Previews for MTG Final Fantasy may be over, but the set has one last surprise up its sleeve. In the usual rules update article for the set, some big changes to how Saga cards work in MTG have been announced. The article claimed that these changes are “small,” and mainly intended to make Summon creatures more intuitive to play with. In practice, it’s looking like the opposite is true. This update will have quite a big impact, and not on the new Summon creatures from the set.
Instead, multi-format all-star Urza’s Saga will be getting a considerable buff once this update hits. Hate pieces that once completely removed the land will now have very little effect on its functionality. In fact, in many cases. they’ll actually make it even better. Given how prominent Urza’s Saga already is in Legacy and Modern, this is worrying news for some. It’s too early to start calling for bans, of course, but the discourse online already points toward Urza’s Saga being in the firing line before long.
The MTG Saga Rules Update
Before we get into its impact on Urza’s Saga, let’s look at the MTG Saga rules update itself. This was announced today, in the official Final Fantasy Release Notes article from Wizards. Nestled in amongst the routine new mechanic explanations is perhaps the most impactful rules change we’ve seen in some time.
In the past, if a Saga lost its abilities somehow, it would immediately be sacrificed as a state-based action. The reasoning behind this is complicated, but essentially the game assumed a Saga with no abilities had completed all of its chapters, which would then cause you to sacrifice it. This happened regardless of how many lore counters a Saga actually had. Once Final Fantasy launches, however, this is all going to change.
“Starting with the release of Magic: The Gathering—FINAL FANTASY, we’re updating the rules: If a Saga has no chapter abilities, it won’t be subject to the state-based action that would cause it to be sacrificed due to how many lore counters it has. Similarly, it won’t be subject to the turn-based action that adds a lore counter to each Saga you control at the beginning of your first main phase each turn.”
Eric Levine, Wizards of the Coast
This rule change is effectively a big buff for Sagas. Cards that shut off their abilities will no longer act as removal, but will instead just hold Sagas in a kind of stasis. They won’t gain or lose counters until you remove the card shutting off their abilities.
Wizards chose to make this change now because of the introduction of Saga creatures in Final Fantasy. Having your Summon removed because it loses its abilities would be unintuitive. It would also likely lead to weird feel-bad moments in Limited games. By changing the rules now, Wizards can avoid these issues.
Beyond just making gameplay smoother, this change also makes Summon creatures significantly better. Typically, a Summon creature would be sacrificed after a few turns once it hits its last chapter, like any other Saga. Now, however, you can use ability removal effects to stop your Summon from gaining additional counters, thus keeping it around for longer.
A Huge Buff For Urza’s Saga
Despite the MTG Saga rules update ostensibly being aimed at Summon creatures, that’s not where it’s going to have the biggest impact. Instead, it’ll really come into play regarding Urza’s Saga. This is one of the most widely-played, powerful lands in all of Magic. It sees heavy play in both Modern and Legacy, and it was even good enough to earn a restriction in Vintage. It’s a big deal, in other words, and this change makes it even better.
In the past, decks could use either Blood Moon or Harbinger of the Seas to effectively remove opposing Urza’s Sagas by removing their abilities. As a result, many lists ran these cards out of the sideboard to combat Saga decks. The manabase hate was just an incidental bonus in these cases. Now, however, that option is gone. Neither Moon nor Harbinger will remove Saga after this change, they’ll simply ‘freeze’ it on whichever chapter it’s currently on.
If this turned Urza’s Saga into a basic Mountain, it would still be a significant buff for the card. Turns out things go deeper than that, however, due to the intricacies of Sagas as a card type. According to HanweirGarrison, a level two Judge, “if an Urza’s Saga has gained abilities through its chapter abilities already (say, to make constructs), it can still do that under a Blood Moon.”
This means Urza’s Saga loses nothing once a Blood Moon or Harbinger hits, and in fact gets even better. The ability to tap for colored mana is an upgrade on its usual colorless production. Additionally, if the Moon/Harbinger comes down when Saga is on chapter two, it’ll be locked there, letting you make Construct tokens continuously turn after turn.
Big Change On The Horizon
These are massive buffs, to a card that most would argue really didn’t need them. From now on, sideboarding against Urza’s Saga decks in Modern and Legacy will be much more difficult. Moon/Harbinger allowed you to remove the card while also attacking your opponent’s mana. Now you’ll have to resort to dedicated enchantment or land destruction effects.
Without the extra disruptive benefits, players may not be able to justify running such answers in their sideboards. Some have already taken to social media to voice their disapproval of the change.
“Unironically dislike this change a lot, and not in a “Magic player hates change way.” Urza’s Saga is one of the last cards that needs a buff. No longer being able to Moon away an Urza’s Saga will have dire ramifications on metagame balance.”
Drew Buchanan, via Twitter
On top of that, Urza’s Saga decks will now be able to run Moon and Harbinger themselves, as proactive threats. Holding your Saga on chapter two is a strong play, allowing you to pump out an unstoppable stream of ever-scaling tokens. This will also slow down opposing decks with greedy manabases.
This strategy could work in a range of decks, but particularly Moon Stompy in Legacy. This is a list that revolves around powering out an early Blood Moon via Ancient Tomb or City of Traitors, then using both downside-free while your opponent’s mana suffers. With this change Moon Stompy will be able to run Urza’s Saga as well, both as a Construct factory and a way to grab Chrome Mox, as well as other utility artifacts from the deck.
“For what it’s worth, I think the change to how Sagas work is good overall and probably makes it more likely Urza’s Saga eats a ban at some point.”
Mike Provencher, via Twitter
Thanks to this MTG Saga rules update, some players are already calling for an Urza’s Saga ban. The card was divisive already, and it’ll only be more so now. We’ll need time for the metagame to adjust, of course, but I could easily see this being discussed, and possibly acted upon, by Wizards in the future.
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