Wizards of the Coast dropped a Magic: The Gathering Banned and Restricted announcement on March 11, removing Violent Outburst from the Modern format while unbanning Ponder in Vintage.
A new MTG Banned and Restricted announcement on March 11 has not made any changes to the Standard format. The Modern format was hit again, though, with the removal of Violent Outburst. Modern was hit through the last Banned and Restricted announcement with bans on the cards Fury and Up the Beanstalk, nerfing the Rakdos Midrange build. The March 11 ban on Violent Outburst targets builds that have been rising in the meta ranks like Izzet Phoenix, Temur Rhinos, Living End, and Golgari Yawgomoth, according to WotC.
Violent Outburst is a three-drop MTG card in the colors Red and Green with the mechanic Cascade. The issue with the Alara Reborn card is that it began to “approach previous levels of Rakdos Midrange metagame dominance,” according to WotC, through its ability to “Cascade into a payoff card at Instant speed.” This combo was possible through the Force of Negation card. By removing Violent Outburst through the MTG Banned and Restricted announcement, players will have to use cards like Ardent Plea or Demonic Dread on their turn, weakening the Cascade strategies while giving opponents a chance to defend, according to WotC.
No other MTG cards were removed through the March 11 Banned and Restricted announcement, but WotC did remove the restriction on Ponder from the Vintage format. Placed on the restricted list in 2008, balance devs feel that the card can safely return to the format. Cards like Orcish Bowmasters are on the watchlist for play within the Legacy format while Standard appears to be in a healthy spot through the enlarged card pool, according to WotC.
All banned cards from the MTG Banned and Restricted announcement, like Violent Outburst, will be removed from play starting on March 11 through tabletop and MTGO. Ponder will also be removed from the restricted list on the same day.
