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Wizards of the Coast has launched their Banned and Restricted Announcement at this time, and the speculation was proven right!
This shall be efficient from at this time, October 12th, so get crafting earlier than the Arena consumer replace comes out quickly! Remember that something banned (however not suspended) will incur a wildcard refund, however you possibly can solely obtain one refund per copy of a card (so for those who had 4 Teferi, Time Raveler when it was banned in Standard, you received’t obtain Four uncommon wildcards but once more). Suspended playing cards solely incur refunds at a later date, if they're banned correctly – so no person could have acquired a wildcard refund for Burning-Tree Emissary, as a result of it was solely ever suspended.
Here are the listing of all modifications, please scroll down for the official announcement transcript with Wizards’ explanations.
Standard
All three of those playing cards have been featured in the identical deck, the Omnath Adventures deck, which has been operating roughshod over the meta, and it seems to be like they’ve chosen to make sure that the Adventures technique is crippled going ahead, dropping its greatest card in Lucky Clover and its principal card benefit and ramp mechanism in Escape.
Omnath, Locus of Creation is a card that has at all times felt prefer it does far an excessive amount of, and is a sufferer of the design method the place it feels not too long ago as if Wizards has been making an attempt to make playing cards that do completely all the things, and the place there’s no funding for taking part in them as a result of they've a lot speedy impact. Omnath alone refunds the cardboard you spend on it and beneficial properties a bunch of life, however when you throw Fabled Passage into the combination, it additionally pays for itself the flip you play it, permitting you to have some extremely busted turns. Even after you cross the flip again, your opponent completely should kill this card that has already refunded you the mana and card you spent on it, that means that eradicating Omnath is at all times a dropping proposition. In a format filled with Triomes and Pathways, the place the most effective Adventure playing cards in Beanstalk Giant doubles as absurd fixing, Four colors was by no means almost sufficient of a limiting issue. Even the latest Uro ban barely slowed these decks down, and fortunately it appears as if Wizards has determined to hit the issue immediately this time spherical.
Lucky Clover is an absurd card, instantly doubling most of your spells within the Adventure deck, being low cost sufficient to sneak onto the board below countermagic and then summarily making it nugatory afterwards. Clover results in probably the most busted openers the Adventure decks are succesful, particularly t2 Clover t3 Fertile Footsteps; that’s all you want, however is simply nearly as good later within the sport – no opponent seeking to win a mid or late-game can permit it to remain on the board for very lengthy, and by the point they do kill it, usually it’s created a colossal benefit already. Last 12 months, we noticed the Temur Adventures steal a number of tournaments seemingly out of nowhere, trampling proper over metas way more highly effective than this one, with playing cards like Fires of Invention and Wilderness Reclamation on the prowl, and it’s in no way exhausting to think about that taking place once more if Wizards didn’t resort to eliminating it now – Omnath’s throne would nonetheless be heat by the point Temur Adventures planted itself upon it.
Back within the previous days, we’d pay 5 mana just to draw three cards, and we have been pleased with our lot! Escape to the Wilds is the very best price on card benefit we’ve just about ever seen from a 5 mana draw spell, being an unimaginable ramp payoff whereas furthering your ramp – it allows and accelerates your land drops, so that you've the very best likelihood to play all of the playing cards you possibly can from it, and you might have a lot time to take action! It’s nonetheless a little bit of a stunning ban, because it’s much less clearly the issue than the opposite two, however I do suppose it homogenised to a big diploma the model of late sport decks folks performed, and it was exhausting to counterplay it with some other midrange or management technique, since 5 playing cards is simply so many and it units up your Genesis Ultimatums and different payoffs so properly. I’m blissful that it’s gone, since I foresee folks having to play late sport decks which have extra counterplay to them and are tougher to assault, quite than simply having one technique that’s so significantly better than the remainder.
Historic
Standard was actually not the one format Omnath was ruling. It seems returning all of your funding, gaining a bunch of life, and being a busted risk that they need to take care of continues to be good in different format! (I positively anticipate seeing a Pioneer ban for it sooner or later right here too, and Modern isn’t unattainable both). Omnath’s enablers have been significantly better in Historic, the place Uro, Growth Spiral, and Explore are all accessible to make enjoying two lands in a flip completely trivial. Omnath was closely represented and did properly within the Historic portion of the Grand Finals, and I believe it will have been dominant in Historic going forwards.
For data on Teferi and Wilderness Reclamation, try my commentary when they were first suspended; I received’t rehash my factors right here. It’s no shock to see them absolutely banned, and I’m glad.
Burning-Tree Emissary is a card that I’m blissful to see come off the suspension listing; it was a strong card throughout the Gruul and Mono Red decks, however inspired them to play principally honest small creature-based methods quite than simply having tons of burn (which is all Mono Red does now!), which isn’t as interactive and results in much less fascinating gameplay. Many of the Gruul decks have been even shifting away from it into enjoying greater stuff when it was first suspended, so it struck me as odd then. Nowadays, Historic has turn into much more highly effective, and I believe the Gruul decks will nonetheless lose to decks like Jund Sacrifice and Sultai Mid even with Burning-Tree Emissary; I don’t see it as an issue card in any respect.
