Banned List Updated Across Multiple Formats
On Monday, December 16th, Wizards of the Coast announced many groundbreaking bans and unbans in Modern and Legacy. In the eyes of many players, some of these were a long time coming. But what got the axe, and what came back? Read on, and we will elaborate!
The Modern (Newly) Banned List
In addition to (many of) the cards already on the Modern banned list, three new cards are now new to said list:
The One Ring was the ubiquitous Boogeyman to the Modern format for a good long while. According to the announcement, "The opportunity cost of including The One Ring in nearly any deck is too low, and its presence in events has become tiresome for many players.
Acting as a tool for self-preservation and a source of card advantage, it requires no commitment to any particular color." As such, they've banned The One Ring, to the rejoicing of many Modern players, save, perhaps for a few in the Boros Energy camp.
Amped Raptor is another card that has, doubtless, dealt a hard blow to Boros Energy with its removal from the Modern format. According to Wizards of the Coast, Guide of Souls, Ajani, Nacatl Pariah, or Phlage, Titan of Fire's Fury each "could reasonably be included in a few other archetypes, while Amped Raptor only appears in Boros Energy.
Amped Raptor allows for some of the deck's most explosive starts, acting as an energy enabler and a payoff, and often amounting to an extra one to four mana in the early turns of the game." This is why Wizards banned Amped Raptor over the other three.
A Note On Jegantha's Ban
Finally, Jegantha, the Wellspring has been banned in multiple formats, not just Modern. It saw a hit in Pioneer and in Explorer. However, the Modern ban is the most impactful of the three at this time. "Ultimately, the decision to avoid cards that have more than one of the same mana symbol isn't a very interesting or fun one to make.
By making a couple swaps in deck building, you can get access to a mostly free 5/5, earning you a couple of percentage points in the win column." According to Wizards, it sees play in 40% of all competitively viable Modern decks and therefore needed to be banned.
Modern's Newly Unbanned Cards
Fortunately, it's not all gloom and doom in Modern this Monday, for more cards were unbanned than banned! The list is as such:
Mox Opal got the Modern unban because of its propensity to diversify decks in the format. It was a format staple in artifact-centric archetypes across Modern. While it became too widely used, prompting a trip to the banned list, its reintroduction to Modern may be a positive, according to Wizards of the Coast.
Green Sun's Zenith is now unbanned to further shake the Modern format up. The goal here is to revitalize green creature-based decks, like Elves or even decks utilizing Primeval Titan.
This reintroduction notably doesn't allow cards like Basking Broodscale to be tutored, nor does it help Yawgmoth, Thran Physician all that much, but Wizards' admission.
Faithless Looting is seeing time in the sun again partly because Hogaak, Arisen Necropolis is not in the picture. Furthermore, with so many new anti-graveyard tech pieces in the format, it's harder to justify playing Faithless Looting as a means of card selection or advantage.
"Back in 2019, after Pro Tour Barcelona, it was clear that Hogaak, Arisen Necropolis was stronger than intended. One of the cards that died for Hogaak's sins was Faithless Looting. But Faithless Looting had propped up a multitude of strategies. Arclight Phoenix, Hollow One, Dredge, and even some fair midrange decks featuring cards like Young Pyromancer and Seasoned Pyromancer all played Faithless Looting."
Finally, Splinter Twin, a card that many, many players have clamored for removal from the banned list, finally sees the light. Pestermite/Deceiver Exarch combos can finally test the card out in Modern to see if it's worth inclusion. According to Wizards regarding this historic unbanning:
Unlike Mox Opal, Faithless Looting, and Green Sun's Zenith, which can each support multiple different strategies, Splinter Twin only supports one strategy. But the whole point of today's reversed bans is to call back to the Modern of yesteryear. Each card was justifiably removed from Modern in the past, but times change, and we've realized that Modern isn't what it used to be. Splinter Twin is symbolic of an era of Modern that people look back on fondly, and it is now free. Enjoy the memes.
A Legacy of New Bans
In addition to Modern, Pioneer, and Explorer, Legacy received a pair of additions to its own banned list:
According to Wizards of the Coast, "Psychic Frog plays extremely well within the general shell of a reanimator strategy, providing a threat that must be answered that is also able to give you value when drawing your expensive reanimation targets. The Dimir Reanimator deck has been able to circumvent anti-graveyard technology by having an extremely efficient, fair game plan.
While we believe reanimator to be a healthy archetype for Legacy, it should have its usual weaknesses. Additionally, the power of Psychic Frog narrows the range of reanimator variants, forcing players to consolidate down to a tight Dimir shell."
Furthermore, Vexing Bauble has been banned as well. It saw a strong showing in terms of its win rate against major decks in Legacy. According to Wizards:
One of the pillars of Legacy is free counter magic. It is part of the glue that holds the format together. When certain strategies can ignore this pillar at very little cost to their primary proactive game plan, the format can begin to fall apart quickly. Decks like Mystic Forge Combo, Painter's Servant Combo, and other red Ancient Tomb decks are happy to include a one-mana artifact that can replace itself when it's no longer useful.
Bans and Unbans Worth Celebrating
In their efforts to revitalize multiple formats, Wizards of the Coast's banned lists each seem to reflect a certain acknowledgment of the needs of the formats' players. What do you think of these new changes to Modern and Legacy? Sound off below!
