This is the biggest MTG ban announcement in years. We’ve had three MTG formats with a problematic S-tier deck at the same time, and the ban list has been pretty smashing. Three formats have newly announced bans. Two of those formats have multi-card bans. With two new restrictions, even Vintage wasn’t left out of the fun. Sorry, Modern fans. The One Ring wasn’t restricted in this format.
Nadu, winged wisdom and grief forbidden in modern times
First, Nadu, Winged Wisdom and Grief were banned in the Modern format. The disappearance of Nadu, Winged Wisdom is no surprise. When Simon Neilson, winner of the Pro Tour Modern Horizons 3, declared that the deck needed to be banned, it was only a matter of time.
One of the most broken combo decks of all time, Nadu, Winged Wisdom was able to win the game with just two cards and was incredibly resistant to removal thanks to Nadu’s ability to provide card advantage in response to targeted effects.
Reading more about how Nadu, Winged Wisdom came to be, it seems that the card was changed towards the end of the design process and the problematic interaction with cards like Shuko and Outrider en-Kor was overlooked. We’ll discuss this more in a future article.
While everyone expected Nadu, Winged Wisdom to be a much-needed departure from the Modern format, the ban on Grief is more surprising. Wizards of the Coast’s ban notes call Grief “one of the least fun parts of competitive Modern events.” When you get Grief Scammed with the card of the same name and something like Malakir Rebirth, you’re ripping players’ hands apart for just one mana. Muliganning and then getting Grief Scammed is an absolutely brutal feeling. Not only do you lose two cards, but you have to answer a creature afterward.
“Even if you don’t mulligan, it’s just too much to ask to respond to a threatening three- or four-power creature on the first turn after your opponent has taken away your best cards.”
Grief’s presence in several legal Modern decks was mentioned, including Goryo’s Vengeance, Living End, Rakdos Midrange, and Necrodominance. Ultimately, the decision to ban Grief was made “in the interest of making the format more fun.”
The One Ring is also mentioned here as a card Wizards of the Coast is keeping an eye on. No action was taken against the card today, but it is currently being played in almost every Modern deck. After this ban announcement, we expect a price increase for the One Ring. We also expect the One Ring to appear in a future ban announcement, whatever that means.
All in all, we are pretty happy with these ban announcements. Honestly, as long as Nadu, Winged Wisdom leaves the Modern format, most of the community would be happy with this ban announcement.
Sorin, Imperious Bloodlord and Amalia Benavides Aguerre banned in Pioneer
When discussing Pioneer, Wizards of the Coast states that there were two clear outliers from the rest of the format, and the namesake cards of both of those decks were banned today. Rakdos Vampires, the larger of the two outliers, represented 30% of the winner’s metagame week after week. Rather than ban Vein Ripper, the card that caused the rise of Rakdos Vampires, Wizards of the Coast chose to ban Sorin, Imperious Bloodlord, as the existence of that card makes every massive, top-tier Vampire printed in the future a threat to the Pioneer format.
The combination of Thoughtseize, Fatal Push, and that insane turn three tempo play was too much for the Pioneer format to handle. Now that the clock has been slowed down on the Rakdos midrange strategy, other decks should have some breathing room.
While Rakdos Vampires was an outlier, so was the Amalia Life combo deck. With plenty of value-based enablers like Chord of Calling, Collected Company, and Return to the Ranks, the Amalia combo deck is incredibly consistent. Since the combo only requires two cards (Amalia Benavides Aguerre and Wildgrowth Walker) plus a way to activate, it’s incredibly easy to pull off. Adding cards like Dina, Soul Steeper allows you to win without even attacking.
Interestingly, it seemed to be the counterplay that made the Amalia Life combo so successful for Wizards of the Coast. Making Wildgrowth Walker indestructible makes the loop between Amalia and Walker infinite. This can drag out the game if the loop itself can’t kill the opponent. After this counterplay was discovered, draws became surprisingly common, which can slow down tournaments. Due to its power, consistency, and ability to draw the game, Amalia Benavides Aguerre got the banhammer.
Fable of the Mirror-Breaker and Treasure Cruise were two other MTG cards that Wizards of the Coast considered banning in Pioneer in addition to these two bans, but they decided not to make any sweeping changes to the affected formats with this ban announcement.
Since Amalia Benavides Aguerre and Sorin, Imperious Bloodlord were banned in Pioneer, they are of course also banned in Explorer.
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Mourning forbidden in Legacy
This was perhaps the most predictable ban of all. Grief probably should have left the Legacy format before a ban announcement. Legacy players are finally free of their Grief overlord.
While the card is incredibly depressing in the format overall, Grief’s biggest gripe in the Legacy format was its presence in the Rescaminator deck. This deck was able to take on two different game plans, using Reanimate to get Atraxa, Grand Unifier into play, or playing a fair, mid-length plan in the presence of a lot of graveyard hate. Traditionally, these multiplan decks were gimmicks at best. This deck was the real deal, which was a huge problem.
According to Wizards of the Coast, Psychic Frog was also discussed at length as a secondary option for a ban. Ultimately, they decided that since Grief and Reanimate were a big part of the Legacy metagame, there was a big chance the meta would shift significantly after this ban. Psychic Frog could still be a problem in Delver decks and Reanimator strategies, but decks with a decent Delver matchup should become more popular after these changes.
Honestly, I think it’s a huge mistake not to ban Psychic Frog, but it will be interesting to see how the format changes.
Two restrictions in the vintage sector
Urza’s Saga and Vexing Bauble have both been cited as major problems in the Vintage format. Lurrus Saga, which uses the companion Lurrus of the Dream-Den in conjunction with Urza’s Saga, is largely considered the best strategy in Vintage right now. That being said, Wizards of the Coast states that “the opportunity cost of playing four copies of Urza’s Saga in the format is simply too low.” Due to the presence of Mox and Black Lotus, almost every Vintage deck uses multiple tutor targets for the land. The card had such a big impact on the format that it was one of the top five unrestricted cards and saw frequent play in every artifact-themed deck. Apparently, a Vintage game ending on turn four in the face of gigantic constructs created by Urza’s Saga was incredibly common. Restricting the card probably won’t reduce its play share, but it will limit the number of games it ends.
Vexing Bauble ruins the spirit of Vintage. The few who play this absurdly expensive format do so to cast Magic’s most powerful spells. Moxen, Black Lotus, and Force of Will are key pillars of the Vintage format, and a first-turn Vexing Bauble destroys all of that. Chalice of the Void is already restricted in Vintage for similar reasons. This restriction seems like a no-brainer to us.
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A fantastic ban announcement, with one exception
This was the ban announcement that many MTG players have been waiting for. This announcement addressed problematic decks in Legacy, Modern, Pioneer, and even Vintage to some extent. The biggest problem with this announcement is its timing.
To address this, Wizards of the Coast will no longer coordinate ban announcements with set releases, but will now coordinate bans with the competitive seasons of Regional Championships and Regional Championship Qualifiers.
For this reason, The next ban announcement for Magic: The Gathering is scheduled for December 16th.
Although the timing was bad, Wizards of the Coast seems to have learned its lesson and is delivering exactly what the community expected. We hope that the quality of future ban announcements is similar to this one.
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