Ezreal and the ban list: both purple cantrips really are banned
On r/riftboundtcg a player from Hong Kong, where Spiritforged is about to land, asks whether an Ezreal deck is still worth building now that «the two purple cantrips are banned». They are right: Called Shot and Stacked Deck are both on the ban list, and both are purple. The full picture is wider, though: Standard currently bans seven cards and five battlefields, spread across three separate announcements between March and September 2026.
The cardsThe two purple cantrips, one at a time
Called Shot (SFD-122/221) costs 0 energy, is Chaos — Riftbound's purple — and reads: look at the top 2 cards of your Main Deck, draw one and recycle the other. With Repeat you pay one extra Chaos rune and do it again straight away. It has been banned since March 31, 2026, the game's very first round of bans.
Stacked Deck (OGN-183/298) costs 1 energy, is also Chaos and digs one card deeper: look at the top 3 cards of your Main Deck, put 1 into your hand and recycle the rest. It is the more recent of the two, banned since September 18, 2026. Riot wrote that Kennen would «feel the loss of Stacked Deck acutely»: paired with Lightning Rush it let him churn through the deck far too quickly.
| Term | What it means |
|---|---|
| Cantrip | A cheap spell that immediately puts a card back in your hand, so you never really lose the slot you spent. |
| Recycle | The card goes to the bottom of your deck instead of the trash: you will see it again, later. |
| Action | Can be played on your turn or during a showdown, the fight over a battlefield. |
| Battlefield | The locations you capture to score points: you pick them before the game, so they can be banned too. |
The listEverything you cannot play in Standard
This is the part the Reddit question misses: the ban list is not rewritten each time, it adds up. The version last updated on September 18, 2026 lives on Riot's Rules Hub.
| Card | Code | Colour | Banned since |
|---|---|---|---|
| Called Shot | SFD-122/221 | Chaos | Mar 31, 2026 |
| Draven, Vanquisher | SFD-020/221 | Fury | Mar 31, 2026 |
| Fight or Flight | OGN-168/298 | Chaos | Mar 31, 2026 |
| Scrapheap | OGN-182/298 | Chaos | Mar 31, 2026 |
| Stealthy Pursuer | OGN-177/298 | Chaos | Jul 24, 2026 |
| Ekko, Recurrent | OGN-110/298 | Mind | Sep 18, 2026 |
| Stacked Deck | OGN-183/298 | Chaos | Sep 18, 2026 |
| Dreaming Tree (battlefield) | — | — | Mar 31, 2026 |
| Obelisk of Power (battlefield) | OGN-284/298 | — | Mar 31, 2026 |
| Reaver's Row (battlefield) | OGN-285/298 | — | Mar 31, 2026 |
| Aspirant's Climb (battlefield) | OGN-276/298 | — | Jul 24, 2026 |
| The Arena's Greatest (battlefield) | OGN-290/298 | — | Jul 24, 2026 |
In 2v2 Constructed the same list applies, plus one Legend: Master Yi, Wuju Bladesman, the one from the Origins starter deck.
The mathsWhat Ezreal is actually left with
Ezreal, Prodigal Explorer (SFD-199/221) is a two-colour Legend, Mind and Chaos, and Chaos is the colour the bans hit hardest: besides the two cantrips, Scrapheap — the gear that draws when it is played, discarded or killed — and Fight or Flight are gone as well. That is four purple pieces missing, not two.
One detail changes the answer, though: Ezreal's draw engine sits on the Legend itself. Its text reads «exhaust: Reaction — Draw 1. Use only if you've chosen enemy units and/or gear twice this turn with spells or unit abilities». It does not route through any banned card: you meet the condition by targeting your opponent's board, not by drawing. The deck loses consistency — it finds its key cards later — but not the piece that makes it work.
Why it matters here. Riot's announcements carve out no exceptions for individual markets: the ban list applies to Standard and 2v2 Constructed at every sanctioned tournament, Italian ones included. If you are picking up singles or Origins and Spiritforged boxes to put a deck together before Radiance (October 23), check the Rules Hub before you spend: those twelve entries are still collection and casual-format pieces, but they cannot be played in the two main constructed formats.
In short
- The «two purple cantrips» are real and both banned: Called Shot (March 31, 2026) and Stacked Deck (September 18, 2026), both Chaos.
- The Standard ban list is cumulative: seven cards and five battlefields in total, from three announcements. 2v2 adds the Legend Master Yi, Wuju Bladesman.
- Ezreal loses four Chaos cards but not the engine: the draw sits on a Legend ability that depends on how often you target enemy units or gear.
Sources: Riot Games — Rules Hub, September Ban List Updates and u/tomyang1117's thread on r/riftboundtcg. Images: Riot Games.
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