The big ban announcement for the year happened this past Monday and it wasn't much more than a whimper.

Unbanning Preordain in Modern in the midst of "Modern Horizons Block Constructed" further augmented by The One Ring and Orcish Bowmasters feels like a drop in the bucket, and the combination of a number of archaic old cards still on the banlist as well as the most widely played card at Pro Tour The Lord of the Rings (The One Ring) not being touched makes this feel like Wizards of the Coast was playing it super safe.

Modern has been a format now for well over a decade, and during this time has seen a large number of cards both banned and unbanned.

If you can believe it, all of these cards were once banned in Modern. Where are they now? A few small role players as well as a bunch of cards that haven't seen the light of day in years.

The advent of straight to Modern sets like Modern Horizons as well as The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth has drastically increased the overall power level of Modern as a format, as well as introduce a large amount of almost mandatory interactive elements. You're doing something fundamentally unfair or you're playing the super powerful interactive elements - or sometimes both!

Burn It Down And Start Over

As such, it's time to reexamine the 47 cards currently on the Modern ban list.

Today and next week we're going to go over every single card on the Modern ban list and look at the potential risks, fun factor, and ultimately if it should be set loose. 47 cards are a lot, so we'll be splitting this deep dive up over two articles, half this week and half next week.

So, let's go!

Danger Level: High, But Many Safety Valves

Fun Factor: High

Verdict: Unban

What better place to start than the original Mirrodin artifact lands, which have been banned since the format's inception.

We've had Darksteel Citadel in the format forever, as well as the new enters-tapped artifact dual cycle from Modern Horizons 2, but the original articles are the real deal. It's doubtful that Frogmite or Myr Enforcer are really that threatening these days, but there's no doubt that Arcbound Ravager, Urza's Saga, and Thought Monitor would stand to gain a ton here. Given the lack of viable artifact decks in the format, this would be a welcome change.

Many of the truly dangerous artifact cards that would gain the most from an artifact land unban like Mox Opal and Kark-Clan Ironworks are already on the banlist, and realistically there are enough powerful anti-artifact cards like Stony Silence, Ancient Grudge, Vandalblast, and more in the format as sideboard safety valves if needed.

This would be a big shift to the format, but a very fun and welcome one that promotes synergy over rate.

Danger Level: Ubiquitous Staple

Fun Factor: Too Homogenized

Verdict: Stay Banned

Arcum's Astrolabe is a fairly recent card on the banlist, but the perfect example of what happens when you have an element in the format that is too ubiquitous.

Some cards on the banlist, like the aforementioned artifact lands, make you want to play with a variety of different cards that you may not have wanted to play before. In the case of artifact lands, cards like Frogmite, Thirst for Knowledge, and other artifact synergy cards might enter the equation.

Arcum's Astrolabe is just an overpowered cantrip that gives too much material for nothing while also blurring the lines of what the colors are capable of. Magic is a better game without Arcum's Astrolabe.

Danger Level: High

Fun Factor: Not As Fun As You Remember

Verdict: Unban

The issue with Birthing Pod is that it is not the card you remember having fun with in Standard and the early days Modern anymore.

Make no mistake, Birthing Pod isn't much more than a one-shot combo card at this point. The idea of playing a fun toolbox deck full of one-ofs is not realistic in 2023, meaning that any competitive Birthing Pod deck would just be looking to start a combo chain as fast as possible to win the game on the spot. With Birthing Pod mostly being a one card combo, it becomes a deck that demands a certain type of interaction or it will kill quickly and consistently.

However, that all being said, Modern is currently extremely hostile toward creature decks as well as packed full of interaction, to the point that it is unlikely that Birthing Pod would be the best thing to be doing. This is a fun shakeup spot with an unban, with the understanding that a reban may be necessary in the unlikely event that things go completely sideways.

Danger Level: Medium

Fun Factor: Fun If Fringe, Awful If The Best Deck

Verdict: Unban

Some cards are banned because they're ubiquitous on rate, overshadowing everything else and limited the chance for more cards to see play. Others are banned because they kill people on turn two. Blazing Shoal is of course the latter.

