Yesterday, Wizards of the Coast released a surprising major MTG ban announcement. While we all expected The Fantasticar to be hit in some way, beyond that, it felt like there’d be no changes. In reality, however, three Standard staples were banned out of the blue, throwing the format into flux and leaving players baffled.
Today, Wizards has explained their reasoning for doing this alongside addressing the previously unexplained Fantasticar ban. In doing this, it was revealed that Wizards is currently grappling with a big problem brought about by Standard’s current size. While it’s not news to the players on the ground, unsurprisingly, Prowess is incredibly strong right now.
Standard’s Size Problem
Thanks to Wizards making all Universes Beyond sets Standard legal, the format is far larger than ever before. Currently, there’s over 4,800 Standard playable cards, and we’ve still got two more sets in 2026. This has allowed Prowess to thrive, since there are far more cheap and strong spells in Standard than usual.
Unfortunately, this abundance of strong spells means that Prowess is exceptionally hard to deal with. While major threats like Stormchaser’s Talent and Cori-Steel Cutter can be banned, they just make way for less efficient threats. With cards like Elusive Otter and Emberheart Challenger still in Standard, it’s hard to see how this doesn’t happen again.
According to Carmen Klomparens, during the WeeklyMTG, this strength and resilience weren’t expected when introducing more sets to Standard. With hindsight being 20/20, this does feel like a massive goof; however, Wizards did cut themselves some slack. Noting that there were tons of potential problems that never made it to print, it seems Prowess was the exception slipping through the cracks.
Beyond discussing the Prowess-riddled state of Standard, Wizards also highlighted how Tablet of Discovery has been a talking point. As a key value engine within Jeskai Lessons and Control decks, there were questions about why this wasn’t banned. In response, Klomparens highlighted that Wizards doesn’t want to go too deep in predictive bans.
Not only are predictive bans a slippery slope, but they’re especially difficult alongside big bans like Badgermole Cub. With the Standard metagame expected to go through a major shift, any additional bans may be overboard. Thankfully, there is the upcoming ban window on October 12th that can catch anything if needed.
Legacy, Modern, Pioneer, and Commander
Alongside Standard, Wizards also properly explained the reason for banning and restricting The Fantasticar. While this explanation was missing from the official ban announcement, the reasoning for the ban was already widely known. With tons of fast-mana lending to overwhelming consistency in Vintage, and it being widely adopted across Legacy, there was no denying it needed banning.
Beyond this rather obvious explanation, Wizards briefly touched upon Modern, noting the metagame looks rather healthy overall. While it was mentioned that Kozilek’s Command is being watched, no urgent action is required just yet. Given the wide array of decks it’s appearing in, however, there’s a chance it’ll get banned eventually.
As for Pioneer, while the lack of bans wasn’t discussed in detail, it was revealed that it’s getting some major tournaments. While these haven’t been officially locked in, a Pioneer Regional Championship Qualifier season and a Regional Championship round should happen next year. Considering the format has been without major support for so long, this early announcement is definitely a blessing.
Lastly, Wizards also touched upon Commander, even though Gavin Verhey did all of the explaining already. As Verhey stated in his video, the Commander Format Panel won’t be meeting until September, but changes could be made after that. In theory, these could align with the October 12th banned and restricted update, but that’s not confirmed right now.
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