Brawl
Just Omnath, but once more! It isn't any shock that Omnath was by far probably the most performed Brawl deck with the very best winrate; earlier greatest decks like Niv-Mizzet, Reborn, Kinnan, Bonder Prodigy, and Nicol Bolas, Dragon-God have been all doing far too weak a factor to maintain up with the huge mana and card benefit Omnath gave you. Brawl is at its greatest when many various Commanders are viable and highly effective choices; homogenisation is at its worst and most crippling right here, so this can be a much-needed change.
It’s value noting that Omnath continues to be authorized in Historic Brawl; it’ll be fascinating to see whether or not it nets itself a ban there too after a few occasions. I would definitely count on so.
Thanks for studying! My colleague Robert Lee could have a publish quickly, the place he predicts the place the Standard and Historic metas will go from right here, so keep tuned and I’ll hyperlink it to this publish when it’s prepared!
Standard:
Omnath, Locus of Creation is banned.
Lucky Clover is banned.
Escape to the Wilds is banned.
Historic:
Omnath, Locus of Creation is suspended.
Teferi, Time Raveler is banned.
Wilderness Reclamation is banned.
Burning-Tree Emissary is unsuspended.
Brawl:
Omnath, Locus of Creation is banned.
Effective Date: October 12, 2020
The listing of all banned and restricted playing cards, by format, is here.
Historic and Brawl Sections by Jay Parker
With final month’s Standard banned and restricted replace, we highlighted that we’d proceed to watch the Standard metagame in addition to Omnath, Locus of Creation decks and would make additional modifications if crucial. Observing ladder play and match outcomes over the next weeks, in addition to the sector of the Grand Finals over the weekend, we’ve concluded that further modifications are crucial.
The two hottest decks within the Standard metagame, Four-Color Ramp and Four-Color Adventures, each characteristic Omnath, Locus of Creation as a key element. While we did see a marked decline within the win price of Four-Color Ramp after the banning of Uro, Titan of Nature’s Wrath, significantly in opposition to crimson and inexperienced aggressive decks and Blue-Black Rogues, Omnath ramp decks proceed to have a warping impact on the metagame. Moreover, Four-Color Adventures has turn into the deck with the very best general win price and has a positive matchup in opposition to 9 out of 10 of the opposite prime decks that don’t play Omnath.
This metagame dominance manifested itself in gamers’ deck selections for the Grand Finals. While it’s widespread in a small-field invitational match for gamers to check collectively and converge on a number of decks, on this case the sector was a hanging 23 Omnath decks out of a complete of 32.
To deal with the dominance of Omnath, Locus of Creation, it's banned in Standard.
Without Omnath within the surroundings, ladder play information makes it clear that Adventure decks would stay because the strongest technique. Therefore, we’re additionally selecting to ban Lucky Clover as a strong and difficult-to-interact-with a part of that deck’s engine. We count on that particular person creatures with journey and decks utilizing Edgewall Innkeeper will proceed to indicate up however that after this transformation, a higher variety of different decks can efficiently compete with them.
Finally, as an additional step to make sure that ramp decks don’t proceed to dominate the Standard metagame, we’re additionally selecting to ban Escape to the Wilds. This card performs a novel and highly effective function as a bridge between sturdy ramp enablers, like Lotus Cobra, and highly effective payoffs, like Genesis Ultimatum and Ugin, the Spirit Dragon. Of nonland playing cards within the Grand Finals, Escape to the Wilds was performed within the second best variety of copies. As the cardboard widespread to many ramp variants, that is probably the most easy option to weaken that technique as a complete and guarantee a shift away from latest Standard metagames.
Much as we’ve seen in Standard, Omnath, Locus of Creation is proving to be a strong contender in Historic as properly. Though win charges for these decks are decrease in Historic than Standard, we're nonetheless seeing the meta share of decks utilizing Omnath, Locus of Creation growing steadily, significantly in Best-of-Three (the place it's at the moment probably the most performed deck). Historic additionally supplies a wider vary of instruments for enabling the a number of land drops the deck is searching for, corresponding to Explore and Growth Spiral. To guarantee higher variety and well being for the Historic meta, Omnath, Locus of Creation is suspended in Historic.
We even have three present suspensions in Historic to resolve. Looking at how the meta has developed on account of these suspensions, we really feel that the removing of Teferi, Time Raveler and Wilderness Reclamation have elevated the range and interactivity of the format, enhancing general well being and steadiness. As a outcome, each Teferi, Time Raveler and Wilderness Reclamation are banned in Historic.
Burning-Tree Emissary is a unique case. Since that suspension, the facility stage of Historic has elevated significantly with the discharge of Jumpstart and Amonkhet Remastered, and we've seen the meta share of Gruul Aggro fall off notably. After contemplating the general energy stage of the format and the matchups for Gruul Aggro, we expect there may be room for Burning-Tree Emissary to be a wholesome and fascinating addition to the format once more. Burning-Tree Emissary is unsuspended in Historic.
Omnath, Locus of Creation is, by far, probably the most performed Commander in Brawl and at the moment has the very best win price. Brawl is a format the place we significantly worth variety, so Omnath, Locus of Creation is banned in Brawl. Omnath, Locus of Creation will stay authorized in Historic Brawl occasions on MTG Arena, nevertheless, we shall be utilizing our Commander weighting system in order that he'll extra regularly be paired in opposition to different, equally highly effective Commanders.
