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[[quoteright:312:[[TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Balance-is-still-not-balanced_7387.JPG]]]]
[[caption-width-right:312:...and with good reason.]]

->Goblin Lackey, Entomb, and Frantic Search are banned in Extended. "What about Grim Monolith and Tinker?" asks a bystander. "Isn't Mirrodin supposed to be the all-artifact set?" "Meh," says R&D. "[[WhatCouldPossiblyGoWrong How bad could it be]]?" ... '''October:''' Pro Tour: Tinker is held in Tinker Orleans. Tinker Mindslaver Tinker, Rickard Osterberg, Tinker Tinker ban that f**king card Grim Monolith Tinker.
-->--- '''The Ferrett''', [[http://www.starcitygames.com/magic/misc/6542_2003_In_Review_Pigs_With_Flight_Plans.html 2003 in Review]]

Being the [[TropeMaker first trading card game]], ''TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering'' has a ''lot'' of {{Game Breaker}}s. Part of this stems from the fact that the original editions of the game were little better than an ObviousBeta (so much so that the second release of the Limited First Edition was ''named'' "Limited Edition Beta", with the first being "Limited Edition ''Alpha''"); indeed, like most games that are played extensively, the lion's share of Game Breakers are discovered by players post-release. But the fact that Wizards of the Coast keep trying new things can't help. (Well, it ''does'' make the game more fun; we're just talking about the inevitable impact on game balance.)

The most famous of these are the '''Power Nine''', from ''Limited Edition'', which are banned in every format except Vintage, where they're restricted to one per deck:

* [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=600 Black Lotus]] is the Holy Grail of Magic cards; a genuine Black Lotus costs as much as a (well) used car these days, and with good reason; three mana of any colour you like for nothing is powerful. It's so powerful that [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=194975 a card that does exactly one third of what Black Lotus does]] had to be banned. It's so powerful that [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=3255 a version that requires you to throw your entire hand away in order to use it]] had to be banned. It's so powerful that even [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=114904 a version that requires you to wait three turns before you use it]] was a major component in a World Championship deck. The only well-balanced Lotus is [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=249742 Gilded Lotus]] from Mirrodin, later a surprise reprint in Magic 2013. Other than that, Wizards of the Coast has more or less given up balancing Black Lotus (specifically, in keeping the original three mana for low cost, and then sacrifice) which is entirely reasonable for just how infamously powerful it is.
* [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=629 Mox Emerald]], [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=630 Mox Jet]], [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=631 Mox Pearl]], [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=632 Mox Ruby]], and [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=633 Mox Sapphire]]. These are just like basic lands, except they're artifacts; this means you can play more than one per turn.
** [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=47446 Chrome Mox]] and [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=212634 Mox Diamond]] have kept up the family tradition by being restricted in Vintage, though this has since been reversed.
** The Mox jewels and Black Lotus' infamy was honored and spoofed with the tournament-illegal ''Unhinged'' set's [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=74323 Mox Lotus]].
** A powerful (though far more balanced) tribute to the Mox jewels came in the ''Scars of Mirrodin'' set, in the form of the [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=208248 Mox Opal]].
* [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=729 Timetwister]] may not seem very powerful, since it's symmetrical, but if it's the last card in your hand and your opponent's hand is full...you see where this is going. It's also the first card that conspired to make [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=3255 Lion's Eye Diamond]] useful.
* [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=692 Ancestral Recall]]. Part of a cycle of "boons" in which you pay one mana to get three of something; the others were [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=202528 Giant Growth]], [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=221510 Dark Ritual]], [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=220959 Healing Salve]] and [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=234704 Lightning Bolt]]. Ancestral Recall was the only one to not be a common card, and the only one never reprinted. Drawing three cards for one mana is ''obscene''.
** Of the other boons, both Dark Ritual and Lightning Bolt have also been phased out, though the latter was given a comeback in 2010. Healing Salve has also been quietly left by the side of the road for being, in comparison, pretty lame. Only Giant Growth endured, being re-printed continuously until the 2012 Core Set and then again in ''Return to Ravnica''. (Long story short: early editions of ''M:tG'' were just ''riddled'' with balance issues.)
* [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=728 Time Walk]] is the cheapest way to take an extra turn; at one point, ''every'' "take an extra turn" card was banned at tournament level due to the huge number of degenerate card combos involving multiple or infinite turns.
** One of many, many combos with Time Walk was to put it at the bottom of your library with [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=184574 Soldevi Digger]] and then use [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=184614 Demonic Consultation]] to dig it back up. This cost your entire library, so required you to have everything in play you wanted in play, but by using the Digger each time Time Walk was cast you got to draw it at the start of the new turn, cast it for another turn, then use the Digger again...
** An interesting story behind Time Walk: It was even ''more'' broken before it was actually printed. The text originally stated "Opponent loses next turn." Play testers interpreted this as literally [[NonStandardGameOver losing]] the next turn, and it was changed before release.

But there are far more. Bear in mind notes regarding bans and restrictions; Wizards have taken a far more liberal stance on these, and many cards that were once restricted or even banned entirely have had their rulings relaxed from their previous status. In addition, most card errata that radically change a card's function (eg those formerly in place for Great Whale and Time Vault) have been removed in favour of simply clarifying the rules actually on the card.
Also note that many of the following cards may no longer be broken, or never have been broken, simply powerful.

* Probably the earliest broken combo in Magic was the combination of [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=194967 Channel]] and [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=191076 Fireball]]/[[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=106636 Disintegrate]], which allowed a first-turn kill to anyone who could get hold of one mana more than it took to cast the two spells. Legend has it an early tournament caused the modern limit of four non-land cards; both players had 20 copies of Channel, 20 copies of Fireball, and 20 copies of Black Lotus, with the match being eventually decided by one player failing to kill his opponent on the first turn. Channel was banned for a very long time, until it became clear the game had changed so much that paying 19 life to power a single easily-countered Sorcery was tantamount to suicide; as a testament to its ability to be used for ''other'' terrible things, it remains restricted to one copy per deck even in formats where it's legal.
** This one was so well-known it was featured in a [[http://www.airshipentertainment.com/growfcomic.php?date=20080706 comic]] in the official magazine ''The Duelist''.
