While many MTG players knew about the ban announcement today, few suspected that there would actually be any changes to MTG’s various formats. With new decks coming out of the woodwork over the past few weeks in both Modern and Standard, there seemed to be lots for players to chew on. Even outside of these formats, things looked relatively balanced, so many were expecting no changes all around.
Surprisingly, it seems that Wizards of the Coast does not agree. Between bans and unbans, eight different MTG cards are being affected by May 18th’s ban announcement.
MTG Modern Bans
- Phlage, Titan of Fire’s Fury is banned in Modern
- Lotus Field is banned in Modern
Of all the MTG formats affected today, Modern’s changes are the most impactful. With two bans and two unbans hitting the format, the metagame for this format is being forced to shift coming into its competitive RCQ season.
Thanks to being a central pillar in multiple top Modern decks, Phlage, Titan of Fire’s Fury is the more notable of the two bans. Combined with Arena of Glory, Phlage could hit the battlefield as early as turn four, causing an 18-point life swing out of nowhere. Without persistent graveyard hate, Phlage could continually Escape from the grave, giving decks like Boros Energy, Domain Zoo, and Jeskai Blink a lot of staying power.
According to Wizards of the Coast, while Phlage is meant to hit Boros Energy, that isn’t the end of it. They’ve also noticed that every other aggressive or midrange deck in the format either adapts Phlage and Arena or disappears entirely. To break this combo up, and put a speedbump in front of Boros, Phlage, Titan of Fire’s Fury is leaving Modern.
With Phlage leaving the format, Wizards also felt the need to hit something out of Amulet Titan. Considering that this deck was already on watch due to tournament logistics problems, this isn’t incredibly shocking. Lotus Field is notably a core part of Amulet Titan’s Aftermath Analyst loops, allowing Titan players to continually sacrifice and reanimate all their lands after floating mana with them.
Thanks to essentially tapping for three mana on entry alongside Amulet of Vigor or Spelunking, this land also accelerates the rate at which you can cast Primeval Titan considerably. To both slow Titan decks down and get rid of the Aftermath Analyst combo’s current variation, Lotus Field is leaving Modern.
MTG Modern Unbans
- Violent Outburst is unbanned in Modern
- Umezawa’s Jitte is unbanned in Modern
Frankly, Modern’s bans alone are enough to shake its metagame to the core, but Wizards decided to go further. Despite its recent return thanks to Lorwyn Eclipsed, Violent Outburst is being unbanned to give Living End a boost. As Wizards notes, Outburst was banned in an entirely different Modern metagame that existed before Modern Horizons 3, but this unban still seems quite risky.
Thanks to Force of Negation, Violent Outburst will now allow Living End to cast protected copies of their core card, while following it up with another sorcery speed attempt on their turn. This is extremely difficult to play around, and could easily result in the deck taking over the format. Notably, Crashing Footfalls also has a chance to return to Modern with this unban, potentially taking advantage of a graveyard hate-heavy metagame.
Finally, Umezawa’s Jitte is being unbanned today, but it might not have much impact on the metagame. In today’s Modern metagame, the card seems exceptionally slow, but Wizards still appears to be a bit hesitant about this unban. As they point out, the play patterns Jitte enables are, to put it lightly, unfun.
Essentially, whoever manages to connect with this card first will be able to delete small creatures for the rest of the game, which could become an issue. Regardless of this, while decks that can bypass Jitte’s equip cost, like Colossus Hammer, might get a boost from this, Umezawa’s Jitte still seems like it’s too slow in current Modern.
MTG Legacy Ban
- Undercity Informer is banned in Legacy
Similar to Amulet Titan in Modern, Oops, All Spells has been on Wizards of the Coast’s watchlist for some time. After its Modern Horizons 3 power-up in the form of new MDFCs, this deck became frustratingly consistent at creating turn-one kills in Legacy. Despite this, the deck’s faulty win rate and its status as a Legacy pillar have kept it in the format until now.
