While it’s already playable on paper, Secrets of Strixahven doesn’t launch on MTG Arena and Magic Online until tomorrow. As always, this is where the tournament grinding really kicks off, as competitive games become significantly more accessible. On top of this usual excitement, MTG Arena is getting an extra boost this time around, thanks to the Mystical Archive.
On paper, the Mystical Archive is just dubiously available reprints; however, it’s a real goldmine on MTG Arena. Since many of the cards are new to the platform, many Historic, Timeless, and Brawl decks are about to get a boost. That being said, some of the incoming Mystical Archive cards are a little bit too strong for their own good.
Thanks to this, Wizards of the Coast has just announced that five cards are being pre-banned on MTG Arena.
Entirety Unsurprising Pre-Bans
Given the power of Secrets of Strixhaven’s Mystical Archive, some pre-bans for Historic were entirely expected. There was no way in hell, for instance, that Wizards would let Vampiric Tutor into the format. As one of, if not the, best tutors in all of MTG, this card would single-handedly upend the format overnight.
The same is somewhat true for both Daze and Force of Will, which we predicted would both be pre-banned. As free counterspells, both of these cards are insanely powerful and somewhat against the spirit of the format. While this alone makes a pre-ban sensible, the current strength of Izzet decks ensured that these cards were too much.
Alongside this obviously problematic trio, WotC has also elected to pre-ban Armageddon and Library of Alexandria. While it’s arguably not broken, the former simply goes against the “format heuristics on land destruction.” Thanks to this, the card will be confined to Timeless, or rather Brawl, where it should see decent play.
Finally, Library of Alexandria was called an “overall power outlier,” due to its ability to provide a consistent advantage when built around. Considering the card is banned in Commander and Legacy, this is definitely a smart play. Notably, Library of Alexandria is the only card from the Secrets of Strixhaven special guests that’s being pre-banned today.
Some Odd Omissions
For the most part, the Secrets of Strixhaven pre-bans all feel pretty safe. All of the individually overpowered cards have been hit here, but not every major threat was hit. During our prediction, for instance, we expected that both Pyretic Ritual and Jeska’s Will would get the ban hammer.
While both of these cards might not be absolutely busted on their own, in Storm strategies, they’re incredibly powerful. Admittedly, there’s no guarantee that the introduction of these cards will make Storm a problem, but it’s odd that they were untouched. Curiously, Wizards didn’t even acknowledge the potential problems of these cards, as they only discussed the banned cards.
Alongside these two Storm cards, we also noted that Living End could cause some problems if left unchecked. Thanks to Cycling and Cascade cards, this Modern staple definitely has the potential to cause chaos. Similarly, the combo between Angel’s Grace and Ad Nauseum could also prove problematic, but that does feel a bit more niche.
With these cards in mind, it feels like there’s a very real chance we’ve not seen the last of Mystical Archive bans. We don’t know for certain, of course, but it looks like Historic is in for a very serious shake-up. Depending on what the metagame ends up looking like, Wizards might end up taking action in the next MTG ban announcement on May 18th.
Stick with us here at mtgrocks.com: the best site for Magic: The Gathering coverage. Be sure to check out our deckbuilder for your next big brew, and our brand new MTG Rocks Podcast!