Zuran Orb
Timeline
- - Released
- - Status changed to Restricted in Vintage
- - Status changed to Restricted in Standard
- - Status changed to Banned in Legacy
- - Status changed to Rotated in Standard
- - Status changed to Banned in Standard
- - Status changed to Banned in Extended
- - Status changed to Unbanned in Vintage
- - Status changed to Rotated in Standard
- - Status changed to Unbanned in Legacy
- - Status changed to Rotated in Extended
Rationale
Unfortunately, we have very little published information from the period during which Zuran Orb was regulated, so there is no official statement on why the card was banned. Future articles cited its interaction with Armageddon as a potential reason, but actual historical records are sparse. Zuran Orb also had a rather unique history specifically on the Standard banlist. It was released in Ice Age in 1995 but was restricted later that same year. Towards the end of 1996, it was announced that Standard would be retiring the Restricted list in the following cycle, and any card that was restricted at the time would instead become banned. Zuran Orb would have been a part of that batch, except Ice Age was due to rotate out at the same time. However, this was during a time when the formats were still trying to find their footing and in July 1997, the Standard format was restructured such that Ice Age and Homelands were briefly made legal again. With the reintroduction of Ice Age, Zuran Orb formally became the first new card to be banned in standard since the shift away from the Restricted list.