Now, in Wizards’ words, Oops’s win rate and play rate have since increased, and the deck is now having a visibly negative effect on the metagame. Because of this, Wizards has decided to ban Undercity Informer from Legacy.
Notably, while this deck is a massive hit to Oops, All Spells’s consistency, it won’t kill the deck entirely. Between Goblin Charbelcher and Balustrade Spy, Oops is still more than capable of functioning, but it will be a lot worse than it was. This was Wizards’ goal, turning the deck into more of an opt-in experience for its hardcore fans than something that unhealthily affects the metagame.
Notably, while not yet taking action, Wizards has also highlighted the new Urzatron decks in Legacy as a potential power outlier. The deck is too new right now, but, in their words, “if it maintains its win rate and growth of metagame share much further, we’re going to explore what options we have to keep Legacy healthy.”
MTG Pauper Unban
- Bonder’s Ornament is unbanned in Pauper
While MTG Pauper remains quite healthy, Bonder’s Ornament is being unbanned to support slow control decks. Thanks to new decks like Mono-Red Madness, Pauper has sped up significantly since Bonder’s Ornament’s ban, making it seem like a rather safe experiment to try. While it has a shot of supporting decks like Urzatron or potentially Turbo Fog, Wizards is unsure if this card will even see play. Regardless of whether the card impacts Pauper, Wizards will check back on the format on August 10th.
MTG Pioneer Ban
- Cori-Steel Cutter is banned in Pioneer
While Pioneer looks healthy on Magic Online, the same has not been true for MTG Arena. There, Izzet decks remain a massive power outlier overall, prompting Wizards to act on the color combo.
Similar to Standard, there are a whole bunch of different Izzet decks in Pioneer, but across them, Cori-Steel Cutter seems like the clear power outlier. Thanks to its ability to continually pump out threats, Cori-Steel Cutter invalidates strategies that try to interact with Izzet Prowess’s limited creature count.
Without this card, Wizards believes that Izzet decks will remain competitively viable, but at a more appropriate power level. Considering that Izzet Prowess was considered a problem in Pioneer for quite some time, Cori-Steel Cutter has finally exhausted its overstayed welcome.
MTG Alchemy Ban
- Sewer-veillance Cam is banned in Alchemy
It turns out Vivi Ornitier’s Alchemy nerf got broken by Sewer-veillance Cam. Turning Vivi into a tap ability may have reduced its efficiency with Agatha’s Soul Cauldron, but it still created an issue when Vivi had access to untapping tools. Combined with Boomerang Basics, Sewer-veillance Cam could untap Vivi multiple times in one turn, creating Storm-like combo sequences.
This caused UR Vivi decks to become a noticeable power outlier in MTG Alchemy, and banning Sewer-veillance Cam seems like the easiest way to fix it. Vivi Ornitier, in its rebalanced variation, is quite popular in Brawl, which made banning Cam the best way to fix this problem without affecting multiple formats.
The Rest
While this marks the end of the bans and unbans in MTG’s various formats, Wizards still discussed their thoughts on MTG’s other formats. Standard is likely the most notable, with Wizards making clear that they’re well aware of the Izzet vs. Badgermole Cub duality. Despite this, thanks to the current evolution that Standard appears to be experiencing, the decision to make no bans feels like a correct one.
Outside of that, Wizards of the Coast also announced the launch of a new matchmaking system for Brawl. Unlike past systems, players will now be paired purely based on the perceived power level of their Commanders. They also announced future plans for competitive Brawl, but details on the format won’t be announced for at least a few weeks.
For the most part, these bans seem rather positive, with the Violent Outburst unban being the only thing that’s causing a bit of worry. Fortunately, should any of these decisions be a mistake, we won’t have to wait long for a course correction. After such an unexpectedly eventful ban announcement, the updated June 30th ban seems even more likely to be a quiet one. That said, as this ban announcement proves, predicting the future remains impossible.
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