Vault
- Memory Jar
- Mental Misstep
- Mind Twist
- Minotaur de Force
- Mishra's Workshop
- Monitor Monitor
- Mox Emerald
- Mox Jet
- Mox Pearl
- Mox Ruby
- Mox Sapphire
- Muzzio's Preparations
- Myra the Magnificent
- Mystical Tutor
- Nadu, Winged Wisdom
- "Name Sticker" Goblin
- Natural Unity
- Necropotence
- Oath of Druids
- Oko, Thief of Crowns
- _____-o-saurus
- Park Bleater
- Petting Zookeeper
- Pin Collection
- Power Play
- Pradesh Gypsies
- Prize Wall
- Proficient Pyrodancer
- Psychic Frog
- Quick Fixer
- Rad Rascal
- Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer
- Rebirth
- Ride Guide
- Robo-Piñata
- _____ _____ Rocketship
- Roxi, Publicist to the Stars
- Scampire
- Seasoned Buttoneer
- Secrets of Paradise
- Secret Summoning
- Sensei's Divining Top
- Sentinel Dispatch
- Shahrazad
- Skullclamp
- Sol Ring
- Soul Swindler
- Sovereign's Realm
- Sowing Mycospawn
- Spinnerette, Arachnobat
- Squirrel Squatters
- Step Right Up
- Stiltstrider
- Stone-Throwing Devils
- Strip Mine
- Summoner's Bond
- Survival of the Fittest
- Sword-Swallowing Seraph
- Tempest Efreet
- The Fantasticar
- The Most Dangerous Gamer
- Ticketomaton
- Timetwister
- Time Vault
- Time Walk
- Timmerian Fiends
- Tinker
- Tolarian Academy
- Treasure Cruise
- _____ _____ _____ Trespasser
- Troll of Khazad-dûm
- Tusk and Whiskers
- Undercity Informer
- Underworld Breach
- Unexpected Potential
- Vampiric Tutor
- Vexing Bauble
- Weight Advantage
- Wheel of Fortune
- White Plume Adventurer
- Wicker Picker
- Windfall
- Wizards of the _____
- Wolf in _____ Clothing
- Worldknit
- Wrenn and Six
- Yawgmoth's Bargain
- Yawgmoth's Will
- Zirda, the Dawnwaker
Built from Scryfall on 2026-09-24
What Legacy bans, and why
With thirty years of cards legal at four copies each, Legacy's banlist is doing more work than most. The reasons fall into three groups.
It said "you do not get to play"
Cards that lock an opponent out of taking any action, or that deny lands so completely that nothing can be cast, produce games that are over long before they end. These are banned for what they do to a match rather than to a win rate.
It was never meant for a tournament
Cards that play for ante, ask players to do something physical, or carry content that has no place at an event, are banned regardless of how strong they are.
The rules for a legal Legacy deck
| Rule | Legacy | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Minimum deck size | 60 cards | No maximum. Legacy lists are almost always exactly 60. |
| Sideboard | Exactly 15, or none | Fifteen or zero, nothing in between. |
| Copies of a card | 4 | Legacy has no restricted list. A card is either fully legal at four copies or banned. |
| Card pool | Every tournament-legal set | Including the original dual lands and the rest of the early card pool, minus the banned list. |
| Rotation | None | Nothing has ever rotated out of Legacy. |
ArcaneMetriX flags Legacy bans as you build, which matters more here than in most formats: the banned list is long and includes cards that are perfectly legal in Vintage at a single copy.
Frequently asked about Legacy
What is the difference between Legacy and Vintage?
Both are eternal formats with nearly the whole card pool available. Legacy handles its most powerful cards by banning them; Vintage restricts them to one copy instead. That single difference is why the two formats play nothing alike.
Is Black Lotus legal in Legacy?
No. The original power cards are banned in Legacy. They are legal in Vintage, where they are restricted to a single copy per deck.
Are the original dual lands legal in Legacy?
Yes. The revised dual lands are legal at four copies and are a large part of why Legacy manabases look the way they do.
Does Legacy rotate?
No. Legacy is eternal. Sets are added and never removed, and the banned list is the only thing that takes a card out of the format.
Brew a Legacy deck
Legacy decks are expensive to get wrong. Build the list in ArcaneMetriX first and check its legality, curve and synergies before you buy a single card.