Wizards of the Coast just updated the Banned and Restricted list and a couple of familiar faces are out of MTGA supported formats Brawl and Historic.
March 9 saw the long-awaited response by Wizards on problematic cards in Brawl. The list was announced via a website post by R&D developer Ian Duke.
Banned in Brawl:
- Golos, Tireless Pilgrim
Moved from suspended to banned in Historic:
- Oko, Thief of Crowns
- Once Upon a Time
- Veil of Summer
Moved from suspended to legal in Historic:
- Field of the Dead
Banned in Legacy:
- Underworld Breach
Banned in Modern:
- Once Upon a Time
Sine the Legacy and Modern formats are not supported in Magic: The Gathering Arena, we won’t be doing a deep dive, but the fact that Once Upon a Time is banned even in Modern is rather telling of its formidable power.
Brawl players won’t be able to utilize Golos, Tireless Pilgrim from now on. The card was something of a sleeper as its five-color affiliation did not immediately catch the eye of most deck builders. However, the introduction of Field of the Dead made him spiral out of control with land drops, zombies and free cards flying everywhere. Field of the Dead was banned from Standard (in the first Standard ban in a long time), but it looks like Wizards don’t deem it too dangerous for the MTGA non-rotating Historic format, so the dreaded land is back in action.
When it comes to Oko, Thief of Crowns, the banning is hardly a surprise - the card was seen as way too good even before it was officially released and Wizards admitted they might have cranked the power dial a little too much, as their creation made a splash in all formats. Now he’s out of Historic as well.
The new changes in legality apply to paper magic and MTG Online today, March 10, and come to MTGA in a couple of days - Match 12. Play your last games with Golos and Oko while you can!