* Perhaps the most powerful card-drawing card ever printed is [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=1147 Contract From Below]]. This references an old mechanic called "ante" where players set aside cards at the start of the game and the winner took them at the end, which was axed after falling foul of anti-gambling laws in some US states. The Contract is a ''ridiculous'' card; sure, you ante up an additional card and discard your hand (the latter of which could be ''beneficial'' in the right deck), but you get 7 cards for only one mana. Like all ante cards, it's illegal in all formats; even if this wasn't so, it's staggeringly overpowered and would likely ''still'' be banned.
* The first combo deck in the modern sense was called "[[http://www.wizards.com/magic/magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/deck/99 Prosbloom]]," after the two cards that comprised it, [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=10816 Prosperity]] and [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=3529 Cadaverous Bloom]]. Rather than relying on creature combat, this deck was based around the "engine" created by these two cards; cards were discarded for mana from Cadaverous Bloom, which then fuelled a Prosperity; this pulled in more cards for the Bloom, with the eventual goal of creating a mega [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=26618 Drain Life]] for the killing blow. This totally altered the way the game was played.
** Cadaverous Bloom also combos with [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=2480 Oath of Lim-Dûl]] in an earlier version of the various cycling exploits possible with [[http://ww2.wizards.com/gatherer/CardDetails.aspx?&id=5806 Fluctuator]]. Don't like a card? Who cares, sling it out with the Bloom then pay the Oath to draw another.
* [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=642 Time Vault]] has been broken so many times and in so many ways that at one point the Gatherer text used to be a ''total rewrite'' of the card which made the ability put a counter on Time Vault which could only be removed by skipping a turn, so that untapping it didn't allow it to be used. The classic method of cheating around the "skip a turn to get a turn" mechanic was [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=45235 Twiddle]], but the really evil combo was [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=2143 Animate Artifact]] / [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=3987 Instill Energy]]. This allowed Time Vault to be used again each time it created a turn and so made it so the other player could never take a turn at all, and this combo made it the first non-ante card to be banned at tournament level. These days you can do that with a single card, [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Voltaic%20Key Voltaic Key]].
** Another combo was with the otherwise harmless-looking [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/pages/card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=83912 Flame Fusillade]]. Since at one point Time Vault's errata text allowed it to untap at any time, this was an easy infinite damage combo.
* Another early combo was based around the long-forgotten [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/pages/card/details.aspx?name=kird%20ape Kird Ape]], and actually got three of the four cards in it banned or restricted for a very long time. The idea was to cast a Kird Ape with a forest in play (for a 2/3 creature), then give it [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=202528 Giant Growth]] for a 5/6, then use [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=194969 Berserk]] to make it 10/6, then [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=202493 Fork]] the Berserk to get a 20/6 game-winner for just 4 mana. Kird Ape was restricted in Legacy for a while, while Fork and Berserk were both on Vintage's restricted list.
* "Tutor" is a name for a series of cards, but also a more general name for any card which has the ability to draw a specific card from your library. The ability is often gamebreaking, since there are some ''very'' powerful cards you can go looking for. The original, and possibly most powerful, is [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=202628 Demonic Tutor]].
** [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=15393 Vampiric Tutor]], which appeared in ''Visions'', is arguably ''more'' broken. While it causes you to lose two life and puts the card on the top of your deck rather than directly in your hand, it also costs only ''one'' mana to cast and comes at ''instant'' speed. And like Demonic Tutor, it's spent some time on the banned/restricted list.
** Even Demonic Tutor's terrible offspring [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=201409 Grim Tutor]] can be found enabling degenerate combo decks in Legacy and Vintage. Seeing as it's really the best option that isn't banned or restricted, it's really a player's only choice if they just gotta do something broken.
** In Legacy [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=107308 Infernal Tutor]] and [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=3255 Lion's Eye Diamond]] do a reasonable impression of Demonic Tutor and Black Lotus in combo decks. Unsurprisingly, they (especially Lion's Eye Diamond) tend to be the poster children of degenerate combo in Legacy.
* Lion's Eye Diamond hasn't really gotten its fair share of space here, relative to how broken it is in Vintage. It even managed to be voted the 65th best card in Vintage in a [[http://www.starcitygames.com/magic/vintage/22676_Vintage_AvantGarde_The_100_Best_Cards_In_Vintage.html poll of some well known Vintage players]] on StarCityGames, despite it failing to make a showing in any deck except Dredge for at least a year (outside of the corner case Belcher deck). If nothing else, LED emulates Black Lotus closely enough that it will likely never be safe to unrestrict it; even if it stops showing up in any decks. Wizards will likely never make a 'fixed' Black Lotus that is this good again and LED will be safe and secure in spot as one of the top 2 'fixed' Black Lotuses along with Lotus Petal.
* [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=202501 Balance]]. In theory, this card balances out the playing field. In practice, it's [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=228262 Armageddon]], [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=129808 Wrath of God]] and [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=201311 Mind Twist]], all in one card. The trick to it is to ensure you have Artifact mana and damage sources (with the classic being multiple copies of [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=109725 The Rack]]), while your opponent does not; they're suddenly left with one card in hand and one land to cast it with. During "Necro-Summer," it was noted to be one of the ''only'' cards that the [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=184651 Necropotence]] decks had any trouble with, since with Balance they'd suddenly find their discard and land destruction had been playing right into their opponent's hands, while they had to throw away all the cards they'd paid for, leaving them with only painfully low life to show for it. A later ally to Balance decks was [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=159752 Zuran Orb]], allowing the White player a clean way to throw away all his lands for profit before slapping Balance on the table.
** The secret to Balance's power is simple: it controls the number of lands, creatures, and cards in hand, but has no effect on the number of artifacts or enchantments, so while it may clear the field of creatures, reduce the number of lands, and cause an opponent to lose their hand, if you have a large number of artifacts on the field that can deal damage, you win, since by the time your opponent can recover (barring an insanely lucky draw), it's game over. And all for two mana.
* And, since it's been mentioned, [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=201311 Mind Twist]] itself. An obscenely undercosted discard spell, it was so loathed that it won a player poll of cards to be excluded from ''Fifth Edition'' by a substantial margin. It proved particularly unpleasant when pulled out early in the game using Dark Rituals and combined with one or more copies of [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=109725 The Rack]]. It was the third card to be banned outright in all tournaments for being overpowered (Time Vault and Channel being the first two), and the first to be banned entirely for what it could do by itself, rather than any combos including the card.
** In modern times, however, Mind Twist is considered subpar (it sees next to no play in Vintage), as cards like [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=145969 Thoughtseize]] give you the ability to choose which cards are discarded rather than leaving it to luck.
