The Magic: the Gathering Twitter account announced today that there will be a Banned & Restricted update that will only impact Pauper next week.
Pauper players have been begging for bannings to help the format move on from the three-deck format it has devolved into since the release of Modern Horizons 2. Affinity, Storm, and Dimir Faeries have dominated Pauper since Modern Horizons 2 powered up the format with Affinity and Storm picking up multiple cards. Affinity not only gained Sojourner’s Companion but also the artifact dual lands while Storm gained Chatterstorm and Galvanic Relay.
Pauper events on Magic Online have been struggling to fire while those that do fill represent a format stuck in stagnation. With Pauper being a MOCS format, Magic Online grinders have been clamoring for a shakeup. After weeks of inaction on WotC’s part, eleven players joined a Thursday’s Pauper Preliminary event with decks comprised of 60 basic lands to not only make the event fire, but to prove a point.
The winning deck by Ari Zax was twenty copies of Forest, Mountain, and Plains, with the last round win coming from a concession from the only player in the event that registered an actual deck — Affinity.
Sixteen hours after Ari Zax tweeted out the Pauper Preliminary winning decklist, WotC tweeted out their announcement that the format would see an update thanks to a Banned & Restricted list update.
Aaron Forsythe, Vice President of Magic design, said on Twitter that “action has been in the works for a while now” but the tweet from the Magic account was a reaction to the “lands stunt.”
It’s unclear what action will be taken next week or what day the update will be published and pushed live on the Magic Online client.