Today, Wizards of the Coast has delivered probably the most shocking Banned and Restricted Announcement in the history as far as Modern is concerned: The One Ring, Amped Raptor and Jegantha, the Wellspring were banned, and Mox Opal, Faithless Looting, Green Sun’s Zenith and Splinter Twin got unbanned. Here are our initial impressions of these monumental changes!

Bans

The One Ring

Jędrek: Ring has overstayed its welcome in Modern, and the only debate is by how much. According to some, it should’ve been banned shortly after its release, others claim that its inclusion in Energy was the final straw that broke the format’s back. Regardless of which camp you were in, we can all rejoice now that it’s gone. Without a great Force of Negation deck like Rhinos to keep the four mana artifact in check, it was the question of when and of it The One Ring will overtake Modern. The lack of truly punishing answers for it, combined with an outrageous power level and repetitive play patterns made it that it had to go, and I don’t think many people will mourn it.

Sodek: To no one’s surprise, The One Ring was finally banned. In the last few months, it has had an absurd presence and win rate, so the ban was 100% deserved. Many of you are now wondering how the Modern will look without the Ring. And to be honest with you, I can only guess. It’s true that some decks were relying on the Ring more than others, so archetypes that had a decent gameplan without it (like Energy or Broodscale) will likely stay in the format, just in a weakened form. Decks that were more focused on the Ring like Eldrazi Ramp, Through the Breach, or Twiddle Storm will most likely disappear. Finally, there’s a group of archetypes who lost Ring, but got other new tools thanks to unbans (Grinding Station and Amulet come to mind) – they will have to be rebuilt, but overall I expect them to be heavily played in the next few months.

Amped Raptor

Jędrek: Before today’s announcement, most people suspected two bans in the format. First one was obviously The One Ring, and the second one was something from the Energy decks. Potential candidates included Guide of Souls, Ajani, Phlage or Amped Raptor, and WotC has decided to axe that last one. Personally, I would ban Guide of Souls, but Raptor is a fine choice as well, as its volatile nature and cascade-like effect leads to pretty unfun play patterns. But it’s not only a matter of fun, don’t get me wrong – Raptor is certainly a strong card. In my mind, Guide of Souls would be a ban focused more on dealing with Energy for good, but this whole announcement clearly shows that WotC care about the fun aspect of things and want to reignite excitement with Modern, so getting rid of Raptor makes sense in this context.

Sodek: Boros Energy was too good even without the Ring, so for many people it was clear that a direct ban was needed, and thankfully, Wizards thought so as well. In my opinion there were three reasonable options: Guide of Souls, Ocelot Pride, and Amped Raptor. WotC chose the safest option, and I’m glad they did. It makes the archetype significantly weaker, and the ‘free cards and mana’ aspect of it was simply too good in the shell that was already good enough to compete even without it. Will this ban kill Energy? I don’t think so. Guide of Souls + Ocelot starts are too good to be passed up and Phlage will still be a great late game threat for the deck. It has everything to compete in the fair metagame – the bigger question is how fair the metagame will be, but it’s a topic for another discussion.

Jegantha, the Wellspring

Jędrek: Just an extremely boring design that shows the worst parts of the Companion mechanic. Good riddance, you won’t be missed.

Sodek: The Companion mechanic should be erased from Magic and thanks to this ban, we are one step closer to achieving this. Jegantha wasn’t creating any new archetype – it was just added to the decks that could do it while shortening the list of playable cards. It was also extremely awkward with cards like Leyline of the Void or Chalice of the Void, as well as the current judging philosophy, so I’m glad that it’s gone.

Unbans

General Impressions

Jędrek: Unbans are fairly universally loved by the Magic community, as getting more toys to play with is always more exciting than taking the old ones away, provided that the new toys aren’t broken (huh, this one works both in life and in Magic, that’s neat). My general standpoint regarding the ban list is that every card on it should argue for why it should be set free rather than if it should stay on it. Because of that, there are certain cards that likely wouldn’t see any play in the format right now but should absolutely stay there in my opinion, such as Bridge from Below. With that being said, I can say with a clear conscience that all the cards that got released from the DCI jail today spark a good deal of joy in me, and I expect them being thoroughly tested by the community for the next few weeks to be an exciting process both to observe as well as participate in. A while back, I made a tierlist of all cards banned in Modern and ranked them depending on how I feel about unbanning them. I’m going to address it when talking about each card, so I’d recommend giving it a glance. 

Sodek: While the bans were expected, not a lot of players were predicting unbans. And this time, Wizards decided to go hard on this front – they gave us not one, not two, but four unbans of iconic cards that were dominant years ago. Personally, I’m extremely happy with these unbans, mostly because I’m a Faithless Looting fanatic and I’ll spend countless hours trying to find the best home for it. But we also have to say it loud and clear – these four unbans will have a huge impact on the current Modern and they will turn the format from the midrange and value-oriented environment into more combo-focused meta. Some of you will love it, and others will miss MH2 Modern after a few weeks of endless combo mirrors, but it is what it is and we can’t go back (at least for the next three months).