* [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=202529 Fastbond]]. Remember why Moxen are good? This lets you play as many Lands as you can draw. Everything is now a Mox, all for one mana and a paltry single point of damage each. The combo that got Fastbond banned was with [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=25663 Storm Cauldron]], which essentially turned Fastbond into Channel for coloured mana.
** Not to mention its interaction with [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=189258 Gush]], letting the Gushbond player generate mana and draw cards at the small cost of 2 life. Actually, Gush itself is a ridiculously broken card. It's been on and off the restricted list in Vintage multiple times (it's currently legal and unsurprisingly Gush based blue decks are Tier 1) and it's been banned in Legacy since the banned lists were split. Oh yeah, Fastbond isn't even legal in Legacy; Gush is banned purely on its own merits.
** It gets worse. Using Fastbond's ability to play more than one land lets you also play [[http://magiccards.info/ia/en/331.html Glacial Chasm]] which reduces all damage to zero. Infinite mana, anyone? And the real kicker is that even if your opponent is cradling a Fork in his hand, that 37 billion damage fireball you unleash on him still does zero to you when he duplicates your [[TheresNoKillLikeOverkill one card nuke.]]
* [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=212638 Sol Ring]], sometimes called the tenth member of the power nine, is another card from the days before they learned the folly of providing cheap cards that provided more mana than they actually cost, especially repeatable ones.
* [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=159177 High Tide]] is a one-sided blue [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=159264 Mana Flare]] for just one mana. It's often combined with untapping effects to generate obscene amounts of mana. The classic is [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=12580 Palinchron]]; with the Islands now tapping for 14 blue mana instead of 7, it's easy to bounce the Palinchron in and out of play as many times as you want to, netting 3 blue Mana each time. Mike Flores described the original Extended High Tide deck as "the most hated deck in the history of tournament Magic, the poster child for Combo Winter."
** After dominating Extended for a while High Tide decided it wanted to become the best combo deck in another format so it showed up in Legacy as Solidarity, a deck that ran on the same concepts but played only instants. Solidarity's time came and went and High Tide never really caught on in Vintage so Wizards give Legacy High Tide its most powerful weapon: [[http://ww2.wizards.com/gatherer/CardDetails.aspx?&id=10423 Time Spiral]]. After a brief period of panic [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=230066 Mental Misstep]] stepped in and neutered it again. Then Misstep got banned and it was able to return.
* [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=184751 Dual]] [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=184752 lands]], [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=184748 which]] [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=184750 have]] [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=184749 almost]] [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=201402 no]] [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=201406 disadvantage]] [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=201405 save]] [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=201400 for]][[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=201403 landwalk]]. Wow, color doesn't exist anymore. Thankfully, more modern lands that can produce more than one type of mana have some drawback on them to balance them out (for most of them, they come into play tapped unless certain conditions are met, such as requiring another type of basic land under your control or forcing you to pay 2 life).
** Interestingly, not all of these cards are equally banned.
* Another classic unbalanced land is [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=202433 Strip Mine]], which is restricted in Vintage and banned almost everywhere else. Land destruction should be a little harder to come by than having a mana-producing non-Legendary Land on the table.
* And on the theme of unbalanced Lands, [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=201236 The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale]] is a horribly nasty card to drop on any "weenie" deck built around cheap creatures.
* [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=212636 Black Vise]] was one of the earliest restricted cards; back in early ''Magic'' before the proliferation of one- and two-mana drops, if one of these came out on the first turn you'd consider yourself lucky to get away with six damage; with multiple Black Vises in play, you could easily be almost out of the game before it had really even started. Players would often have four on board just to give them a quick cast to get out from under an opponent's Vise. Restricting it, however, allowed other broken cards it had been keeping in check to come out. The game has somewhat passed it by, though, at least in Vintage; despite being unrestricted, it doesn't see much play anymore.
* One such card was its opposite, [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=212639 Ivory Tower]]. This became a staple of Necropotence decks, granting them life to draw more cards from the cards they'd paid life to draw.
* [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=184651 Necropotence]] itself seemed useless until the restricting of [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=201239 Black Vise]] which had previously made it unplayable; in addition, the attitude that life was, well, life, rather than a resource, had been prevalent. When players realised that paying life to draw cards wasn't so bad when the same colour had things like [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=26618 Drain Life]] to get it back and kill their opponent at the same time, it was suddenly everywhere, leading to a period nicknamed "Necro-Summer" where almost every deck in tournament play was a Necrodeck or a deck specifically designed to beat "The Skull." It didn't help at all that under the old rules a player didn't die until the end of the phase even if their life dropped below zero, meaning Necro players could literally kill themselves digging up Drain Life and still finish with a positive life total, or simply use [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=159307 Mirror Universe]] to give their life total to their opponent. Attempts to depower the deck included bans of Dark Ritual and Drain Life, along with restricting popular Life sources [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=159752 Zuran Orb]] and [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=159111 Ivory Tower]]. Ultimately, the card itself was banned; since then it's been unbanned, perhaps most infamously being used to power [[http://ww2.wizards.com/gatherer/CardDetails.aspx?&id=5629 Yawgmoth's Will]] / Dark Ritual decks during Combo Winter. A mighty card-drawing engine, Necropotence continues to turn up when a deck is designed around digging up the pieces of a combo quickly, and is ''still'' restricted to one copy per deck in tournaments.
** Necro also powered the earlier versions of the [[http://community.wizards.com/go/thread/view/75842/19041838/The_Dictionary_Deck-O-Pedia?post_id=324974858#324974858 Trix]] deck, which was based on using [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=15168 Donate]] to give an opponent [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=159749 Illusions of Grandeur]], something combo players had been searching for a way to do more or less since Illusions came out.
* It's sometimes said the only reason turbo-mana instant [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=205422 Dark Ritual]] seemed fair was because it's always been around; it's powered numerous superfast combo decks over the years, and was once banned during the attempts to cripple Necropotence decks.
** Dark Rit was also thematically inappropriate; as the [[CompetitiveBalance Color Pie]] was re-defined, the decision was made to limit fast mana generation to Red.
* White had its own turn at being broken, with the combination of [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=159277 Winter Orb]], [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=221108 Icy Manipulator]] and [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=228262 Armageddon]] allowing them to shut down the entire game and win by default when their opponent ran out of cards. Such "prison decks" lost some degree of potency when the rules for Artifacts were changed (under the old rules, an Artifact's effect was "turned off" when it was tapped, meaning Winter Orb only affected the owner when they wanted it to), and largely disappeared with the advent of fast combo decks that won long before the board could be locked down, being replaced by much quicker "control" decks. [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=21304 Rising Waters]] is a more modern variant of Winter Orb.
