Legacy's Most Broken Sets
Written by ForceofPhil
Power creep is apparent in a Commander-focused, capitalism-fueled design space that WotC has been shareholdered into, but solely blaming power creep can feel unsatisfying, since it lacks agency once a card has been designed and sent to the printers. This is problematic because even if every member of WotC Research and Development (R&D) maximized their output to wholeheartedly, in earnest, prevent any broken cards from reaching players' hands, mistakes can happen.
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That passes the buck to format curation and the specific tool of the unfortunately ever-growing banlist. If you are reading this, you are likely entrenched enough to know how slow WotC is to act on known problems and how immensely inconsistent their methodology is when they eventually do.
If a mistake like the Companion or Initiative mechanic is made, then banning multiple cards for the same infraction could still be considered one mistake. If several cards, entirely unrelated design-wise within the same set, need to be banned, then WotC's quality control failed.
Without spiraling further into all of the ways WotC has failed at effectively curating Legacy, here is the breakdown of Legacy's most damaging sets, according to the banlist*.
*The banned list, of course, is not the only metric for measuring failed designs or mistakes, as plenty of cards that are legal in Legacy should not be.
The Most Damaging Sets for Legacy...So Far
Note: this excludes cards banned since Type 1.5's rebranding to Legacy in 2004.
Modern Horizons 3 — Four
- Nadu, Winged Wisdom | banned Aug. 2024
- Psychic Frog | banned Dec. 2024
- Sowing Mycospawn | banned March 2025
- Vexing Bauble | Dec. 2024
Four cards, unconnected in their designs. Modern Horizons 3 was the most damaging set in Legacy history.
Modern Horizons — Two
- Arcum's Astrolabe | banned Feb. 2021
- Wrenn and Six | banned Nov. 2019
Two cards, unconnected in their designs.
Modern Horizons 2 — Two
- Grief | banned Aug. 2024
- Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer | banned Jan. 2022
Two cards, unconnected in their designs.
Collectively, Modern Horizons as a concept is the most damaging thing to happen to Legacy ever.
The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth — One
- Troll of Khazad-dûm | banned March 2025
This set replaced a Modern Horizons set but maintained the same design goals as a direct-to-Modern expansion.
Khans of Tarkir — Two
- Dig Through Time | banned Sept. 2015
- Treasure Cruise | banned Jan. 2015
Two bans for the mutual mistake of Delve being designed without considering fetchlands.
Mirage — Two
- Flash | banned June 2007
- Mystical Tutor | banned June 2010
Two cards unconnected in their designs; Flash as a mana-cheat, Mystical Tutor as its namesake.
New Phyrexia — Two
- Gitaxian Probe | July 2018
- Mental Misstep | banned Sept. 2011
Two bans for the mutual mistake of Phyrexian mana undermining the resource system upon which Magic is built.
Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths — Two
- Lurrus of the Dream-Den | banned May 2020
- Zirda, the Dawnwaker | banned May 2020
Two bans for the mutual mistake of WotC trying to make 1v1 formats Commander.
Return to Ravnica — One
- Deathrite Shaman | banned July 2018
War of the Spark — One
- Dreadhorde Arcanist | banned Feb. 2021
Odyssey — One
- Entomb | banned March 2003, unbanned Sept. 2009, banned Nov. 2025
Strixhaven: School of Mages — One
- Expressive Iteration | banned March 2023
Portal Three Kingdoms — One
- Imperial Seal | banned Sept. 2005
Throne of Eldraine — One
- Oko, Thief of Crowns | banned Feb. 2021
Champions of Kamigawa — One
- Sensei's Divining Top | banned April 2017
Darksteel — One
- Skullclamp | banned Sept. 2004
Exodus — One
- Survival of the Fittest | banned Dec. 2010
Theros Beyond Death — One
- Underworld Breach | banned March 2020
Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur's Gate — One
- White Plume Adventurer | banned March 2023
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Featured image: Mistakes Were Made by Ralph Horsley