Thanks to the recent release of Modern Horizons 3, multiple MTG formats have recently been dramatically shaken up. With Modern, and Commander all steadily stabilizing themselves, it’s a great time for additional changes, right?! Thankfully, the answer to that question is a relieving ‘no’ as Wizards of the Coast isn’t going to ban anything in MTG right now.
In the latest banned and restricted update announcement, Wizards of the Coast loudly announced “No changes in all formats.” For MTG players still reeling from Modern Horizons 3, this is great news. For everyone else, however, this lack of change may be somewhat disappointing, even with rotation on the horizon.
Thankfully, Wizards of the Coast did thoroughly explain why nothing has changed today. Ultimately, Wizards’ reasons for no changes in this MTG ban announcement are both sensible and unsurprising. That being said, there’s nonetheless still merit behind the calls for certain cards to be banned right now.
No Changes in Standard
As we predicted recently, this MTG ban announcement was a big ol’ nothing burger, with absolutely no changes. This is somewhat surprising, considering that Wizards previously announced they would focus on Standard for this latest ban announcement. While this format did get a good deal of discussion, nothing was changed in the end.
Unsurprisingly, the reason why Wizards of the Coast isn’t banning anything now is rotation. Occurring on July 26th, 2024, this format warping event isn’t far away at all. Poised to completely shake up the Standard metagame, banning anything now may be a little premature. That being said, Wizards did consider banning a few problematic cards.
Highlighting Atraxa, Grand Unifier and Knight Errant of Eos, both these cards were considered as pre-rotation bans. Given their current strength in the format, this isn’t surprising, as both these cards are incredibly prevalent. Once rotation happens, however, Wizards suggests the playability of these cards will take a hit.
Considering Boros Convoke will lose Voldaren Epicure and Domain loses New Capenna’s Triomes, these decks will definitely lose some luster. Whether or not this will be enough to temper the power of these archetypes remains to be seen right now. Thankfully, should these archetypes remain overly prevalent in the post-rotation metagame, Wizards can fix that in August.
No Changes in Modern
Much like Standard with rotation coming up, Modern similarly has another major event keeping bans at bay. Beginning on June 28th, Pro Tour Modern Horizons 3 is kicking off this week. With this major event on the horizon, Wizards is keeping the format stable so players can properly brew and perfect their decks.
Ultimately, this lack of changes in Modern is completely unsurprising as it was announced back in May. Even with this in mind, there are definitely cards in Modern that are well worth talking about. With Nadu, Winged Wisdom and Ral, Monsoon Mage proving incredibly powerful, there are potential ban targets.
Despite these cards being the biggest new threats from Modern Horizons 3, Wizards isn’t taking action just yet. In fact, it seems Wizards might not even ban these cards after the upcoming Pro Tour. In the announcement post, Wizards highlighted how many decks are starting to answer these new threats, mitigating the need for bans.
Ultimately, Pro Tour Modern Horizons 3 will give us a much clearer indication of what, if anything, is a problem. Much like Standard, these problems can be addressed in the next ban announcement in August.
No Changes in Pioneer
In somewhat of a theme, Wizards is also hesitant to ban anything in Pioneer due to a major event series. Right now, Regional Championship Qualifiers are ongoing until mid-July. As Wizards stated in their announcement post, they “don’t like to disrupt those events mid-season.” Due to this, it seems, once again, that any new bans are off the table until August.
Currently, the Pioneer format is mostly not in dire need of any bans. The only deck that Wizards highlighted as a potential problem is the Amalia Combo deck. Built around Amalia Benavides Aguirre, this deck is a healthy part of the Pioneer metagame, but it’s not entirely fun.
As Wizards explains, this is due to the deck’s ability to draw the game and create a negative play experience. Despite this potential problem, Wizards states they’re “generally positive on it,” since it’s a creature-based combo deck. Ultimately, it remains to be seen whether or not Pioneer will see any bans in August.
No Changes Anywhere
Outside of the aforementioned formats that have events effectively preventing bans, everything else is surprisingly stable. For now, at least, Historic, and Timeless are all adapting to their new cards and decks surprisingly well. The same cannot really be said for Legacy, but new cards are not the problem in that format.
According to Wizards of the Coast, at least, nothing in these formats is even worth talking about, let alone banning outright. Potentially, as time goes on, Wizards may end up needing to ban a problematic powerhouse from Modern Horizons 3. At the moment, however, players are still figuring out the newfangled metagames and adapting to new threats.
For better or worse, the only format that has been struggling to deal with a new threat is Brawl. Due to their strength, Nadu, Winged Wisdom has been causing havoc in the format, but that should be fixed now. According to Wizards, changes have been implemented behind the scenes which should have changed Nadu’s weight as a Commander.
More Bans Coming Soon
As we mentioned throughout this article, there is another MTG ban announcement not too far away. In today’s post, Wizards confirmed this will happen sometime in August, after the release of Bloomburrow. Currently, no exact date has been announced for this future announcement, so we’ll have to wait for more information.
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