I don’t know about you, but we’re pretty fed up with Throne of Eldraine‘s influence in Standard.
We have seen a total of five Throne of Eldraine cards banned in Standard during the lifespan of the set.
Fires of Invention
Fires of Invention
You can cast spells only during your turn and you can cast no more than two spells each turn.
You may cast spells with mana value less than or equal to the number of lands you control without paying their mana costs.
, Once Upon a Time,
Lucky Clover
Lucky Clover
Whenever you cast an Adventure instant or sorcery spell, copy it. You may choose new targets for the copy.
, Oko, Thief of Crowns and, [/tooltips]Escape to the Wilds[/tooltips] all bit the dust. Yet, the influence of the set continues to plague Standard as we know it.
It’s been a long sixteen months of Throne of Eldraine and honestly, it’s overstayed its welcome.
Read More: MTG Commander RC Explains How 2 Strixhaven: School of Mages Mechanics Interact With Commander Rules
The Problem With Throne of Eldraine
With
Bonecrusher Giant
Bonecrusher Giant
Whenever this creature becomes the target of a spell, this creature deals 2 damage to that spell's controller.
and Edgewalker Innkeeper seeing play, it’s difficult for new sets such as Strixhaven: School of Mages and Adventure in the Forgotten Realms to provide any impact as the disparity in power is obvious. Naturally, you want to keep playing with the powerful cards as they offer the best chance of winning. The same goes for Kaldheim which is a lower-powered set (outside of
Tibalt’s Trickery
Tibalt’s Trickery
Counter target spell. Choose 1, 2, or 3 at random. Its controller mills that many cards, then exiles cards from the top of their library until they exile a nonland card with a different name than that spell. They may cast that card without paying its mana cost. Then they put the exiled cards on the bottom of their library in a random order.
that is just being undermined by the design woes of 2019.
Did I mention how ridiculous
Questing Beast
Questing Beast
Vigilance, deathtouch, haste
Questing Beast can't be blocked by creatures with power 2 or less.
Combat damage that would be dealt by creatures you control can't be prevented.
Whenever Questing Beast deals combat damage to an opponent, it deals that much damage to target planeswalker that player controls.
is, too? I swear the text on the card changes every time someone reads it.
Even the uncommon cards from Throne of Eldraine such as Drown in the Loch and Mystical Dispute continue to hinge Standard in an unfavorable way. It supports Dimir Rogues massively, which is one of the most frustrating decks to play against on MTG Arena. There’s no end to the impact Throne of Eldraine has on Standard, bleeding into formats such as Modern and Pioneer which also had to manage the power level with bans.
Read More: The 10 Best Artifact Creatures In Commander
But, there are positives to couple the negatives. The Adventure mechanic is one of the best and thought-out mechanics in some time. It gives you the ability to play a spell, then cast that spell as a creature at a later stage. It allows you to get the most out of your mana depending on the situation. However, it’s the power of these Adventure cards that are an issue, in particular, Bonecrusher Giant.
Read More: The Best Strixhaven Cards For Commander
One card that is half removal spell, half large blocker is a beating to fight through for aggressive decks. It invalidates two turns worth of mana in the early game. Not to mention, the ability on the creature half can be relevant too. Overall, it does far too much for the mana value and would improve Standard if it saw a ban. There are great examples of the Adventure mechanic such as Beanstalk Giant and Giant Killer, but
Bonecrusher Giant
Bonecrusher Giant
Whenever this creature becomes the target of a spell, this creature deals 2 damage to that spell's controller.
is cut above the rest.
A Standard format without Throne of Eldraine would allow players to get back into Standard, which is supposed to be the best way for players to enter the game. Even with MTG Arena in mind, no one wants to lose to the same few cards again and again.
Read More: The 10 Best Mono-Red Commanders
When is Standard Rotation?
With the release of Innistrad Midnight Haunt releases this September, Standard rotation will come into effect. Leaving Standard will be Throne of Eldraine, Theros Beyond Death, Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths, and Core Set 2021. And honestly, rotation cannot come soon enough.
We can leave the mistakes of Theros Beyond Death and Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths behind too, which plagued MTG with
Uro, Titan of Nature’s Wrath
Uro, Titan of Nature’s Wrath
When Uro enters, sacrifice it unless it escaped.
Whenever Uro enters or attacks, you gain 3 life and draw a card, then you may put a land card from your hand onto the battlefield.
Escape—{G}{G}{U}{U}, Exile five other cards from your graveyard. (You may cast this card from your graveyard for its escape cost.)
, and the Companion mechanic compounding things further. It will be a fresh reset on a format that has struggled to be anything but Throne of Eldraine block constructed, and it will bring more players into Standard.
It’ll be exciting to see Strixhaven: School of Mages and Kaldheim have a defined role in Standard without the ghosts of Throne of Eldraine looming over them. Until then, we’ve got a couple more months of
Bonecrusher Giant
Bonecrusher Giant
Whenever this creature becomes the target of a spell, this creature deals 2 damage to that spell's controller.
and Edgewall Innkeeper to deal with, then Standard can cultivate into something for newer players to appreciate.
Read More: Are The 2021 Challenger Decks Worth It?