Standard
No changes
Pioneer
No changes
Modern
No changes
Legacy
No changes
Vintage
No changes
Pauper
No changes
Alchemy
No changes
Historic
No changes
Timeless
No changes
Brawl
No changes
Competitive Brawl
Yuriko, the Tiger's Shadow is banned as a commander.
Spider-Man 2099 is banned as a commander.
Light-Paws, Emperor's Voice is banned as a commander.
Ajani, Nacatl Pariah is now only banned as a commander.
Nadu, Winged Wisdom is now only banned as a commander.
Oko, Thief of Crowns is now only banned as a commander.
Old Stickfingers is now only banned as a commander.
Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer is now only banned as a commander.
Rusko, Clockmaker is now only banned as a commander.
Tamiyo, Inquisitive Student is now only banned as a commander.
Wrenn and Six is now only banned as a commander.
Tajic, Legion's Valor is now only banned as a commander.
Nashi, Illusion Gadgeteer is rebalanced.
Changes effective as of October 12, 2026. View the list of all banned and restricted cards by format.
Next announcement: November 30, 2026
Howdy, gamers!
My name is Carmen Klomparens, and I'm a senior game designer on Magic's Play Design team. After a handful of bans in our most recent announcement, things are looking a bit smoother in this check-in. Stability and predictability are both qualities that we're looking to emphasize across Magic, and we're broadly happy with how things look on the horizon. Reality Fracture is making waves across the board, and we're thrilled to see how many different cards have excited players.
As usual, we'll be on WeeklyMTG on twitch.tv/magic tomorrow, October 13, at 10 a.m. PT to talk through these changes and answer questions. As a reminder, the next banned and restricted announcement will be on November 30, 2026. Initially we'd planned for the final update in 2026 to occur in December, but the Monday of the first weekend in December lands in November, so the announcement will happen just before the beginning of the month. Without further ado, let's jump in!
Table of Contents
Standard
Written by Jadine Klomparens
No changes
The last two months have been a period of exploration for Standard in the wake of our August banned and restricted update in which three cards were banned in Standard. Metagame diversity in the format has improved from the pre-ban format during that time, and the format overall looks fun and healthy.
Mono-Green Landfall was the early winner of the post-ban Standard metagame but has fallen in popularity and win rate over time. Without Badgermole Cub, it is among the best decks in the format but does not have an uncontested claim to be the singular best deck. This is a great outcome; we generally prefer for bans to weaken a strategy without making it completely disappear from the metagame so that players of that strategy can continue to engage with the format without having to master a whole new deck.
4 Llanowar Elves
3 Mossborn Hydra
1 Surrak, Elusive Hunter
2 Esper Origins
4 Sazh's Chocobo
4 Icetill Explorer
4 Mightform Harmonizer
2 Lumbering Worldwagon
2 Glimpse the Core
2 Meltstrider's Resolve
4 Earthbender Ascension
3 Sapling Nursery
14 Forest
1 Cavern of Souls
4 Fabled Passage
1 Demolition Field
1 Promising Vein
2 Escape Tunnel
3 Ba Sing Se
2 Torpor Orb
1 Fecund Greenshell
2 Keen-Eyed Curator
2 Scrapshooter
1 Mossborn Hydra
2 Meltstrider's Resolve
1 Sapling Nursery
1 Leatherhead, Swamp Stalker
1 The Ooze
1 Gigantic Big Bear
1 Warg Tactics
Checking in on the other pillar of the pre-ban format, blue-red strategies have also continued to find success after the bans in the form of Izzet Spellementals. Izzet Spellementals is an Izzet variant that was mostly left unscathed by the bans, so finding success after them is not a surprise. Like Mono-Green Landfall, Izzet Spellementals is a strong deck in the format but has enough competition at the top that the overall metagame is healthy.
4 Hearth Elemental
4 Eddymurk Crab
4 Sunderflock
4 Opt
2 Spell Pierce
2 Spell Snare
3 Burst Lightning
2 Get Out
4 Prismari Charm
3 Traumatic Critique
4 Sleight of Hand
2 Winternight Stories
2 Impractical Joke
6 Island
4 Spirebluff Canal
4 Steam Vents
1 Stormcarved Coast
4 Riverpyre Verge
1 Multiversal Passage
1 Flashfreeze
2 Spell Snare
2 Annul
1 Soul-Guide Lantern
2 Floodpits Drowner
1 Get Out
1 Stock Up
1 Sear
4 Colorstorm Stallion
There are, of course, several new decks to the scene as well. Some of them, like Dimir Excruciator and Mardu Discard, existed in the pre-ban format but are seeing a greater level of success in the post-ban format. Others, like Jund Sacrifice and Boros Dwarves, are new creations enabled in part by Magic: The Gathering® | The Hobbit™.
