On paper, one of the best things about Magic: The Gathering is the near-limitless ways to play the game. Not only do formats like Commander offer endless creativity, but there are myriad other competitive and casual formats, too. On digital clients like MTG Arena, however, players are heavily restricted by what Wizards designs and implements.
Thankfully, for a while now, Wizards of the Coast has been listening to the community. Between running events to test things and even discussing it during livestreams, Ranked Brawl has become an inevitability at this point. Now, at long last, the wait is almost over, as Wizards has officially announced this format and its impending release date.
MTG Arena Ranked Brawl
According to Wizards of the Coast, Ranked Brawl is coming to MTG Arena on June 23rd. Notably, this is the same day that Marvel Super Heroes also gets released on the platform. At the very least, this should mean that there are tons of fun new Commanders to try out competitively.
While Ranked Brawl is very similar to its casual cousin, there are a few notable differences. For starters, you don’t get a free mulligan in Ranked Brawl, and there’s a different ban list, too. When it releases, ten MTG cards will be on the Ranked Brawl ban list, provided there aren’t any extra pre-bans beforehand.
Here’s the Ranked Brawl ban list in full:
- Ajani, Nacatl Pariah
- Nadu, Winged Wisdom
- Lutri, the Spellchaser
- Oko, Thief of Crowns
- Old Stickfingers
- Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer
- Rusko, Clockmaker
- Tamiyo, Inquisitive Student
- Wrenn and Six
- Tajic, Legion’s Valor
Thankfully, now that Ranked Brawl is official, MTG players will get a wildcard refund for any bans in Brawl. Considering Ranked Brawl is a singleton format, like Commander, realistically, bans should be fairly uncommon. During the post announcement of the new format, however, Wizards did say they’d “ban cards if we see a clear problem.”
On top of potentially getting some wildcards, Ranked Brawl will also bring with it a suite of achievements. Offering emotes and titles for playing upwards of 450 games of Ranked Brawl, MTG players should be able to show their love for the format. Thankfully, MTG players technically don’t have to wait until the 23rd to play it, too.
One Final Taster
Alongside officially announcing Ranked Brawl for MTG Arena, Wizards also unveiled a new limited-time event. Running from June 2nd to 15th, MTG Arena players can enjoy what’ll essentially be Ranked Brawl early. Using the same ban list, this event will let players test out the format with no entry fee ahead of its official debut.
Considering how long MTG Arena players have been requesting Ranked Brawl for, this announcement is very welcome news. Hopefully, it’ll have more than enough players to cultivate an exciting and diverse format once it’s released. While this shouldn’t be a problem, given how excited players are, splitting the player base is always a concern.
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