Category: Banlist updates

  • August 2023 Watchlist Update

    August 2023 Watchlist Update

    Ban Watchlist

    • Oath of Druids
    • True-Name Nemesis  removed
    • Urza’s Saga

    Unban Watchlist

    • Gifts Ungiven
    • Library of Alexandria
    • White Plume Adventurer removed

    Unban Trial

    (The following cards are on unban trial, starting 15.08.2023 for 3 months. The next change to their status would be on 15.11.2023)

    • Gifts Ungiven
    • Library of Alexandria

    Single card explanations

    True Name Nemesis

    True-Name Nemesis turned out to be just another power-full three drop in our format. We do not see any capability of the card to be as game decisive as it used be 4-5 Years ago. As a consequence, it will be removed from the ban watchlist.

    White Plume Adventurer

    We’ve previously stated, that the cheapest Initiative threat is the most dangerous, which led to the ban of White Plume Adventurer. Without any errata to the Initiative or The Undercity, this effect on a three mana creature with reasonable stats and an ability that helps to defend the initiative is too problematic. For now, we do not see any room for an unban of the card, hence it will be removed from the unban watchlist.

    Gifts Ungiven

    Gifts Ungiven offers players the flexibility to search up value piles, a combo finish or simply the best four cards in their decks. In itself, this effect sounds extremely powerful (and probably still is), but is it still enough to warrant a ban?
    The power-level of cards and our format has increased since the original banning of Gifts Ungiven back in 2011. As a consequence, the card has now to compete with a variety of cards in the same CMC slot. On top, interaction on the stack, the board and the graveyard have substantially improved in the last 12 Years.
    Inspired by the feedback of the community that we received, the card will be available for an unban trial. Is it still too strong? Does resolving the card take too much time and makes it thus a bad experience for tournament play? We encourage everyone to experiment with the card and providing us feedback.

    Library of Alexandria

    There was a time when playing Library of Alexandria on the draw turn one was game decisive. In 2010, the card was banned because of its dominance in control mirrors and price tag. While we want the format to be as accessible as possible, most communities already allow proxies and we do not consider price tags as a reason for bannings.
    The card still has the potential to dominate slower match-ups, but it comes at a significant cost. With the increase of power-level and speed, it became almost mandatory to have a play on turn 1 (be it a permanent or a spell to interact). These constraints also affect the mana base, as including only colorless mana producing lands has become a real cost.
    Thus, we think that the card should be available for an unban trial. As in the case of Gifts Ungiven, we will appreciate everyone testing the card and providing us feedback.

    Contact us

    Next scheduled banlist update: August 1st, 2023

  • May 2023 Banlist Update

    May 2023 Banlist Update

    Changes to the present banned list, effective 15/05/2023.

    Banned

    Unbanned

    Ban watchlist

    Unban watchlist

    Single card explanation

    White Plume Adventurer

    The tight grip that the Initiative mechanic has held over the midrange matchups of the format hasn’t loosened up since we initially put WPA on the watchlist. Since WotC hasn’t shown any interest in fixing the mechanic themselves (by nerfing The Undercity for example) we don’t see any other way forward than to take action ourselves.
    We’ve previously stated, that the cheapest Initiative threat is the most dangerous and for this reason we are banning White Plume Adventurer.

    True-Name Nemesis

    The HL format is hardly the same it was back in 2019, when TNN was added to the ban list. While still being able to take over some games, he is hardly as fearsome as he used to be. As our own testing and the majority of the feedback we have gotten during the trial phase has shown that the merfolk is just another good 3-drop nowadays we have decided to unban True-Name Nemesis.

    Birthing Pod

    When we unbanned Pod in November last year we stated that “a three month trial period cannot show all effects on the meta and we will keep an eye on the development of the format with Birthing Pod.”
    Another six months have passed since then and while Birthing Pod is in fact a strong card, it hasn’t lead to any initially unforeseen unhealthy play patterns. After this additional surveillance period we are now removing Birthing Pod from the watchlist.

    Oko, Thief of Crowns

    Today marks the 3-year-anniversary of Oko being introduced to the watch list. While the Planeswalker is still a very strong card and can sometimes be frustrating to play against, numerous answers have been printed since 2020 and what once seemed almost like it couldn’t be dealt with, can now be handled by almost any deck (Not more or less difficult than other Planeswalker anyway).
    We do believe that there will be even more viable solutions to Oko printed in the future. For now, the Thief of Crowns has served his time on the watchlist and is free once more.
    We are removing Oko, Thief of Crowns from the watchlist.

