Announcement Date: August 26, 2024
Effective Date for Tabletop and Magic Online: August 26, 2024
Effective Date for MTG Arena: August 27, 2024
Today, Wizards of the Coast released a new Banned and Restricted (B&R) announcement, detailing changes across multiple formats. Below is a summary of the key updates:
Standard
- No changes.
Pioneer
- Banned: Amalia Benavides Aguirre, Sorin, Imperious Bloodlord.
Modern
- Banned: Nadu, Winged Wisdom, Grief.
Legacy
- Banned: Grief.
Vintage
- Restricted: Urza’s Saga, Vexing Bauble.
Alchemy
- No changes.
Explorer
- Banned: Amalia Benavides Aguirre, Sorin, Imperious Bloodlord.
Historic
- No changes.
Timeless
- No changes.
Brawl
- No changes.
Key Insights from the Announcement
Wizards of the Coast has acknowledged issues with the timing of previous B&R announcements, which sometimes conflicted with major competitive events. Moving forward, B&R updates will align more closely with Regional Championships (RCs) and Regional Championship Qualifiers (RCQs) seasons to ensure a more stable environment for competitive play.
Detailed Format Changes
Pioneer:
The bans of Amalia Benavides Aguirre and Sorin, Imperious Bloodlord, target the dominance of Rakdos Vampires and the problematic combo deck featuring Amalia. Both cards were contributing to a metagame that lacked diversity, and their removal is expected to open up new opportunities for deck-building.
Modern:
The bans of Nadu, Winged Wisdom, and Grief aim to address the unbalanced power levels these cards brought to the format. Nadu’s dominance had stifled the exploration of other strategies, while Grief’s interaction with other cards was making the game experience less enjoyable.
Legacy and Vintage:
Grief’s ban in Legacy mirrors its impact in Modern, ensuring that players have a fair chance to execute their strategies. In Vintage, restricting Urza’s Saga and Vexing Bauble aims to balance the powerful artifact-driven decks that have been dominating the format.
For the full B&R announcement and more insights into the reasoning behind these changes, click here to read the official article.
Kar Yung Tom (KYT) is the Digital Content Manager for Face to Face Games. He oversees the F2FTour.com and Magic F2F websites. He is also the lead host of the First Strike podcast.