Eternal Artisan Banned & Watchlist
Update: June 23, 2026 | Stern Scolding - Banned
Stern Scolding
Instant
Counter target creature spell with power or toughness 2 or less.
Since the change in legality of Stern Scolding, the texture of the format has changed meaningfully. Blue has received additional tools that it did not have access to at the time, and the play rate of blue decks has increased, presenting a healthy range of archetypes featuring the color. At its rate, Stern Scolding is sometimes trading evenly but more often trading up on mana, countering creatures of 3, 4, and even 5 mana value. This efficiency has always been at the upper boundary of power level in this format and currently is operating a bit too far above the line to remain legal. For these reasons, Stern Scolding is banned in Eternal Artisan.
Update: April 28, 2026 | Hopeless Nightmare - Banned
Hopeless Nightmare
Enchantment
When this enchantment enters, each opponent discards a card and loses 2 life.
When this enchantment is put into a graveyard from the battlefield, scry 2.
: Sacrifice this enchantment.
There’s always a risk that comes with putting spell effects on permanents. Hopeless Nightmare looks very unassuming as untargeted hand-attack is not typically a concern in constructed formats. However, the ability to recur the effect often at an advantage from other spells and abilities in the format along with the life loss meant that there was ground to be gained from doing so even against empty-handed opponents. Hopeless Nightmare proved itself to be good in every matchup with very little counterplay. Due to the efficiency and repetitive nature of the card, Hopeless Nightmare is banned in Eternal Artisan.
Update: January 21, 2026 | Stern Scolding - downgraded from Banned to Watchlist
Stern Scolding
Instant
Counter target creature spell with power or toughness 2 or less.
Stern Scolding was banned due to its incredible efficiency and application in the format. Due to the overall power level of the format, a large portion of the viable spells in Eternal Artisan cost between one and three mana. As a result, Stern Scolding's application is such that it hits nearly all played creatures, often mana-neutral or mana-positive for the caster. This was seen as concerning and Stern Scolding was banned at the time. As the format has grown since this decision, new strategies and deck building options have become available to players. Additionally, Scolding's potential to answer the hyper efficient creatures but fail to work against higher mana value options may further enhance the constructed environment. For these reasons, we are lifting the ban on Stern Scolding, moving it down to the Watchlist.
Swords to Plowshares
Swords to Plowshares
Instant
Exile target creature. Its controller gains life equal to its power.
Often mentioned in the upper echelon of removal, Swords to Plowshares is one of the most efficient targeted removal spells ever printed. A staple of any format where it is legal, Swords has proven to be too good in the format. Compressing the mana value and speed of the format considerably, the rate here often allows the caster a tempo advantage over the opponent, with the life gained mattering very little in the long run. For these reasons, Swords to Plowshares is banned in Eternal Artisan.
Mana Drain
A variant of Counterspell with a possibly intended drawback (due to mana burn) at the time, Mana Drain is a notable power outlier in the format. While Eternal Artisan is no stranger to powerful cards, there are some that have enough of a negative impact on the format to warrant banning. Mana Drain is at its best when it is denying the opponent a more expensive spell. Simply due to the nature of larger formats, mana efficiency is often a priority, and players need a real reason to look to printed spells with mana values over 4 CMC. Mana Drain further disincentives this consideration. For the health of the format, Mana Drain is banned in Eternal Artisan.
Stern Scolding
Stern Scolding
Instant
Counter target creature spell with power or toughness 2 or less.
Since the change in legality of Stern Scolding, the texture of the format has changed meaningfully. Blue has received additional tools that it did not have access to at the time, and the play rate of blue decks has increased, presenting a healthy range of archetypes featuring the color. At its rate, Stern Scolding is sometimes trading evenly but more often trading up on mana, countering creatures of 3, 4, and even 5 mana value. This efficiency has always been at the upper boundary of power level in this format and currently is operating a bit too far above the line to remain legal. For these reasons, Stern Scolding is banned in Eternal Artisan.