    Gifts Ungiven

    While Oko’s three years might sound like a long time initially, they do get dwarfed by the almost incomprehensible 12 years, that Gifts Ungiven has been on the ban list already. Most Highlander players never experienced a format with the powerful instant. Even nowadays, the council statement from the initial banning holds up:

    The three most common scenarios with Gifts have been: tutor up the four best cards for any given situation (tutoring for overall quality), setup a strong graveyard based synergy, or pave a way for a combo win initiated during next turns. So in a sense, Gifts has been both a powerful tutor, as well as an instant draw on steroids at the same time in combo/control builds. When abusing this card, the most broken scenarios have been the ones where Gifts has been used to tutor up a suite of win conditions that in the end leave the opponent no way out.

    While combo cards, graveyard synergies, win conditions and the overall power level of cards in general has gone up since then, one very important thing has also changed: The speed of the format.

    We still recognize Gifts Ungiven as a very powerful tutor spell that can set up all kinds of shenanigans that weren’t even around back when it was first banned (Sevinne’s Reclamation / Unburial Rites+Fatty – Yes, you read that one right! The original Innistrad released exactly one day before Gifts Ungiven was banned, so HL players never got to experience that combo!) but we do at the same time think that the format might be fast enough today to not have it being dominated by it.
    To have the potential to test Gifts Ungiven in a future Trial, we are adding the card to the unban watchlist.

    Library of Alexandria

    One-upping even Gifts Ungiven, this land was banned in 2010, almost 13 years ago, after being legal since 2008.
    The two main reasons given back then were dominance in control mirrors and the price tag (If people back then knew what cards would be worth today…).
    We do want the format to be as accessible as possible but card prices are no longer leading to bans.
    As for the dominance in control mirrors (or other matchups): The same logic in regards to the speed of the format explained above with Gifts Ungiven applies here.
    To have the potential to test Library of Alexandria in a future Trial, we are adding the card to the unban watchlist.

    Miscellaneous

    Every now and then players are asking if they are allowed to bring a wishboard. To make it clear for everyone, the homepage rules section will be updated: For rules purposes, the only cards a player owns during a tournament match are the ones contained in the deck they are currently playing.

  • February 2023 Watchlist Update

    February 2023 Watchlist Update

    Ban watchlist

    Unban trial candidate 

    This card is unbanned for the next 3 months until the next announcement.

    Single card explanations

    White Plume Adventurer

    Over the past few months the arrival of Initiative as a mechanic has shaken many eternal formats to their core (Vintage, Legacy and Pauper) and it has done so as well for Highlander. In a 1-v-1 singleton format the answers to the Initiative are few and the mechanic has started to warp our format. The Initiative might be one, if not the best thing to do for “fair” decks. Even dedicated midrange/goodstuff lists often get outvalued by a single Initiative threat. The sooner you get the Initiative, the easier it gets to “ride it to victory”, making the cheapest Initiative threat the most dangerous. Therefore, we decided to monitor the Initiative closely and to put White Plume Adventurer on the watchlist.

    True-Name Nemesis

    True-Name Nemesis was banned in October 2019. Since then, the format has dramatically shifted. Spell-based combo and control are close to non existent, while creature centric decks are ubiquitous. With TNN back to the mix our reasoning is, that TNN from a Goodstuff/Midrange/Tempo deck is “just another 3-drop threat”, whilst it is a much-needed roadblock for more control-ish decks. In non-control decks TNN is a resistant but stat-wise overcosted threat, that is often outclassed by its more aggressive counterparts and doesn’t generate card advantage (which most 3-drops do nowadays). In control decks it is a much-needed answer to Monarch and Initiative, while also being able to play offensive and defense. This trial is clearly risky. We are aware, that this might lead to an uprise of Tempo decks. On the other hand, it might establish Control as a force to be reckoned with and help to keep the Initiative in check. For the three-month Trial Period we are willing to take these risk and hope to shake up the format in new and interesting ways. As usual we rely on your feedback as a community to evaluate this Trial Period.

    New council member

    We are happy to announce our new Council member Felix (BourbKi), who has applied to join us and will from now on be part of this council. Felix has been known for his active participation and community engagement for quite some time. Beside of his current work on the recent local establishment of a local Highlander League in Berlin, he was particularly noticeable because of his always friendly and fair dealings with other community members. We are looking forward to work with Felix in the future.

