Wizards of the Coast has banned Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer in Magic: The Gathering’s Legacy format.
“Last summer’s Modern Horizons 2 release introduced several high-impact cards to the Legacy card pool, and since then, we’ve been watching the metagame develop and listening to community feedback,” Wizards said. “While players’ feedback was not unanimous, many have expressed concerns about Blue-Red Delver decks, which picked up some powerful new options from recent sets.”
Chief among those cards was Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer, which, while powerful in its own right, becomes even more powerful when combined with the Legacy format’s reliance on cheap spells. UR Delver decks could play a Turn 1 Ragavan, defend it with free spells like Daze or Force of Will, and then take advantage of Ragavan’s free spells to create a snowballing advantage.
Therefore, “[t]o weaken Blue-Red Delver decks and encourage more back and forth exchange before a game is effectively decided, Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer is banned in Legacy.”
Interestingly, Wizards said that UR Delver’s win rate isn’t too far out of the ordinary at 56%. Instead, Wizards’ concern lies in the fact that “the deck has represented a very large portion of the metagame and posted many top finishes,” with “more than twice as many trophies earned as the next highest archetype over the past weeks.”
Legacy UR Delver
| Creatures (15) 3 Delver of Secrets 4 Dragon’s Rage Channeler 4 Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer 4 Murktide Regent Spells (27) 4 Brainstorm 2 Gut Shot 4 Lightning Bolt 4 Ponder 1 Pyroblast 4 Daze 4 Expressive Iteration 4 Force of Will | Lands (18) 2 Arid Mesa 2 Bloodstained Mire 1 Flooded Strand 1 Misty Rainforest 1 Polluted Delta 2 Steam Vents 4 Volcanic Island 4 Wasteland 1 Wooded Foothills Sideboard (15) 1 End the Festivities 1 Grafdigger’s Cage 1 Hydroblast 2 Meltdown 3 Pyroblast 2 Surgical Extraction 2 Force of Negation 1 Izzet Staticaster 2 Submerge |