Wizards of the Coast (WotC) took no action on any tabletop Magic: The Gathering format in today’s Banned and Restricted update, opting to only make one change in Historic.
Food Chain, a long-time combo card in Legacy that has always been on the fringes of competitiveness, was introduced to Historic (a format only on MTG Arena) as a Special Guest from Magic: The Gathering | Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. The combo of Food Chain and Sigardian Evangel allows an endless amount of 3/1s as early as Turn 2, often ending the game on Turn 3. The article mentions that the Arena team missed this interaction and is banning it due to its high win rate in Best-Of-Three in addition to its cumbersome digital execution to perform.
All other formats are considered healthy and evolving by Play Design as Standard continues to revolve around the rise and fall of Badgermole Cub decks by a variety of different archetypes that prey on it. Pioneer and Modern are still seeing innovation, while Legacy hasn’t reached a solved endgame yet.
Members of Play Design will be on Weekly MTG at 1 PM ET tomorrow to discuss today’s B&R update.
Read the original announcement from WotC. The next scheduled B&R announcement is set for May 18.
