Despite not impacting Modern or Pioneer, today’s Banned & Restricted List update hit multiple formats in the form of bans and rebalancing of cards in digital-only formats.
Standard
After not pulling the trigger on any bannings prior to the release of Innistrad: Crimson Vow, Wizards of the Coast (WotC) is taking significant action in Standard with the banning of three cards. Alrund’s Epiphany, Divide by Zero, and Faceless Haven are banned in the hopes of leaving room for more experimentation and innovation with the release of Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty next month.
Alrund’s Epiphany has been metagame warping for months by stifling midrange and forcing decks to go under it on an incredibly linear axis. Innistrad: Crimson Vow didn’t deliver the tools to combat the strategy of taking multiple extra turns thanks to the combo with Galvanic Iteration, so Alrund’s Epiphany is being banned to open up space for slower decks to show up in Standard.
Divide by Zero is also getting banned, in part to its ability to allow blue decks to answer almost anything opposing decks can offer. Whether alongside Alrund’s Epiphany or more controlling shells, Divide by Zero was a hurdle every deck in the format had to clear to impact the game. On top of its effectiveness against all spells and most permanents, Divide by Zero also allowed players to find lessons that gave it even more flexibility and utility.
Faceless Haven is last up on the chopping block due to the popularity and win rate of the monocolored aggro decks in the format — mainly green and white. On top of being hard to interact with, Faceless Haven packs a big punch from an untapped land rewards playing a single color instead of two or more. The banning of the land is to weaken the decks playing it, but not remove them from the format.
Legacy
Izzet Delver and Izzet Midrange, built largely around Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer and Murktide Regent from Modern Horizons 2, has once again put a target on the deck that can supplement the package of Brainstorm, Ponder, Daze, Force of Will, and Wasteland. Izzet Delver boasts a 56% non-mirror win rate in the format on Magic Online and has more than twice as many trophies as the next best deck in the format. Much like Deathrite Shaman, Wrenn and Six, and Dreadhorde Arcanist before it, Ragavan is taking the hit this time to soften the dominance of the current best version of Legacy Delver.
WotC noted that the cards supporting Ragavan allow games to snowball out of control once it connects, even more so in Legacy due to the cheap or free forms of interaction that can protect it. The announcement said WotC will keep an eye on the format to see if further action is required.
Historic
Memory Lapse is simply being moved to banned status instead of suspended as blue decks continue to remain strong. Teferi, Time Raveler, however, is being unbanned and rebalanced, joining a long list of cards getting rebalanced in Historic and Alchemy.
Instead of making it so opponents can only play spells at sorcery speed, now it just prevents opponents from playing spells on your turn, making it more of an anti-control card. This change allows cards like Finale of Devastation and Dreadhorde Arcanist to function through it. Teferi now costs an additional mana and has gained a loyalty.
Alchemy
Eighteen cards are being rebalanced in Alchemy, which also changes the cards in Historic. Teferi, Time Raveler’s rebalance only affects Historic as it isn’t legal in Alchemy. Seven of the rebalances are for Arena-only cards that were introduced through the Alchemy: Innistrad set released last month. Let’s look at the seven cards from Alchemy: Innistrad first.
Dragon decks were one of the breakout decks in Alchemy, thanks mainly to these two cards. Both cards are being nerfed as Fearsome Whelp now triggers on your upkeep instead of your end step and Town-Razer Tyrant can only target nonbasic lands. Fearsome Whelp gains haste as a slight improvement to offset its ability change while Town-Razer Tyrant’s only buff is the “R” in Razer is now properly capitalized.
Inquisitor Captain is a major player in the Clerics decks in Alchemy and blink decks in Historic. Its enters-the-battlefield ability is now reliant upon the card being cast to prevent flicker spells and clone effects from abusing it.
Sanguine Brushstroke is getting a minor nerf so that sacrificing a Blood token only drains an opponent and the controller doesn’t gain a life. This will make it slightly weaker against aggressive decks by reducing the amount of life gain the black sacrifice midrange decks have access to in conjunction with The Meathook Massacre.
While Gruul Werewolves is a strong deck in Alchemy, Bloodrage Alpha is not part of the equation. It’s getting an extra point of toughness to see if it makes it more viable.
Puppet Raiser hasn’t found a home yet in Alchemy so it is also gaining an extra point of toughness.
Assemble from Parts is another new card that hasn’t seen any shine, so the cost to reanimate the creature it targets is now only three mana instead of four.
Next up are the cards that exist in paper that are being rebalanced for Alchemy on MTG Arena, starting with three control staples.
Hullbreaker Horror and Lier, Disciple of the Drowned are both getting tagged as the top tier control finishers. Hullbreaker Horror is losing its “can’t be countered” text, making it harder to resolve in control mirrors and allowing other blue decks to fight it on the stack. Lier now only allows you to flashback spells with it on your turn, cutting down on some of the reactive power it grants the controller.
Divide by Zero will still be a great tool for control decks, but now you only get to learn if the targeted spell has a mana value of 4 or less.
The final eight cards receiving rebalances are venture cards from Adventures in the Forgotten Realms. All of the card are getting slight buffs, potentially giving a venture deck a chance in the format.
Some notable cards seeing plenty of play in Alchemy that were not mentioned include Key to the Archive, Discover the Formula, and Tenacious Pup.
Modern
Many players expected some kind of action to be taken in Modern, but it was left out of the announcement and Aaron Forsythe tweeted that the data shows the format is in good shape.
What do you think of all the updates? Do you like the bans or wish anything else should have been targeted? Do the Alchemy and Historic rebalances make you more or less interested in the digital-only formats?
Read the original article from WotC on the B&R list and rebalanced cards.