Author: Council

  • April 2009 Banlist Update

    April 2009 Banlist Update

    Effective from April 15, 2009

    Banned:

    • No changes

    Unbanned:

    Watchlist:

    Reasoning:

    New Approach: Season of the Mox
    The council has introduced a new policy to temporarily unban specific cards from the banned list for a three-month period, lasting until the next banning season. The first card selected for this initiative is Mox Sapphire, chosen to give control players a small boost in the current aggro-dominated format. Starting from July 15, 2009, the “Season of the Black Mox” will follow.

    Library of Alexandria
    The decision to keep Library of Alexandria in the format was based on several considerations.

    First, the card is thematically iconic. As part of the Arabian Nights set, it is one of the most beloved early expansion cards, and many players see Highlander as a format where they can still use classic, nostalgic cards that have rotated out of other formats. While this alone is not sufficient to justify its inclusion, it reflects the community’s desire for the card to remain playable.

    Second, while Library of Alexandria is undeniably powerful, it is not so broken that it dictates the format. It is not an automatic inclusion in all decks. Beatdown decks, for example, prioritize fast threats and cannot afford to delay their curve by a turn. Similarly, combo decks prioritize specific combo pieces, not random card draw. Even in control decks, the card does not single-handedly win the game. While it provides card advantage, opponents can still adjust their strategy accordingly.

    Although the card can be strong in control mirrors, the statistical likelihood of one player drawing Library of Alexandria on their opening hand is small (about 14% with a 7-card hand). Even when the Library is in play, experienced opponents can counteract its effectiveness by avoiding early plays, forcing the control player to discard, and eventually forcing them to play multiple cards in one turn, making the Library inactive.

    The council’s conclusion is that Library of Alexandria represents a small improvement for control decks, which is acceptable in the current aggro-dominated metagame. Wizards has been printing stronger creatures in recent years while only moderately improving control tools, so giving control a slight boost was deemed appropriate.

    Dust Bowl
    Dust Bowl was originally banned during a time when control decks had to run many colors, and mana/color-screw was much more common due to the absence of the Spoils Mulligan. In that era, a turn 2 or 3 Dust Bowl lock (with acceleration) could decide games by locking opponents at 2 lands while they were unable to develop their board.

    Today, the situation is different. With the Spoils Mulligan, starting hands are more stable, and players can actively seek the right number of lands. Additionally, current decks run a larger number of cheap spells (1-3 mana), so being locked on 3 resources is no longer game-ending. Other card combinations like Life from the Loam + Wasteland or Smokestack + Crucible of Worlds provide a similar effect to Dust Bowl but are already permitted in the format. Therefore, Dust Bowl is being unbanned.

    Timetwister
    Timetwister has long been included as part of the Power 9, but this classification is outdated. While most of the Power 9 are still considered broken, Timetwister has seen significantly less play over the years.

    Highlander already allows similar cards like Time Spiral and Diminishing Returns, neither of which have proven to be too strong. Without Tolarian Academy, which has long been banned, Timetwister is also less powerful in Stax-type decks. Additionally, since many decks in the current metagame rely on graveyard recursion, a card like Timetwister can act as graveyard disruption, shuffling cards like Life from the Loam and Reanimation targets back into their libraries.

    As a card that fits the flavor of classic Magic, offers interaction with the graveyard, and adds variety to deckbuilding, Timetwister is being unbanned.

    Mind Twist
    Mind Twist has been banned for many years, but Wizards of the Coast’s release of Mind Shatter suggests that modern card design does not view it as problematic. Even in Highlander, Mind Shatter has not been a major factor, despite the potential for early mana acceleration to fuel it. This is because early acceleration is often better spent establishing board control rather than forcing the opponent to discard.

    The most oppressive use of Mind Twist comes when it is cast for 5 or more mana, but at that point in the game, opponents with counterspells can respond with cards like Misdirection.

    The council acknowledges that unbanning Dust Bowl, Timetwister, and Mind Twist could create a new Stax archetype. However, since very few players have actively tested Mind Twist while it was on the watchlist, the council has decided to subject it to a “real-life test” to determine if the format can handle it. For this reason, Mind Twist has been re-added to the watchlist.

