Intro

Today is March 31 and we just received one of the most anticipated B&R announcements in a while!

Let's take a look today at what's happened and if you want to read into the original announcement, you can find it HERE.

Modern

Let's start off with the most predictable one.

Underworld Breach is banned.

Most people expected this to happen and happen it did. Even though Breach was under-represented at Spotlight Utrecht, thankfully WOTC did not look past all that had happened until that point. RCs had upwards of 20% of Breach, approaching 30%. Breach also frequently took up more than a couple of slots in Top8s. Despite the fact that before the card posed no issue, the unbanning of Mox Opal really pushed it over the edge and made it very hard to contend with.

When it comes to the rest of the format, nothing else was touched. We still have the pillars of Eldrazi-Frog-Energy-Ketramos. However, now there is a combo deck missing in that metagame *and* there's also a new free slot for the best Opal strategy. Hammer, Affinity, Urza ThopterSword, Kethis - there are numerous options which are likely to be explored by players to find out what's the best way to abuse Moxen. As far as I'm concerned, The engine of Emry+Tamiyo+Mox Amber+Mox Opal will surely find a home.

Still, if you found the Modern format lacklustre before, I reckon hardly much is going to change realistically.

Legacy

Sowing Mycospawn is banned.

Troll of Khazad-dum is banned.

Legacy is closely monitored by WOTC and they do want to cater to one of the most loyal fan bases. When it comes to formats that don't actively participate in the organised play system (like Pauper), it's clear that players are the most important pillar, holding the format alive.

It might be weird seeing a common banned but here we are with Troll. It was very unique in what it did - it could always find you a Swamp, even if you were Blood Mooned or Harbingered; its own ability allows you to put it into the graveyard for reanimation purposes; its a reanimation payoff that doesn't strand in your hand. While in the vacuum it might look weird relative to other cards on the banlist, contextually its unique impacted warranted a ban. Now, UB Reanimator will need to commit more to either Reanimating or playing a fairer tempo game.

Sowing Mycospawn joins its fellow Modern Horizons friend on the banlist. It was played in Eldrazi shells and it performed numerous functions. The tutor ability gave access to utility (like Karakas or Wasteland) and proper end-game tools (like Eye of Ugin). On top of that, it could exile any land, including basics - leading to unsatisfactory play patterns; all while being a 3/3 beater. One could even exile a basic *and* tutor out Wasteland to strip the opponent of two lands immediately - which is particularly punishing against low-land count decks like Dimir variants.

Pauper

Let's get into the meatiest of the announcements, as Pauper sees 3 bans and 2 unbans.

Deadly Dispute is banned

Kuldotha Rebirth is banned

Basking Broodscale is banned

This is an insane shake-up to the format. In essence, every single deck in the top5 got hit - and got hit *hard*.

Kuldotha Burn lost...Kuldotha.

Jund and Golgari Glee lost their combo and Dispute.

Jund Wildfires lost Dispute.

Grixis Affinity lost Dispute.

Black Gardens strategies lost Dispute.

Now, it all leaves blue decks untouched - like blue Fae or Terror decks. However, it does not automatically mean they are going to be at the top!

Mono Blue Fae arguably lost numerous good matchups (Kuldotha, Glee) and will have to face an uptick in multiple bad ones (Gruul Ramp, Kor Skyfisher decks). UB Fae preyed on Glee and now it's gone.

On the flipside, Gruul Ramp lost 2 bad matchups (Kuldotha, Glee) and potentially even a third - Grixis Affinity playing Shaman and Toxin. And even if Affinity persists, they might drop Shaman because there is no Kuldotha to need it against!

As you can see, there are ton of secondary and tertiary effects when so much changes - to the point that barely anything can actually be predicted.

High Tide is trial unbanned

Prophetic Prism is trial unbanned

Trial unbans are unbans with the intention of re-banning cards if they don't meet expectations. It's a watchlist of sorts but among cards let out of the banlist. I actually love that we do it in Pauper, as the financial cost of obtaining cards is minimal.

One card released is a pure combo card. I expect to see players brew a ton trying to break High Tide. The most likely candidates are all sorts of Snap/Sunscape Familiar decks. The danger is that if it's too weak, it'll probably be unplayable and if it's good enough, it's going to be quite miserable to play against, watching your opponent continuously float mana and untap.

The other is Prophetic Prism that aims to aid Tron strategies. Since Pactdoll Terror entered the format, it already seemed like Tron is poised for a return. Now, that return is a no-brainer! However, as the deck used to be below any competitive tier, it might just enter proper playability rather than banability.

If you'd like to hear me talk about my predicted changes, you can see it here on my YouTube channel.

Conclusion

In short, Modern gets a predictable change keeping everything else mostly the same; Legacy gets a couple of decks brought down a notch; Pauper is a revamped and fresh format.

I'm excited to see what the upcoming weeks bring!