1 Forest
4 Blooming Marsh
4 Overgrown Tomb
4 Greedy Freebooter
4 Lively Dirge
1 Goldvein Hydra
4 Starting Town
4 Gene Pollinator
4 Biotech Specialist
3 Deadly Precision
4 Obsessive Pursuit
4 The Sackville-Bagginses
4 Umbral Collar Zealot
1 Rottenmouth Viper
3 Blazemire Verge
3 Stomping Ground
2 Swamp
2 Mutagen Man, Living Ooze
2 Callous Inspector
2 Tragic Trajectory
3 Duress
2 Shoot the Sheriff
3 Strategic Betrayal
1 Professor Dellian Fel
1 The Ooze
1 Vicious Rivalry
1 Phoenix Fleet Airship
2 Surrak, Elusive Hunter
1 Urgent Necropsy
The Jund Sacrifice deck is particularly noteworthy as it marks the first time in many months a deck that wasn't base green or blue-red has been the most played deck at the top of MTG Arena ladder. It's a fresh strategy to Standard, a great example of the kind of synergistic gameplay the Standard card pool facilitates.
Standard isn't done evolving. It's early still, but the few results we have indicate that Reality Fracture is poised to have a large impact on the format. Pompous Battlemage has given Izzet Prowess a chance to return to the limelight. The Theorist, Jace Beleren, along with the set's other planeswalkers, is helping to enable a resurgence of control strategies. Enlightened Confidant, Liliana the Faultless, and Ajani Resolute are powering a newly competitive life-gain strategy, seen here:
3 Plains
3 Ajani Resolute
3 Liliana the Faultless
4 Enlightened Confidant
3 Multiversal Passage
3 Moseo, Vein's New Dean
3 Erode
4 Haliya, Guided by Light
2 Bleachbone Verge
3 Starting Town
4 Godless Shrine
1 Swamp
3 Concealed Courtyard
3 Shattered Sanctum
3 Lunar Convocation
4 Amalia Benavides Aguirre
4 Case of the Uneaten Feast
1 Essence Channeler
2 Starscape Cleric
4 Hinterland Sanctifier
3 Clarion Conqueror
2 Enduring Innocence
2 Strategic Betrayal
2 Seam Rip
1 Curious Farm Animals
1 Decorum Dissertation
4 Duress
Looking ahead, Nauctis: The Sunken Realm's release two sets from now in the beginning of 2027 will trigger the next Standard rotation. Because this rotation was delayed half a year to get us to a world where rotation aligns with calendar years, it will be an extra-large rotation. Wilds of Eldraine, The Lost Caverns of Ixalan, Murders at Karlov Manor, Outlaws of Thunder Junction, The Big Score, Bloomburrow, and Duskmourn: House of Horror will all be leaving Standard. With that many sets and cards leaving the format, Standard in 2027 will likely look fairly different than it does today.
There is one more banned and restricted window this year before rotation. Given the amount of banned and restricted changes that have been necessary for Standard in the latter half of 2025 and 2026, we are not looking to make sweeping changes to the format to prepare it for rotation this time around. That said, if a problem emerges that looks like it will threaten Standard's health and stability in 2027, we won't hesitate to take action.
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Pioneer
Written by Arya Karamchandani
No changes
It's been a relatively active patch for Pioneer, with some churn in the format both leading up to and caused by Reality Fracture. The format has continued to see a variety of decks near the top, with Izzet Prowess decks and various Badgermole Cub shells remaining the format's most successful decks. We have, however, seen some change at the top of the format as Jund Sacrifice shells featuring The Sackville-Bagginses start to put up regular results and compete against these decks.
4 Biotech Specialist
2 Thoughtseize
1 Swamp
2 Stomping Ground
4 Springleaf Drum
4 Deadly Dispute
4 Experimental Synthesizer
4 Greedy Freebooter
4 Shrapnel Blast
4 Oni-Cult Anvil
2 Overgrown Tomb
1 Shambling Ghast
1 Mountain
2 Copperline Gorge
2 Starting Town
2 Blooming Marsh
3 Blood Crypt
4 The Sackville-Bagginses
3 Blackcleave Cliffs
2 Torch the Tower
4 Voldaren Epicure
1 Witherbloom Charm
2 Thoughtseize
1 Chandra, Acolyte of Flame
3 Fatal Push
1 The Ooze
2 Soul-Guide Lantern
2 Hexing Squelcher
3 Abrupt Decay
1 Witherbloom Charm
With the release of Reality Fracture, we've seen a slight uptick in Izzet Prowess. The deck gained access to a powerful new tool in Pompous Battlemage, which has helped the deck put up some impressive results early into the sets release. Given the lack of competitive pressure on the format, it's hard to gauge whether this moves Prowess toward a concerning win rate or play rate, and it's something we will keep a close eye on as the format progresses.