A major player at the very first Modern Pro Tour, Blazing Shoal was quickly banned for its ability to enable turn two kills with Inkmoth Nexus. There's obviously a desire to not have Modern be a turn two format, but it's also important to recognize that the format didn't even have Fatal Push yet, much less Solitude, Orcish Bowmasters, Force of Negation, Alpine Moon, etc. Modern is a far more interactive format now, meaning that the sort of all-in combo that Blazing Shoal promotes does not play very well any more beyond being a glass cannon.

That being said, there's the question of "why even bother unbanning it then, if it is only going to do broken things or see no play?" It's a valid one, but clearing out a bloated ban list while also giving players a chance to dream or relive the glory days is a draw.

Another somewhat terrifying one, but one that's likely to be more than fine in modern day Magic.

Danger Level: Low to Medium

Fun Factor: Medium

Verdict: Unban

Bridge From Below is a Magic card with a long and storied tournament history. It has been a part of various, often broken, Dredge and graveyard decks since it was first printed, and is a true example of how much a critical mass of effects can come together to be broken. It's also a supremely ugly Magic card, a card that is designed never to be cast.

That being said, it was banned during Hogaak summer, where it died for Hogaak's sins.

Bridge from Below is the kind of card that is a major issue when specific cards are legal to use along with it, in this case Dread Return, Hogaak, Arisen Necropolis, and Cabal Therapy being the biggest offenders. Dread Return and Hogaak are of course on the Modern ban list, and Cabal Therapy is only an issue in Legacy, and when you add this to how weak Bridge from Below is to the pitch elementals (which sacrifice themselves on cast to remove the Bridge), Bridge from Below should be safe to release.

Danger Level: Very High

Fun Factor: High

Verdict: Stay Banned

Fast mana has always been one of the most dangerous parts of Magic: The Gathering.

Chrome Mox isn't exactly Mox Sapphire, but in a world where there are constantly printing extremely powerful proactive threats every year that both want to be cast early as well as draw cards, Chrome Mox would be a terrifying addition to the format.

Think about cards like Omnath, Locus of Creation, The One Ring, Teferi, Time Raveler, and more, all which help produce more cards to offset the card lost for Chrome Mox, and this isn't even touching on the potential of the card in combo decks or alongside prison pieces like Blood Moon.

While it would be super interesting to see exactly where Chrome Mox would slot into the format, once it settled it would likely become very degenerate.

Danger Level: Low

Fun Factor: Low to Medium

Verdict: Unban

Cloudpost is a relic.

Cloudpost was banned right after the first Modern Pro Tour, where a Gruul Cloudpost deck made top 8 playing Cloudpost alongside Glimmerpost, Vesuva, and Through the Breach. However, that deck also featured other banned cards like Green Sun's Zenith and Punishing Fire, while also taking advantage of the fact that killing Overgrown Battlement and Wall of Roots was a challenge when the only major kill spells in the format were Lightning Bolt and Path to Exile.

That's no longer an issue, and it is also highly unlikely that Cloudpost would be more powerful than the Tron lands.

This feels like a very safe unban.

Danger Level: Very High

Fun Factor: Low

Verdict: Stay Banned

From one land to another, with a very different result.

Dark Depths by itself is a rather silly card, offering you a 20/20 for about a million mana. However, when used in concert with Vampire Hexmage, it was once the scourge of Extended in a deck called Thopter Depths. If it was only Vampire Hexmage, this may have been palatable, but the addition of Thespian's Stage to the mix makes for a colorless, uncounterable combo of two lands producing an end of turn, one hit kill threat.

Even with cards like Solitude in the format, the Dark Depths combo is far too easy to assemble and too difficult to interact with, especially with Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth and Yavimaya, Cradle of Growth able to allow Dark Depths to tap for mana and remove the drawback.

This is a card that would be far too much for Modern, especially given how powerful it is in Legacy despite Wasteland being in that format.

