Banlist Statistics

General forum

Posted on Oct. 12, 2017, 8:02 p.m. by DemonDragonJ

I have decided to list the statistics of the various banlists, classifying them by type, color, and converted mana cost, to see which types, colors, and CMC's are most often banned in various formats. For the purposes of this list, I shall consider multicolored cards as each of their individual colors (for example, a black/white card would be considered both a black card and a white card); I shall not consider them separate of monocolored cards, and I shall also consider cards with multiple types as each of their types (i.e., an artifact creature would be considered both an artifact and a creature).

I shall begin with the EDH banlist, since it is one of the shorter banlists in the game.

The EDH banlist at the time of this post (Thursday, September 12, 2017) is comprised of 38 cards, which are further divided as follows:

EDH Banlist Show

Types

-Artifacts: 10 (26%)

-Creatures: 11 (27%)

-Enchantments: 4 (10%)

-Instants: 2 (5%)

-Lands: 3 (7%)

-Sorceries: 10 (26%)

This data shows that creatures are the most commonly-banned card type in EDH, with artifacts and sorceries tied for a close second, making them the majority of the banned list. Instants are the least commonly-banned cards, with lands and enchantments close behind. Of all the banned cards, only two (5%) are artifacts creatures, and none are planeswalkers, making that type the only type to not have a card banned in EDH (not counting conspiracies, which are legal only in draft formats).

Colors

-White: 3 (7%)

-Blue: 11 (27%)

-Black: 6 (15%)

-Red: 2 (5%)

-Green: 9 (23%)

-Colorless: 14 (36%)

This data shows that the majority of cards banned in EDH are colorless, with only one of those cards not being an artifact and three of them being creatures, although all the colored cards together (24/63%) are more numerous than the colorless cards. Blue is the most frequently banned color, with red being the least frequently banned (and only one of those cards being mono-red); I am not at all surprised that blue is the most frequently banned color, but I am surprised that there are more green than black cards banned and that there are so few white cards banned. Of the colored cards, only three are multicolored (12.5% of the colored cards and 7% of the entire list), while the rest are mono-colored.

Converted Mana Costs

-0: 9 (23%)

-1: 3 (7%)

-2: 4 (10%)

-3: 4 (10%)

-4: 2 (5%)

-5: 1 (2%)

-6: 3 (7%)

-7: 1 (2%)

-8: 4 (10%)

-9: 1 (2%)

-10: 1 (2%)

-15: 1 (2%)

This data shows that the majority of the cards that are banned in EDH have a converted mana cost of 0, being lands and mana-generating artifacts. A fair number of banned cards also have converted mana costs of 1, 2, and 3, with CMC's above that being relatively rare, and only two cards having a CMC in double digits.

I shall sometime later repeat this research for the modern, legacy, and vintage banned lists, when I feel that I have sufficient free time to do so.

What does everyone else think of this? Do you find these observations to be interesting in any way?

clayperce says... #2

DemonDragonJ,
This is interesting for sure, but if you haven't already, I recommend putting the cards in in a list or deck ... I'd like to "see" the data as well as read about it.

Tagging Gattison, too.

October 12, 2017 8:14 p.m.

Gattison says... #3

ty clayperce. I always appreciate it when someone points out a new resource. =)

DemonDragonJ: yep. I find this interesting as well. And, I always appreciate it when someone makes a new resource, so thanks for taking the time to do this. I'll add this to the list of lists for sure.

Putting the info in a decklist would be cool to see visually, also, but wouldn't that mean a separate decklist for each format? That is even more work... maybe I could help with that. =)

I would also, personally, like to see data on the Pauper format as well.

October 12, 2017 10:20 p.m.

DemonDragonJ says... #4

I have now made an official decklist for the banned list, so that players shall have a visual representation of it.

October 12, 2017 11:06 p.m.

Entrei says... #5

So first of all I would classify the moxen as one entity as they didn't ban one of them, they banned the entire cycle. Second, a more efficient way of doing so is classifying the decks they were banned because of so as to essentially figure out the current health of the format (a deck that got 4 cards banned vs a deck that got one banned).

Third, try classifying them into these categories: disagrees with the format, makes a deck too consistent, simply too good, price of entry (think the power 9), or banned because if it's legal everyone would have to run it

Best of luck!

October 13, 2017 3:45 p.m.

DemonDragonJ says... #6

Entrei, I have not thoroughly researched why each card was banned, but I can make a guess, if that would be helpful.

October 14, 2017 12:31 a.m.

Entrei says... #7

So, what format are you referring to? I can probably explain why they are banned if you are making a compendium

October 14, 2017 12:44 p.m.

DemonDragonJ says... #8

Entrei, currently, I am referring to EDH, so, if you can offer insight as to why each card was banned, I would certainly appreciate the information.

October 15, 2017 1 p.m.

Entrei says... #9

@DemonDragonJ see the comment I left on your EDH ban list you have linked to this thread

October 15, 2017 1:26 p.m.

Agent_Fire says... #10

You forgot about the card type tribal

October 26, 2017 10:25 p.m.

DemonDragonJ says... #11

Agent_Fire, I did, because WotC is no longer printing cards with that type, and it is also a supertype, akin to basic, legendary, snow, and so forth.

October 28, 2017 9:16 a.m.

Agent_Fire says... #12

So that means that we could have A Legendary Snow Tibial Instant

October 28, 2017 4:48 p.m.

DemonDragonJ says... #13

Agent_Fire, that would be very intense, except that the legendary supertype applies only to permanents, not instants and sorceries, although I do believe that a strong argument could be made for making "instant" a supertype.

November 6, 2017 9:45 p.m.

Agent_Fire says... #14

So it would be a Legendary Snow Tribal Enchantment could happen still, also could epic spells seem to be Legendary instants or sorceries

November 6, 2017 9:57 p.m.