* [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=159752 Zuran Orb]] is an extremely powerful card for any deck which needs life more than it needs Lands; Balance decks and Necrodecks love it equally, and it's especially powerful when combined with Fastbond.
* The Rath and Urza cycles had a huge number of these. The Urza Block has the distinction of having had more cards from it banned in tournaments than any other. It was said at the time that the game had three phases: draw 7 cards, look at your cards, win the game. There's a reason it was called "Combo Winter." It should also be noted that ''Urza's Saga'' was the only set to get the entire design team for the set called up to the head office and yelled at.
** [[http://ww2.wizards.com/gatherer/CardDetails.aspx?&id=8841 Memory Jar]] was unique in being banned ''before'' it became tournament-legal; though it's an enormously depowered version of Contract From Below, drawing a new hand is still far, far too powerful an ability to have floating around in an environment full of other power cards.
*** What makes Memory Jar broken is that it's an artifact so it can be cast off be [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=202578 Mishra's Workshop]], played in any deck and most importantly [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Tinker Tinkered]] for (just in case you couldn't draw any of your [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=247532 other]] [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=202558 3 mana]] [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=729 draw sevens]]). Actually [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=245187 Time Reversal]] has the same casting cost as Memory Jar but is utter trash simply because it is not an artifact.
** The above-mentioned [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=5629 Yawgmoth's Will]] is one of the most powerful cards ever printed: just get a lot of cards into your graveyard (something Black is good at), especially multiple copies of Dark Ritual, then drop the Will and you suddenly have obscene card advantage, usually enough to win the game outright. Restricting it, uniquely, doesn't really help, since it's rare a player will ''want'' to draw it early on before they've had a chance to fill up their graveyard. [[http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtgcom/feature/245 A particularly nasty Vintage deck called Long.Dec]] (scroll down) used [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=34403 Burning Wish]] to abuse a sideboarded copy; with a 60% first-turn kill rate, it was one of the most powerful decks in the format's history and duly got Burning Wish (and [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Lion%27s%20Eye%20Diamond Lion's Eye Diamond]], a card once thought completely useless) a place on the Restricted list alongside Yawgmoth's Will itself.
** Yawgie got another broken card to his name, in the form of [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=15193 Yawgmoth's Bargain]]. This is ''turbo Necropotence'', skipping that whole annoying part where you have to actually wait to get the cards. On the one hand, it's expensive. On the other hand, it's in the same block as [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=5851 Skirge Familiar.]] This did not end well; in fact, the Bargain was banned in the Extended format before it had even rotated into it.
*** There's a common joke that Yawgmoth's Bargain is "I'll take your common, useless Healing Salve and give you an out-of-print, rare, Vintage-restricted, game-breaking Ancestral Recall." Far worse was that the Ineffable combo'd with "spellshaper" cards in the next block, meaning you essentially had "Pay 1 life: Do whatever the hell you want."
*** Mark Rosewater has referenced Yawgmoth's Bargain a couple times when talking about mistakes he made in card design and this taught him that that anything that will exchange 1 card for 1 life and is reasonably costed is going to be broken. Interestingly, in another article he implied that they justified the card by reasoning that 6 mana was too expensive for it to be broken (in all fairness, six mana is a lot).
** [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=212633 Memory Jar]] also saw a preemptive ban for being Timetwister-in-a-box. Which begs the question: is there ANY mana cost that would make this kind of card fair?
** One of the best lands ever printed, [[http://ww2.wizards.com/gatherer/CardDetails.aspx?&id=8883 Tolarian Academy]]. It's known for being the centerpiece to dozens of broken decks and infinite mana combos, including:
*** The [[http://ww2.wizards.com/gatherer/CardDetails.aspx?&id=12626 Grim Monolith]] / [[http://ww2.wizards.com/gatherer/CardDetails.aspx?&id=8883 Tolarian Academy]] / [[http://ww2.wizards.com/gatherer/CardDetails.aspx?&id=5547 Voltaic Key]] combo.
*** The [[http://ww2.wizards.com/gatherer/CardDetails.aspx?&id=8883 Tolarian Academy]] / [[http://ww2.wizards.com/gatherer/CardDetails.aspx?&id=999 Candelabra of Tawnos]] / [[http://ww2.wizards.com/gatherer/CardDetails.aspx?&id=4691 Capsize]] combo. This is a little harder to see since the main rule isn't actually on Candelabra of Tawnos. Old Artifacts were ''always'' assumed to tap to use their abilities. With at least nine Artifacts in play, you tap the Academy for nine blue mana, use the Candelabra to untap the Academy (cost 1), then use Capsize (with Buyback, cost 6) to return the Candelabra to your hand, casting it again afterwards (cost 1). The board is now back to how it was, except you have one blue mana. Repeat until you have more mana than you know what to do with.
** Somewhat similar to Tolarian Academy, [[http://ww2.wizards.com/gatherer/CardDetails.aspx?&id=10422 Gaea's Cradle]]. Now, remember there are lands that are creatures, [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=207334 mana source creatures]], cards that make ''lots'' of token creatures, and [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=233305 Living Lands]]. So, this can work out as a zero-cost, one-way [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=159264 Mana Flare]] which also turns every creature into a Forest you don't need to tap.
** [[http://ww2.wizards.com/gatherer/CardDetails.aspx?&id=12626 Grim Monolith]] itself is also broken when combined with [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=202566 Power Artifact]], allowing it to untap for one less mana than is generated by tapping it.
** [[http://ww2.wizards.com/gatherer/CardDetails.aspx?&id=5105 Dream Halls]] is a powerful card which allows any coloured card to be played by simply discarding another. It was at it's most powerful when played with 'free' creatures like [[http://ww2.wizards.com/gatherer/CardDetails.aspx?&id=10682 Great Whale]]; you could throw down a Great Whale and untap all your Lands, even though you hadn't actually tapped any lands to pay for it. Errata were issued quickly saying that such creatures could only untap lands if they came into play from your hand, though these have since been removed.
** [[http://ww2.wizards.com/gatherer/CardDetails.aspx?&id=12383 Tinker]]. Combined tutoring with automatic casting, all for three mana and sacrificing an artifact. Since artifacts exist that cost nothing, as long as it was around it was impossible to balance any artifact with a high casting cost; all artifacts could be cast for three mana.
