B&R Reaction: Shake-ups in Five Formats!

On the 18th of May, Wizards released a Bans and Restricted Announcement, which left numerous people speechless. In this article, I will provide a short commentary on the decisions made and how they might affect those formats.

Alchemy

Sewer-veillance Cam is banned

The reason to ban Cam is pretty simple - it works very well alongside the arena version of Vivi Ornitier, whose ability is not a 0 mana ability, but rather a *tap* ability - which clearly synergises with Cam. Moreover, you can use effects like Boomerang Basics to bounce back Cam, untap Vivi yet again, and replay Cam - all resulting in you generating copious amounts of mana. While banning Ornitier might be more impactful, Wizards have noted that they like the presence of the card in the format and that buildiing around this Wizard is an experience they'd like to keep around.

Pioneer

Cori-Steel Cutter is banned.

While Pioneer hasn't got much attention tournament-wise, Wizards use MTG Arena data to assess the metagame. While the overall sentiment is positive, Izzet decks have shown to be a tad too overrepresented. Personally, it is quite predictable given the density of powerful Izzet cards printed in the last couple of sets - the shadow of which we see in Standard and the fact that every season there is a new top Izzet deck(s). 

Pioneer's card pool is substantially bigger than that of Standard's while also inheriting all the new toys, which was bound to lead to Izzet hegemony in some fashion. Cori-Steel Cutter ban aims to take those decks down a notch without killing them off completely. It's understandable, since Cori specifically promotes play patterns that are hard to deal with on the opposite side of the table.

Legacy

Undercity Informer is banned.

This seemingly innocuous uncommon has been a part of various so-called Oops! All Spells strategies, which aim to flip over the entire library and somehow win from there - typically using Dread Return and Thassa's Oracle. What allows the deck to function land-less are MDFCs - modal double faced cards. They are *technically* not lands even though for all intents and purposes they act as such.

Wizards have pulled the trigger on heavily nerfing the deck due to a combination of miserable play patterns and an uptick in actual play rate. 

I did like the part where it was acknowledged that, quote, 'the degree to which the deck can win on turn one is frustrating and feeds some of the worst stereotypes about games in Eternal formats feeling decided before one person gets to play'. This is absolutely something that is a sentiment present and I do believe that you don't want your average Legacy game to be a Force-of-Will check.

Pauper

Bonder's Ornament is unbanned.

Looking at this card, one might wonder why it was banned in the first place - and I'm there with you! I've heard mythological stories of Pauper games devolving into insane grind fests, because of this card existing and players putting it in the sideboard to take advantage of the 'each player who controls' clause. Its main selling point is the use of Tron lands alongside with it.

I am not a betting man, but if I were to put money on the effects of the card, I'd say it's going to be largely inconsequential. The format is pretty fast and ruthless - and I don't think 7 mana to draw a card every turn is in any way competitively viable. If you don't hit that turn three Tron, it's even worse, as it's going to be insanely clunky. 

There is an argument that Ornament grindy decks will outmuscle Non-Ornament grindy decks, so there will be a shift from Junds of the world to Trons. We shall see if that actually happens, but I remain sceptical. 

In my opinion, fine unban but should largely just pass unnoticed long term. I am happy they are experimenting with the banlist, though!

Modern

Phlage, Titan of Fire's Fury is banned.
Lotus Field is banned.
Violent Outburst is unbanned.
Umezawa's Jitte is unbanned.

Now, this is a shake-up! How consequential are those decisions in practice? Let's discuss.

First, Phlage. I reckon this is *the* most important part of the announcement. Phlage was notorious for warping fair games of Modern, of which there haven't been that many to begin with. Every time I built a deck that wanted to somehow engage in a 'normal' game, I always had to devise an anti-Phlage plan, because sooner or later you'd have to contend with the opponent's Titan. Those plans typically involved your own Phlage (of course) and/or some light graveyard hate like Soul-Guide Lantern or other incidental hate. This ban opens up the fair games arena, and you're no longer on an inevitable clock to a Phlage that's bound to show up. On the flipside, the presence of Phlage alllowed you to win some low-resource games which you wouldn't otherwise, for instance, after heavy mulligans - similarly to Urza's Saga. The decks that are going to feel the hit are, among others, Energy, Jeskai Blink, Zoo. However, I wouldn't be super sure to call it a direct nerf, though. Now, for instance, Energy can devote its slots to other grindy tools or, more likely, even a higher density of ultimate efficiency threats or surgically precise interaction. There will still be fair games - they just won't be about Phlage. Overall, I think this might incidentally hit those unfair decks for which fair decks now have slots to devote to.

When I first saw the banning of Lotus Field, I was sure they had mistyped, and they meant Pioneer. Only seconds later did it hit me - Amulet Titan! This specific ban shuts off the loops with Lotus Field, and cards like Scapeshift, Aftermath Analyst, and Shifting Woodland. It also changes on the math on those turns where you think the opponent cannot play Titan with a bounceland, but they play Lotus Field and generate just enough to deploy the Giant. I conceptually and philosophically like the ban - it nerfs the deck but only a very specific and relatively new angle, it still leaves plenty of room for innovation and re-adaptation, and it removed one of the most logistically annoying parts. Moreover, I am more than sure that the Titan hivemind will come up with some new insane lines and additions to the deck that will make it uniquely powerful and different to what it was. Given how many slots have freed up, it's going to be curious to see what the development is going to be!

Violent Outburst ban is what puzzles me a lot. They banned in 2024 and I'd like to quote a part of their own narrative there:
'While we want to preserve the cascade strategies as viable options in Modern, we'd like to remove one of the more powerful aspects of their strategy. Namely, the ability to cascade into a payoff card at instant speed. Casting Violent Outburst during an opponent's turn reduces a lot of the risk inherent in such a strategy. It allows the cascade player to untap with all their mana open and Rhino tokens or cycling creatures ready to attack. Both decks also include Force of Negation, which costs zero mana on opponents' turns, enabling a streamlined defense of the combo."

All of it still holds true as it did back then. It's still very powerful to cascade instant speed and it's still miserable to get Outburst+Fon on your endstep. I also do not think the format needs more powerful and unfair things to be done there - bizarre decision. Consequence-wise, it should at least temporarily resuscitate Rhinos, and take an already playable Living End deck to new heights - unsure if that's a good thing. Second-degree consequences I'd like to mention is that the presence of the card Force of Negation will increase greatly - and it alone will affect how the meta shapes up, namely hindering other combo strategies like red Belcher, blue Belcher, or Neoform.

Last and definitely least is Jitte unban. This is the Bonder's Ornament unban of Modern.  I do not realistically see it affecting the metagame in the slightest. Not only does it cost you four mana to get it going, but also the effects you get are laughable in 2026. We were just discussing end step cascading into double 4/4s or an army of cyclers with Force backup on turn three and here we are thinking about 4 mana to gain 2 life or give -1/-1? Feel free to quote me in month's time, but I don't think Jitte would be playable in Standard even.

Conclusion

A ton of changes! Does it make you excited to go back to your favourite formats and re-explore them? Let me know!