MTG B&R Update revitalizes Modern by banning three cards, removing the ban on four

On December 17, 2024By Littum

Today’s program Update of banned and restricted list made major changes to Modern and Legacy with a heavy emphasis on returning Modern to its glory days by banning three cards and removing four fan favorites.

Modern

While many expected it, Wizards of the Coast (WotC) saw action on The One Ring – the most talked about map from The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth – is still a relief. The powerful artifact was on the watchlist when the previous B&R update was announced, and has only cemented itself as the most played card in the format, including being a staple in the most played deck – Boros Energy. Its ubiquity, play pattern, and low opportunity cost of play have finally led to its being banned.

“The opportunity cost of including The One Ring in almost any deck is too low, and its presence in events has become tiresome to many players. It acts as a tool of self-preservation and a source of card advantage, requiring no commitment to a particular suit. We believe that it is clear, as it has been to many of you, that Modern would be a more pleasant format without its inclusion. And thus The One Ring is banned in Modern.”

Dan Musser

Amped Raptor is also getting hit with the ban hammer as a way to bring the Energy deck more in line with the rest of the format. This ban ties in with the ban of The One Ring and Jegantha, the Wellspring as a three-pronged approach to making the energy deck more manageable. The Play Design team looked at a handful of other cards from the Energy deck to ban, but settled on Amped Raptor as it was the only card that wasn’t played in other archetypes, in addition to costing too much for its costs.

“Each of these options could reasonably be included in a few other archetypes, while Amped Raptor only appears in Boros Energy. Amped Raptor allows for some of the deck’s most explosive starts, serving as an energy enabler and a payoff, and amounts to often for an extra one to four mana in the early game. So Amped Raptor is banned in Modern.”

Dan Musser

While Jegantha is a more minor nerf for the Energy deck, the companion ban has reached further into the format as almost any deck that can cast it plays it. Jegantha homogenizes the cards played in the format, joining Lurrus of the Dream-Den and Yorion, Sky Nomad as banned companions in Modern.

In addition to the bans, four beloved cards return to Modern to help bring the format back to a place where players can enjoy their favorite decks. Splinter Twin is back after a long run on the banned list despite Dan Musser saying it created an unfun play pattern and that it wouldn’t go off the banned list in 2023. Splinter Twin was one of the most successful archetypes in Modern History and regularly needed players have specific interaction on the opponent’s fourth turn or risk losing the game on the spot. With the introduction of cards like Force of Negation, Solitude, and Force of Vigor, Play Design feels it is safe to bring enchantment back into the fold.

Mox Opal and Faithless Looting, two of previous combo decks’ best facilitators, also return to Modern. Dredge, Izzet Phoenix, and Hollow One all have the tools to return to their fully powerful status before they were targeted for being too strong in Modern.

Green Sun’s Zenith existed in Modern for a few months before it was banned in 2011, but the toolbox and combo-enabling sorcery is finally free to roam, along with many new toys since the ban. Modern players can now GSZ for Dryad Arbor or use it to train a Grist, Hunger Tide, Primeval Titan, or basically any elf they want to find.

Inheritance

Action also comes in Legacy as two more Modern horizons 3 card significantly distorted the format. Psychic Frog made Dimir Midrange and Reanimator decks way too resilient and consistent. Its strength also allowed players to avoid looking at any of the other colors to complement their blue soup decks. Psychic Frog gets banned to keep other Reanimator decks alive while throttling the blue tempo decks.

“The same effect is seen in Dimir Murktide decklists. Psychic Frog is strong enough to prevent people from exploring adding white, red, or green to these blue-based tempo decks. To increase diversity among existing archetypes while not completely removed from the format, Psychic Frog is banned.”

Dan Musser

Vexing Bauble has quickly shown how powerful it can be in enabling decks to fight through free counterplay, a core tenet of the Legacy format, while also being able to replace itself when it has no use. This troublesome artifact joins the ranks of cards that initially seemed to combat unfair strategies, but ultimately set them in motion when put into practice.

“While the inclusion of the Vexing Bauble is a fairly new development in the Legacy metagame, it has proven to be a successful and powerful one. With a worrying win rate among decks that include multiple main-deck copies of Vexing Bauble and its inherent strength against a pillar in the format, it has been banned in Legacy.”

Dan Musser

Pioneer

The last ban in today’s update is Jegantha in Pioneer. Just like in Modern, this near-free inclusion is played in any deck that can cast it to gain access to an extra creature when play draws out.

“It’s hard to justify playing a personal favorite card or metagame-specific call if it means giving up Jegantha. It’s important to us that Pioneer remains a place where players can use their favorite cards from Standard, and Jegantha does a lot to prevent this, as many of our more powerful cards aimed at Standard tend to have more than one of the same mana symbol. in their costs to balance. To increase card diversity in the Jegantha format, Wellspring is banned in Pioneer.”

Arya Karamchandani

Jegantha is also banned in Explorer, the Pioneer equivalent of the MTG Arena, as it matches Pioneer’s banned list. All other formats, in paper or digital game, saw no changes.

Read official announcement from WotC.