4 Academic Dispute
3 Boomerang Basics
4 Monastery Swiftspear
1 Burst Lightning
3 Shivan Reef
4 Flow State
3 Riverpyre Verge
4 Sleight of Hand
4 Reckless Rage
2 Riverglide Pathway
4 Spirebluff Canal
3 Soul-Scar Mage
4 Steam Vents
4 Stormchaser's Talent
2 Mountain
1 Island
4 Pompous Battlemage
2 Burst Lightning
4 Emberheart Challenger
1 Abandon Attachments
1 Boomerang Basics
2 Spell Pierce
1 Firebending Lesson
1 Iroh's Demonstration
1 It'll Quench Ya!
1 Octopus Form
2 Redcap Melee
1 Soul-Guide Lantern
2 Quantum Riddler
2 Scorching Shot
The other big potential change Reality Fracture brings to Pioneer is a new combo deck featuring Kasmina, Enigma Sage and Jace's Machinations. The combo involves playing both cards and using Kasmina's ultimate via the Jace token to cast a spell that wins the game immediately, generally doing so with Enter the Infinite and Thassa's Oracle. As of this writing, this deck has failed to put up any notable Pioneer results, but it's something we will monitor carefully over the next few months. While the play patterns of the deck are somewhat misaligned with what we want Pioneer to look like, we believe the rate, interactivity, and deck-building ask of the combo make it likely weak and appropriate in the format.
4 Kasmina, Enigma Sage
4 Jace's Machinations
4 Thoughtseize
3 Stock Up
1 Spell Pierce
1 Bitter Triumph
1 Jace, Wielder of Mysteries
2 Thassa's Oracle
3 Consult the Star Charts
2 Enter the Infinite
4 Fatal Push
3 Mox Amber
3 Island
2 The Theorist, Jace Beleren
2 Swamp
1 Forest
2 Zagoth Triome
1 Undercity Sewers
3 Watery Grave
2 Breeding Pool
1 Hedge Maze
1 Overgrown Tomb
2 Gloomlake Verge
2 Willowrush Verge
2 Wastewood Verge
2 Theorist's Sanctum
2 Fabled Passage
Given recent churn and no major outlier decks on win or play rate, we're going to avoid making any changes to Pioneer now. We'll be keeping an especially close eye on the format leading up to the next banned and restricted announcement given the Arena Qualifier Weekend in December is going to be exposing the format to a lot of competitive pressure and possible churn. Between that and tournaments next year, we expect Pioneer to see more change over the next several months and will actively try to ensure the format remains fun and balanced through those seasons.
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Modern
Written by Carmen Klomparens
No changes
Modern is in a tricky place. From a top-level perspective, things look reasonable. For now. When we last looked at Modern, we were excited by the movement we saw in the format, particularly in Eldrazi shells. There were a few variants of the deck fighting to prove themselves, and it wasn't that clear if any of them would stick around for more than a few weeks. In the time since, we've mostly seen versions of the deck featuring the infinite combo between Basking Broodscale and Blade of the Bloodchief on the rise, with the others not doing too shabby either.
