It has been revealed that several cards from the upcoming Magic The Gathering Strixhaven Mystical Archive series will not be legal in MTG Arena's Historic format. While 7 different cards featured in the series will not be usable in the format, only 2 of the soon-to-be banned cards have been revealed: Demonic Tutor and Swords to Plowshares.
Magic The Gathering Strixhaven And The Mystical Archive Ban List
As of 29th March 2021, the full ban list has been revealed and we have it for you here:
Channel
Counterspell
Dark Ritual
Demonic Tutor
Lightning Bolt
Natural Order
Swords to Plowshares
The upcoming Magic The Gathering set Strixhaven: Schools Of Magic is set to feature a series of very interesting cards. The Mystical Archive is a re-release of various cards from the game's history with some fancy new artwork, including fan-favorite cards like Demonic Tutor and Opt. While these cards will be legal in Strixhaven limited, as well as modern and legacy formats, at least some of the cards will not be seeing play in the MTG Arena-only format Historic.
According to a recent reveal on the Magic The Gathering website, 7 of the 63 cards to be featured in the archive will not be usable in the format that was designed to give players use for their otherwise out-of-play cards. Part of the reason for this ban is to prevent the format from being dominated by some of these insanely powerful cards, which makes sense when you look at which cards we know have been banned so far. Demonic Tutor is a card that lets you search your library for anything you want for only 2 mana, while Swords to Plowshares allows a player to sacrifice one of their creatures to regain life, and has enabled some very powerful combo plays in the past.
More Bans To Be Revealed Soon
As of yet, only 2 of the 7 cards to be banned have been revealed. Mostly, this seems to be because we do not yet know all of the 63 cards that will feature in the Mystical Archive. So far, we only know of three cards, Demonic Tutor, Opt, and Swords to Plowshares, so it seems like Opt at least will still be playable in Historic when the cards release next month, as befits a card already legal in standard.
Presumably, we'll find out more about the other 5 cards on the ban list once the rest of Strixhaven's Mystical Archives is released during the set's spoiler season, which will be starting tomorrow, with coverage here on TechRaptor of the kick off event. To keep up-to-date with the game you can check out the official website.
Updated March 29th: 427PM EST - We have updated the article with the complete list of Mystical Archive Bannings
What do you think of the latest Strixhaven Historic ban list? Do you see why these cards have been removed from the format? Let us know your thoughts below.
