Since the introduction of the ban calendar, back in 2023, the hype surrounding these quarterly announcements has reached newfound heights. At long last, MTG players actually have fixed dates to look forward to, rather than just hoping for random bans. Following their introduction, this regimented structure has already been proving its worth through multiple much-needed changes.
While past ban announcements have struck down overpowered decks and freed up multiple metagames, currently, there’s no dangerously dominant deck. Regardless of where you look, each MTG format appears to be miraculously stable right now. With a broad range of decks vying for the top spot, nothing really needs to change.
With this in mind, we’re rather shocked that Wizards has decided to take action. Rather than waiting until after rotation, Wizards has announced bans for 56 MTG cards!
56 Eternal Legal Bans?!
Despite the expectations prior to release, Wizards of the Coast is banning two whole Eternal-legal mechanics. Effective today, May 13th, 2024, both Attactions and Stickers are banned in Legacy and Vintage. Specifically, as Wizards states, “All cards that bring a sticker or an Attraction into the game are banned.”
In total, 55 cards bring a Sticker or an Attraction into an Eternal-legal game of Magic. This huge number of cards is made up of 35 Sticker generating cars and 20 Attraction generating cards. For better or for worse, every single one of these cards has now been banned in both Legacy and Vintage. Despite not being mentioned in the main announcement, all Sticker and Attraction cards are also banned in Pauper.
Speaking of Pauper, this format also got one ban of its own. As of today, All That Glitters is now banned in Pauper.
Right now, it’s unclear the full impact that these MTG bans will have on Legacy, Vintage, and Pauper. That being said, with so much being cut from the format, we’d be very surprised if the competitive landscape doesn’t change. Right now, it appears that Legacy Goblins may be the worst-affected deck alongside Affinity lists in Pauper.
Ultimately, this ban wave is one of the biggest in Magic’s history, with 56 cards being banned. Sadly, this immense list is so long that we can’t really go over them all here, but Wizards has you covered. If you want to see every card that was banned today, May 13th, take a look at Wizards’ official announcement.
Stickers Are Finally Gone!
Thankfully, while it’s shocking that so many MTG cards are being banned so suddenly, there is a fairly simple explanation to it all. As entertaining as they can be in a game of Commander, Stickers and Attractions cause huge problems in tournament play. This is largely thanks to cards that copy an opponent’s creatures or artifacts, such as Phyrexian Metamorph.
As Wizards of the Coast explains, Legacy players running this card often “feel obligated to bring sticker decks on the off-chance they’re able to copy ________ Goblin.” For better or worse, ________ Goblin isn’t an uncommon sight, as their surprisingly consistent mana-generating ability can work wonders. Due to this, Phyrexian Metamorph players are essentially required to bring a Sticker deck lest they miss out.
Since Sticker decks must be presented at the start of each match, if you don’t bring one, you don’t get Stickers. Since the release of Unfinity, this has forced players to bring potentially unnecessary extra decks to their games. Theoretically, these decks could come in useful, but there’s no guarantee.
In a similar vein, the same problem existed for Attractions thanks to The Most Dangerous Gamer. While nowhere near as popular as it once was, this card briefly took Legacy by storm with its Attractions. Just like Stickers, this caused players using copying cards to bring an Attraction deck, on the off chance it became useful.
As if all that wasn’t bad enough, Sticker cards have long caused major issues on Magic Online. Since Stickers were so difficult to implement, the Magic Online team had to recreate some cards to make them useable. This created “Name Sticker” Goblin, which is hardly the same as the real deal. Ultimately, this banning will eliminate this problem outright.
More Bans Coming Soon?!
As always, alongside the main ban announcement, Wizards also revealed the next wave of bans that MTG players can look forward to. Currently, the next ban announcement is scheduled to take place on June 24th. Notably, this ban window is shortly after the release of Modern Horizons 3, which launches in early June.
Since Modern Horizons 3 has yet to be released, obviously it’s rather difficult to predict what may be banned in June. That being said, there’s a good chance changes will be required. While we’ve not seen the entire set just yet, thanks to myriad leaks, we’ve seen a huge number of fantastically powerful cards.
If we’re to hazard a guess, we’d be very surprised if nothing is changed in the next ban announcement on June 24th. Given the power level of Modern Horizons 3, it’d be downright remarkable if nothing needed to change. Beyond this, we can also expect a ban announcement following Bloomburrow, but that’s obviously much further away.
Ultimately, we’re just going to have to wait and see what happens in the coming months. Ideally, Wizards of the Coast won’t need to change anything as nothing will be too broken. The chances of that happening, however, currently seem rather unlikely…
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