*** The card's original (pre-October 2004) wording had the player sacrifice an artifact as Tinker was cast. Since that wasn't considered an additional cost to the spell, a player with no artifacts to sacrifice could still cast Tinker.
*** Not to mention that Mirrodin Besieged "blessed" us with [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=221563 Blightsteel Colossus]] so now blue mages can win in one swing instead of two or, God forbid, three like the [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=191312 old]], [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=189641 crappy]] [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=154081 robots]] of yore.
** [[http://ww2.wizards.com/gatherer/CardDetails.aspx?&id=6103 Recurring Nightmare]], a ''repeatable'' way to put creatures from your graveyard into play, thanks to having zero-cost automatic buyback. Combos with, among others things, [[http://ww2.wizards.com/gatherer/CardDetails.aspx?&id=10682 Great Whale]]; endlessly Recurring a pair of Great Whales (one in the graveyard and one in play, constantly swapping which is which) creates an infinite mana loop. The killing blow from this deck was to shift Recurring Nightmare to a graveyarded [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=206719 Triskelion]], which was then Recurred until it had shot the other player to death; if you have it deal the last hit to itself, Triskelion has the advantage of killing itself, allowing it to return anew.
** [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=6150 Survival of the Fittest]] is a reusable, super cheap tutor which practically makes it broken by default. Once upon a time Vintage players feared a deck called German Tools 'N Tubbies or simply TNT that used Survival alongside [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=202578 Mishra's Workshop]] to do lots of broken things. The deck would get [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=247289 Anger]], [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=34833 Genesis]], and [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=106473 Squee, Goblin Nabob]] into its graveyard in order to tutor up a hasty [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=13001 Goblin Welder]] who would procede to cheat [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=221109 Juggernauts]] into play (they were the Tubbies; Juggernauts were credible threats back in the day, surprisingly). Also, it played singleton creatures who did something specialized to help them swing matchups that otherwise might be not so hot.
** [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=6151 Oath of Druids]] is another "balancing" card, and another one that turned out to be hideously broken if a deck was built around it. Continuing the Balance tradition of being ridiculously cheap, it ruled tournaments in various forms for a long time prior to being variously banned and restricted; an Oath deck simply plays control while it digs up the Oath, then goes off almost instantly. A classic combination was for players to use [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=79252 Forbidden Orchard]] to give their opponent creatures, allowing them to bust out huge creatures from their own deck as early as turn 2. These days it's potentially even ''more'' powerful, since the Oath works out as paying 2 mana for huge creatures like [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=193452 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn]].
*** Oath also continues the proud tradition of [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=692 Ancestral Recall]]: namely, ridiculous power disparity within cycles. Oath of Druids was part of a cycle of Enchantments in Exodus that provided a each player a benefit during their upkeep provided they have less of a specific resource than their opponent. The rest range from unplayable trash to I might have seen it in Block Constructed. Here's the rest of the cycle: [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=6098 Oath of Ghouls]] (black), [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=6048 Oath of Lieges]] (white), [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=6124 Oath of Mages]] (red) and [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=6072 Oath of Scholars]] (blue).
** [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=4601 Cursed Scroll]] looks like a bluffing card, until you start emptying your hand before using it. When your opponent can only choose the one card you drew that turn, it works out as a colourless [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=129732 Shock]]. For a while, you could reasonably expect to see four of these in every top-level deck which didn't like holding cards.
** [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=194975 Lotus Petal]] does exactly one third of what Black Lotus does, and ''still'' proved too powerful. Zvi Mowshowitz once defined a broken combo deck as one that would use Lotus Petal if it could.
** And Stronghold got in on the act with a Mox, [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=212634 Mox Diamond]]. While not as powerful as its brothers in the Power Nine, it's still spent time on the restricted list.
** [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=4707 Intuition]] is much like Kamigawa's [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=194971 Gifts Ungiven]], save that you only get one card; however, it has the huge advantage that you can search for three copies of the ''same'' card with it and give your opponent no choice at all as to what you end up getting. It's also powerful in reanimation decks, since it can be used to make your opponent put big creatures into your graveyard.
** [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=5166 Hermit Druid]] was killed off by bannings almost as soon as decks using it appeared; the general idea of "Angry Druid" decks was to have few or no basic lands, allowing the Druid to dump the entire library, filled with powerful creatures, into the graveyard. A reanimation spell would then be pulled back into the library with [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=36113 Krosan Reclaimation]] and used to pull [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=29944 Sutured Ghoul]] from the graveyard (usually picking up [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=220473 Dragon Breath]] along the way); the resulting trampling mega-Ghoul, typically powered by multiple [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=109684 Krosan Cloudscrapers]], would generally easily win the game.
** [[http://ww2.wizards.com/gatherer/CardDetails.aspx?&id=13087 Masticore]], an efficient creature that regenerates and most importantly gives your deck the ability to burn down creatures no matter what color you're playing.
*** In its heyday, it was played heavily in blue control decks as a finisher. At the time, blue control was referred to as "Draw-Go" because that's how its turns went - "I draw. Go." It had a ton of cards laying around to pitch to Masticore once it hit the table. And it could easily burn out a lot of the creatures that blue let through to the table early on in the game. When ''blue'' is doing most of the burning in your format, something's gone horribly wrong.
** [[http://ww2.wizards.com/gatherer/CardDetails.aspx?&id=21135 Windfall]], similar to Timetwister in its ability to refill your hand while giving your opponent nothing.
** [[http://ww2.wizards.com/gatherer/CardDetails.aspx?&id=5806 Fluctuator]]. Cycling is a mechanic which allows you to discard a card in your hand to draw a new one, by paying the cycling cost. All cycling costs at the time were the same as the amount this card reduces them by. In other words, if you don't like your hand, just throw out cards and draw more until you do, all for nothing.
** [[http://ww2.wizards.com/gatherer/CardDetails.aspx?&id=10423 Time Spiral]] was broken for pretty much the same reasons as the original Timetwister. Of course, it's more expensive. But came out in the same format as Tolarian Academy. Oh, and because Tolarian Academy can be among the lands you untap, you can quite easily ''gain'' mana by casting it.
** [[http://ww2.wizards.com/gatherer/CardDetails.aspx?&id=6076 Mind Over Matter]], one of the most versatile combo enablers in magic. Among many many others, see Tolarian Academy. Again.