Danger Level: Very High

Fun Factor: Medium, Until All Decks Look The Same

Verdict: Stay Banned

Deathrite Shaman is the best 1-drop of all time, as well as one of the best creatures of all time.

In concert with fetchlands, Deathrite Shaman is a Birds of Paradise that also offers a planeswalker-like suite of abilities tacked onto some graveyard hate. It even has that all important second point of toughness, making it resistant to Orcish Bowmasters, Wrenn and Six, and all the other one-toughness killers. That's a lot for a card that's also extremely easy to cast!

Again, we have an issue of ubiquity, where Deathrite Shaman would see play in a huge variety of different decks, while also lessening mana requirements and just letting players play all the best cards on rate regardless of color.

Homogenization is a huge concern and Deathrite Shaman would be front and center on that front.

Danger Level: Medium to High

Fun Factor: High

Verdict: Unban

Dig Through Time is an interesting one.

Like Deathrite Shaman, Dig Through Time is currently legal and doesn't see much play in Pioneer. This is of course due to the lack of fetchlands in that format, as in Modern it is not difficult to get Dig Through Time to cost .

Two cards for two mana with some hoops isn't the scariest, but the major concern with Dig Through Time is how much it powers up combo decks. Being able to almost double Demonic Tutor at the end of your opponent's turn and untap to combo is a very powerful tool to have access to.

That being said, given the high power of the format as well as the abundance of good interactive options and other cards potentially being taken off the ban list, Dig Through Time would be a nice option for the more linear decks to try and fight through all the interaction, although with the caveat that this is a dangerous unban and has potential need to be reversed should combo decks prove too resilient with access to it.

Danger Level: Very High

Fun Factor: Low

Verdict: Stay Banned

Dread Return is one of the more innocent looking cards on the list, and if you have never seen it in action before it would be easy to question its place. After all, it was recently downshifted to Common! However, when used in concert with the dredge mechanic and cards like Narcomoeba and Bridge from Below, Dread Return enables a startling amount of degeneracy.

Whether it's looping Flayer of the Hatebound, bringing back Flame-Kin Zealot, or just reanimating Iona, Shield of Emeria or some other overpowered creature, Dread Return gives too much agency for a Dredge deck to play spells for free out of its graveyard in addition to the other powerful things it is already doing.

Dread Return is just too big of an issue.

Danger Level: Very High

Fun Factor: Too Much Spaghetti

Verdict: Stay Banned

Eye of Ugin was the major player in Eldrazi Summer, when the colorless Eldrazi released in Battle for Zendikar and Oath of the Gatewatch were released into Modern.

Until that point, the only colorless Eldrazi that were able to be cost reduced by Eye of Ugin were all ridiculous 8+ mana creatures like Emrakul, the Aeons Torn and Artisan of Kozilek. Eye of Ugin would see play in Tron decks as a one of value land in the late game, but that was it.

However, when you add Thought-Knot Seer, Reality Smasher, and Eldrazi Mimic to the picture, now you're routinely putting double digit power with upside onto the battlefield every game by turn two in concert with Eldrazi Temple.

That summer was called Eldrazi Summer, where it won pretty much everything there was to win, and any time there has been a "No Ban List" Modern tournament it has been one of the best performing decks.

This is a non-starter.

Danger Level: Low

Fun Factor: High

Verdict: Unban

I've already said my piece here.

Banning Faithless Looting was a mistake initially and especially so now that we're in a Modern Horizons 1 and 2 plus The Lord of the Rings world.

Danger Level: Low

Fun Factor: Medium

Verdict: Unban

Field of the Dead is a fairly surprising card to see on the Modern ban list, despite being a relatively new addition. It's not a ubiquitous deck-building piece like Ponder or Arcum's Astrolabe, a raw power outlier like Deathrite Shaman or Chrome Mox, or a combo piece like Dread Return or Blazing Shoal. It's also a card that was usually played only as a one or maybe two of, and only really comes up in much longer games.

A lot of the issue with Field of the Dead seems tied to Uro, Titan of Nature's Wrath, which was banned at the same time, and frankly Field of the Dead is at it's best against midrange or pure rate/value decks like Rakdos Scam or Four-Color Omnath, which would be a nice thing to have access to.

