In a recent Q&A session on the official Magic: The Gathering Discord server, Wizards of the Coast revealed that they would be moving to scheduled Banned and Restricted list updates as a result of the recently announced changes to the Standard rotation cycle.
A New Banned and Restricted Schedule for the New 3-Year Standard Rotation Cycle
Announced earlier this month, Wizards of the Coast is looking to revitalize Standard by taking action on players’ feedback from the last several years in the hope of drawing to play the format. The first of several significant changes will be extending the rotation window for sets in Standard from two years to three.
Fielding questions during the Q&A was Game Designer Andrew Brown, Director of Play Programs William “Huey” Jensen, and Vice President of Design of Magic Design Aaron Forsythe. Among the many questions answered was how Magic will approach bans now that the format is moving to a three-year cycle.
Andrew Brown responded that the company is still working out the finer details of future bans but did want to use them to make Standard more accessible for all players.
“I can say that we will ensure that banning events will not be on a less predictable cadence,” Brown revealed in a thread. “We plan to have set dates ahead of time so that players don’t feel like they’ve had the rug pulled under them.” This would be a big change—currently, Banned and Restricted list updates are done as unscheduled bans that can happen on any Monday, leaving players feeling like bans could come without warning.
The thread went on to state that Wizards will be communicating with players on when and why certain bans will be happening in an attempt to be completely transparent on the team’s decision-making process. At this time, Standard is the only format getting this treatment, with other format bannings continuing at an “as needed” process.
More information will be revealed on how Magic will be determining bans on next Tuesday’s Weekly MTG, but it is a sign that Wizards is going to closely monitor the health of Standard.
This new approach to scheduling Standard Banned and Restricted updates is a bit of a return to form for how Wizards used to manage B&R updates. In 2017, Wizards began setting a schedule for updates to the Banned and Restricted lists, which lasted until the end of 2019. In December 2019, Wizards announced that they would be moving away from scheduled announcements and instead reserving the right to update the Banned and Restricted lists on any Monday.
The Fable of Standard
Fable of the Mirror-Breaker is the card with the biggest target on its back when it comes to Standard bannings. Easily the top card of Standard, Fable of the Mirror-Breaker has been dominating Standard, with five of the Top 8 decks of the recent Pro Tour featuring full playsets of the saga.
When asked directly about the enchantment, Aaron Forsythe admitted that Fable is a very fun card, but in an effort to keep Standard enjoyable for all players its days are numbered. “Fable will not be legal in Standard forever, sorry to say,” said Forsythe.
While Forsythe did not give a direct timeline to the card’s banning, it does seem to be an inevitable end to one of the strongest cards to be printed in a long while.
Frequent Bans in Standard are a Relatively New Phenomenon
Introduced in 1995, Standard spent its first few years of life adjusting to some of Magic’s most broken cards—like Balance, Mind Twist, and Tolarian Academy—by banning them from the format from 1995 to 1999.
Standard really hit its stride in 2000, and didn’t ban any additional cards until 2004-5 when Mirrodin and its powerful Artifact synergies got out of hand, resulting in the banning of nine cards: Skullclamp, Arcbound Ravager, Disciple of the Vault, Darksteel Citadel, Ancient Den, Great Furnace, Seat of the Synod, Tree of Tales, and Vault of Whispers.
Those bans were followed by another five years of ban-less Standard. But with the release of Worldwake in February 2010 came one of the most powerful Planeswalkers in Magic history, Jace, the Mind Sculptor, and Stoneforge Mystic. Combined with Batterskull and Squadron Hawk, the formed the infamous Caw Blade deck that resulted in the banning of both Jace, the Mind Sculptor and Stoneforge Mystic in 2011.
Standard then saw another five year period of stability until 2017. Kaladesh, released in September 2016, immediately had an immediate impact on Standard that forced Wizards to ban Emrakul, the Promised End, Smuggler’s Copter, and Reflector Mage from Standard in January 2017. But the fun didn’t end there—over the next year, Wizards would also ban Felidar Guardian, Aetherworks Marvel, Attune with Aether, Rogue Refiner, Ramunap Ruins, and Rampaging Ferocidon over the next 12 months.
Bans have more or less been a staple of the Standard experience ever since, with multiple cards added to Banned and Restricted list every year—except for 2021, oddly enough.
2019 saw two Standard bans, thanks in large part to the significant power increase Wizards brought to Standard beginning in September 2019’s Throne of Eldraine:
- Field of the Dead in October 2019
- Oko, Thief of Crowns, Once Upon a Time, and Veil of Summer in November 2019
In 2020, that increased power level continued to wreak havoc in Standard, resulting in 10 additional bans:
- Agent of Treachery and Fires of Invention in June 2022 (alongside the Companion mechanic errata)
- Cauldron Familiar, Growth Spiral, Teferi, Time Raveler and Wilderness Reclamation in August 2020
- Uro, Titan of Nature’s Wrath in September 2020
- Omnath, Locus of Creation, Lucky Clover, and Escape to the Wilds in October 2020
Standard escaped 2021 unscathed, but 2022 saw four cards banned:
- Alrund’s Epiphany, Divide by Zero, and Faceless Haven in January 2022
- The Meathook Massacre in October 2022