Demonic Tutor
At the introduction of Demonic Tutor to the format, the card was initially legal. Arguably one of the most powerful tutors ever printed, the efficiency of this spell allows the caster to have access to whichever card in their deck is most applicable in that moment. From the best suited threat or answer in the moment to additional copies of key combo pieces, Demonic Tutor is currently just a little too good at what it does for the environment. At this time, Demonic Tutor is banned in Eternal Artisan.
Hopeless Nightmare
Hopeless Nightmare
Enchantment
When this enchantment enters, each opponent discards a card and loses 2 life.
When this enchantment is put into a graveyard from the battlefield, scry 2.
: Sacrifice this enchantment.
There’s always a risk that comes with putting spell effects on permanents. Hopeless Nightmare looks very unassuming as untargeted hand-attack is not typically a concern in constructed formats. However, the ability to recur the effect often at an advantage from other spells and abilities in the format along with the life loss meant that there was ground to be gained from doing so even against empty-handed opponents. Hopeless Nightmare proved itself to be good in every matchup with very little counterplay. Due to the efficiency and repetitive nature of the card, Hopeless Nightmare is banned in Eternal Artisan.
Lightning Bolt
Lightning Bolt
Instant
Lightning Bolt deals 3 damage to any target.
Strixhaven's Mystical Archive did a lot to enhance the Eternal Artisan format. Spells that often are printed at higher rarities today or have ceased regular printing were suddenly considerations for players. Lightning Bolt present a versatility and efficiency that is mostly unmatched. For its cost, the spells threatens nearly all played creatures of the format while also accelerating the speed of decks with the ability to target the player as well. In order to provide a little more breathing room in the format, Lightning Bolt is banned.
Basking Broodscale
Basking Broodscale
Creature — Eldrazi Lizard
Devoid (This card has no color.)
: Adapt 1. (If this creature has no +1/+1 counters on it, put a +1/+1 counter on it.)
Whenever one or more +1/+1 counters are put on this creature, you may create a 0/1 colorless Eldrazi Spawn creature token with "Sacrifice this token: Add 
."
Eternal Artisan is no stranger to combo decks. There are a number of these strategies that exist in the format. Maintaining the right balance of powerful but interruptible is important. Within the Abzan colors there are a handful of creature-combo decks that can threaten to end the game abruptly. At this time, each of these requires some amount of set up and specific pieces in order to find success. Basking Broodscale pushes the efficiency of the creature combo strategy a bit too far. Further, the pieces needed for combos typically provide a much lower floor when not contributing to the deck's unfair plan, making those decks more balanced game to game. In Broodscales case, the rate of the card and its 'fair' use still offer a lot of value even when the deck's combo is not being threatened. For these reasons, Basking Broodscale is banned in Eternal Artisan.
Channel
Another spicy addition thanks to Strixhaven's Mystical Archive, Channel was initially thought to warrant a ban before every seeing play. However, with very few applications at the time of its printing, Channel was another card in a growing list that had a historical context that was not guaranteed to apply to Eternal Artisan. Channel remained legal for several years, sometimes showing up but often having too few applications and a significant variance problem that often made it more of a mistake to play than to leave it as a legal option. With the expansion of the card pool over time, Channel's applications and efficiency has increased enough to revisit its legality. While it remains a high variance card, the format has too few answers to an early Channel. At this time, Channel is banned in Eternal Artisan.
Golden Sidekick
Golden Sidekick
Enchantment Creature — Bat Glimmer
Flying, lifelink Whenever you gain life, a random creature card in your hand perpetually gets +X/+X, where X is the amount of life you gained.
