August 26, 2024, Banned and Restricted Announcement
August 26, 2024, Banned and Restricted Announcement
Announcing changes to Pioneer, Modern, Legacy, Vintage, and Explorer effective August 26, 2024.
Pioneer:
- Amalia Benavides Aguirre is banned.
- Sorin, Imperious Bloodlord is banned.
Modern:
- Nadu, Winged Wisdom is banned.
- Grief is banned.
Legacy:
- Grief is banned.
Vintage:
- Urza's Saga is restricted.
- Vexing Bauble is restricted.
Explorer:
- Amalia Benavides Aguirre is banned.
- Sorin, Imperious Bloodlord is banned.
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As is tradition, this B&R announcement begins by saying that they will be changing the frequency of B&R announcements.
And then there's this:
It is worth noting that we don't plan on changing the current Standard B&R philosophy, meaning we still only want one window per year, barring an emergency, where we consider taking action in Standard.
I'm not sure I get the concept of non-emergency bans. If a card needs to be banned, ban it immediately; if it doesn't, don't ban it at all. This once-a-year interval makes even less sense for Standard than for other formats, since a year is proportionally longer for Standard.
I understand that they want people to feel confident that their chosen deck won't disappear at a moment's notice, I just don't think that's worth the trade-off of making everyone put up with an unbalanced format for months.
People who buy cards want assurance their cards will remain legal.
The following happened to me no fewer than three times when I played standard:
New card comes out, and seemingly does ok
I don't buy any
Card starts to dominate
I try to play around them
I constantly lose, and cave
I buy a playset
Card is banned
I'm just saying if they'd banned it after the "card starts to dominate" stage they could have spared you and everyone else from the "try to play around them" stage, saving both money and heartache.
Of course, in my fantasy world, they would stop constantly pushing power level so much, and we'd all have to go through this whole cycle a lot less often.
Also, I can't speak for everyone, but I caved and started playing decks with Sheoldred, and I'd still be delighted if that card were banned tomorrow. Admittedly I spent Arena wildcards on it rather than actual money. But the point I'm trying to make is, I'd rather have a fun Magic format than economic recompense. The purpose of spending the money in the first place is to have fun playing Magic. Making Magic affordable is a laudable goal (which they could pursue in numerous other ways, many of which they are currently ignoring), but if making it fun doesn't come first, what's the point?
they could have spared you
That translates to less money in their pockets though
Yeah. Which is why they'll never do it, I know....
@morphballganon @Evu does it? They always ban after a deck is turning people off the format. So there is downside to being slow to act.
Does a broken deck drive enough people to crack packs to find the broken card to play it? That is questionable.