Mox Opal

Jędrek: Mox Opal landed in the “high risk, high reward” category, and this is exactly how I feel about the card – even though artifact decks aren’t really in my wheelhouse, nor I particularly enjoy them as a concept, they have an enormous following of incredibly devoted fans, and I really appreciate that these people will be able to dust off their old toys, be it Arcbound Ravager or Lantern of Insight, no matter how playable they still remain in 2024. There are significant risks attached to the card. When Mox Opal was banned in early 2020, Underworld Breach wasn’t released yet, and providing this kind of acceleration to an already powerful strategy is a terrifying prospect. There are surely other deck that might potentially be broken with Mox Opal, both old and new alike, but for now I remain optimistic that the swath of powerful hosers that got added to Modern since Opal’s departure, such as Force of Vigor or the recent Meltdown and Wrath of the Skies in MH3 will be enough to keep these decks in check while still allowing for various artifact strategies to be viable choices.

Sodek: Of the four unbanned cards, Mox Opal is probably the strongest one. Fast mana is considered broken for a reason and I’m quite surprised Wizards decided to release this one. My suspicion is they wanted Affinity-style decks to re-enter the format (judging from Kappa Cannoneer and other artifact printings in MH3), but they failed mostly because with original artifact lands banned, it wasn’t doable to support casting colored spells on time. Mox Opal unban solved this problem, so expect a lot of Affinity in MTGO leagues in the coming weeks. But Mox Opal is so much more than that! Grinding Station got a great toy after the Ring ban. Hardened Scales will be much faster now, to the point where it’s pretty scary – turn three kills have never been easier for them. Other homes include Urza, Lord High Artificer decks, Hammer, weird combos with Song of Creation, or even Lantern Control. High risk, mysterious reward unban.

Green Sun’s Zenith

Jędrek: This one is the biggest puzzle for me, as I’ve never been drawn towards decks that can utilise it if you don’t count my love for Elves as a casual player over fifteen years ago. When making the list, I pegged it as the strongest of the four, calling it “likely too good”. The fear of it comes from it being essentially the best topdeck in the deck build around it on every single turn – from acting as a turn one acceleration with Dryad Arbor and fetching various silver bullets to being the best creature in the deck on curve, even if the extra mana you have to pay for it isn’t something to treat lightly. I expect Amulet to be the default best GSZ decks, but stuff like Elves and various toolbox creature combos will definitely have interest in it and might improve enough to be competitive-adjacent.

Sodek: Two types of decks will benefit greatly from this unban. The first one is the elephant in the room – Amulet. More Primeval Titans and more tutors for fancy combo one ofs and answers to hate blended into a single card is exactly what amulet needed after The One Ring ban. Overall, in my opinion, the change is a net minus for Amulet, but the difference in power level between these two isn’t as dramatic as it could be. The second group of decks are creature combos – Yawgmoth, Samwise Gamgee, and others will benefit from it. Finding only green creatures may be a serious downside though. In my opinion, it’s a safe unban, even with Dryad Arbor in the format.

Faithless Looting

Jędrek: When Looting got axed I was ecstatic about it, but now I welcome it with my arms wide open. I’ve labeled it “reprint Careful Study”, which meant that I thought the flashback on it is a bit too much and a simple one mana draw two discard two in either red or blue would be a perfectly fine card. With MH3 getting the power level of the format even higher, I think that the actual Looting isn’t out of line anymore. I expect it to spawn or revitalise the most archetypes out of all the freshly unbanned cards by a pretty decent margin: Dredge, Phoenix, Hollow One, Reanimator, all of those decks and likely many more that I’m forgetting about right now will get another lease for life, even if some of them will inevitably be proven too weak. For now though, I remain convinced that Faithless Looting will have a significant impact on Modern and I don’t intend on leaving home without some graveyard hate in the near future.

Sodek: Oh boy, I was waiting for so long to tell you this. FAITHLESS LOOTING IS BACK!!! I’m so hyped, even if I’m not sure if decks where Looting shined in the past will be that good in the current Modern. For example – Arclight Phoenix may look appealing for some of you, but Phoenix from the past didn’t have to play around Endurance or Urza’s Saga. Similarly, graveyard aggro decks like Dredge or Hollow One might look phenomenal on paper, but in practice their fail rates will be relatively high compared to what the format offers. Only hard testing will give us answers. Looting will also be used as an enabler for Goryo’s Vengeance, although it would require rebuilding the whole deck around the Looting, Unearth or Persist, and it might be solid in Storm. I can also see it being played in decks that will generate a lot of card advantage and will want to filter cards. For example, Wrenn and Six decks can see more play because Looting gives them an option to finally do something with a lot of lands you gather over a few turns. So Looting Creativity maybe? Or even Looting Energy? Possibilities are endless and that’s why I love this card so much! Thank you WotC <3

