With many of MTG’s 60-card formats in precarious spots, many MTG players expected some cards to get the ban hammer today. With Broodscale Combo dominating Modern and Pauper’s Madness Burn deck running rampant, many MTG players looked forward to today’s scheduled ban announcement.
Unfortunately, while we saw a lot of changes today, they weren’t in the formats many players felt needed them. Besides some massive shakeups to Competitive Brawl, no other MTG formats are seeing any changes.
MTG Competitive Brawl Changes
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Yuriko, the Tiger’s Shadow
Yuriko, the Tiger’s Shadow
Commander ninjutsu {U}{B} ({U}{B}, Return an unblocked attacker you control to hand: Put this card onto the battlefield from your hand or the command zone tapped and attacking.)
Whenever a Ninja you control deals combat damage to a player, reveal the top card of your library and put that card into your hand. Each opponent loses life equal to that card's mana value. is banned as a commander. -
Spider-Man 2099
Spider-Man 2099
From the Future — You can't cast Spider-Man 2099 during your first, second, or third turns of the game.
Double strike, vigilance
At the beginning of your end step, if you've played a land or cast a spell this turn from anywhere other than your hand, Spider-Man 2099 deals damage equal to his power to any target. is banned as a commander. -
Light-Paws, Emperor’s Voice
Light-Paws, Emperor’s Voice
Whenever an Aura you control enters, if you cast it, you may search your library for an Aura card with mana value less than or equal to that Aura and with a different name than each Aura you control, put that card onto the battlefield attached to Light-Paws, then shuffle.
is banned as a commander. -
Ajani, Nacatl Pariah
Ajani, Nacatl Pariah
When Ajani enters, create a 2/1 white Cat Warrior creature token.
Whenever one or more other Cats you control die, you may exile Ajani, then return him to the battlefield transformed under his owner's control. is now only banned as a commander. -
Nadu, Winged Wisdom
Nadu, Winged Wisdom
Flying
Creatures you control have "Whenever this creature becomes the target of a spell or ability, reveal the top card of your library. If it's a land card, put it onto the battlefield. Otherwise, put it into your hand. This ability triggers only twice each turn." is now only banned as a commander. -
Oko, Thief of Crowns
Oko, Thief of Crowns
+2: Create a Food token. (It's an artifact with "{2}, {T}, Sacrifice this token: You gain 3 life.")
+1: Target artifact or creature loses all abilities and becomes a green Elk creature with base power and toughness 3/3.
−5: Exchange control of target artifact or creature you control and target creature an opponent controls with power 3 or less. is now only banned as a commander. -
Old Stickfingers
Old Stickfingers
When you cast this spell, reveal cards from the top of your library until you reveal X creature cards. Put all creature cards revealed this way into your graveyard, then put the rest on the bottom of your library in a random order.
Old Stickfingers's power and toughness are each equal to the number of creature cards in your graveyard. is now only banned as a commander. -
Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer
Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer
Whenever Ragavan deals combat damage to a player, create a Treasure token and exile the top card of that player's library. Until end of turn, you may cast that card.
Dash {1}{R} (You may cast this spell for its dash cost. If you do, it gains haste, and it's returned from the battlefield to its owner's hand at the beginning of the next end step.) is now only banned as a commander. -
Rusko, Clockmaker
Rusko, Clockmaker
When Rusko, Clockmaker enters the battlefield, conjure a card named Midnight Clock onto the battlefield.
Whenever you cast a noncreature spell, put an hour counter on each permanent you control named Midnight Clock. Each opponent loses 1 life and you gain 1 life. is now only banned as a commander. -
Tamiyo, Inquisitive Student
Tamiyo, Inquisitive Student
Flying
Whenever Tamiyo attacks, investigate. (Create a Clue token. It's an artifact with "{2}, Sacrifice this token: Draw a card.")
When you draw your third card in a turn, exile Tamiyo, then return her to the battlefield transformed under her owner's control. is now only banned as a commander. -
Wrenn and Six
Wrenn and Six
+1: Return up to one target land card from your graveyard to your hand.
−1: Wrenn and Six deals 1 damage to any target.
−7: You get an emblem with "Instant and sorcery cards in your graveyard have retrace." (You may cast instant and sorcery cards from your graveyard by discarding a land card in addition to paying their other costs.) is now only banned as a commander. - Tajic, Legion’s Valor is now only banned as a commander.
- Nashi, Illusion Gadgeteer is rebalanced.
On October 12th, Competitive Brawl is the only MTG format seeing changes due to a recent client update. This is thanks to some new functionality that allows MTG Arena to specifically ban cards as Commanders, keeping them legal in the 99.