The reality is that there are probably a dozen cards currently legal in Modern that are more powerful than Field of the Dead, making it a card that is embarrassing to have on the ban list.

Danger Level: Medium

Fun Factor: Low

Verdict: Stay Banned

Falling mostly in the "ubiquity" camp, Gitaxian Probe is yet another example of a card that gives you too much for too little. Drawing a card, casting a spell, triggering prowess, and putting a card in the graveyard are all excellent things to be doing, and even better when they cost you nothing. We see this with Mishra's Bauble, but Gitaxian Probe gives you the card instantly and comes with another issue.

It's not fun.

Part of what makes Magic exciting as a game is the hidden information; trying to deduce your opponent's hand, picking up context clues, and deciding whether to "go for it" or not is what makes Magic worth playing. Gitaxian Probe removes a lot of this appeal from the equation, both coming out of combo decks who want to know if the coast is clear, or just in a fair game. When Gitaxian Probe is seeing a lot of play, players often know what is in their opponent's hand, removing a key fun element from the game.

Gitaxian Probe is a clear design mistake and a welcome sight on any ban list.

Danger Level: Medium

Fun Factor: High

Verdict: Unban

Glimpse of Nature is on the Modern ban list?

*Laughs in Orcish Bowmasters*

Kidding aside, Glimpse of Nature being banned is a holdover from the days of Extended, when Luis Scott-Vargas won Pro Tour Berlin with the breakout deck of the event, an Elves deck based around comboing off Glimpse of Nature in one big turn. The card also has and still sees some fringe play in Legacy, pulling off similar tricks but heavily subsidized by the power of Gaea's Cradle.

Modern lacks Gaea's Cradle, as well as one of the key pieces of those Elves decks in Wirewood Symbiote. And that's to say nothing of how unbelievably hostile the format is to small creature decks as well as one-toughness creatures in particular. The idea of an Elves deck being successful in a format with Fury, Wrenn and Six, Solitude, Chalice of the Void, and so on, and especially Orcish Bowmasters, is a surprising one.

This one also feels like a relic of a bygone era and total fair game to be freed.

Danger Level: Medium to High

Fun Factor: Medium

Verdict: Stay Banned

Golgari Grave-Troll is an interesting one, as it is the only card in Modern that has been banned, unbanned, and then rebanned again. This alone should throw up major red flags, as dredge is fundamentally one of the most broken mechanics the game has ever seen.

It's hard to quantify why Golgari Grave-Troll should be banned but Stinkweed Imp is okay, but the reality is that Golgari Grave-Troll isn't replacing Stinkweed Imp but the next dredge card which is usually Golgari Thug. Dredge 6 is far more than dredge 4, giving dredge decks much more explosive potential.

If it hadn't already been unbanned and banned again this would be closer, but Modern is probably a safer and better place with Golgari Grave-Troll still banned.

Danger Level: Low

Fun Factor: Medium

Verdict: Unban

The sole reason that Green Sun's Zenith is banned is Dryad Arbor.

Being able to tutor up any Green creature in your deck for a one-mana tax is inefficient in a very powerful Modern format, as is being limited to only Green creatures. If it could get any creature there would be more combo applications, but not being able to get things like Carrion Feeder or Cauldron Familiar limits the utility. However, when you make the inefficient tutor into a split card with Llanowar Elves (by casting for X=0 and getting Dryad Arbor), you've now got a much better Llanowar Elves with late game utility.

That being said, Modern is so hostile to one-toughness creatures at this point that Llanowar Elves isn't close to playable. Giving any sort of a boost to decks based around small creatures would be a welcome sight. The only fear would be that this might power up creature-based combo decks like Golgari Yawgmoth too much, but there plenty of answers out there at the moment.

When both halves of a split card aren't that impressive, the way should be clear.

Part Two Next Week!

We're 22 cards deep, but also well over the word count this week, which means we'll be concluding the remaining 25 cards next week!