Breaking News
8/3 HUGE Banlist Update
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BREAKING NEWS
August 3rd, 2020
Banned and Restricted Announcment
Here’s what happened and my takes on the changes…
Standard:
- Wilderness Reclamation is banned.
- Teferi, Time Raveler is banned.
- Growth Spiral is banned.
- Cauldron Familiar is banned.
Wilderness Reclamation has been essentially the defacto best deck in Standard since the last B&R. Reaching above half of the field in tournaments and having been a dominant archetype since it was printed, its time has finally run out.
Growth Spiral lies in a similar vein as ramp decks that run this (normally as a four-of) make uo nearly 70% of the metagame in recent tournaments. Ramp has become synonymous with Standard as of late and Growth Spiral is one of the biggest enablers. Axed.
With Temur Reclamation as a deck now removed from the format, the other two dominant forces naturally will rise up. Rakdos (and to a lesser extent, Jund) sacrifice decks, which in all variations run some combination of cat/oven are quite resilient and lethal. Removing their go-to interaction is a good way to keep them from becoming dominant.
Lastly, Teferi, Time Raveler has been a cause of restriction and frustration since its printing. It’s play patterns are repetitive and completely deny a lot of other strategies or cards from being played. It was the main force holding back Temur Rec from total domination, but with that now gone, there’s no reason for Teferi to stay in the format.
Overall, I wish action had been taken sooner, but these are all good choices that strike at the heart of the issue as opposed to tip-toeing around it. I am sad that Cauldron Familiar is gone as I adore Jund Food (and Chev likes Rakdos Sac, that sadist), but they would have been too dominant with the other pillars removed and cat/oven is an annoying (and on Arena, time consuming) synergy.
Historic:
- Teferi, Time Raveler is suspended.
- Wilderness Reclamation is suspended.
Historic has recently been mirroring Standard. For similar reasons as above, Teferi and Reclamation are getting put in time-out like Agent of Treachery , Fires of Invention , etc. before them. Like above, I like this action, especially with no rotation in Historic to remove these cards from the format in another two months. I’m still confused with the purpose and effectiveness of the suspension list, but I would not be surprised if Teferi and Reclamation make their way to being fully banned soon enough.
Brawl:
- Teferi, Time Raveler is banned.
Once again, Teferi is just not fun to play against and locks playstyles or cards out of viability. Having constant access to him in a format like Brawl makes this threat omnipresent, and with him making up 10% of the field and having some of the highest win-rates, I have no qualms with him being removed from the format.
Pioneer:
- Inverter of Truth is banned.
- Kethis, the Hidden Hand is banned.
- Walking Ballista is banned.
- Underworld Breach is banned.
Pioneer has steadily moved toward Modern levels of degeneracy and this B&R cuts the legs out from the main pillars of the format. Inverter (comboing with Thassa’s Oracle ) is similar to Splinter Twin of Modern’s past, a versatile control deck with an, “Oops, I win,” combo. It is the most popular deck in the format for this and its skill-rewarding play, but this has lead to its synonymy being scorned. Inverter of Truth as a key piece and also lacking redundancy (Thassa’s Oracle can be replaced with Jace, Wielder of Mysteries ) will remove the combo from the format, while preserving the shell it resides in.
Underworld Breach is another incredibly powerful and popular deck in the format, foregoing versatility for blistering combo degeneracy. Once again, this deck promotes no interaction and is dagnerously fast. Cutting out it’s enabler, and generally broken namesake, will cripple the combo and make Pioneer ultimately a more healthy format.
Kethis combo (oh look, another combo deck) is a small portion of the metagame, but it boasts ridiculous win-rates. Similar to Krark-Clan Ironworks in Modern, this deck is convoluted and extremely hard to pilot, but rewards skill and diligence with wins upon wins. Once again, no complaints from me by removing this swift and deadly combo from the format.
Lastly, Walking Ballista fell upon Heliod’s sword. Heliod, Sun-Crowned plus Walking Ballista makes for an early and game-ending two-card combo (I’m sensing a theme here). These decks weren’t necessarily dominant, but they would be the most efficient once the pillars listed above were removed. Ballista can be run in any deck and its potential to be broken is much more varied than Heliod’s, so I can see why it took the fall.
Overall, this is a huge mix-up for Pioneer, essentially crippling all the best decks. Once again, similar to Standard, I applaud hitting the issues at the root, there’s no reason for other cool cards to die for broken cards’ sin’s. Slowing down the format and removing the least interactive combos should bring back the players that have been hemmorhaging from the queues.
I look forward to seeing how all the new metagames shake out and you can bet that we’ll be covering the brave new worlds emerging! Hit us up on social media and let us know what you think of these bans and what you’re excited to brew now! This is Julian, over and out.