The long-awaited Magic: the Gathering Banned and Restricted announcement for Alrund’s Epiphany dropped today, along with bans for Divide by Zero and Faceless Haven in the Standard format.
The Jan. 25 MTG Banned and Restricted announcement by Wizards of the Coast has removed Alrund’s Epiphany, Faceless Haven, and Divide by Zero from the Standard format, effective immediately via tabletop and on Jan. 27 for Magic Online and MTG Arena. Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer was also banned from the Legacy format, along with Memory Lapse for the Historic format.
Following months of dominance within the Standard meta, Alrund’s Epiphany will no longer fuel Control decks in the MTG colors Blue and Red. WotC nerfed the powerful Blue Sorcery spell with the release of the Alchemy format, foretelling the future for the extra turn seven-drop. Extra turn spells have been an issue in the past within MTG, resulting in a ban on cards like Nexus of Fate and Time Warp.
Control decks were also hit by the ban to Divide by Zero, an STX three-drop Instant speed spell that provided value via Learn and the ability to return just about any permanent to hand. The Blue spell has proven its worth within the meta by stalling out games until an Alrund’s Epiphany, Hullbreaker Horror, or Lier, Disciple of the Drowned simply ended the game.
Control decks on the MTG ladder have been countered by Aggro builds like Mono-White and Mono-Green. Both builds like to use Snow Lands as a means to use Faceless Haven, a land that becomes a 4/3 creature until the end of a turn. With Control decks getting knocked down a peg, a ban was applied to Faceless Haven as well to reduce the power levels associated with the Mono-Aggro White and Green decks.
Every MTG ban announced today by WotC will go into effect immediately for tabletop players. Digital competitors via Magic Online and MTG Arena will see the bans take effect on Jan. 27, along with a number of buffs and nerfs applied to cards within the Alchemy format.
