For better or worse, a lot of recent MTG ban announcements have been totally unpredictable, and today’s bans are no different. Despite the community expecting a relatively quiet announcement, players have been shocked by major Standard bans. With The Fantasticar also being hit with a ban at long last, multiple formats are being shaken up today.
Major MTG Standard Bans
- Badgermole Cub is Banned in Standard
- Stormchaser’s Talent is Banned in Standard
- Gran-Gran is Banned in Standard
Standard’s unhealthy, but precarious balance has been a known issue for a while now, and Wizards has finally done something about it. This, however, was apparently done out of necessity rather than choice, as MTG Arena data revealed a dangerously powerful deck. With a 57% win rate and the second most-played deck on Arena, this deck was Vivi Cauldron-level powerful.
Due to this, Wizards of the Coast has decided to ban Badgermole Cub, since it’s the clear power outlier in the deck. While many players will be glad to see the back of this card, its departure alone would have let Izzet decks run rampant. To combat this, Wizards also decided to ban Gran-Gran and Stormchaser’s Talent to keep these strategies in check.
With these cards being used in Izzet Lessons and Prowess respectively, the best decks in Standard should all have their wings clipped. That said, Jeskai Control and Mardu Discard decks have been basically unaffected by these bans, which could fuel their rise. Even then, with the meta now in flux, we can only wait and see how the dust settles, as everything is up in the air right now.
MTG The Fantasticar
- The Fantasticar is Banned in Legacy
- The Fantasticar is Restricted in Vintage
Thanks to creating 16/16 Flying Haste damage as early as turn one, The Fantasticar’s days are now numbered. In Vintage, the card was a major problem, with fast mana enabling insane consistency for Colorless Shop decks. Considering how consistently The Fantasticar has been topping tournaments in Vintage since its release, this restriction was entirely expected.
While The Fantasticar wasn’t quite as bad in Legacy, it did create poor play patterns in the format. Between thriving in Affinity and being a backup for other combo decks, many games revolved around this vehicle. Since these lists weren’t optimized, too, there was concerning format-ruining potential, prompting Wizards to take action.
Curiously, while it was obvious that The Fantasticar needed to be banned, Wizards hasn’t explained why they did it. Instead, that explanation will happen during tomorrow’s WeeklyMTG, which will discuss all of the changes made. Considering just how powerful this card is, however, the reason for its ban is unlikely to be controversial.
More Bans Coming Soon
While these latest bans provide plenty of changes for MTG players to grapple with, it won’t be long before more happen. Thanks to the set ban schedule this year, we already know that the next banned and restricted window is on October 12th. Notably, this is just ten days after the release of Reality Fracture, to catch any potential problems there.
Thankfully, with the next bans happening in just two months, any problems caused by today’s bans can be addressed rather quickly. Hopefully, the Standard, Legacy, and Vintage metagames will all be improved, but nothing is guaranteed. With Standard, in particular, we can only hope that we’re not stuck dealing with another format-ruining menace in the next ban window.
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