The next ban announcement for Magic: The Gathering is right around the corner. Scheduled for this coming Monday, March 31st, players are eagerly anticipating what’s in store. Right now, it’s expected that we’re getting a Modern ban at the very least. It’s no secret that Underworld Breach has taken over the format, and something needs to be changed.
That said, other MTG formats also have the potential to receive bans. Of all the MTG formats players are watching, Standard is definitely the busiest. Not only is this Magic’s premier format at the moment, but it’s also the competitive Regional Championship format of choice for the foreseeable future. That said, while many players would like to see some changes, few believed that anything would really get banned. Standard isn’t in a bad place, even if there are a few cards that are better than the rest.
Due to a bizarre MTG Arena glitch, it appears that, contrary to expectations, something may be getting banned in Standard after all.
Monstrous Rage Ban?
The daily deals on MTG Arena are rather attractive to current Standard players. Extended art skins for many popular cards in the format are being offered at a discounted price. Among these are the Standard all-star Monstrous Rage. When you click on the skin to purchase it, however, you get the warning pictured above.
This warning blatantly suggests that Monstrous Rage is going to be banned in Standard. After the picture started circling the internet, we logged into MTG Arena to confirm it for ourselves and got the picture you see above.
If a card were to be banned from Magic: the Gathering’s Standard format, Monstrous Rage is one of the obvious candidates. Granting a targeted creature +3/+1 and Trample, it can be very difficult to survive an offense onslaught when your opponent pulls this trick. If the buff weren’t enough, +1/+1 and Trample stick around in the form of a Monstrous Role. Combined with the Bloomburrow Mouse package, aggressive red decks are one of, if not the best, archetypes in Standard.
While this evidence is pretty damning, it isn’t an 100% confirmation that Monstrous Rage is getting banned. There’s a non-zero chance that this MTG Arena glitch may be appearing for a different reason.
Alchemic Glitch?
Some players are quick to speculate that this glitch could be appearing as a result of Alchemy. In that format, Monstrous Rage is currently banned. Some players are speculating that this warning is appearing as a result of that.
That would mean that the text suggesting that Monstrous Rage is banned in Standard is incorrect. While that is technically true for now, there’s no guarantee that it will be the case on Monday.
If you ask us, Monstrous Rage looks like it’s leaving the Standard format. It is one of the most problematic cards in the format, but many MTG players don’t think that the card necessarily needs to be banned. Only time will tell for sure. In the meantime, we’d recommend trying some new brews that potentially don’t rely on this all-powerful spell.