** [[http://ww2.wizards.com/gatherer/CardDetails.aspx?&id=4626 Sapphire Medallion]]. Because blue has such problems getting hold of mana in the Urza Block they needed a special card to make all their spells cheaper. Presumably the card letting you set your opponent's deck on fire wasn't powerful enough.
** [[http://ww2.wizards.com/gatherer/CardDetails.aspx?&id=15246 Metalworker]], a hideously undercosted creature that dovetailed right into the "have loads of artifacts" Tolarian Academy decks to give them even more fast mana. These days it can produce ''infinite'' mana when combined with [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=48141 Voltaic Construct]]; all you need to do is have more then one Artifact in your hand.
** [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=5863 Morphling]], because creatures that can't do absolutely everything are so dull. Any two of its abilities would make it undercosted; with all five, there's little wonder how it earned the nickname "Superman."
** If it's just big creatures you want, then Tinker for a [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=207888 Phyrexian Processor]]. The ability to put Minions into play for 4 mana no matter how big they are is powerful in itself, nevermind all the ways to make it activate more cheaply or use it multiple times in a single turn.
** [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=15143 Replenish]] auto-casts every Enchantment in your graveyard for 4 mana. Bear in mind that [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=15138 Academy Rector]] costs the same, only gets one Enchantment into play, and has to die first, and is regarded as one of White's best cards. The Replenish deck would sit back loading the Graveyard with Enchantments using [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=5596 Attunement]], then throw out expensive, powerful Enchantments like [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=22028 Parallax Wave]], [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=15142 Opalescence]] and [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=21259 Seal of Clensing]] all at the same time. It was duly banned or restricted in every format.
** [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=4881 Humility]]. There are cards that hose colours, cards that hose types, but only one hoses "creatures that do anything" to this scale. To add to the fun, if you can turn your opponent's lands into creatures they can't tap for mana anymore. Play it with [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=15142 Opalescence]] in play to make your opponent's head explode as they try in vain to figure out how the two cards interact with each other (just look at the errata on Humility - hey, you just lost D6 SAN and gained ten Cthulhu mythos. Congrats!). Depending on the order of casting, day of the week, phase of the moon and whether your human sacrifices have pleased benevolent Yawgmoth, Humility can actually end up removing its own effect and becoming a 4/4 creature.
** [[http://ww2.wizards.com/gatherer/CardDetails.aspx?&id=5677 Stroke of Genius]] is one of the most powerful card-drawing cards, to the point at one Pro Tour a player in a tournament match resigned after asking to read the card text. It was typically the killing card of any Urza-block blue deck; making the other player draw 54 cards being auto-lose. This was often preceded by the player using it to dig out most of their own library, a procedure perhaps inevitably called "stroking yourself."
* [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=35056 Worldgorger Dragon]] ended up banned in several formats due to the way it interacted with enchantments like [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=3621 Necromancy]], [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=159249 Animate Dead]] and [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=184612 Dance of the Dead]]. The general idea was to get the Dragon into a graveyard, then get it back into play with one of these enchantments; the Dragon would remove the Enchantment that bought it to life from the game as it came into play, killing itself and bringing back all your other permanents...untapped. Along with them, the enchantment would return, ready to target the Dragon again, and in response you tap the lands for mana. This could be repeated indefinitely, and would result in a draw unless it could be interrupted somehow. The simplest win condition for such decks was to channel the mana into a massive instant-speed spell like [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=23086 Ghitu Fire]] or [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=5677 Stroke of Genius]], but later versions would graveyard a card like [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=129913 Ambassador Laquatus]], [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=130538 Shivan Hellkite]] or [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=5233 Sliver Queen]] with an infinitely repeatable ability, then have the enchantment target it instead of the Dragon to break the loop. A third version was to use cards with powerful comes-into-play effects which triggered every time the cycle ran; one variant used [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=51628 Eternal Witness]] to endlessly recycle and use [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=692 Ancestral Recall]] on the other player until they ran out of cards.
** The interaction between Dragon and Animate Dead is also notorious for being one heck of a rules headache. Even though Dragon is no longer the dominant force it once was (although it still shows up and places from time to time) it's been suggested (although not proven) that it remains of the Legacy banned list because of the rules problems it creates. The combo has been called a "rules glitch" and when it was commonly played judges noted that they got inordinate amounts of rules questions regarding interactions with the combo. In addition, players tend to dislike playing against the deck because without a [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=201220 Bazaar of Baghdad]] in play or a win condition in hand or the graveyard casting a reanimate enchantment on Dragon ends the game in a draw because there is no way to break the loop. This is a common tactic employed by Dragon players in the face of defeat (Necromany even let them do at instant speed so they could respond to lethal damage by forcing a draw) and so it was not too uncommon to see matches with Dragon decks go to 4, 5 or more rounds.
* [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=46424 Mind's Desire]] was restricted in Vintage and banned in Legacy before it was even tournament-legal, owing to the huge number of disgustingly powerful things that can be done with as many free spells as you've played spells this turn; the typical play was to use Mind's Desire to build up the storm count further for a lethal [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=45842 Tendrils of Agony]]. Mind's Desire ''was'' the metagame in Standard when it came out; Mark Rosewater has said that Storm may be the most broken ability in the entire game.
* While the Kamigawa block was otherwise fairly low-powered, it did have [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=194971 Gifts Ungiven]]. This extremely powerful tutor card essentially made your opponent pick how they were going to die; it's restricted in Vintage and banned in several other formats.
** There was also [[http://ww2.wizards.com/gatherer/CardDetails.aspx?name=Umezawa%27s%20Jitte Umezawa's Jitte]]. Not quite as game-breaking as the likes of Skullclamp, but severely undercosted for its powerful abilities.
** [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=194972 Sensei's Divining Top]]'s subtle yet powerful draw-manipulation (pay 1 mana to see and rearrange the top 3 cards of your library; tap: draw a card and put the Top on the top of your library) is incredibly powerful in the non-Vintage formats, being an inexpensive draw-fixer that lets you control your future draws, even after deck-shuffling tutoring. Its ability to draw a card also gives it the ability to dodge hatred, as it can draw a card and jump on top of your library to evade targeted destruction. In many cases it ''effectively lets you extend your "hand" to include the top three cards of your library''!
