After much anticipation, Wizards of the Coast has just announced the latest banned and restricted announcement for MTG. With most competitive formats not needing much attention this time around, all eyes turned to Commander. Between bans, unbans, and potential rule changes, it’s safe to say MTG players were hyped for what was in store.
Surprisingly, Wizards’ latest ban list changes in Commander are rather tame, with the Format Panel playing it safe for now. Outside of Commander, however, Wizards adjusted, banned, unbanned, and restricted 25 cards, exclusively on MTG Arena. Between these changes and the few tweaks made to Commander, this latest B&R announcement was definitely impactful, but likely not as players expected.
Banned as a Companion, but Unbanned as a Card
Despite all of the fanfare leading up to the announcement, the changes being made to Commander today are fairly minimal. In total, only three cards are being affected, which is far fewer than many players, including ourselves, expected.
In a move no one saw coming, Wizards of the Coast has unbanned Lutri, the Spellchaser, but only partially. Considering Lutri was pre-banned in Commander due to being an auto-include within any Izzet-aligned deck, many never expected an unban. Thankfully, to make this Otter actually playable, Wizards of the Coast has addressed this problem with a new ban category.
Now, Lutri, the Spellchaser is the first MTG card to be banned only as a Companion. While players can now use Lutri in the command zone and the 99, those are the only places you can play them. In these roles, Lutri is actually surprisingly balanced, as getting to copy a spell when entering is hardly new or game-breaking. Thanks to this rather low power level when not being played as a Companion, Lutri nontably isn’t on the Game Changers list.
For better or worse, this new category of bans for Commander doesn’t signify a major shift in banning complexity. According to MTG Designer Gavin Verhey, this is just a “unique case and solution for an otter people have been waiting for.”
Other Commander Changes
Unlike Lutri’s unusual partial unbanning, Biorhythm has been fully unbanned and added to the Game Changers list in Commander. Much like the recently unbanned Coalition Victory, Biorhythm threatens to end games in an instant with a bit of setup. While this sorcery does require less setup, it’s hardly a cheap card or an auto-include, so Wizards has deemed it playable at higher brackets.
Alongside Biorhythm, Farewell is also joining the Game Changers list in the banned and restricted update. Unlike most boardwipes, this card’s ability to remove basically everything can create unplayable positions, spoiling the fun for the table. This feels especially punishing at lower brackets, as a Farewell can massively set you back by removing all your mana rocks.
Since Farewell is part of a lot of Commander Precons, there’s certainly some awkwardness here. That said, at the time of writing, Precons are no longer synonymous with Bracket Two, making this change logistically sound, even if it’s not completely ideal. All in all, adding Farewell to the Game Changer list seems like an appropriate move for Bracket 3 Commander.
Historic Changes
- Eldrazi Temple is banned in Historic.
- Ajani, Nacatl Pariah is banned in Historic.
- Crop Rotation is banned in Historic.
- Scholar of the Lost Trove is banned in Historic.
- Magus of the Moon is unbanned in Historic
- Harbinger of the Seas is unbanned in Historic.
- Force of Vigor is unbanned in Historic.
- Force of Negation is unbanned in Historic.
- Endurance is unbanned in Historic.
- Wilderness Reclamation is unbanned in Historic.
- Agent of Treachery is unbanned in Historic.
In contrast to Commander’s few changes, MTG Arena’s digital formats are all seeing massive overhauls. Historic is probably the most affected format here, with massive changes driven by a shift in the format’s overall philosophy.
Up to this point, Historic has made a big effort to keep cards that prevent players from playing the game out of the format. This was mostly seen in the aggressive banning of cards that mess with opposing lands like Harbinger of the Seas and Magus of the Moon. Unfortunately, this unintentionally resulted in land-based fast mana decks like Lotus Field Combo and Eldrazi Ramp dominating Historic. The unbanning of these creatures, as well as the banning of Eldrazi Temple, should allow players to punish these strategies further moving forward. Force of Negation being unbanned, however, will power down combo decks in Historic, creating massive implications moving forward.
Similarly, Historic is finally allowing some free spells in the format to give decks stronger ways to play around common problematic strategies. Force of Vigor and Endurance aren’t powerhouses in and of themselves, but they are extremely efficient at what they do. These tools should help keep graveyard and artifact/enchantment decks in check in the future, but there might be a concern that allowing such strong counterplay into the format could kill these strategies permanently.
Otherwise, a few Historic cards were banned to power down the current dominant strategies in the format. Crop Rotation, Scholar of the Lost Trove, and Ajani, Nacatl Pariah’s banning, as well as Val, Marooned Surveyor’s four-mana nerf, should help new Historic creations get an edge on the old giants. Wilderness Reclamation and Agent of Treachery’s unbanning signal that Wizards of the Coast is giving some older problematic archetypes a second chance, as Historic is far more powerful than it was in the recent past.
The Rest
- Necropotence is Restricted in Timeless
- Kona, Rescue Beastie is nerfed for digital formats.
- Val, Marooned Surveyor is nerfed for digital formats.
- Dazzling Flameweaver is buffed for digital formats.
- Marshland Hordemaster is buffed for digital formats.
- Charged Conjuration is buffed for digital formats.
- Tempest Trapper is buffed for digital formats.
- Sanguine Soothsayer is buffed for digital formats.
- Polterheist is rebalanced for digital formats.
- Valiant Emberkin is buffed for digital formats.
- Ethrimik, Imagined Friend is buffed for digital formats
- Network Marauder is buffed for digital formats.
- Prototype X-8 is buffed for digital formats.
- Sliver Weftwinder is buffed for digital formats.
Outside of Historic, Magic Arena’s many formats are seeing some additional changes, but only one of them affects the number of cards you can place in a deck. With the most recent Arena Championship being dominated by the enchantment, Necropotence’s restriction in Timeless makes a lot of sense. While players will still be able to use the card as a powerful draw engine, creating an entire deck around the enchantment will now be much harder.
Otherwise, there’s a massive slew of Alchemy-related changes that have been announced that will ultimately have a larger impact on digital formats in gen, but a wide variety of them are buffs to various cards. Outside of the nerf to Val, Marooned Surveyor to target Historic, the only nerf among these changes is to Kona, Rescue Beastie, thanks to being a little too dominant in Best of One Alchemy.
Finally, no two-player MTG paper formats are seeing any changes today. While most of these formats do seem healthily balanced at the time of writing, it would not have been unreasonable to look at Pioneer or Legacy, as both formats have a bit of an outlier deck that is performing better than the rest of the field. That said, the decks don’t appear to be strong enough to the point that they’re preventing format innovation, which makes the lack of changes seem appropriate.
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