Of these changes, only three previously legal Commanders are being banned. According to Wizards of the Coast,
Yuriko, the Tiger’s Shadow
Yuriko, the Tiger’s Shadow
Commander ninjutsu {U}{B} ({U}{B}, Return an unblocked attacker you control to hand: Put this card onto the battlefield from your hand or the command zone tapped and attacking.)
Whenever a Ninja you control deals combat damage to a player, reveal the top card of your library and put that card into your hand. Each opponent loses life equal to that card's mana value.
,
Spider-Man 2099
Spider-Man 2099
From the Future — You can't cast Spider-Man 2099 during your first, second, or third turns of the game.
Double strike, vigilance
At the beginning of your end step, if you've played a land or cast a spell this turn from anywhere other than your hand, Spider-Man 2099 deals damage equal to his power to any target.
, and
Light-Paws, Emperor’s Voice
Light-Paws, Emperor’s Voice
Whenever an Aura you control enters, if you cast it, you may search your library for an Aura card with mana value less than or equal to that Aura and with a different name than each Aura you control, put that card onto the battlefield attached to Light-Paws, then shuffle.
were all problematically powerful in Competitive Brawl. Considering that Yuriko and Spider-Man 2099 have already caused issues in Duel Commander, it’s not too shocking to see them banned again here.
In addition to banning three problematic Commanders, Wizards of the Coast is also rebalancing one problematic digital card. Nashi, Illusion Gadgeteer has been considered a power outlier in Brawl for some time, and Wizards is removing its Flash keyword to bring it more in line with other cards in the format.
This has some extremely interesting implications for digital cards in MTG Arena’s future, showcasing that nerfs and buffs are still on the table when necessary. While MTG Arena doesn’t expect to do this often, it’s nice to see that Wizards is still willing to play around with the unique design space of digital cards after sunsetting Alchemy.
Finally, a collection of banned Competitive Brawl cards is now being made available in the 99 again. In all these cases, the cards were banned because they were problematic in the Command Zone, but at the time, MTG Arena didn’t have the option to ban them only as Commanders. This brings a ton of competitive powerhouses, like
Nadu, Winged Wisdom
Nadu, Winged Wisdom
Flying
Creatures you control have "Whenever this creature becomes the target of a spell or ability, reveal the top card of your library. If it's a land card, put it onto the battlefield. Otherwise, put it into your hand. This ability triggers only twice each turn."
,
Oko, Thief of Crowns
Oko, Thief of Crowns
+2: Create a Food token. (It's an artifact with "{2}, {T}, Sacrifice this token: You gain 3 life.")
+1: Target artifact or creature loses all abilities and becomes a green Elk creature with base power and toughness 3/3.
−5: Exchange control of target artifact or creature you control and target creature an opponent controls with power 3 or less.
, and
Wrenn and Six
Wrenn and Six
+1: Return up to one target land card from your graveyard to your hand.
−1: Wrenn and Six deals 1 damage to any target.
−7: You get an emblem with "Instant and sorcery cards in your graveyard have retrace." (You may cast instant and sorcery cards from your graveyard by discarding a land card in addition to paying their other costs.)
, back into the 99 of Competitive Brawl decks.
Early reactions from MTG Brawl players suggest that they are extremely happy with these changes. Yuriko, the Tiger’s Shadow and Light-Paws, Emperor’s Voice seem to be particularly hated in the format, so many players are elated to see them go.
What About Modern?
With Basking Broodscale Combo dominating the format, many MTG players have been waiting for Modern bans to give the format a refresh. Despite being a massive target over the past few weeks, Basking Broodscale Combo has maintained the best win rate among Modern’s more popular decks, proving it’s a power outlier.
That said, as we mentioned in our prediction last week, Modern is in the middle of a Regional Championship season, so any bans now could be extremely disruptive. Because of this, Wizards of the Coast has opted not to ban any cards at this time, respecting the time that players put into testing for Regional Championship events that have not occurred yet. This aligns with what we expected.
Still, many MTG players are upset that Modern saw no adjustments, with some calling it the worst Modern format they’ve ever played. Wizards of the Coast is holding out hope that Modern players will adapt to the Basking Broodscale combo deck, but recent performances and player sentiment suggest that’s unlikely.
Fortunately, Wizards at least acknowledged that, “if things don’t begin to correct soon through organic metagame churn, it’s very likely that we take a very hard look at the Eldrazi package.” With this in mind, it seems likely that Modern will see some changes during MTG’s next ban announcement.
The Next Ban Announcement
With no changes to Magic’s many 60-card formats today, many upset players will now look to MTG’s next ban window for the changes they want. Arriving on November 30th, 2026, players will now be stuck with any power outliers in their respective formats for about a month and a half.
By then, the Regional Championship season for Modern should be fully concluded, giving Wizards a chance to make much-needed adjustments without affecting any major tournaments. Hopefully, if needed, Wizards will finally address the Basking Broodscale combo before the Modern Pro Tour in 2027.
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