* There's also the Mirrodin block, a very Artifact-heavy block with the ability to even have Artifact ''lands'', the only cards that traditionally couldn't be Artifacts. So, your entire deck can consist of Artifacts (though this required some thought as the artifact lands were limited by the 4 of a kind rule). Setting aside the Affinity mechanic (cards that get cheaper the more of a certain type of card you have, and why yes there ''were'' cards with 'Affinity for Artifacts'), let's throw in [[http://ww2.wizards.com/gatherer/CardDetails.aspx?name=arcbound%20ravager Arcbound Ravager]] that gets tougher every time you get rid of an Artifact. Hell, while we're at it let's throw in [[http://ww2.wizards.com/gatherer/CardDetails.aspx?name=disciple%20of%20the%20vault Disciple of the Vault]] who deals a point of hard-to-redirect life loss (not damage) to your opponent every time Arcbound Ravager gets tougher. Now, let's remember you can have up to four Disciples in play at once; this means the 55 cards in your deck that aren't Disciples or the Ravager can kill your opponent eleven times over and give you a 56/56 creature, and if that somehow dies it allows you to make any other artifact creature in play a 57/57 creature[[hottip:*:Yes, we know you already sacrificed that creature to the Ravager to make it 56/56, it's just for the example]] and ''your opponent loses four life just for doing that''. As if that wasn't enough, you could also give the Ravager [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=205328 Cranial Plating]] so that any Artifacts you ''hadn't'' sacrificed to it (including the Cranial Plating and the Ravager itself) also made it tougher. The Artifact Lands, Arcbound Ravager, ''and'' Disciple of the Vault all ended up banned. Mirrodin also gave Vintage players the extremely nasty [[http://ww2.wizards.com/gatherer/CardDetails.aspx?name=Trinisphere Trinisphere]].
** Seemingly trying to cement Mirrodin as the next Urza / Rath block in power terms, there was also fast mana in the form of [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=47446 Chrome Mox]], which had a visit to the restricted list in Vintage in 2004.
** [[http://ww2.wizards.com/gatherer/CardDetails.aspx?&id=48197 Skullclamp]]. What's the problem that ZergRush decks often face? They run out of cards, and if that's not enough to kill their opponent they lose momentum. So they printed an extremely cheap equipment that lets you strengthen or kill your creatures and ''draw two cards'' every time it happens.[[http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtgcom/daily/af17 This article]] explains that it was banned because it was sucking the entire format into a Skullclamp "black hole."
** [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=212630 Æther Vial]] also saw a trip to the banlist; since it puts cards directly into play without requiring them to be cast, they can't be countered. Free, uncounterable creatures every turn proved irresistible to a great many decks.
** [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=206329 Platinum Angel]]: You cannot lose, and the opponent cannot win. Incredible for stopping certain kinds of combo decks short.
** [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=292752 Isochron Scepter]] becomes a relentless terror that forces opponents to see your effective 2-mana Instants every turn. Fogs every turn! 1 guaranteed Counterspell every turn! Fire/Ice every turn! [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Flash Flash]] every turn! [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Mana%20Drain Mana Drain!]] [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Silence Silence!]] The potentials of this Imprinting artifact are limited only by format, strategy, and your wallet/imagination.
* Some Eternal deck archetypes are built on quirky instawin combos; [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=146022 Painter]] / [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=4610 Grindstone]] comes to mind as one of the more prolific, mainly due to the satisfaction of milling someone's entire deck in one go. These cards are rarely banned on the grounds that getting the cards ''out'' is the real challenge of combo decks.
* Another popular instawin combo has been broadly termed "Hulk Flash," which worked by comboing [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=107598 Protean Hulk]] and [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=16440 Flash]] to assemble a suite of game-winning creatures. Some variants of the deck could win on the opponent's upkeep of the first turn when going second.
* [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=121155 Dark Depths]] is one of those cards that combo players study intently to figure out how they can make them go off quickly, and for a long time they couldn't. But sure enough, with [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=131005 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth]] to make Dark Depths produce mana and [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=192232 Vampire Hexmage]] to yank the counters off it, it's possible to have a 20/20 creature in play as early as turn 1 (using [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=202529 Fastbond]]), and turn 2 otherwise.
* All cards from the ''Unglued'' and ''Unhinged'' SelfParody sets are banned in normal play, but some of the cards from these sets are so overpowered that if used in normal play they would be considered an enormous game breaker. [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=73967 R&D's Secret Lair]] (which doesn't so much break the game as destroy it) and [[http://ww2.wizards.com/gatherer/CardDetails.aspx?&id=73947 Gleemax]] (which lets you control ''any card in play'' if you can sneak around its enormous casting cost) are key examples.
* [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/pages/card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=195297 Jace, the Mind Sculptor]] has the distinction of being the first of the planeswalker card type to be banned, and while still in Standard too, the format which is both the most heavily scrutinized for card interactions and the one in which they are most reluctant to ban cards. In April, [[http://www.starcitygames.com/magic/standard/21641_The_Magic_Show_229_Ban_Jace_the_Mind_Sculptor.html one tournament]] saw ''every top 8 finisher'' running the maximum 4 copies of Jace, The Mind Sculptor. There were 32 copies of Jace and 32 copies of [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=205019 Preordain]] in the top 8 - something almost unheard of in Magic history. At the time of the ban Jace was selling for between $80 and $100, a shocking cost for a card in a set released so soon.
* From the same set as Jace, [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=198383 Stoneforge Mystic]], a card that allows you to fetch any Equipment, then later put it into play for two mana rather than what it actually costs. It was "merely" good for awhile, but then a card called [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=214070 Sword of Feast and Famine]] came along to make it awesome, especially in combination with [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=177545 man]] [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=213731 lands]] and [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=208279 Squadron Hawk]], all of which have evasion, making repeated equips more bearable. ''Then'' a card called [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=233055 Batterskull]] was released in the New Phyrexia set, giving the Stoneforge Mystic an ''even better'' equipment to put on the table (essentially casting an uncounterable 4/4 creature with vigilance and lifelink for 2 mana as early as the third turn). This was also banned at the same time as Jace, the [[http://www.wizards.com/magic/magazine/article.aspx?x=mtg%2Fdaily%2Ffeature%2F148 article explaining why]] commenting that the two were dominating tournament play to a degree possibly unprecedented in Magic history.
* There have always been a lot of possible [[http://www.westley.org/infinite.html infinite combos]] in the game.
** The manual for ''Fifth Edition'' even had an entry for "Loop, Continuous" in the index. The entry would refer to three ''Magic'' cards hidden in the index that formed an infinite combo.
