With many of MTG’s 60-card formats in precarious spots, many MTG players expected some cards to get the ban hammer today. With Broodscale Combo dominating Modern and Pauper’s Madness Burn deck running rampant, many MTG players looked forward to today’s scheduled ban announcement.
Unfortunately, while we saw a lot of changes today, they weren’t in the formats many players felt needed them. Besides some massive shakeups to Competitive Brawl, no other MTG formats are seeing any changes.
MTG Competitive Brawl Changes
- Yuriko, the Tiger’s Shadow is banned as a commander.
- Spider-Man 2099 is banned as a commander.
- Light-Paws, Emperor’s Voice is banned as a commander.
- Ajani, Nacatl Pariah is now only banned as a commander.
- Nadu, Winged Wisdom is now only banned as a commander.
- Oko, Thief of Crowns is now only banned as a commander.
- Old Stickfingers is now only banned as a commander.
- Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer is now only banned as a commander.
- Rusko, Clockmaker is now only banned as a commander.
- Tamiyo, Inquisitive Student is now only banned as a commander.
- Wrenn and Six
Wrenn and Six+1: Return up to one target land card from your graveyard to your hand.
−1: Wrenn and Six deals 1 damage to any target.
−7: You get an emblem with "Instant and sorcery cards in your graveyard have retrace." (You may cast instant and sorcery cards from your graveyard by discarding a land card in addition to paying their other costs.) is now only banned as a commander. - Tajic, Legion’s Valor is now only banned as a commander.
- Nashi, Illusion Gadgeteer is rebalanced.
On October 12th, Competitive Brawl is the only MTG format seeing changes due to a recent client update. This is thanks to some new functionality that allows MTG Arena to specifically ban cards as Commanders, keeping them legal in the 99.
Of these changes, only three previously legal Commanders are being banned. According to Wizards of the Coast, Yuriko, the Tiger’s Shadow, Spider-Man 2099, and Light-Paws, Emperor’s Voice were all problematically powerful in Competitive Brawl. Considering that Yuriko and Spider-Man 2099 have already caused issues in Duel Commander, it’s not too shocking to see them banned again here.
In addition to banning three problematic Commanders, Wizards of the Coast is also rebalancing one problematic digital card. Nashi, Illusion Gadgeteer has been considered a power outlier in Brawl for some time, and Wizards is removing its Flash keyword to bring it more in line with other cards in the format.
This has some extremely interesting implications for digital cards in MTG Arena’s future, showcasing that nerfs and buffs are still on the table when necessary. While MTG Arena doesn’t expect to do this often, it’s nice to see that Wizards is still willing to play around with the unique design space of digital cards after sunsetting Alchemy.
Finally, a collection of banned Competitive Brawl cards is now being made available in the 99 again. In all these cases, the cards were banned because they were problematic in the Command Zone, but at the time, MTG Arena didn’t have the option to ban them only as Commanders. This brings a ton of competitive powerhouses, like Nadu, Winged Wisdom, Oko, Thief of Crowns, and Wrenn and SixWrenn and Six+1: Return up to one target land card from your graveyard to your hand.
−1: Wrenn and Six deals 1 damage to any target.
−7: You get an emblem with "Instant and sorcery cards in your graveyard have retrace." (You may cast instant and sorcery cards from your graveyard by discarding a land card in addition to paying their other costs.), back into the 99 of Competitive Brawl decks.
Early reactions from MTG Brawl players suggest that they are extremely happy with these changes. Yuriko, the Tiger’s Shadow and Light-Paws, Emperor’s Voice seem to be particularly hated in the format, so many players are elated to see them go.
What About Modern?
With Basking Broodscale Combo dominating the format, many MTG players have been waiting for Modern bans to give the format a refresh. Despite being a massive target over the past few weeks, Basking Broodscale Combo has maintained the best win rate among Modern’s more popular decks, proving it’s a power outlier.
That said, as we mentioned in our prediction last week, Modern is in the middle of a Regional Championship season, so any bans now could be extremely disruptive. Because of this, Wizards of the Coast has opted not to ban any cards at this time, respecting the time that players put into testing for Regional Championship events that have not occurred yet. This aligns with what we expected.
Still, many MTG players are upset that Modern saw no adjustments, with some calling it the worst Modern format they’ve ever played. Wizards of the Coast is holding out hope that Modern players will adapt to the Basking Broodscale combo deck, but recent performances and player sentiment suggest that’s unlikely.
Fortunately, Wizards at least acknowledged that, “if things don’t begin to correct soon through organic metagame churn, it’s very likely that we take a very hard look at the Eldrazi package.” With this in mind, it seems likely that Modern will see some changes during MTG’s next ban announcement.
The Next Ban Announcement
With no changes to Magic’s many 60-card formats today, many upset players will now look to MTG’s next ban window for the changes they want. Arriving on November 30th, 2026, players will now be stuck with any power outliers in their respective formats for about a month and a half.
By then, the Regional Championship season for Modern should be fully concluded, giving Wizards a chance to make much-needed adjustments without affecting any major tournaments. Hopefully, if needed, Wizards will finally address the Basking Broodscale combo before the Modern Pro Tour in 2027.
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