Wizards of the Coast has updated their Magic: The Gathering ban list. This is a notable update since the ubiquitous card game's banned and restricted list was updated back in June, which was in the middle of its major competitive scene. This new update is part of a new schedule that coincides with major tournaments, and it contains some notable bans.
The Magic: The Gathering Ban List Update August 2024
In an official blog post, Wizards of the Coast explained the update to their Magic: The Gathering ban list schedule. The post begins with updates to the game's different formats, showing cards that have been added or removed from the banned and restricted list.
Standard, Alchemy, Historic, Timeless, and Brawl formats are unchanged. In Pioneer and Explorer, Amalia, Benavides Aguirre and Sorin, Imperious Bloodlord are banned. Grief has been banned from Legacy. Vintage format has added Urza's Saga and Vexing Bauble to the ban list. Lastly, Grief and Nadu, Winged Wisdom are banned from Modern.
In the rest of the post, WOTC explains changes to when they will be announcing Magic: The Gathering ban list updates. It acknowledges and apologizes for the issues that come with announcing a ban list during the week of Pro Tour, leading to a breakdown of logistics and player comfort during that time.
Going forward, ban list updates will be aligning with the Regional Championship and Regional Championship Qualifier seasons. This will allow for better adjustments to the competitive play environment and more time to collect and analyze play data. It also means there will be fewer update lists The next one is scheduled for December 2024.
As for the bans themselves, the most notable one is Nadu, Winged Wisdom from Modern format. In a separate post dedicated to discussing the ban, Michael Majors stated the card was "a logistical nightmare" and "a design mistake."
A mistake that was demonstrated during the Modern Horizons 3 Pro Tour where decks built around Nadu had a 59% win rate thanks to several dangerous combos. Infinite mana, shutting down and sweeping opposition. Furthermore, these combos would slow games to a crawl since implementation required a high number of permanents changing zones.
The updated Magic: The Gathering ban list goes into effect today.
