Thanks to last year’s Vivi Ornitier debacle, ban windows for Magic: The Gathering have become a lot more frequent. With bans occurring almost every month, there should be ample opportunities to eject power outliers from formats rather than leaving them to rot.
That said, one of Magic’s biggest formats doesn’t follow the traditional ban windows, allowing some of the old-style sudden ban excitement to remain. Today, for example, it was announced that we will get a Commander ban announcement next week. With Game Changer updates, bans, and even rules updates having been discussed recently, almost anything could happen.
Commander B&R Announced
Slated for Monday, February 9th, the next Commander ban announcement has been confirmed to coincide with bans for other MTG formats. From the sounds of things, this won’t be a ‘no changes’ announcement, either. As confirmed during the February 3rd Daily MTG stream, the Commander committee has “come back with some recommendations and changes, so we will be announcing those next Monday.”
Considering that the last Commander ban announcement occurred on April 22nd, 2025, there are a decent number of proposed changes that might come to fruition in this announcement. Bans for two controversial blue cards in the format, for example, were recently considered by the community. It’s rare for Wizards of the Coast to mention potential bans in any capacity, which certainly means that Thassa’s Oracle or Rhystic Study could leave the format this coming Monday. Whether or not that happens, however, remains to be seen.
Otherwise, MTG players may expect an update on the hybrid mana recommendation pushed by Wizards of the Coast back in October of last year. This would essentially make Hybrid mana cards playable in any color identity that has a color of the Hybrid mana cards, not color identities that include every color. While this makes sense from a gameplay perspective, the suggestion has sparked significant controversy in the community for going against the nature of the format.
Whether it’s rule changes, cards leaving the format, or just some Game Changers updates, it looks like next Monday’s MTG ban announcement is going to be an eventful one. If you’re afraid of some cards leaving the MTG format, now might be the time to offset some risky investments.
Stick with us at mtgrocks.com: the best place for Magic: The Gathering coverage!