1 Gemstone Caverns
3 Ugin's Labyrinth
3 Blade of the Bloodchief
1 Dismember
4 Basking Broodscale
6 Forest
4 Eldrazi Temple
1 Cavern of Souls
1 Shifting Woodland
1 Springleaf Drum
4 Kozilek's Command
3 Devourer of Destiny
1 Yavimaya, Cradle of Growth
4 Malevolent Rumble
1 Glaring Fleshraker
4 Ancient Stirrings
4 Sowing Mycospawn
2 Vexing Bauble
1 Haywire Mite
4 Emrakul, the Promised End
1 Soul-Guide Lantern
2 Boseiju, Who Endures
4 Urza's Saga
2 Nature's Claim
1 Vexing Bauble
1 Pithing Needle
3 Trinisphere
1 Six
1 Thief of Existence
1 Warping Wail
2 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Dismember
2 Sire of Seven Deaths
Part of what makes the Broodscale Combo version of the deck so difficult to attack is that it has a great early and late game. It can threaten to win with its early combo, and if that doesn't work out, it can use cards like Malevolent Rumble and Kozilek's Command to bridge toward Emrakul, the Promised End as the ultimate endgame. To be frank, the Eldrazi cluster has done a bit more winning than we'd like over the last couple of months, but it isn't clear to us that this will be a long-term problem. Traditionally, these decks have struggled against proactive creature decks, either in the form of aggro or combo. Boros Energy, Domain Zoo, and Devoted Druid Combo are all decks that have shown promise against the Broodscale Combo deck, with that promise even leading to Domain Zoo winning the recent Champions Cup Final in the hands of Tatsuaki Yajima:
1 Thundering Falls
1 Lush Portico
4 Territorial Kavu
4 Wild Nacatl
4 Flooded Strand
4 Arid Mesa
4 Lightning Bolt
2 Stubborn Denial
1 Misty Rainforest
1 Temple Garden
4 Tribal Flames
1 Mountain
4 Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer
4 Leyline of the Guildpact
4 Wooded Foothills
1 Spell Pierce
1 Plains
2 Steam Vents
1 Indatha Triome
1 Blood Crypt
4 Leyline Binding
3 Quantum Riddler
4 Scion of Draco
1 Rest in Peace
2 Mystical Dispute
1 Wear // Tear
4 Consign to Memory
2 Obsidian Charmaw
2 Stern Scolding
2 Brotherhood's End
1 Containment Priest
Notably, this take on the deck leaned away from disruption and put more points into aggression, with Quantum Riddler acting to refuel after sending burn spells upstairs. This take on the deck also cut the oft-played Psychic Frog to return to Wild Nacatl, really driving home that aggression is the goal. Shuhei Nakamura also made it to the elimination rounds of the event with a relatively honest Rakdos Aggro deck:
2 Swamp
4 Thoughtseize
1 Arid Mesa
4 Lightning Bolt
1 Fatal Push
1 Nihil Spellbomb
1 Blood Moon
4 Street Wraith
2 Troll of Khazad-dûm
1 Mountain
4 Dark Matter Manipulator
1 Verdant Catacombs
4 Moonshadow
4 Mishra's Bauble
4 Fear of Missing Out
4 Nethergoyf
2 Raucous Theater
4 Detective's Phoenix
2 Unholy Heat
3 Blood Crypt
4 Bloodstained Mire
3 Marsh Flats
1 Fatal Push
1 Surgical Extraction
1 Nihil Spellbomb
1 Blood Moon
1 Inquisition of Kozilek
3 Obsidian Charmaw
2 Grafdigger's Cage
2 Meltdown
1 Ingot Chewer
2 Glistening Deluge
Fueled by Reality Fracture's Dark Matter Manipulator, this deck borrows packages from a few different decks we've seen over the last few years to assemble a strong and coherent graveyard aggro deck. Speaking more broadly, it's emblematic of the type of thing we're seeing across Modern: new cards giving players opportunities to find success through exploration. Over a dozen cards from Reality Fracture have made it into 5-0 lists on Magic Online already! Pompous Battlemage is even fighting for Monastery Swiftspear's slot in Izzet Prowess:
4 Dragon's Rage Channeler
1 Thundering Falls
4 Expressive Iteration
2 Arid Mesa
4 Lightning Bolt
3 Scalding Tarn
4 Preordain
1 Stomping Ground
4 Mutagenic Growth
3 Mountain
4 Pompous Battlemage
2 Wooded Foothills
4 Cori-Steel Cutter
4 Mishra's Bauble
3 Steam Vents
2 Violent Urge
3 Bloodstained Mire
4 Slickshot Show-Off
4 Lava Dart
2 Surgical Extraction
3 Consign to Memory
2 Spell Snare
2 Obsidian Charmaw
4 Unholy Heat
2 Heritage Reclamation
Aggro isn't the entirety of what's going on, however. Azorius-based control variants are also finding configurations that can keep up with what's going on in Modern right now.
1 Thundering Falls
1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
3 Silence
1 Otawara, Soaring City
4 Flooded Strand
3 Arid Mesa
1 Monumental Henge
2 Hallowed Fountain
1 Floodfarm Verge
4 Orim's Chant
1 Consign to Memory
2 Consult the Star Charts
1 Force of Negation
2 Island
1 Isochron Scepter
4 Teferi, Time Raveler
1 March of Otherworldly Light
1 Spell Snare
1 Polluted Delta
1 Mystic Gate
4 Narset, Parter of Veils
2 Meticulous Archive
2 Prismatic Ending
3 Day's Undoing
2 Sink into Stupor
4 Solitude
2 Plains
3 Wrath of the Skies
1 Supreme Verdict
1 Geier Reach Sanitarium
1 Kaheera, the Orphanguard
1 Surgical Extraction
2 High Noon
1 Ashiok, Dream Render
4 Mystical Dispute
3 Consign to Memory
1 Beza, the Bounding Spring
1 Supreme Verdict
1 Spell Snare
Kaheera, the Orphanguard
Taking 1st place in both the Regional Championship in Ottawa and the Modern RC Super Qualifier on Magic Online over the weekend, control decks are on the rise in win rate. It will just take time to see if metagame share follows.
