Magic: The Gathering has banned four of its newest card in at least one of three different formats. Two of those cards are companions, a new mechanic introduced to the game in Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths. Lurrus of the Dream-Den gets the hardest ban. Effective today, the companion card is illegal in Legacy and Vintage formats. Like all companions, players must observe a deck-building restriction to use Lurrus as a companion. In Lurrus’ case, that means building a deck that does not use any permanents with a converted mana cost of more than two. In Standard, that’s a reasonable challenge. With the wide card pool of Legacy and Vintage, it’s a challenge that is too easy to overcome.
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The other companion affected by today’s announcement is Zirda, the Dawnwalker. Wizards of the Coast has banned the card from Legacy effective today. This is in response to the use of Zirda as a companion with the artifact Grim Monolith. The combination of the two cards creates an infinite mana loop. Not many players have made use of this combination yet, but Magic Online data suggests it could become a problem in the future. Wizards of the Coast decided to get out in front of the that problem.
The other two bans come in the Brawl format. Drannith Magistrate is no longer legal in Brawl. The creature card prevents opposing players from casting spells from anywhere other than their hands. That means no more casting from the Command Zone. Feeling that the card breaks the spirit of the Brawl format, Wizards chose to remove it from play.
Winota, Joiner of Forces is also banned in Brawl. Winota’s ability to bring more creatures onto the battlefield in a rush has led to a spike in the number of players using her as their commander. To stop the format from becoming monolithic, Wizards is banning her from the format. These Brawl bans don’t go into effect in Magic: The Gathering Arena until Thursday’s update. That means players have one more round of Wednesday Brawl to make use of their Winota decks and Drannith Magistrates.
Here’s the full list of banned and restricted Magic: The Gathering cards in the Brawl format as of today’s announcement:
- Drannith Magistrate
- Golos, Tireless Pilgrim
- Lutri, the Spellchaser
- Sorcerous Spyglass
- Oko, Thief of Crowns
- Winota, Joiner of Forces
Thursday’s Magic: The Gathering Arena update will also bring with it Historic Anthology III and the debut of a permanent Historic Format ranked queue.