Splinter Twin

Jędrek: Finally, after residing on the banlist for almost nine long years and building an almost mythical presence in the hearts and minds of the Magic community, Splinter Twin has been released back into Modern. No other card unbanned today, and perhaps no other still remaining on the banlist, sparks as much controversy as this four mana enchantment. Some people will take out their bottle of Dom Perignon out of the freezer, hoping that it’s still good to go, others will shrug, call it unplayable in contemporary Modern and give it no more thought. Personally, I’m somewhere in between, as my “mid risk, mid reward” label could suggest. I think that it’s very easy to underestimate Splinter Twin, as these decks never looked particularly dangerous on paper. Instead, they were all about extremely oppressive play patterns, threat of activation and wasting opposing resources with the promise of nearly instant win in face of a perceived moment of weakness. I for one will try my hardest to make Twin great again, and I’m sure I’m not going to be alone in these attempts.

Sodek: In my opinion, this is the biggest enigma of this announcement. We all know that Splinter Twin was great in 2015, but a lot of time has passed since then. I’m just not sure if a two card combo that requires a creature and a total seven mana investment will keep up with the metagame. I don’t think it will be tier one, but I’m pretty sure I’ll die a few times to a horde of Deceiver Exarchs. With zero games played, I can imagine two major builds: a combo-oriented one with Ugin’s Labyrinth, cantrips and a bunch of protection spells and a more controlling wizard shell with Thundertrap Trainer and Flare of Denial. Both versions shouldn’t take Modern by storm so I’m fine with this unban.

Metagame predictions

Jędrek: Predicting the metagame is always a guessing game, and one that’s unlikely to be won, but if there ever was a day to give it a shot, it’s today. Let’s start with the former top dog of the format: Energy. I expect it to still be present, albeit in clearly weakened form. As far as other Ring decks go, I haven’t really played any Modern since Broodscale became a known quantity, so I can’t speak to how much it will be affected by the bannings, but I can only suspect that some of Eldrazis will still be playable. Control will obviously need to be rebuilt, and I’m not holding my breath for any truly reactive builds to succeed en masse in the coming weeks, unlike various combo-control or combo-tempo hybrids that have some potential. Now, let’s get to the good stuff. Out of all the unbans, I expect Faithless Looting decks to be the most prominent in the early stages, and they’re fan favourites that are easy to figure out and/or include Looting in existing shells. With that being said, graveyard hate is even easier to pack in every deck, so there will be a lot of pushback against these strategies. Mox Opal will closely follow Looting, just like the wall of artifact removal will follow the means of dealing with the graveyard. GSZ and Twin will definitely see a bunch of play as well, but I expect them to be less popular than the other two. Overall, it’s nigh impossible to predict how Modern will shape in the near future, but if anything it makes it all that much exciting. What a time to be a Modern player! 

Sodek: In my opinion, the biggest winners of the B&R changes are Urza’s Saga decks – with Green Sun’s Zenith, Amulet looks scary and it can be the best goldfish combo deck right now – I would run tools to stop it in every deck if possible. Mox Opal decks are also looking decent – among all mentioned earlier, I have high hopes for Urza builds and Scales. In my opinion, Saga decks as a whole are clearly the archetype to beat, so make sure you have enough Forces of Vigors Moon effects, Stony Silences, etc. to stop them. Faithless Looting decks will also have their five minutes, although they will have a much harder route to greatness than Mox Opal strategies – they are weaker and easier to hate out. I expect Looting to be tried in nearly every red deck and after two or three months it will be clear in what archetypes it will end up being useful. I would love to see the comeback of Dredge or Hollow One/Nethergoyf stompy, but they historically had a bad matchup against Urza’s Saga decks, so they will have to be built in a way to counter them in one way or another. Green Sun’s Zenith and Splinter Twin will be more of roleplayers than predators of the format.

There’s a lot of decks that didn’t get anything but we don’t know how they’ll line up with the new metagame. For example, I have no idea whether UB Frog is in a better or worse position than it was yesterday. Its worst matchup in Energy got weakened, so it should be decent, but Urza’s Saga can be the major problem for it. Zoo has been waiting for its chance to shine once more for a while now, and it can be built in a way to beat nearly everything, but we’ll have to wait some time for the metagame to stabilize a bit. I also kinda like Living End now since it attacks on such a fundamental, almost tempo-like level that it can be a solid choice in the next few weeks – just make sure to have full playsets of Endurance and Force of Vigors to keep the Urza’s Saga/Faithless Looting meta in check. Similarly, Storm can be a great way to punish those who want to have fun with new toys.

The biggest losers are Ugin’s Labyrinth decks, as they lost Ring and got nothing in return. Similarly, UWx control decks have no clear vision without The One Ring, although maybe Solitude will end up being so well-positioned that they will return in some form? I also don’t like Belcher’s position – it may be too slow for the turn three metagame and will get collateral damage from Mox Opal hate.

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You can also expect a lot more Modern content in the next couple weeks. Stay tuned!