Wizards Confirm Next Banned and Restricted Announcement to be Made August 24th

Wizards of the Coast has just confirmed that the next Magic: The Gathering banned and restricted announcement will be made on August 24th, and will include changes to the Historic format.

For reference, see the below the current list of cards that are suspended and banned in Historic.

Suspended Cards

Banned Cards

Speculation

The card that would be in many people’s mind is likely to be Field of the Dead. This card was previously suspended and subsequently unsuspended, as Wizards of the Coast introduced various answers to combat it via Historic Anthology such as Virulent Plague, Goblin Ruinblaster and Ghost Quarter. This proved almost enough to prevent the deck from completely dominating the format, but a few factors leading up to today most likely brought up this announcement of an announcement today:

1. Gruul Aggro was the best aggro deck in the format just a few months ago, and had a great matchup against the slower Field decks. Burning-Tree Emissary was then suspended as Wizards deemed it a bit too fast for the format.
2. Nexus of Fate was also banned, which also had a favorable matchup as it could win faster than Field of the Dead decks.
3. Jumpstart introduced Explore, adding further powerful ramp spells to the deck in addition to Uro and Growth Spiral.
4. Wilderness Reclamation was also suspended, as the Historic Temur Reclamation deck archetype also began to dominate the format.
5. Amonkhet Remastered brought in Hour of Promise, as well as other powerful cards like Thoughtseize, Pact of Negation and Wrath of God to integrate into the deck.

It is important to note that the card is already banned in Pioneer, as it was deemed at the time “suppressing controlling and reactive decks” – which is still doing so now.

Historic, though the current card pool is still small, is being transformed into an unique digital format as it gets more cards introduced. This is evident by the introduction of classic format-defining cards such as Thoughtseize, Collected Company and Pact of Negation. With big tournaments such as the Mythic Invitational using Historic as the format, action is being taken to prevent the metagame from becoming extreme and tedious to spectate (as we have seen from past Bant Golos matches). This is something we are now used to seeing over the past year due to the increased power level of the cards, and balancing of the formats is proving to be an extremely difficult task for Wizards.

Of course, we could see changes that are completely unexpected but having kept a close eye on Historic, Field of the Dead will likely be on its way out of the format for the second time. It is unfortunate that unlike the previous emergency ban on August 3, we are not seeing any changes take effect immediately and have to wait out the weekend.

Discussion

• How has your experience been with Historic so far after the release of Amonkhet Remastered?
• Will we see any other changes other than the obvious? Perhaps Muxus, Goblin Grandee or unsuspension of Burning-Tree Emissary?
• Have you been enjoying the Standard metagame more, or will rotation be its saving grace?

Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!