At long last, Wizards of the Coast has finally unveiled the latest MTG bans. Thankfully, MTG players won’t be disappointed with this one. Even with rotation on the horizon, Wizards has decided to ban multiple overpowered cards in Standard. Hopefully, this should give the format the shake-up that players have long been craving.
Alongside Standard bans, three other MTG formats have also been hit in this latest announcement. While this seems like a lot, many MTG players may not be entirely happy with these changes. Standard players, however, seem to have had their prayers answered by this shocking change.
We might have expected a few changes, but seven bans like this are unprecedented.
Massive Standard Bans
Cori-Steel Cutter is banned.
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Abuelo’s Awakening is banned.
Monstrous Rage is banned.
Heartfire Hero is banned.
Up the Beanstalk is banned.
Hopeless Nightmare is banned.
This Town Ain’t Big Enough is banned.
So, Wizards of the Coast has banned seven cards in Standard. Effective immediately, and slightly later today on MTG Arena, each of the best decks are being significantly cut down in strength. Izzet Prowess, Mono Red Aggro, Azorius Omniscience, and Esper Pixue have all been affected by this latest ban wave.
Undeniably, this was the right decision by Wizards of the Coast. At the very least, we knew that we needed bans to combat the ultra-aggressive MTG decks ruining the metagame right now. Doing this, however, would open up the door for other incredibly strong archetypes to gain a foothold. As a result, Wizards has banned key components of these decks to keep everything in check.
If you’ve been playing Standard, none of the banned cards will need any introduction at all. Cori-Steel Cutter has been dominating the game since its release as a core part of Izzet Prowess. Monstrous Rage and Heartfire Hero, meanwhile, are key pieces of Standard’s Mono Red decks.
Abuelo’s Awakening, meanwhile, is the reanimation engine for Omniscience, which has long been the third-best Standard deck. This Town Ain’t Big Enough and Hopeless Nightmare are both Esper Pixie components, which the deck will struggle to function without. Notably, Up the Beanstalk is the only ban that Wizards didn’t explicitly need to do.
Unlike many of the other ban-affected decks, Domain Overlords is rotating out soon. Specifically, Zur, Eternal Schemer will rotate out when Edge of Eternities is released. Despite this, Up the Beanstalk was banned due to “cost-reduction cards may get released in future sets.” Due to its strength and this has been a development headache for Wizards, so they’re removing the issue entirely.
Three More Changes
Cori-Steel Cutter is suspended (pending rebalance).
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Tibalt’s Trickery is banned.
Counterspell is unbanned.
For better or worse, the rest of the banned and restricted announcement is a lot more tame. Only Alchemy, Pioneer (best of one specifically), and Historic have been touched. Each of these formats only received one ban/unban, which is arguably fairly disappointing.
Speaking of disappointment, Alchemy definitely deserved better. This format has been in a bit of a sorry state for a while, and this solution certainly isn’t perfect. There’s no doubt that Cori-Steel Cutter is, or rather was, a problem, but it’s not the only meta-warping threat. Waystone’s Guidance, for instance, is brutally powerful, with many players wishing it’d be rebalanced.
Sadly, this key tool at Wizards’ disposal still hasn’t been utilized. Hopefully, this will change before too long, as Cori-Steel Cutter is only suspended until it gets reworked. When this happens, ideally, we’ll see a ton of other rebalances to keep the format feeling fresh, as intended.
As for Pioneer, Tibalt’s Trickery is just unfun to play against. Just as it was pre-ban, players can mulligan hard and then win with little time for interaction. When you have a sideboard to bring in this interaction, Tibalt stops being so tricky, which is why this is only a best-of-one ban. While this deck wasn’t the most powerful, hopefully, it should make Pioneer more fun on MTG Arena.
Lastly, Counterspell is now playable in Historic, which feels very sensible. Combo decks have long been popular in Historic, and tools to deal with them have been somewhat limited. Counterspell ideally should allow Control decks to keep up more effectively within the metagame.
A Mixed Bag
Ultimately, the eight bans, one suspension, and one unban we’ve seen today are all good. Wizards banned appropriately in Standard to give the metagame a real mix-up. Along with rotation next month, we’re going to be looking at a completely different format. For anyone who has been getting tired of a stale Standard, this is an absolutely fantastic move.
This is almost the entire point of this current ban window, so Wizards has definitely done a good job. Unlike post-set release ban windows, this ban wave is designed to set up a fun and fresh rotation. Notably, if this wasn’t the pre-rotation ban window, Wizards would have only banned Cori-Steel Cutter in Standard.
While arguably not monumental, the changes to Alchemy, best-of-one Pioneer, and Historic are also very welcome shifts. The only trouble is that a couple of other formats arguably needed bans and unbans more than the ones chosen today. Pioneer and Legacy have been in slightly wonky spots recently, yet nothing has changed.
In our predictions, we felt that Monstrous Rage might be due for a banning, even though the metagame is fairly healthy. According to Wizards, nothing in Pioneer has “problematic win or play rates,” which we don’t entirely disagree with. While bans might have been nice, it’s not the end of the world that nothing has changed.
For Legacy, however, MTG players aren’t so happy. Oops! All Spells is an incredibly powerful deck that’s often very unfun to play against. Even if it’s technically not dominant, it requires a lot of sideboard hate to deal with, which doesn’t make for exciting deck building. On social media, MTG players really weren’t happy about the lack of changes, so hopefully something can be done soon.
The Next MTG Bans
Lastly, Wizards of the Coast has announced when the next MTG bans will take place. This next banning will occur on November 24th, 2025. Notably, this will be a small post-set release ban window, so don’t expect too much. It’ll mostly be dedicated to solving any major problems that have popped up.
Curiously, this ban window is a while away, as we’re going to have to wait for almost five months. In that time, three major Standard legal sets will be released. Depending on the power level of these sets, this means there’s a lot of potential for shenanigans and potentially broken combos.
Hopefully, Wizards already know that these problems won’t break out, which is why bans are so far away. It’s either that or there’s simply not suitable room for a week dedicated to bans in the next five months. We can only hope that the former is true, as living in a combo hellscape for up to five months doesn’t sound like a fun time to us.
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