I can't wait to see some Final Fantasy cards in standard now.
To be clear, not because I like FF or UB. I actually get pretty annoyed by UB. I just want to see some new decks get played.
this post was submitted on 30 Jun 2025
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I don't even play standard, but I've seen it and this is amazing news
Sad to see no changes to Legacy or Modern. I really don't want to drop $400 on a playset of The One Ring and Orcish Bowmasters when that same amount could be used to get Revised duals or something like Mox Diamond. Price isn't a reason for banning a card, but those are newer cards seeing play across multiple formats due to their high power level. Urza's Saga is another one and it's prevented me from returning to Modern where Modern Horizons and LotR have jacked up the price and power level of the format.
They weren't taking any chances. Still glad though, right now it feels like it's better to overcorrect than to not go far enough
Though I don't think we've had this massive of a list in a long time, maybe this finally wakes them up to tone the power of the format down
Oh I didn't even see the Historic changes at first, Counterspell feels like a good addition to the format
Counterspell feels like one of those cards that you'd think is legal but for some reason it's not. With Historic's current power level, it makes way more sense for it to be there now than when it was added to Arena with Strixhaven.
maybe this finally wakes them up to tone the power of the format down
I doubt it, to be honest. There have been more bans in the last 8 years than the previous 23 years combined, including the creation of the initial Type 2 banlist, Urza's block, and Mirrodin. Mark Rosewater often recites the story about how his job in R&D is the only time he's been yelled at in a professional setting after an exec heard a joke at the Pro Tour over the speed of games. He also wrote an article when the Mirrodin bans happened about how bans negatively impact the game, since they frequently make players quit a format or Magic altogether.
Flash forward to today where similar bans are happening nearly every year, sometimes multiple times a year. Standard may be dead on paper, but it's the most popular format on Arena alongside Brawl. They aren't hemorrhaging numbers there, so there's no reason for them to change their behavior. Nor have sales of sealed product declined. FIRE design is here to stay, I'm afraid.
Can't wait to have fun in Standard again.
I think they hit a wide range of cards to really rebalance and shake up the format. I think that Stormchaser's Talent probably should have gone instead of This Town, and I think Omniscience should have gone instead of Abuelo's but I think they hit a wide range of decks with these enough and I'm glad they did it.
Beanstalk hurts because that was driving a LOT of jank and artisan decks, so that is a painful loss. However it is just far too busted with too many cards in Standard right now and it's too much card advantage for nothing. I just am sad to lose it.
I feel like Jeskai Prowess, Golgari Roots, and Mono Black midrange are doing to start cruising though.
In several years, This Town will join the glorious list of cards that make people go "why did this random draft chaff get banned?"
Ouch. Been a while since I've been hit by a ban
Glad about Beanstalk and Cutter though
Does anyone know when Arena will reflect these bans
the announcement says its effective as of june 30th, so i'd bet a release of arena is due out today or tomorrow that will have the change.