    Watchlist Changes

    • Ancestral Recall and Wheel of Fortune have proven to be too powerful. Ancestral Recall is easy to abuse with recursion cards like Regrowth and Eternal Witness. The council acknowledges that placing Ancestral Recall on the watchlist during the previous banning season was a mistake, and they apologize for any confusion it caused.
    • Wheel of Fortune is simply too strong in red decks, especially with the abundance of efficient 1- and 2-drops. Red decks can play out their hand early, then force control decks to discard and redraw, often leaving control with a worse hand.
    • Hermit Druid has shown no signs of being problematic, so it is being removed from the watchlist.
    • Back to Basics remains on the watchlist. While one council member considers it the most oppressive card in the format, the majority believe it has a positive impact on format balance.

    Closing Remarks
    The council hopes players enjoy the new possibilities these changes bring. Players are encouraged to share their thoughts in the forum or comments section.

  • January 2009 Banlist Update

    January 2009 Banlist Update

    Effective from January 15, 2009

    Banned:

    • No changes

    Unbanned:

    • No changes

    Watchlist (Changes):

    New Additions to the Watchlist:

    Reasoning:

    The format is currently regarded as very healthy. Extensive discussions were held with a wide range of people from the Highlander community. The most recent Grand Prix clearly demonstrated that a large variety of decks are playable and have a chance to make the Top 8. For the first time, aggro has been overrepresented, but this is seen as a state that control players can adapt to. The Top 8 at Highlander GP 6 was more diverse than ever before.

    New Approach to the Watchlist

    Previously, the watchlist only included legal cards that were considered potentially too strong or harmful for the format. From now on, the watchlist will also include banned cards that we encourage players to test.

    These cards remain banned for tournament play, but they could be considered for an unban in future updates. To avoid confusion, the watchlist will be divided into two categories:

    • Watchlist for legal cards (to monitor potentially problematic cards)
    • Watchlist for banned cards (to encourage testing of cards that could be unbanned)

    A more detailed explanation for individual cards will be provided at a later date.

  • October 2008 Banlist Update

    October 2008 Banlist Update

    Banned: Time Vault

    Time Vault had to go because of the Oracle Wording Change that WotC imposed on TV (<-lol) on Sept. 26, 2008. According to this functional change any untap effect gives you an extra turn in combination with TV. As we have an extremely cheap, permanent means of untapping TV every turn in the form of Voltaic Key, it was plain obvious that one of the two couldn’t survive, since it is effectively the cheapest 2-card-victory combo since Flash/Hulk.
    We decided not to ban the key, but the TV for the key is a versatile utility card and by itself by no means broken. TV would surely only see play to break it and go infinite turns – pure single player magic is the goal of that.

    Unbanned: Mind over Matter

    Ever since we banned Tolarian Academy this has been an overlooked candidate for unbanning. We correct that and allow MoM from October 15th on.

    Unbanned: Library of Alexandria

    We’ve been eyeing on the Library for quite some time, but never actually had the time to test it thoroughly. Several aspects led us to unban it nonetheless:

    • It requires skill to use;
    • it requires you to keep your hand on 6-7 cards at all times which means you’ve either got to have it in your opening hand or play control to be able to profit;
    • apart from MoM, we see no potential for combo abuse.
      Since most control decks already have multiple options to generate significant card advantage, we assume that the Library will be a strong card in these decks, but neither an autowin nor an autoinclude in every other deck. As such, please understand the unban as test-wise. We’ll all see how much impact it will have on the format at the end of November on HL GP 6.
  • July 2008 Banlist Update

    July 2008 Banlist Update

    Effective from July 15, 2008

    Banned:

    Unbanned:

    • No changes

    Watchlist:

    Reasoning:

    Cephalid Breakfast Deck
    This deck, which Oliver Malina piloted to a decisive win at the most recent Highlander Grand Prix, has been found to be too powerful for the Highlander format after extensive testing. This has prompted action from the council.

    Cephalid Illusionist
    Unlike Hermit Druid, which is often played in decks that do not rely on it as a pure combo piece, Cephalid Illusionist serves only as a dedicated combo card. While it requires another card (like Shuko, Lightning Greaves, or an En-Cor creature) to enable the graveyard-filling combo, it has a significant advantage in that it can do so without needing to overcome summoning sickness. Additionally, Cephalid Illusionist can fill the graveyard to a precise level, whereas Hermit Druid mills the entire deck, forcing players to safeguard the combo more thoroughly.