We recognize that for a lot of players, the Eldrazi decks feel powerful to an inappropriate degree. We're sympathetic to that being true right now, but the burden of proof required for us to act mid-Regional Championship season is quite high. The combination of other archetypes finding success and players having space to explore makes it so we don't feel that it is one hundred percent necessary for us to act in this announcement.
That said, if things don't begin to correct soon through organic metagame churn, it's very likely that we take a very hard look at the Eldrazi package. We've been extremely happy with the trajectory of Boros Energy and Amulet Titan in the wake of bans affecting those decks earlier this year and would likely take a similar approach. In each of those cases, there was a specific portion of the deck that made it problematically strong, and rather than trying to take out the deck completely, we were able to identify a single component of each deck that was putting it above the rest of the format. In a world where Eldrazi decks continue to sit on top of the metagame and prove they're a cut above everything else, we'll seek to identify similarly isolated aspects of those archetypes to bring them within the rest of Modern's power band.
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Legacy
Written by Carmen Klomparens
No changes
Legacy's been through a lot over the last year or so of banned and restricted list updates, with changes in each of the last three windows of updates. At the risk of jinxing it, things are starting to look like a lot of fun! New cards from Reality Fracture are showing up in decks, and the most played deck in Dimir Tempo is barely cracking double-digit numbers of metagame share. As of this writing, most of the top decks in the format care about traditional creature combat and trading resources over the course of a game that lasts for a while, which is extremely encouraging.
2 Pre-War Formalwear
4 Solitude
1 Meteor Sword
4 Phelia, Exuberant Shepherd
1 Swamp
4 Prismatic Vista
2 Witch Enchanter
4 Swords to Plowshares
2 Shadowy Backstreet
4 Marsh Flats
1 Lion Sash
5 Plains
4 Karakas
2 Arid Mesa
4 Aether Vial
4 Thoughtseize
3 Scrubland
2 Flooded Strand
1 Flickerwisp
3 Emperor of Bones
4 Stoneforge Mystic
4 Wasteland
2 Skyclave Apparition
4 Recruiter of the Guard
3 White Orchid Phantom
1 Overlord of the Balemurk
3 Overlord of the Balemurk
1 Cloak and Dagger, Entwined
2 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
1 White Orchid Phantom
1 Yorion, Sky Nomad
1 Surgical Extraction
1 Disruptor Flute
3 Wrath of the Skies
2 Faerie Macabre
1 Grafdigger's Cage
2 Disruptor Flute
1 Containment Priest
2 Erode
Yorion, Sky Nomad
Seeing more decks like this with games that play out over more traditional arcs of progression is a great sign for gameplay. For a long time, Legacy was defined by prison and combo-adjacent decks with extremely abrupt points where games would go from open to effectively decided with a single card or interaction, and we're happy to see Legacy trending in a direction that is more about interacting, attacking, and blocking. Death and Taxes making a comeback is an extremely encouraging sign that decks can take a turn or two to set up their threats without consistently dying out of nowhere.
