MTG bans 12 cards across 4 formats

Wizards of the Coast officially banned 12 cards across four Magic: The Gathering formats in today’s Banned and Restricted announcement. 

An announcement from WotC last week revealed that Uro, Titan of Nature’s Wrath was getting banned from the MTG formats Pioneer, Historic, and Modern today. In addition to the elder giant’s removal, 11 other cards were also banned today in Historic, Pioneer, Modern, and Legacy. WotC applied a rules change for Cascade and unbanned Lurrus of the Dream-Den from Vintage, too. 

Historic bans

Uro, Titan of Nature’s Wrath was finally banned from Historic after dominating the meta. Omnath, Locus of Creation was also moved from suspended to banned based on data that the elemental would do more harm to the meta if reintroduced, according to Ian Duke. 

• Uro, Titan of Nature’s Wrath
• Omnath, Locus of Creation

Pioneer

The Pioneer format cleaned house today, removing Uro and other cards that have “overstayed their welcome.” 

• Uro, Titan of Nature’s Wrath
• Balustrade Spy
• Teferi, Time Raveler
• Undercity Informer
• Wilderness Reclamation

Modern

Several cards that WotC has been watching closely for some time, as well as new cards like Tibalt’s Trickery from KHM, have been banned in the Modern MTG format.

• Uro, Titan of Nature’s Wrath
• Field of the Dead
• Simian Spirit Guide
• Tibalt’s Trickery

Legacy

Oko had survived via the Legacy format until today’s ban, which also included Dreadhorde Arcanist and Arcum’s Astrolabe. Uro wasn’t banned in Legacy due to its “power level being in line with the overall power level of Legacy,” according to Duke. 

• Arcum’s Astrolabe
• Dreadhorde Arcanist
• Oko, Thief of Crowns

Rules change

A rules change was applied to Cascade that will go into effect via Magic Online on Feb. 17. 

• New Cascade rules text: Cascade is a triggered ability that functions only while the spell with cascade is on the stack. “Cascade” means “When you cast this spell, exile cards from the top of your library until you exile a nonland card whose converted mana cost is less than this spell’s converted mana cost. You may cast that spell without paying its mana cost if its converted mana cost is less than this spell’s converted mana cost. Then put all cards exiled this way that weren’t cast on the bottom of your library in a random order.”

The MTG Banned and Restricted announcement will go into effect immediately across all formats. The Cascade rule will begin via MTGO on Feb. 17. 

Correction Feb. 15 2:30pm CT: A previous version of this article said 15 cards were banned today instead of 12. We regret this error.