Wizards of the Coast revealed the latest bans for Magic: The Gathering competitive formats across the board. Due to last year’s heavy bans, some fans were thinking this might be a relatively light cycle. However, this time around, the most problematic archetypes received a swath of bans all the same.
Once Upon a Time banned in Modern
Once Upon a Time is Wizards’ most recent target for the Modern format and the only one for this cycle. Considering the card’s ban in both Standard and Pioneer, this development is unsurprising. In their official announcement, Wizards notes that the card allows decks to “enact their early-game plan compared to other archetypes in the metagame, leading to less divergent gameplay paths.”
Historic sees multiple bans, Field of the Dead returns
Historic, the Magic: The Gathering Arena exclusive eternal format, is a more ignored construct option when it comes to bans. However, the pattern has been broken with the announcement that Oko, Thief of Crowns, will now join the list of unavailable cards. The problematic planeswalker has been previously banned in Modern, Standard, and Legacy.
Along with Oko, Veil of Summer and Once Upon a Time have been banned. These three green cards, in particular, have propped up again and again as being particularly unhealthy for larger formats. This is due to the consistency and lack of interaction they provide to creature-based combo decks.
In a first, Field of the Dead was taken off the format’s unique “Suspension” list. Wizards of the Coast seems confident that new answers coming to the format will make the high powered land less of a problem in the months to come.
Underworld Breach banned in Legacy
Magic’s second-oldest format has been shaken up in the months since the most recent set, Theros: Beyond Death, was released. This is thanks to one particularly powerful red enchantment: Underworld Breach.
Graveyard recursion combo decks began rapidly emerging around the card. As the ban and restriction announcement puts it, this was becoming a problem.
“It became clear from the rising win rates that Underworld Breach‘s interaction with Lion’s Eye Diamond would remain problematic in Legacy going forward.”
Golo banned in Brawl
The final and least impactful of the changes was the banning of Golos, Tireless Pilgrim in Brawl. Wizards felt the commander-lite format would be better off without the consistency of Golo at the helm. This is due to the card’s five-color color identity, and its ability to both tutor for specific lands and cheat out cards from your library.
As these formats continue to develop, stay tuned to Daily Esports for the latest competitive updates and announcements.