Given the bans of The Fantasticar and Candelabra of Tawnos, colorless decks in particular have been a frequent topic of conversation and subject of observation over the last year or so. Overall, these look like they're moving in directions that we're fairly happy with, adopting those more traditional arcs of development I alluded to previously or incorporating more interaction. Eldrazi decks have continued to slant toward combat and being proactive, while Tron variants have begun incorporating blue:
3 It That Heralds the End
4 Wastescape Battlemage
4 Eldrazi Linebreaker
4 Glaring Fleshraker
4 Thought-Knot Seer
4 Reality Smasher
3 Eye of Ugin
4 Eldrazi Temple
1 City of Traitors
4 Cavern of Souls
4 Ancient Tomb
4 Abundant Countryside
4 Lotus Petal
4 Chalice of the Void
4 Kozilek's Command
1 Sire of Seven Deaths
4 Petrified Hamlet
4 Disruptor Flute
2 Warping Wail
2 Dismember
1 Mindbreak Trap
4 Leyline of the Void
2 Eldrazi Confluence
2 Eldrazi Confluence
4 Urza's Tower
2 Force of Negation
4 Urza's Power Plant
2 Giant's Boulder
4 Grim Monolith
4 Urza's Mine
1 Thundertrap Trainer
4 Kozilek's Command
4 Petrified Hamlet
4 The One Ring
2 Sink into Stupor
4 Stock Up
4 Planar Nexus
4 Karn, the Great Creator
4 Ugin, Eye of the Storms
1 Island
4 Force of Will
2 Expedition Map
1 Tormod's Crypt
2 Dismember
1 Mycosynth Lattice
1 Karakas
1 Extinguisher Battleship
2 Force of Negation
1 Invasion Submersible
1 Ensnaring Bridge
1 Engineered Explosives
2 Summon: Bahamut
2 Barrowgoyf
Given the ways that cards banned in the previous windows were pressuring the format in specific ways, it feels like we're in the early stages of a new version of Legacy, and there's still a lot to explore. We're excited to see what the best minds in the game may bring to upcoming Eternal Weekend events. We've seen Reality Fracture begin to show itself in Legacy through cards like Carnivorous Cultivator and can't wait to see what else people cook up.
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Vintage
Written by Eric Engelhard
No changes
Vintage looks healthy heading into Eternal Weekend 2026! We are always reluctant to act right before Eternal formats' biggest showcase of the year, and there's no need for us to take action now.
4 Wasteland
3 Bilbo, Thief in the Night
1 Black Lotus
4 Underground Sea
1 Undercity Sewers
1 Time Walk
4 Flow State
1 Swamp
1 Strip Mine
1 Spell Pierce
4 Psychic Frog
2 Ponder
4 Polluted Delta
2 Orcish Bowmasters
1 Mox Jet
2 Nihil Spellbomb
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Pearl
1 Null Rod
1 Misty Rainforest
1 Mental Misstep
3 Lorien Revealed
1 Island
1 Gitaxian Probe
4 Force of Will
3 Force of Negation
3 Fatal Push
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Brainstorm
1 Urza's Saga
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Sheoldred's Edict
1 Pithing Needle
1 Nihil Spellbomb
1 Lurrus of the Dream-Den
1 Flusterstorm
2 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Feed the Swarm
1 Fatal Push
1 Null Rod
3 Consign to Memory
1 Annul
1 The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale
Lurrus of the Dream-Den
Our check-ins with Lurrus of the Dream-Den during these banned and restricted windows have cooled some of the concerns around the office about him dominating Vintage in the long term. Lurrus seems to have settled into the metagame in several different niches, but the overall win rates have not been concerning. Bilbo, Thief in the Night has given some of the fair Lurrus decks some new tools and angles of attack, and we've watched the Lurrus decks continue to evolve in this and other ways. We expect to see plenty of Lurrus at Eternal weekend, but many other decks look capable of taking home trophies.
Which deck will conquer Eternal Weekend? Will it be Shops, Lurrus (in various flavors), Oath, Dredge, Initiative, Doomsday, Tinker, Paradoxical Outcome, or something rogue? In a few short weeks, the non-paradoxical outcome will be known and we here at Wizards will be eagerly watching!
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Pauper
Written by Gavin Verhey
No changes
In the wake of the Secret Lair x MSCHF: The Zeta Set release, which added a number of powerful new tools to Pauper, a lot has been shifting in the format. Powerful cards like Baleful Strix, Dispatch, and Vandalblast made for some pretty huge additions to Pauper that were pretty much guaranteed to see play. At that time, we said this:
"You can expect that we'll be checking in on these cards in the next two banned and restricted list updates, which will be on October 12 and in December. On October 12, we will take action on anything that is immediately a problem. In December, we'll take another look after all those changes to make sure we're happy with everything that is left."
These cards are seeing play, absolutely. But nothing is immediately a problem in the format. The format actually looks quite varied, with several decks showing up and doing well.
They've been adopted in various ways. Some are more of what people assumed, like Esper Affinity featuring Dispatch.
4 Ancient Den
4 Dispatch
4 Frogmite
2 Goldmire Bridge
3 Leonardo, Big Brother
2 Mistvault Bridge
4 Moon-Circuit Hacker
4 Myr Enforcer
4 Novice Inspector
4 Razortide Bridge
4 Refurbished Familiar
4 Seat of the Synod
4 Springleaf Drum
4 Thoughtcast
4 Thraben Inspector
4 Utrom Monitor
1 Vault of Whispers
3 Dry Spell
4 Dust to Dust
4 Hydroblast
4 Metallic Rebuke
But there's more happening here. Blue-Black Control has reappeared on the menu thanks to Baleful Strix—a deck we haven't seen in the format for a long time.
