Banned List:
- Imperial Seal is banned.
Watch List:
- Imperial Seal is removed.
Reasoning:
Imperial Seal is an inaccessible and extremely expensive card for too many players, and as such, it hinders the accessibility of the format. Other cards that fit this description, such as Mishra’s Workshop and Bazaar of Baghdad, are sufficiently limited in their scope of use.
MagicPlayer.org’s goals with its banning policy are as follows:
- Preserve format diversity: As many different deck types as possible should be tournament-viable.
- Allow combo decks but prevent dominance: Combo decks should be possible, but they should not dominate the meta.
- Ban as few cards as necessary: The fewer bans, the better.
- React to metagame developments: If certain deck types prove to be dominant, changes will be made accordingly.
Despite all the criticism voiced, the format currently appears to be in an excellent and very healthy state with regard to this policy. The metagame is more diverse than ever, the banned list is as small as it has ever been, combo is possible but still inconsistent enough not to dominate tournaments, and no single deck or strategy appears to be dominant.
Therefore, we ask players to continue exploring the format with us. Any major change to the format at this point would be a shot in the dark. However, we also want to bring some stability to the format, as not every player has the time or desire to completely overhaul their decks every three months.
Over the past weeks and months, we have had extensive discussions with many players about the format. The opinions we received varied widely, ranging from “everything is great” to “it’s no fun for me anymore.” Criticism was voiced about tutors, repetitive gameplay patterns, the lack of creativity from some Magic players (a.k.a. RDW pilots), netdecking, the rating system, tournament mentality, and, most notably, the streamlining of decks.
To better organize and channel player input, we will develop a survey in the coming days to gather more precise insights into player expectations and demands for the “Highlander” format. Based on this feedback, along with the results from upcoming tournaments — including the second Highlander Grand Prix — we will adjust our banning policy and shape the banned list accordingly.
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