Retro and Hero Too Rules Update 01/30/2026: Updates and Bans

Hello UVS community! Today we have news and information for you about Retro and “Hero Too” formats moving forward. Worlds is just a month away and we are here to provide some clarity about the shape of the formats available as side events. The biggest one being Retro, so let’s start there.

In 2025 we watched Retro slowly grow in shape and scope behind the push of a community led effort in the form of Rochester Retro. The concept was fairly simple. Bringing the rules played in Standard and Retro closer together. Currently not just the cards and abilities in Retro but the rules have a lot of significant differences from how most of our players play the game in the standard format. A challenge for the team has been (and will continue to be) improving accessibility into the format. We had internally several conversations on ways to improve that, all while the community was already playing in a version of Retro that HAD improved it. With that in mind, we think this is a positive change for the Retro environment and pathway to helping Retro grow. So we will be adopting some of those adjustments into official Retro format to align with the Standard format. Changes such as-

1. Deckbuilding and symbol rules will be adjusted to match Standard (No more symbol chain/off symboling)

2. Players may not attack on their first turn of the game.

One thing we will not be adjusting is character stacking. We plan to leave that part of Retro gameplay intact. Cards without a printed difficulty still cannot go into your deck. If they have a difficulty and they share a name with your starting character, you can stack ’em. Given the complexity of this format, we will likely undergo some changes as issues are identified and solved, but we are committed to improving the Retro rules.

There is still more work to be done in the space of further improved accessibility. Reprinting Retro staples is something there is demand for. We are working on the best ways to identify what the most impactful cards in that space would be, and the best ways for us to get those out to interested players. We are also working on a more exciting prize pool for Retro events, giving our Retro players prizes to be excited about.

On top of the format rules adjustments, we are overdue to update our Ban list for the Retro format. The following cards will be added to the ban list for Retro as part of the February update.

The following cards are banned from the Retro Format:

• Colossus’s Thermal Blast
• Devil Jin
• Equipment Heist
• Geoffrey 1
• Goro(Mortal Kombat)
• Resurrected Evil
• Risky Encounter
• Sheeva
• Suspicious of Mr. X

Sheeva
Goro(Mortal Kombat)

These powerful 4 handers are difficult to interact with and can create a negative play impact for their opponent. They both have a varied history in Retro, but we think it’s best for the format if we see what it looks like without them.

Risky Encounter

This card is very strong in any format. Many already powerful Retro strategies gaining access to Risky Encounter would become just a little more explosive than we’d like.

Colossus’s Thermal Blast

The characters that can “cheat” high difficulty attacks without making a check are already well equipped with a variety of tools, this one is an attack that is just too rewarding when played by those characters.

Resurrected Evil
Suspicious of Mr. X
Geoffrey 1

All 3 of these cards refer to card difficulty to commit a card. As the rules currently work, this makes them extremely powerful against the characters with no printed difficulty. We are experimenting with some adjustments to how these cards interact in the future, but for now these cards are banned.

Devil Jin
Equipment Heist

These cards are very powerful on their own, but with a massive increase of the available tools in the Retro format they become outliers. Early deck concepts we’ve seen and tested have had alarming results. These cards will be ones we re-evaluate in the future once we have a better view on the updated Retro format, but for now they are banned.

We plan to be active on the Retro ban list moving forward. We understand this is going to be a high powered format with lots of crazy ideas showing up in top cuts. While we can’t predict all of the things our community will create, we will try to be quick to react to take action on overly dominant or overly frustrating play experiences in the format. We also want to be clear that any errata to a card impacts the card in all formats, and there will not be any format specific errata’s at any point.

On top of being active with bans, we plan to do a periodic evaluation of the standing Retro banlist for cards we think may be able to be removed from the list. This isn’t an exact science but we know that all metagames evolve, and what was a problem at one time, may not be a problem now.

Now we’d like to take a moment to talk about the “Hero Too” format events at worlds. We are excited to see it in the hands of our players! Many of our players jumped into the game with the release of the first My Hero Academia booster set. This format gives many of them a way to play with the cards they started playing with when they first joined the community.

First and foremost an explanation for those who don’t know what “Hero Too” is. The format is an expanded card pool featuring all cards from My Hero Academia Booster Set 1 to our most recent release. The rules are identical to Standard. For now the format will have its own banlist that is composed of all cards on the Standard banlist plus some additional format specific bans. As the format develops and grows, we may break away from the link to the Standard ban list and it will have its own standalone banlist. For now though, we think the best starting point to evaluate the format will be working from the Standard banlist+.

With that being said, here is a list of the cards specifically banned in the “Hero Too” format on top of the current Standard ban list.

The following cards in addition to the current Standard Banlist are banned from the Hero Too Format:

• Coordinated Effort
• Stronger In Darkness
• Unwavering Slash
• Frog Lashing
• Amphibious
• Capture Evil-Doers
• Crow And Frog Takedown
• Back Alley Haymaker
• One With Nature
• Snack Time
• Momo Yaoyorozu 1
• Twisting Azure Inferno
• Colossus’s Thermal Blast

Just like the Retro format, we plan on taking an active stance on the “Hero Too” ban list. We can only somewhat anticipate what decks will define the competitive play for the format. The format will be a somewhat higher power level than standard and we are okay with that. With that in mind, we intend on monitoring results closely for necessary and potentially swift action to make sure the format stays interesting and not too frustrating. We also plan to periodically re-evaluate the banlist for cards that may be able to be removed due to changes in the metagame.

We can’t wait to see you all at Worlds and to check out the new and updated formats! Below here are some links to the updated rules documents and ban lists for these formats.

Our Rules and Documents page can be found here.

Our Card Errata and Legality Document is here.

Want to share your thoughts? Join in on the conversations happening at our socials and discord. Find all of our links here.

Keep an eye on our site https://www.uvsgames.com/ for official news!