4 Baleful Strix
1 Bojuka Bog
2 Campfire
2 Cast Down
4 Contaminated Aquifer
4 Counterspell
2 Cut Down
1 Dimir Aqueduct
1 Extract a Confession
9 Island
4 Lórien Revealed
1 Lose Focus
3 Murmuring Mystic
4 Plunder the Trollshaws
4 Preordain
1 Seething Landscape
4 Snuff Out
3 Spell Pierce
1 Suffocating Fumes
1 Swamp
3 Thorn of the Black Rose
1 Volatile Fjord
3 Annul
1 Arms of Hadar
1 Drown in Sorrow
4 Hydroblast
1 Mountain
1 Nihil Spellbomb
1 Relic of Progenitus
1 Stream of Thought
2 Vandalblast
And Dispatch is being used in control as well. For example, here's our own Heisen01, also known as Mirco of the Pauper Format Panel, with a deck from a recent Pauper challenge:
2 Archaeomancer
2 Bonder's Ornament
2 Campfire
1 Cast into the Fire
2 Chrome Courier
4 Cleansing Wildfire
4 Counterspell
4 Cryogen Relic
4 Dispatch
2 Ephemerate
2 Ghostly Flicker
1 Idyllic Beachfront
4 Island
4 Lightning Bolt
3 Lórien Revealed
1 Molten Tributary
1 Mountain
3 Mulldrifter
3 Perilous Landscape
2 Plains
4 Rustvale Bridge
4 Silverbluff Bridge
2 Soul-Guide Lantern
3 Breath Weapon
3 Dust to Dust
2 Envelop
3 Hydroblast
2 Pyroblast
2 Thraben Charm
It's very possible cards like Dispatch and Strix, while strong, could end up being a positive and answer other format problems. Dispatch is a great answer to the likes of Sneaky Snacker and Writhing Chrysalis, and Baleful Strix giving control new legs is exciting. Here's a cool decklist from the recent British Pauper Open in the United Kingdom, which cleared over 120 players and had eight different decks in the Top 8 (shout out to our own Emma Partlow who was there), that smashes together Faeries with Synthesizer-style gameplay using Kor Skyfisher and Cryogen Relic:
4 Faerie Seer
4 Kor Skyfisher
4 Moon-Circuit Hacker
4 Novice Inspector
4 Spellstutter Sprite
2 Thraben Inspector
1 Leonardo, Big Brother
4 Cryogen Relic
1 Sewer-veillance Cam
4 Counterspell
4 Dispatch
4 Thraben Charm
1 Lórien Revealed
5 Island
4 Ancient Den
4 Razortide Bridge
4 Seat of the Synod
1 Idyllic Beachfront
1 Snow-Covered Plains
3 Blue Elemental Blast
2 Annul
2 Arashin Cleric
2 Dust to Dust
2 Hydroblast
2 Standard Bearer
1 Foot Ninjas
1 Palace Sentinels
But while I've shown you a lot of new takes and the use of fresh cards here, it's far from all that. In fact, some other decks have been taking the chance to prey upon these changes, from Terror, Jund, Madness, and even a resurgence in Elves, which took down that very open:
4 Avenging Hunter
4 Generous Ent
4 Masked Vandal
4 Nyxborn Hydra
4 Priest of Titania
4 Quirion Ranger
4 Timberwatch Elf
3 Fyndhorn Elves
3 Llanowar Elves
3 Sagu Wildling
2 Elvish Mystic
4 Lead the Stampede
4 Winding Way
2 Land Grant
10 Forest
1 Gingerbread Cabin
4 Monstrous Emergence
3 Faerie Macabre
3 Spinewoods Paladin
3 Vitu-Ghazi Inspector
2 Pulse of Murasa
All this is to say: It's far too early to tell how the format will settle with these new additions. There's no clear action needed at this time, and the cards just hit Magic Online on September 23, so we're going to continue watching.
Speaking of new additions, a card making waves quickly is a simple common artifact from Magic: The Gathering | The Hobbit: Giant's Boulder.
0173_MTGHOB_Main: Giant's Boulder
This innocuous-looking card is everything: a mana fixer for Affinity and Tron, a way to offer card selection over time with Kor Skyfisher, an avenue for blowing up problematic permanents and having more removal in the long game—or, if you're a deck like Tron, you can even use it to get rid of your opponent's lands!