    Dread Return
    Since the Hermit Druid combo is still possible, the council deliberated extensively on whether Hermit Druid should also be banned. Since many players enjoy playing Hermit Druid as a utility card and it has not been a ban-worthy issue outside of this combo, the council decided to disrupt the combo instead. Previously, Hermit Druid in combination with Narcomoeba and Acorn Harvest or Chatter of the Squirrel was a one-card win condition. Now, players must have a reanimation spell in hand to win the game. The decision was made that Dread Return must leave the format. If Hermit Druid still proves to be too strong, it may swap places with Dread Return in a future banning season.

    Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker
    Another two-card combo of concern is Buried Alive and a reanimation spell, which can place Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker, Pestermite, and Karmic Guide in the graveyard to create infinite haste creatures and end the game immediately. This combo can even be constructed as a mono-colored deck, which the council finds threatening enough to act preemptively.

    Painter’s Servant
    The well-known combo of Painter’s Servant and Grindstone from other formats is a two-card instant win combo. With only 6 mana, the game can end instantly. Additionally, since both combo pieces are artifacts, they can be played in nearly any deck. The council has decided that this combo is too strong and too easy to set up, so Painter’s Servant is being banned.

    Chain of Plasma
    The combo of Chain of Plasma and Swans of Bryn Argoll is also too strong. After testing multiple, relatively untuned builds of this deck, the council decided to prevent the potential dominance of this combo in the Highlander format. Since Swans of Bryn Argoll enables interesting board interactions, while Chain of Plasma is essentially a burn spell dealing 3 damage for 2 mana, the council opted to remove Chain of Plasma from the format.

    Watchlist Changes

    Life from the Loam
    The upcoming Retrace mechanic, which allows spells with Retrace to be cast from the graveyard by discarding a land as an additional cost, raises concerns about Life from the Loam. Since it can return lands to hand each turn, it could become a critical enabler for Retrace spells. Because it is unknown which specific Retrace cards will be printed, Life from the Loam has been placed on the watchlist. The council recognizes that Life from the Loam is a central card in the format, so if it needs to be banned, it is likely that other cards will need to be banned as well.

    Hermit Druid
    While the council decided not to ban Hermit Druid at this time, the card is now on the watchlist. If further testing shows that Hermit Druid is still too powerful or enables problematic combos, it may be banned in a future banning season.

    Other Watchlist Changes
    The following cards have been removed from the watchlist because they have shown no problematic behavior:

    General Philosophy: Combos in Highlander
    While it has not been an official part of the banning policy, it has become clear from council discussions that the Highlander council does not want pure combo decks to become Tier 1 archetypes. For the majority of players, combo decks are the least enjoyable to face, as the combo player’s actions often render the opponent’s plays irrelevant. This results in minimal player interaction, which the council does not find desirable.

    Although the council has strived to keep as many deck archetypes viable as Tier 1 decks as possible, the council has now decided to actively promote a more interactive format. This decision was made after weighing the preferences and interests of the player base. While the council recognizes that this move may alienate combo enthusiasts, it believes the overall benefits to the format outweigh this downside.

    From now on, the goal is to ensure that Highlander remains an interactive format, with reduced reliance on non-interactive combo decks. The council acknowledges that this decision could be controversial, but it is committed to following this path.

    Closing Remarks
    Highlander is intended to be a fun and engaging format. Combo decks are generally seen as less enjoyable, especially for the player sitting on the opposite side of the table. The main goal of the banning policy is to promote interaction, and the council believes this step will significantly improve interaction within the format.

  • April 2008 Banlist Update

    April 2008 Banlist Update

    Effective from April 15, 2008

    Banned:

    Unbanned:

    • No changes

    Watchlist:

    • No changes

    Reasoning:
    These changes are purely cosmetic and were made following a suggestion from a user. Both of these cards were not officially listed as banned but were effectively treated as such. As of April 15, 2008, they are now officially part of the banned list.

    Both cards come from a “set” called Happy Holidays (Special) and have a silver border, which typically denotes cards that are not tournament-legal.

