MTG Arena provides players with a variety of different formats to play depending on their preferences. For Commander enthusiasts, Brawl does a pretty good impression. Historic, Timeless, and Alchemy give players the opportunity to play with unique, digital-only cards that each have their own unique charm.
In addition to formats actually curated on the client, fan-driven formats like Gladiator have a big following as well. Gladiator is a 100-card, MTG Arena Singleton format, but with no Commanders utilized. Today, a massive change was made that should shake up the Gladiator metagame. One incredible land was banned, while another that’s been banned for five years has now been made legal once again!
Strip Mine Banned
First and foremost, the card that has been added to the banlist is Strip Mine, one of the best lands ever printed in Magic’s history. Strip Mine entered the Arena environment on the Edge of Eternities Stellar Sights bonus sheet, and it didn’t take long before players realized just how broken Strip Mine was.
According to the council that oversees Gladiator, Strip Mine garnered a lot of attention immediately upon its release. While the council feels that land destruction can play an important role in the format, Strip Mine is certainly an outlier.
It doesn’t take much before Strip Mine can completely take over the game. From Primeval Titan to Sowing Mycospawn, there are plenty of ways to tutor for the busted land. From there, any recursion element, including new additions to MTG Arena, like Icetill Explorer, and the Arena Anthology 2 powerhouse Wrenn and Six, can make it impossible to lose.
There’s a very low opportunity cost to running this land. The play patterns associated with Strip Mine can also feel miserable. There’s little chance for strategic play against it once your opponent gets their engine rolling, which only makes things worse. With all factors combined, Strip Mine felt like an inevitable ban, so this ultimately seems like a strong decision.
Field of the Dead Unbanned
Meanwhile, the other decision made by the council is much more controversial. Field of the Dead, which was banned in Gladiator back in 2020, is now legal. Considering that Field of the Dead is a one-card army in a can, this is a risky choice to make.
The Gladiator council notes that five years ago, when Field of the Dead was banned, Gladiator was in a vastly different state. Threats were less efficient, cards were individually weaker on average, and the speed of the format was much slower as a result.
With this in mind, Field of the Dead used to be an easy inclusion in a large percentage of decks, regardless of their game plan. Now, the Gladiator council feels that in this faster environment, players will have to strategically build their deck around Field of the Dead to get the most out of it. This way, Field could still serve as a strong win condition for some, but it might not feel homogenous.
This is an interesting take, in my opinion. Gladiator has undoubtedly gotten faster, but ramp support has also gotten better. Finding your one-of Field of the Dead isn’t difficult. Neither is meeting the seven-land threshold.
The big concern regarding Field of the Dead is that there aren’t many good answers to the land once it sticks, especially with Strip Mine gone. Cards like Scapeshift can also generate a huge board of Zombies by tutoring Field alongside a bunch of other lands, rendering your answers useless. Field of the Dead may prove to be a fine addition to the format that isn’t overly toxic. Just don’t be surprised if ramp decks dominate out of the gates following this announcement.
More on the Way?
According to the Gladiator council, the timing of this ban announcement is unusual. There were a lot of internal discussions about these cards, as well as other cards from the Arena Anthologies, even prior to their release on MTG Arena. Furthermore, the council noted that there were talks of reevaluating the entire banlist as well as the format philosophically.
However, with the Arena Anthologies bringing such drastic changes to the format, there are plans to restart this discussion process while overseeing the influence of the new cards. With this, there are future plans to make a bigger announcement that could have an even larger impact on Gladiator.
While it’s unclear exactly what future announcements could bring, it wouldn’t be shocking if huge changes were on the horizon. Cards like Wrenn and Six from the recent Arena Anthologies could prove too strong in what Gladiator becomes, prompting additional bans.
On top of that, there has been an enormous influx of incredible tools to MTG Arena over the last couple of years that have completely warped Gladiator. It’s not out of the question that a ban overhaul is in the works. After all, Gladiator is a format driven by the players, and a big shakeup could lead to a surge in support.
For the time being, the banning of Strip Mine and unbanning of Field of the Dead is effective today. Make sure to keep your eyes peeled for any upcoming news over the next few months.
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