Magic: The Gathering banned several cards across multiple formats in the official Banned and Restricted announcement this morning.
Wizards of the Coast revealed last week that a Banned and Restricted announcement was taking place today. But players weren’t expecting the number of bans that were revealed or how many formats it’d effect.
- Brawl: Golos, Tireless Pilgrim
- Historic: Once Upon a Time, Oko, Thief of Crowns, and Veil of Summer
- Legacy: Underworld Breach
- Modern: Once Upon a Time
In the MTG Arena Historic format, Once Upon a Time, Oko, Thief of Crowns, and Veil of Summer were moved from suspended to permanently banned.
Field of the Dead was also on the suspended list but has been taken off and made playable again. WotC said that cards such as Goblin Ruinblaster and Ghost Quarter provide additional answers to the detrimental land, along with other synergies that will evolve with the arrival of the 25 new cards in Historic Anthology 2 on March 12.
The lack of any bans in the Pioneer format was surprising, however, in which many players thought Underworld Breach was on the hotlist. WotC feels that the Pioneer format is stable but will monitor decks like Lotus Breach, Dimir Inverter, and the Heliod, Sun-Crowned/Walking Ballista combo.
“Generally, we’re happy with how the Pioneer metagame has been playing out over the past several weeks,” WotC said. “We saw tremendous diversity across the top decks of the three Players Tour tournaments in early February. Magic Online data indicates that the matchups between the most popular decks are in a healthy place, with each having both won and lost matchups against the others.”
All banned cards in today’s Magic: The Gathering B&R announcement will go into effect via tabletop and Magic Online on March 10. The Brawl and Historic format bans that impact MTG Arena go into effect on March 12.
