Wizards of the Coast have released their latest MTG update and, while Modern and Legacy saw unbans, Pioneer still has to wrestle with its meta.
Magic: The Gathering’s Modern format is a wildly expensive, but incredibly interesting part of the game. The Modern format takes in nearly everything the game has done since Eighth Edition (June 2003) and lets players sift through the game’s history for the best cards making for a superb and varied way to play.
However, MTG’s Modern format hasn’t seen an unbanning of cards since 2019. While the unbanning of Preordain might seem inconsequential, to those deeply invested in the format, it’s huge news.
Why was Preordain banned in Modern?
Preordain was banned in 2011 to curtail the rise in a particular deck. Also banned was Ponder, both of which let you draw cards for a single blue mana. This makes the games increasingly quick, as well as locking the opponent out from interacting in the game.
Modern’s biggest issue for years is that it was fast, with no wiggle room for mistakes or experimentation. The format doesn’t ‘rotate’ out its cards, instead banning those that appear more frequently.
Why did MTG unban Preordain?
In an announcement blog, Wizards of the Coast explained why they were unbanning Preordain from the Modern format, attributing the decision largely to the changes to the game after Modern Horizons was introduced.
Modern Horizons is Magic’s straight-to-Modern set, with it skipping the usual inclusion in Standard. After Standard ‘rotates’ cards out, the sets then continue life in the wider game. Modern Horizons doesn’t bother with this, instead injecting Modern with a new batch of reprints and cards.
As Wizards said, “It was a goal of those releases to offer powerful options to stop your opponents’ combos and play longer, more interactive games.”
Modern Horizons has changed the Modern format to the point that what was once considered a problem, no longer is. This is usually through new answers or a general creep in the overall power available.
As a result, WotC said, “We believe that Preordain will do more to boost fairer blue decks rather than simply increase the consistency of combo strategies.”
The unbanning of Preordain means that WOTC is seriously considering the landscape of Modern for the first time in a few years.
MTG addresses the unbanning and LotR cards
Another part of the reason for unbanning is to “give something back to Blue-Red Murktide”, a deck that has fallen out of favor with the community since the release of The Lord of the Rings. The crossover set brought a card, Orcish Bowmasters, which has dominated deck building since its launch. It was included four times in the winning deck of the MagicCon Barcelona tournament.
Speaking of Lord of the Rings, Wizards said that they were concerned going into MagicCon that the meta will be dominated by The One Ring. Requiring no specific color to play, and only offering benefits to players, The One Ring is now going to be monitored for “the long-term” as WOTC determines how fun it is:
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“We aren’t taking action against any cards from The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth today, we do want to be clear that these cards are on our radar.”
“Similarly, Orcish Bowmasters has done a substantial amount of work to suppress one-toughness creatures in the environment, to the point where Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer isn’t seeing much play in the format outside of Rakdos Evoke.”
MTG Legacy unbans Mind’s Desire
However, the story of unbanning doesn’t end there. Legacy, one of MTG’s most expensive formats, sees more bans than most formats. However, along with the latest news Wizards revealed that, Mind’s Desire, is now unbanned.
This card was banned way back in 2003, and the unbanning of it is to fuel combo-loving players, who want something to either continue their string of moves or kick off an amazing turn.
Magic’s Pioneer fans are fed up with Karn
Though, it’s not all love for the ban announcements, as Pioneer players feel left out. Currently, Pioneer players are having to deal with Karn, the Great Creator. According to comments on the MTG subreddit, there’s a split between players saying that it’s fundamentally ruining the format. Others are saying those players just need to get better.
Pioneer has seen no bans, and one player said that it felt as if it has been “abandoned”. Others concurred, saying that the presence of Karn has ruined any new strategies from forming. Karn currently resides in a mono-green devotion deck.
Mono-green devotion is tearing up the meta
The gist of the deck is to build up mana quickly, and then use Karn’s ability to pluck artifact cards from “outside the game” to take out the other player. Karn also locks out artifacts from using their “activated abilities”, leaving some decks without the means to properly work.
Another user said “There’s no way they tried to justify no changes in Pioneer by claiming it’s a healthy format.
“[Mono-green] is a very dominant deck and a big part of why is this stupid card that lets it have answers to the entire meta while also being a combo enabler on its own.”
Another mentioned that the meta is now getting “boring”, as there’s no mix-up in the matches played.
Whether Wizards listen to those yearning for the fledgling Pioneer format to see changes is something we don’t expect to happen for another month. However, bets on Orcish Bowmasters being canned are high on the list.
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