Nadu, Winged Wisdom has finally been put on the MTG Modern ban list, and Magic: The Gathering players couldn’t be happier that the infamous bird’s wings have finally been clipped.
As with other Horizons sets before it, Modern Horizons 3 pushed the power level of MTG higher than ever, with cards that shook not only the Modern format the set is based around but also other popular forms of play like Commander.
The set featured one-drops unlike anything Magic had seen before, and cards like Writhing Chrysalis and Basking Broodscale proved to be exceptionally powerful, rocketing the Eldrazi archetype up in many players’ estimations.
However, one infamous card has been associated with Modern Horizons 3 more than any other. Nadu, Winged Wisdom was immediately singled out by many players as soon as it was revealed, and rightly so.
This Simic Commander quickly proved to be an absurd card draw engine, allowing players to churn through their whole decks with minimum effort, assembling the perfect hand to close out the win.
Nadu isn’t 2024’s worst card because it’s in any way underpowered, it simply should never have made it to print with the effects and interaction it possesses.
In an article released following the August 26th Banned and Restricted announcement, Modern Horizons 3 Lead Designer Michael Majors admits as much, outright stating “Nadu, Winged Wisdom was a design mistake.”
While other Modern Horizons 3 Commanders like Arna Kennerud, Skycaptain, The Necrobloom, and Ulalek, Fused Attrocity are exceptionally powerful, they haven’t come close to the format-warping power that Nadu has reliably displayed.
With the Banned and Restricted announcement, Nadu has been firmly locked out of the Modern format, alongside a small suite of other bans including the similarly format-altering card Amalia Benavides Aguirre in Explorer and Pioneer.
The reaction from players has been overwhelming relief at seeing such a problem card finally taken out of the limelight. One player on Reddit posted “Hot bird summer is officially over!”, while another said “THE KING IS DEAD. LONG LIVE THE RING” in response to The One Ring remaining untouched by the ban.
Subscribe to our newsletter for the latest updates on Esports, Gaming and more.
Multiple posts could be found celebrating Nadu’s downfall, and players were unwilling to let the card rest without once more reiterating why it had been such a problem.
As said by one Reddit user “I will stand by my position that Nadu was the worst-designed card we’ve seen in over a decade by a country mile. Memory issues, comical power level (…), and on top of it all they decided to let you run it in the command zone.”
While most of the MTG community has been jubilant in response to Nadu, Winged Wisdom’s well-deserved demise, a subset of players feel that this ban should have been enacted sooner.
Magic’s tournament scene for Modern Horizons 3 was not so much a showcase for Nadu as it was dominated by the card’s inescapable presence.
Pro Tour Modern Horizons 3 saw more than half of the top 8 bracket running Nadu-focused decks, leading to surprising stagnancy at the top of the game’s professional circuit.
This dominance led to many calls for an emergency ban specifically targeting Nadu. Wizards proved reluctant to move the banned and restricted announcement forward after clearly laying out its schedule, though acknowledged that Nadu’s tournament performance had been seen and taken into account.
One reassurance to be taken from this is Wizards not only acknowledging the mistake in Nadu’s design but in letting it remain in the Modern format for as long as it did. As mentioned by Majors, “The Banned and Restricted announcement timing is changing to be optimized for RCQ’s and widespread competitive play going forward.”
Nadu, Winged Wisdom will remain infamous for some time yet., but the open communication from Modern Horizons 3’s Lead Designer is a positive step towards keeping Magic’s tournaments free of similar future mishaps.