Summary
- Bans and unbans:
- Natural Order is unbanned for a 6-month trial.
- Player questionnaire: Results covering the most recent questionnaire.
- Next update: August 1st, 2026.
Bans, unbans, and trials
Effective from May 15th, 2026 to November 15th, 2026:
- Natural Order is unbanned for a 6-month trial.
Cards discussed
Unban trial: Natural Order (4 yes; 2 no; 1 absent)
Natural Order has been a recurring topic of discussion both within the community and the council, and we have decided to begin a six-month trial unban.
Natural Order was banned 10 years ago, at a time when Craterhoof Behemoth and Primeval Titan were among the most prominent concerns. Since then, the format has changed significantly. While the available targets have also improved, including cards such as Atraxa, Grand Unifier, we believe it is worth testing whether a four-mana sorcery with meaningful deckbuilding and gameplay restrictions is still too strong for the current format.
The council discussed the card at length, including its potential to influence deckbuilding and metagame incentives. Natural Order is relatively easy to incorporate into green creature-based shells covering midrange, ramp, and creature combo. At the same time, many of the currently most represented decks are not natural homes for the card, which means the trial is not expected to simply reinforce the existing top of the metagame without deckbuilding changes. This makes it a suitable candidate for a field test: powerful enough to matter, but not clearly proven to be unacceptable in the current environment.
The longer six-month trial period was voted on separately (4 yes; 2 no; 1 absent). Last year’s Survival of the Fittest trial took place over a similar part of the year, and the slower summer period made it harder to draw firm conclusions from a standard three-month trial, which we then extended to six. For Natural Order, we want to give players enough time not only to try the card in existing decks, but also to develop new builds, test them across different local metagames, and form a more informed opinion.
As always, the purpose of the trial is to gather real gameplay data and community feedback. In particular, we will be watching whether Natural Order creates healthy deckbuilding incentives, or whether specific packages such as Atraxa prove too strong and too consistent.
Unban trial: Sensei’s Divining Top (2 yes; 4 no; 1 absent)
On raw power level, Sensei’s Divining Top may well be acceptable in the current format. The main concern is instead practical gameplay quality. Top can create a significant imbalance in how much match time is consumed by one player’s cumulative decisions, especially when combined with plentiful shuffle effects. This is a familiar concern from other eternal formats as well: the individual actions may be taken at a reasonable pace, but they can accumulate heavily over the course of games and matches, creating time-equity issues that are difficult to address through slow-play enforcement alone.
Ultimately, the majority of the council considered this time equity concern too relevant to ignore at this time. While Sensei’s Divining Top and Natural Order function on very different axes, we also preferred to focus this cycle on the Natural Order trial rather than introduce multiple trials at once.
Ban: Entomb (2 yes; 3 no; 2 absent)
Reanimator and related graveyard-based strategies have been raised in recent community discussion, and we agree that they are worth monitoring. These decks appear to be popular and possibly overrepresented, but current results do not show them consistently dominating the format. Their standings have been varied, which makes it difficult to justify immediate action at this time.
The main concern with Entomb is that it significantly compresses the structure of Reanimator decks. In practice, it can turn what is normally an A+B+C strategy — a target, a way to put it into the graveyard, and a reanimation spell — into a cleaner A+B package. This makes the deck more consistent and reduces the number of moving parts required.
However, the council did not reach consensus that Entomb is currently the correct card to remove. One open question is whether the issue is the reanimation package itself, or whether the broader strength of the surrounding colors and card quality is doing more of the work, especially in midrange/reanimator hybrid builds. Recent card design has also made this harder to evaluate, as powerful threats and enablers increasingly overlap across archetypes. Entomb contributes to these decks, but it may not be the central cause of their strength.
We will continue to monitor Reanimator, graveyard-based midrange shells, and the broader interaction between graveyard strategies and high-efficiency blue-black card quality.
Player questionnaire
Thank you to everyone who responded to the quarterly community survey. We received 65 responses, giving us another useful snapshot of how players currently view the format.
Overall, the survey suggests that players are broadly satisfied with the current state of European Highlander, while still identifying several areas worth monitoring closely. The council will continue to use these quarterly surveys as one input alongside tournament results, deck performance, and broader community discussion.
Format satisfaction
The overall response was strongly positive. Format satisfaction remained high, with an average rating of 4.25/5 and a median of 4/5. A large majority of respondents rated the format positively, while clearly negative ratings remained rare (with two “2” ratings and no “1” ratings).
Archetype & card issues to monitor
The open comments showed a fairly broad range of views rather than one single community-wide concern. The most frequently mentioned topics were Reanimator and UBx graveyard-based shells, followed by UBx or multicolor goodstuff/midrange strategies. At the same time, a significant share of respondents either felt that the format was broadly balanced or did not identify a clear current problem.
Some individual cards and strategic patterns were also raised, including The One Ring, the relative position of control decks, and the general balance between proactive and reactive strategies. These comments will be considered as part of the council’s regular format review process.
Change in council
After three years on the European Highlander Council, Felix “BourbKi” is stepping down from his council role.
Felix has been a valued member of the council, and we want to thank him for his work, perspective, and commitment to the format over the past several years. His contributions have helped shape European Highlander during an important period of growth and development.
Felix wanted to share the following words with the community:
“I want to say how much I appreciated all the support I received for my work in the council, especially from the Berlin scene. I truly enjoyed working with my fellow council members, and I believe we have helped make the format better over the last couple of years.
It was a real pleasure to serve this community, and I am looking forward to continuing as a player and turning my creatures sideways.
Thank you, everyone!”
The council will begin looking for a new member to return to a seven-member configuration. Thank you, Felix!
Next regular update
The next regular update will be August 1st, 2026.
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