** And it should be noted that that Website is more than a decade out of date, and plenty of new infinite combos have been made possible since then. Though Wizards has generally gotten better about not allowing them (or at least making them harder to pull off), there are still many decks build around exploting them. Some examples of infinite loops:
*** [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=220364 Myr Galvanizer]] can, for one colorless mana, untap all other Myrs you control. Some Myrs are capable of producing mana, so if you have 2 Myr Galvanizers and at least 2 of the [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=194063 Mana-Producing]] [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=194168 Myrs]] [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=194204 that]] [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=194378 generate]] [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=194384 one]] [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=214344 mana]] when tapped (or one [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=212251 Palladium Myr]], which generates two colorless mana), then you can tap the Mana Myrs for 2 mana, pay 1 to tap one of the Galvanizers and untap them, tap them for two more Mana, tap the other Myr Galvanizer to untap the Mana Myrs again and the other Myr Galvanizer, and repeat to get as much mana as you want that those artifacts can produce.
*** [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=240134 Exquisite Blood]] and [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=190190 Sanguine Bond]] basically have the opposite effects- Exquisite Blood heals you whenever one of your opponents takes damage, and Sanguine Bond damages your opponents whenever you get healed. Neither is terribly overpowered on their own, but when you have both at the same time, anything that triggers the effect of Exquisite Blood will cause Sanguine Bond's effect to trigger when Exquisite Blood's effect resolves, and vice versa, creating an infinite loop that instantly kills all of your opponents as soon as either you heal so much as one life or any of your opponents takes so much as one damage.
*** The Shadowmoor Block introduced a number of cards that ''untap'' rather than tap as part of an activated ability cost. Sure, all of the abilities cost a bit of mana, and you have to get them tapped to use the ability, but tapping them isn't too difficult, especially if you use a card like [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=73558 Paradise Mantle]] or [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=131004 Utopia Vow]] to make the card in question continously tap for mana, effectively cheapening the cost of their ability and letting you repeat it as long as you have enough mana. This limitation was lowered a bit by [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=5164 Heartstone]], and basically removed once [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Discussion.aspx?multiverseid=193490 Training Grounds]] appeared, which can reduce almost all of the untap cards' ability costs to 1- or 0, if you find a way to tap them for mana, thus allowing such things as [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=157210 infinite 1/1 tokens]], [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=147381 infinite mana]], or [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=151106 a +infinity power boost to all of your creatures]].
* They tried again to make a "balanced" Black Lotus with [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Discussion.aspx?popularpage=3&multiverseid=4593#popularPosts Lotus Vale]] at the cost of two untapped lands to be sacrificed to the graveyard. Unfortunately, it could originally be tapped in response to having to sacrifice it for not paying the cost. Consequently Oracle had to completely rewrite the wording.
* [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=239995 Griselbrand]]. He's not considered much of a thing in Standard, where eight mana is a pretty tall order (though he does show up in Standard decks from time to time). In Legacy, however, this guy is very powerful, being a Yawgmoth's Bargain attached to a 7/7 flier with lifelink. And once he resolves, the nature of the deck makes him hard to get rid of, as you have to beat not only your opponent's hand, but the top seven in their deck (though sneak and show's other creature, [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=193452 Emrakul]] is even harder to kill). And with free counterspells like [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=159092 Force of Will]] commonplace in Legacy, that's difficult even with a counterspell of your own. Some even argue that he be banned for giving sneak and show too much consistency.
** He was banned in Commander, another game format where players have 40 life instead of 20... making his ability essentially free.
* Innistrad managed to bring its own headache in [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=227676 Snapcaster Mage]]. Combined with ways to flicker it--which were more than a little profuse in Avacyn Restored--counterspells quickly became overly profuse on their own. Return to Ravnica is already filled with ways to contend with him...which are themselves so unnervingly powerful that players are already asking why Snapcaster wasn't just banned. The clincher is that he's not entirely R&D's fault--Pro Tour winners get a prize of designing a card of their own for a future set, ''and this is one of them.''
* [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/pages/card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=89116 Doubling Season]] doubles the effects of anything that puts counters on permanents or creates tokens. Yes, the doubling effect also applies to the loyalty abilities of Planeswalkers that add counters onto the planeswalker, letting them reach their third abilities that much faster. The number of absurd combos that this card makes possible is legendary, and there are far too many to list them here. In an AwesomeButImpractical example taken from the Gatherer discussion page, [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/pages/card/Discussion.aspx?multiverseid=89116 Doubling Season]] + [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Rite%20of%20Replication Rite Of Replication]] + [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Opalescence Opalescence]] Kick the Rite targeting the Season. You put 10 Doubling Season tokens into play, each as a 5/5 creature. Now that you have 11 Doubling Seasons, any card that makes tokens or uses counters suddenly does 2048x what it used to do. Say that you then cast another Rite, producing an additional 10240 Doubling Seasons. This means everything from then on is multiplied by 2^10251, which is around 7*10^3085, or a 7 followed by 3085 zeros. Then, say you play a [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/pages/card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=197789 Khalni Garden]]. I'm pretty sure this causes the universe to fill with plant tokens, which causes it to condense under its own mass. Congrats, you just started the next Big Bang! A lot of players were really wishing that this was Standard legal at the same time as the Ally Decks of Zendikar.
** More recently, [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=249662 Parallel Lives]], which only doubles tokens, and [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=253533 Corpsejack Menace]], which only doubles counters and only for creatures rather than all permanents, were released in Innistrad and Return to Ravnica, respectively. They both cost only one less mana than Doubling Season (though Corpsejack Menace is also a 4/4 creature, rather than an enchantment), and are still considered very good, which should give an indication as to how absurdly powerful Doubling Season is.
* [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=288937 Omniscience]], which lets you cast nonland cards for free, would probably be game-breaking if it wasn't for the fact that it costs 10 mana (also known as the "why haven't you already won the game yet?" threshold were cards start getting truly ridiculous), meaning that the game will probably end before you can play it, which makes it perhaps the most AwesomeButImpractical card in the game. Unless, of course, you cheat it into play... but if that's the case, you're cheating it into play just to play some other cards that you probably could have also cheated into play without Omniscience. It does, admittedly, combo very well with some other things, most notably [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Enter%20the%20Infinite Enter the Infinite]], which combined with Omniscience equals "Draw your entire deck, then play your entire deck for free" or the emblem ability of [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Tamiyo,%20the%20Moon%20Sage Tamiyo the Moon Sage]] (Play a card, get it back, play it again, repeat forever), but most of those are every bit as impractical as Omniscience, if not more so.
* [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=122124 Arcum Dagsson]] is an ''infinitely reusable Tinker'', at a slightly higher cost.
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