  • January 2008 Banlist Update

    January 2008 Banlist Update

    Due to the currently very well-balanced state of the format, no changes will be made to the banned list as of January 15, 2008.

  • October 2007 Banlist Update

    October 2007 Banlist Update

    As of October 1, 2007, no changes will be made to the Banned List or the Watchlist. Based on all known testing results, the changes implemented on July 1 have had exactly the intended effect: Pure combo appears to be knocked out, Stax is significantly weakened, and control is playable once again.

    The only change being officially implemented is the retirement of the old 0-1-7 land Highlander mulligan. It is officially being replaced with the new mulligan, which has proven itself, has generally been well received, and, as far as we know, has already been used for several months in every tournament played under MagicPlayer.org rules.

  • August 2007 Banlist Update

    August 2007 Banlist Update

    Single Card Explanations

    Protean Hulk

    Protean Hulk will be banned from the format because even without Flash he provides a basis for a viable combo deck. By reanimating and sacrificing Hulk the combo engine stays nearly the same. This problem could only be avoided by banning other cards like Entomb. We chose to ban Hulk and not Entomb, because Entomb is “broken” with no other card in the format, but can be put to good use in many decks, while Hulk will always be merely a combo piece. Thus banning Entomb would limit deck building far more than the absence of Hulk does. This decision was based on the same argumentation as the banning of Worldgorger Dragon.

    Flash

    Flash gets banned to get around similar combo decks which could otherwise surprisingly emerge in between two banning seasons if other abuseable creatures hit the format in the future.

    Balance

    Unbanning Balance did not have the desired effect of improving control decks in the format. Instead of that Balance was abused by combo decks as the ultimate no-brainer creature removal. Furthermore the stax deck abused Balance as a combination of Wrath of God/Mind Twist/Armageddon for just two mana. In this respect unbanning Balance was a mistake which we hereby rectify.

    Tolarian Academy

    The last Highlander GP (in Germany, with 96 players competing) showed more than clearly the format-defining position of the Stax deck. Among the Top nine decks four players used such an artifact-based deck. The overwhelming dominance of this decktype was just stopped by extremely fast combo decks like HulkFlash or TPS and another deck which ran a huge load of artifact hate. In addition to that this decktype is confronting the metagame with the permanent threat of massive land destruction. For this reason we decided to intervene by banning the most powerful and threatening card of this deck type: Tolarian Academy.

    While it’s true that artifacts can easily be destroyed, we feel it’s not healthy if success in our format depends on either being able to destroy at least two artifacts by turn four, or even having won by then already. We think that ‘Stax’ decks will remain playable even without Tolarian Academy. If this should turn out wrong, the power of this deck was obviously based on one “broken” card. Since all other decks (except for Yawgmoth’s Will in TPS, see next paragraph) lack access to comparably powerful cards, we decided to take regulating action here.

    Yawgmoth’s Will

    Especially the decision whether we want the TPS deck to stay in the format in its actual form took us a long time and alot of debating. At last we decided to subscribe to the view of Hajo, SimonG and some other people and ban Yawgmoth’s Will. The other option would have been to ban Gifts Ungiven. But Gifts does not do such broken things in other decks and is also an important card in every control deck. This is the reason why we want to keep Gifts in the format. Possibly TPS will now shift to being played Iggy-Pop-style, replacing Y.W. by Ill-Gotten-Gains, but we are convinced that the resulting deck won’t be powerful enough to be a viable pure combo deck. We assume the deck will have to play some kind of other, defensive strategies to get the extra time needed.

    Lion’s Eye Diamond

    Lion’s Eye Diamond is another card which is only interesting for combo decks and would probably turn out to be the basis for the next-best combo deck with Auriok Salvagers. Since we don’t want to jump out of the frying pan and into the fire, we applied preventive measures here.

    Because Tolarian Academy is no longer permitted, Crop Rotation can rotate back in and will be legal for play use in Magicplayer-Highlander as of 07/15/2007.

