Announcement Date: October 29, 2020
Effective Date: November 27, 2020
Standard format
No changes have been made to the banned card list for the Standard format.
Expanded format
Milotic (XY—Flashfire, 23/106) is now banned in the Expanded format.
Oranguru (Sun & Moon—Ultra Prism, 114/156) is now banned in the Expanded format.
Sableye (Black & White—Dark Explorers, 62/108) is now banned in the Expanded format.
Shaymin-EX (XY—Roaring Skies, 77/108, 77a/108, and 106/108) is now banned in the Expanded format.
The list of banned cards for the Standard and Expanded formats can be found here.
Next Announcement Date: February 4, 2021
Details of Changes
No cards were banned from the Standard format. It will be an extremely rare occurrence for cards to be banned from the Standard format.
Four cards were banned in the Expanded format. The reasoning for these changes is below:
Milotic's Energy Grace Ability doesn't work with Pokémon-EX, but it still works with Pokémon-GX and Pokémon V. This created some undesirable combos, such as the one with Trevenant & Dusknoir-GX and Ace Trainer. As more Pokémon V come out in the future, there's a high likelihood of even more combos with Milotic being discovered.
Oranguru's Resource Management attack and Sableye's Junk Hunt attack allow for infinite resource recursion strategies that are relatively simple to achieve. In an attempt to curb the effectiveness of some of these control and lock strategies, these cards have been banned.
The sheer amount of card drawing provided by Shaymin-EX's Set Up Ability allowed dangerous combo decks to function at an alarmingly consistent rate. With the introduction of Scoop Up Net, it became too easy to use Set Up repeatedly in a single turn. Crobat V and Dedenne-GX provide effects similar to Shaymin-EX, so this type of card isn't gone completely, but their Dark Asset and Dedechange Abilities are limited to one use per turn.
Tournament results and community feedback will continue to be analyzed to maintain a healthy play environment. In particular, the Expanded format will be aggressively monitored because there are so many cards and potential combinations available to use.
