Recently, Wizards of the Coast has been pretty good about their once-maligned ban schedule. Previously, bans would just happen out of the blue when needed, but now we have a set schedule. Curiously, despite having this fixed schedule, Wizards has just elected to ban seven MTG cards without any warning.
Admittedly, these bans aren’t the most major in the grand scheme of MTG. Rather than being for something like Standard, Wizards has only banned seven cards in the Historic Pauper format. Considering this is a temporary format that only appears during Midweek Magic, the lack of fanfare is arguably deserved. Still, bans are bans, and having them happen without a major announcement is a real surprise.
MTG Historic Pauper Bans
Despite saying nothing about it in the latest MTG Arena announcements post, seven bans have just happened on MTG Arena. This was only revealed during the patch notes for the game’s update today, which aren’t even broadcast in the client. Thankfully, despite this oddity, eagle-eyed MTG players have uncovered the change, and it’s definitely a needed one.
Wizards of the Coast
- Ancestral Mask is banned in Historic Pauper
- Cranial Ram is banned in Historic Pauper
- Galvanic Blast is banned in Historic Pauper
- Kuldotha Rebirth is banned in Historic Pauper
- Refurbished Familiar is banned in Historic Pauper
- Sneaky Snacker is banned in Historic Pauper
- Persistent Petitioners is banned in Historic Pauper
Unfortunately, unlike regular MTG ban announcements, Wizards of the Coast didn’t explain their reasoning here. That being said, those who are familiar with the format won’t be surprised to see a fair few Rakdos Affinity cards catching the ban hammer. As one of the strongest archetypes in the format, until now, MTG players have long taken issue with this deck.
Between Cranial Ram, Refurbished Familiar, Kuldotha Rebirth, and Galvanic Blast, this Affinity deck was monstrous. Not only could it flood the board with tons of artifacts, but leveraging them into consistent value made it oppressive. Hopefully, having four key cards from this archetype banned will massively tone it down, potentially pushing it out of the meta.
On top of dealing with Affinity, losing Sneaky Snacker is a big blow to Madness decks, as this card was a constant recurring threat in the archetype. Similarly, Ancestral Mask being banned will be a hit to Boggles decks in the format, although potentially not an archetype-ruining one. Lastly, Persistent Petitioners might seem like an odd card to ban, but it’s surprisingly difficult to deal with in best-of-one, so it’s no wonder Wizards took action.
Bring it Back
Curiously, while Wizards of the Coast has pushed this new round of bans today, they don’t matter for a week. According to a recent article put out by Wizards, Historic Pauper doesn’t return to Midweek Magic until May 5th. Hopefully, once this format returns, the new bans will be a lot more fun; however, some players are already concerned.
On social media, many MTG players are now worried that banning key Rakdos Affinity cards will leave a power vacuum at the top. While it’s still early days, it looks like Storm decks, using Chatterstorm or Empty the Warrens, will fill that void. Considering this deck was already a strong contender in the metagame, the fear of it being left unchecked is very understandable.
Thankfully, while we don’t have much in the way of data right now, these bans have apparently already been implemented by the Arena Pauper Discord. According to Reddit user eurpopean_dimes, this new banlist is actually surprisingly balanced. Whether or not it’ll survive contact with the general MTG Arena populace, however, remains to be seen.
Unfortunately, while it’s good to see that the Historic Pauper format is being curated somewhat, it’s still confined to Midweek Magic. Hopefully, in time, it can be freed and made into a full, always-available format; however, I wouldn’t hold your breath. Given how slow Wizards have been implementing Ranked Brawl, we might be waiting a long while here.
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