    Changes to the Mulligan rule

    The new Mulligan rule has been accepted as expected and we have received very positive feedback. The major criticisms have been addressed by the changes presented below, since the Combo-decks have had there potency greatly reduced, and many saw the combo-decks advantaged by this mulligan rule. The problem of “receiving a bad hand after the new mulligan and subsequently having to mulligan to 6 cards = Autoloss”, will be prevented by allowing the Mulligan rule once for the hand of his choosing. If you receive a bad 7 card hand, you could directly go to 6 cards without rejecting any cards. You can then apply the new mulligan rule on the 6 card hand so you would not be entirely helpless to a 7 card optimized hand.

    In General

    We have extended our Banning Policy to include the following point 5:

    Point 5 of the Banning Policy

    If a deck is playable only because of the existence of a “broken” card, then it has no right to existence in this environment and the broken card will be banned.

    It is clear to us that there are points of argument regarding this case and that the decisions made under this point must be extremely well considered. We will continue to attempt to cater to your demands as well as our own in regard to care in maintaining and creating a healthy and balanced format.

    Further Thoughts

    The idea of unbanning further tutor cards and the future strategy of key-card bannings, was critically addressed. However, we concluded that the number of available good tutors is adequate. Unbanning further tutors would not provide any advantages. Especially regarding the Mystical Tutor, we spent a long time debating its worth. We decided it to be a Combo-Tutor card. Since we want to distance ourselves somewhat from excellent combodecks and also do not wish decks such as WWu and Stax to gain further tutors for their Armageddon-Effects, the decision was made to keep the card banned.

    Demonic Tutor

    Demonic Tutor remains as the best tutor in the format since we wish to have one really good, universal tutor in this format and consider this tutor to be less dangerous than Vampiric Tutor especially since Balance will no longer be legal. In our opinion, the sorcery speed and the double cost is a greater disadvantage than not having the card directly in your hand. The Vampiric is considered the best tutor for any potentially emerging future combodeck. Even the possibility in a control deck to wait for a threat from the opponent and in response an EoT tutor to search for the perfect answer is considered by us stronger than the advantage of the Demonic.

    Mystical Tutor

    Mystical Tutor presents the same advantages. Mystical Tutor searches for effects that can only be countered in contrast to enlightened tutor or worldly tutor which search for “Permanents” which can be attended to in various ways. As an example, just think of how good this addition to the HulkFlash deck would have been: it will find the Hulk (through the Summoner’s Pact), as well as the Flash, and even Duress, Orim’s Chant or Abeyance in order to protect the combo.

    Insertion:

    In addition – and this is just my personal opinion! – Demonic Tutor has a sense of charm that no other Magic card achieves. A banning of this card reduces the flare of Magic somewhat.

    Umezawa’s Jitte

    Umezawa’s Jitte has not been unbanned despite several demands from players in the Forum. The reason remains the same as the reason we originally banned the card. We decided to ban Umezawa’s Jitte for the following reasons:

    1. Powerlevel and casting cost: Jitte provides a way too high powerlevel according to it’s casting costs and card type (artifact). Jitte combines multiple important functions in one card. It offers board control and fast kills for just two mana. Because the equipped creature only needs to deal damage, not combat damage, Jitte is almost always impossible to handle.
    2. Missing self-regulation: The intended self-regulation through its legendary status (my Jitte destroys your Jitte) from WotC’s R&D does not work for Jitte. It’s far less likely to draw Umezawa’s Jitte the time needed than in other formats to destroy the opposing Jitte. Thereby the luck factor in a aggro vs. aggro matchup becomes more and more important because a Jitte which could not be handled for two or more turns is in most cases equal to victory.

    Besides, Umezawa’s Jitte in this format presents an unwelcome and unnecessary worsening of the format.

    Conclusion

    We hope with these decision to have allowed a better and broader metagame which has less of a Type 1 feeling. This time we have attempted to achieve a greater level of transparency in our decisions. We are greatly looking forward to your discussions in the forum may it be criticisms or compliments: http://www.magicplayer.org/forum/index.php?board=16.0

  • July 2007 Banlist Update

    July 2007 Banlist Update

    Banned List for tournament Highlander Magic.

    Valid during July 15th, 2007 0:00 CET until October 14th, 2007 24:00 CET. Please note changes as of July 15th! Until July 14th, 2007 (incl.) the format is valid without the changes. This depends on the starting date of the tournament.

    Changes to the present list, effective 07/15/2007:

    Banned

    Unbanned