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0 On June 30th, Wizards of the Coast (WotC) announced its updated ban list for all formats of Magic: The Gathering. Interestingly, only the Standard format was struck by the ban hammer. Seven times!
Seven cards currently legal in Standard have been banned, effective immediately. While bans in Standard aren’t unusual, seven at once is a rather rare occurrence. WotC is sending a clear message that what happened at Pro Tour Las Vegas can’t happen again. Furthermore, no updates were made to Modern, Legacy, Pauper, Brawl, Vintage, or Pioneer. Further, giving the impression that Wizards is laser-focused on fixing and balancing Standard.
What Went Wrong at Pro Tour Final Fantasy?
Izzet Prowress took the Pro Tour by storm, pun intended. In the words of Magic: The Gathering Hall of Famer Reid Duke, the deck was simply “better than anything else.” In his blog for Ultimate Guard, he explains how he and his team play tested for a week before the Pro Tour in Las Vegas and just could not beat the now infamous Izzet Prowress deck. Despite trying countless ways to beat Izzet and playing on for hours in their hotel room, Reid and his team ultimately decided that they would sleeve up their decks in red and blue. As the saying goes, if you can’t beat them, join them!
And that is what most of the players who competed that weekend must have thought as well, given that an astonishing 42% of all contestants played Izzet. And they weren’t wrong to do so, all top 8 players played, you guessed it, Izzet Prowress!
The Ban Hammer Of Consequences!
Consequently, and unsurprisingly, WotC decided they needed to intervene for the sake of the format’s diversity. Everybody playing the same deck does sound rather boring, and quite frankly, unfun. The seven cards that have been targeted to be the main culprits of this anomaly in the current Standard meta are Cori-Steel Cutter, Monstrous Rage, Heartfire Hero, Abuelo’s Awakening, Hopeless Nightmare, This Town Aint Big Enough, and my personal favourite, Up The Beanstalk.
What Does This Mean For Players?
Ultimately, Wizards of the Coast’s goal is to restore balance by getting rid of format-warping cards. In theory, this should open up the way for more diverse and hopefully interactive games. The ban list also has the upcoming Edge of Eternities set in mind. Wizards are hoping for a hard reset of the format after this ban, which would allow new sets to be welcomed with open arms.
How do you feel about this ban update? Let us know in the comments below!
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