By Scryfall's data on September 24, 2026, 101 cards are banned in Vintage and 52 cards are restricted.
Vintage is the format where almost everything is legal. It manages power with a restricted list, capping the strongest cards at a single copy, and bans only a short list of cards that do not belong at a tournament at all. Both lists are below.
Vintage bans very little for being too strong, which is why this list is longer than you might expect and full of names you will not recognise. Almost all of it is cards that could never be played at an event whatever their power: draft-only Conspiracy cards, the old ante cards, dexterity cards you physically toss onto the table, joke cards from sets never meant for tournaments, and a handful removed for their content. The short list of genuinely powerful cards Vintage limits is the restricted list below, not this one.
Built from Scryfall on 2026-09-24
A restricted card is legal, but you may play exactly one copy across your deck and sideboard. This is how Vintage keeps the most powerful cards in the game playable without letting a deck draw four of them. Every restricted card is below.
Vintage draws its line in a different place from every other format. Understanding where is most of understanding Vintage.
The most powerful cards ever printed are legal here at one copy each. A deck can play a single Black Lotus; it cannot build around drawing one reliably. That is the whole mechanism, and it is why Vintage keeps a card pool no other format can.
Cards that play for ownership of a card, or that ask a player to physically flip, drop or balance something, are banned. They are not powerful; they simply cannot be run at a sanctioned event.
A small number of cards are banned from every format because of racist or otherwise unacceptable imagery or text. Wizards removed them from tournament play in 2020 and they will not return.
| Rule | Vintage | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Minimum deck size | 60 cards | Larger is legal, but rarely wise. |
| Sideboard | Exactly 15, or none | The same as every 60-card format: 15 cards, or none. |
| Copies of a card | 4, or 1 if restricted | The restricted limit counts main deck and sideboard together. |
| Card pool | Every tournament-legal set, back to Alpha | Vintage is the largest card pool in Magic. |
| Rotation | None | Vintage never loses a set. |
ArcaneMetriX enforces the restricted limit as well as the ban, so a second copy of a restricted card is flagged as you add it rather than at deck check.
A banned card cannot be played at all. A restricted card can be played, but only one copy across your deck and sideboard. Vintage is the only format that uses a restricted list.
Yes, one copy. The original power cards are restricted rather than banned, which is what makes Vintage the only sanctioned format where they are playable.
Because restriction does the job. Capping a card at one copy removes the consistency that made it a problem while keeping it in the format, so an outright ban is reserved for cards that could not be run at an event for other reasons.
No. Legacy bans its most powerful cards outright and has no restricted list. Vintage restricts them to one copy instead, which is why the two formats look completely different in practice.
Plan a Vintage list in ArcaneMetriX. The builder counts restricted copies for you, and the Genome canvas shows how the pieces of the deck connect.