Magic: The Gathering players will need to modify their best decks yet again following today’s surprise announcement.
Wizards of the Coast has just released an update to the collectible card game’s Banned & Restricted list, this time with the aim of curbing two incredibly prominent meta decks. For anyone who watched Standard’s Grand Finals tournament, the first of these will come as absolutely no surprise. Omnath, Locus of Creation, the multicolored Legendary Creature that dominated competitive play over the weekend, is now no longer usable in Standard, Historic or Brawl. The sweeping ban means this particular ramp tool has essentially been deleted from Arena entirely, as no other formats (besides those already mentioned) currently exist in the CCG’s digital variant.
With Omnath now barred from use and Uro, Titan of Nature’s Wrath getting a similar treatment just a few days ago, this essentially signals the death of ramp decks (i.e. using cards to gain a mana advantage over your opponent) in Standard. You’d be forgiven for thinking, then, that this would result in the next best deck archetype – Adventures – overtaking the meta, but fear not – they’ve been given a nerf, too.
The full list of bans and restrictions is as follows:
Standard:
- Omnath, Locus of Creation is banned.
- Lucky Clover is banned.
- Escape to the Wilds is banned.
Historic:
- Omnath, Locus of Creation is suspended.
- Teferi, Time Raveler is banned.
- Wilderness Reclamation is banned.
- Burning-Tree Emissary is unsuspended.
Brawl:
- Omnath, Locus of Creation is banned.
All the above changes come into effect today, October 12th, so expect to receive some reimbursement the next time you log into Arena. As is usually the case, all copies of an affected card that players own will be replaced with a Wildcard of the corresponding rarity.
Tell us, though, is this the correct course of action, or does Magic: The Gathering‘s current Standard environment require further adjustments? Sound off below!