Digital-Only cards are legal in Eternal Artisan, excluding a few digital-only mechanics deemed problematic. Perpetually provides some contexts that are net-positive, opening up strategies and deck-building ideas that would not be viable in paper Magic. Still, an inherent concern to these mechanics is their ability to permanently alter a card for the remainder of the game, regardless of it changing zones. Further, when cards can be altered without being in play, it protects them from the opponent's counterplay. Traditionally, if a player attempts to buff one of their creatures, the opponent can respond, removing that creature before the buff is applied. But, when these alterations can occur in areas the opponent is not able to disrupt, the situation has the potential to cause unhealthy gameplay patterns. Golden Sidekick's efficiency at increasing the stats of cards in the player's hand is notable here. The ability does not even require the Sidekick itself to be the source of the lifegain. While a presumed limitation of the card's power would be the player having creatures in hand to receive the buff, a prevailing strategy in the format at this time finds the player recalling their creatures back to hand frequently during the game, leading to situations where already deployed creatures can be returned, buffed, and redeployed more powerful than before. Despite a rebalance of the card from a 2/2 to a 1/3, the card's effect remains the same and as such, Golden Sidekick is banned in Eternal Artisan
Strip Mine
One of a very few cards to receive a pre-banning, Strip Mine is in a class of its own. Looking to land destruction printed on cards since, no card has been printed to replicate Strip Mine's ability. Often relegated to powered cubes and high powered EDH tables, Stripe Mine is simply too efficient at what it does. Tax effects, destroying non-basic lands with powerful abilities - these are ways that a player might attack someone's mana while avoiding the game play problem of disallowing one player from participating in the game entirely. Counterplay and answers are important pieces to healthy strategy games. Attacking a players basic lands and nearly zero cost is certainly in the realm of power outlier threatening the health of the format. Land destruction, especially at this rate, is currently seen as out of bounds for the Eternal Artisan format. While no card is technically ever permanently banned in Eternal Artisan, it is unlikely that the format would ever reach a point where Stripe Mine would be considered a healthy option. For now and likely for the foreseeable future, Strip Mine is banned in Eternal Artisan.
Conjure & Draft from a Spellbook
Digital-Only mechanics and cards are, at a baseline, legal in the Eternal Artisan format. There are a few specific exceptions to this. Eternal Artisan defines card legality first and foremost by the rarity of the card. Similar to the Pauper format, if a card has seen print at the defined acceptable rarities at some point in its life then it is permissible in the format, even if its current printing may be at higher rarity. Conjure and Draft from a Spellbook are mechanics that allow players access to cards outside of what they have in their starting deck and sideboard. In many instances, these cards allow decks to gain access to cards that would otherwise be illegal in the format. At times, these cards are also ones that have few answers, if any, in the format. There are plenty of cards with Conjure and Draft from a Spellbook that do not violate the rarity restrictions of the format. However, due to the sheer number that do, the complexity of needing to constantly update at each Alchemy release as well as the potential rebalancing of old cards which could alter the cards accessed via Conjure or Draft from a Spellbook, and the complexity for players facing opponents using these cards now needing to be aware of a variety of Spellbook contents, it is more functional to ban the mechanics as a whole. For these reasons, cards using the Conjure and Draft from a Spellbook mechanics are banned.
Basking Broodscale
Creature — Eldrazi Lizard
Devoid (This card has no color.)
: Adapt 1. (If this creature has no +1/+1 counters on it, put a +1/+1 counter on it.)
Whenever one or more +1/+1 counters are put on this creature, you may create a 0/1 colorless Eldrazi Spawn creature token with "Sacrifice this token: Add ."
Golden Sidekick
Enchantment Creature — Bat Glimmer
Flying, lifelink Whenever you gain life, a random creature card in your hand perpetually gets +X/+X, where X is the amount of life you gained.
Hopeless Nightmare
Enchantment
When this enchantment enters, each opponent discards a card and loses 2 life.
When this enchantment is put into a graveyard from the battlefield, scry 2.
: Sacrifice this enchantment.
Library of Alexandria
Land
: Add .
: Draw a card. Activate only if you have exactly seven cards in hand.
Lightning Bolt
Instant
Lightning Bolt deals 3 damage to any target.
Stern Scolding
Instant
Counter target creature spell with power or toughness 2 or less.
Swords to Plowshares
Instant
Exile target creature. Its controller gains life equal to its power.
rather than pay this spell's mana cost."