3 Ancient Stirrings
3 Barrels of Blasting Jelly
1 Bojuka Bog
2 Bonder's Ornament
3 Boulderbranch Golem
4 Bramble Wurm
2 Breath Weapon
1 Conduit Pylons
3 Crop Rotation
4 Expedition Map
3 Forest
1 Generous Ent
4 Giant's Boulder
1 Haunted Fengraf
4 Maelstrom Colossus
4 Pinnacle Kill-Ship
4 Unfathomable Truths
4 Urza's Mine
4 Urza's Power Plant
4 Urza's Tower
1 Vandalblast
1 Breath Weapon
2 Call Damage Control
1 Kaervek's Torch
1 Pulse of Murasa
2 Scour from Existence
3 Serene Heart
2 Tangle
2 Vandalblast
1 Whispersilk Cloak
This card has made quite the impact fast. And while I don't expect us to take action on Giant's Boulder from what we can see at the moment and because it's a good deal weaker than Arcum's Astrolabe, it is likely to continue to have a large impact on the format. Which, in concert with The Zeta Set, will keep the format moving and staying fresh for a little while longer.
We'll be back in December with another check-in, and at that point I expect we'll have a much better idea of how all of this has landed and how the format looks. We hope you keep having fun and finding new things to do, and we'll talk with you again in a couple of months.
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Alchemy
Written by Jay Parker
No changes
Alchemy continues to show good diversity, with a variety of decks seeing regular play and success. The blue-red decks we mentioned last time, built around cards like Summitfest Closing Ceremony and Tablet of Discovery, are showing continued strength and popularity, but new options enabled by cards in Reality Fracture are emerging, and Alchemy: Reality Fracture is releasing tomorrow to enable even more.
That will be the final Alchemy supplemental drop, as we are sunsetting the Alchemy format with rotation early next year. You can read all the details in our State of the Formats article here.
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Historic
Written by Jay Parker
No changes
Historic has seen some significant changes recently, as reverting all the rebalanced printed cards brought a few bans but also many power increases for key cards. We're still watching the full impact of these changes, but we are seeing Ruby Storm decrease a bit, while Psychic Frog decks are rising, possibly buoyed by getting a full-power Orcish Bowmasters to play with. While we're watching closely for any problems that may arise from all of these changes, so far the format seems to be responding well and maintaining its usual diversity.
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Timeless
Written by Jay Parker
No changes
Timeless continues to be a place where big, powerful cards do wild things. As a large and powerful format, it tends to change slowly, and that's the case here. Reanimate strategies continue to prove popular but are also balanced against competition like Mardu and Boros Energy, a variety of blue-based control strategies, and many other viable options.
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Brawl
Written by Jay Parker
No changes
With the release of Competitive Brawl, we removed several more aggressive or polarizing cards from normal Brawl to allow it to better serve its more casual goals. We're happy with where this is landing currently. We see a lot of diversity in what players are bringing, and we aren't seeing dominating strategies or problematic cards that require action. We are continuing to iterate on matchmaking here, trying to fine tune the balance between speed and match quality.
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Competitive Brawl
Written by Jay Parker
Yuriko, the Tiger's Shadow is banned as a commander.
Spider-Man 2099 is banned as a commander.
Light-Paws, Emperor's Voice is banned as a commander.
Ajani, Nacatl Pariah is now only banned as a commander.
Nadu, Winged Wisdom is now only banned as a commander.
Oko, Thief of Crowns is now only banned as a commander.
Old Stickfingers is now only banned as a commander.
Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer is now only banned as a commander.
Rusko, Clockmaker is now only banned as a commander.
Tamiyo, Inquisitive Student is now only banned as a commander.
Wrenn and Six is now only banned as a commander.
Tajic, Legion's Valor is now only banned as a commander.
Nashi, Illusion Gadgeteer is rebalanced.
Competitive Brawl got a bit of the same impact Historic did, as previously rebalanced cards reverted to their printed form. So far, we have seen this produce a good bit of change, but we're not yet seeing anything problematic. We are continuing to monitor it closely, like Historic.
We are clearly seeing players continue to innovate and push on different commanders, which is great to see and very healthy for the format. However, we are seeing some commanders emerge with win rates high enough to make them problematic. As such, we are banning three commanders this round and adjusting another.
Since Nashi is a digital-only card, we are taking the opportunity to modify it slightly by removing the flash keyword to better balance the format. We don't expect to make this sort of change frequently, but this specific digital-only card has been a problem for some time, and this was a minor change to push it back in line.
You'll also note that those commanders are only banned as a commander; they will still be legal among the 99 other cards in your deck. Now that we have the tech to enable this, we are applying it to cards banned on the grounds of being too strong as a commander.