    Contact us

    Next scheduled banlist update: May 1st, 2023

  • November 2022 Banlist Update

    November 2022 Banlist Update

    Changes to the present banned list, effective 15/11/2022:

    Unbanned

    Ban watchlist

    Single card explanations

    Birthing Pod

    The last 3 month have shown us that this card is not as scary anymore as it was when it was banned. With the current meta being a lot faster and punishing against the life loss, we did not observe any domination by Birthing Pod. In fact we noticed that it was not played as much and left a lot of lists that were prime candidates to play it. However, a three month trial period cannot show all effects on the meta and we will keep an eye on the development of the format with Birthing Pod.

    Attractions and Cards from the Unfinity set

    To clarify the questions regarding the legality of attractions and cards from the Unfinity set; We’ve decided to go with the same way WotC put forward. This means all eternal legal cards from this set will also be legal in European Highlander (“Not every card in the set has an acorn symbol. The other cards, known as “eternal cards,” are just like cards in any other expansion. They conform to the Comprehensive Rules, although in many cases they necessitated new rules being written.”

    If there should be the need to ban certain cards in the future, we will adjust this accordingly over the normal banning of said cards.

    Contact us

    Next scheduled banlist update: February 1st, 2023

  • August 2022 Watchlist Update

    August 2022 Watchlist Update

    Changes to the present watch list, effective 15/08/2022:

    Ban watchlist

    Unban watchlist

    Because we are testing Birthing Pod for an unban we are putting the card on the unban watchlist.
    If we decide not to unban Birthing Pod after evaluating its trial period, we will remove it from the watchlist again.

    Trial Period

    The following card will be unbanned from August 15th till November 1st 2022.(It will be default banned at that date unless it specifically gets unbanned)

    • Birthing Pod

    Single card explanations

    Birthing Pod

    The discussion about this card is going on for quite a while, and we think currently the format is in a pretty good shape, with a lot of diversity. Therefore, we think it is a good time to shake up the format a bit and try out cards that might not be as broken/influencing anymore as they were when they were banned. This time we want to test out Birthing Pod for 3 month to see how it performs.

    To further improve the format and gain valuable information we need your input, worries and opinions on these changes and views on the format. Do not hesitate to contact any of us via private message or just start a topic in the forum.

    Contact us

    Next scheduled banlist update: November 1st, 2022

  • May 2022 Banlist Update

    May 2022 Banlist Update

    Changes to the present banned list, effective 15/05/2022:

    Banned

    Unbanned

    Ban Watchlist

    Unban Watchlist

    Single card explanations

    Underworld Breach

    This enchantment has enabled one of the most powerful and resilient combo decks the format has seen. Although not putting up huge player numbers, the dominance of the deck, if picked up, was undeniable. Similar to the artifact deck that was powered by Tolarian Academy, the Underworld Breach deck led to undesirable and frustrating gameplay. While bans to the card Tolarian Academy itself and Thassa’s Oracle were initially thought to be sufficient to cut back on Breaches powerlevel, the core of the deck proved to still be more than competitive enough. New additions like Urza’s Saga and Lier, Disciple of the Drowned helped the deck to secure its spot at the top. Unmatched in raw speed (thanks to the fact that it basically runs Black Lotus as part of the combo), incredible adjustability to almost any situation on the board due to a plentora of tutor spells and the possibility to grind out opponents that overloaded on combo-interaction with backup plans like ThopterSword, Oath of Druids or Retrofitter Foundry made the deck a nightmare to deal with.
    In our statement regarding combo decks in the format we emphasized that we not only want these decks to not go above a certain degree of speed but also to allow meaningful interactions and decisions that matter to the outcome of the game.
    Unfortunately, after having monitored the situation for quite a while, we think that these fundamentals of the format are violated by the card in question.
    It is therefore that Underworld Breach is banned!

    Uro, Titan of Nature’s Wrath

    This stabilizer turned every non-combo matchup into a grindfest due to the fact that Uro can not conclusively be dealt with by discard, counterspells or non-exile removal. Uro is engine, enabler and payoff in just one card. Including it in an UGx shell has basically no downside since it fuels itself while being easily tutorable. While other format staples have similar qualities, the inevitability of Uro puts it over the top. As soon as Uro is found by an UGx-player via draw, selfmill or tutoring, the game revolves around it and even if handled once or twice it will eventually win the game either by attacking or just by outvaluing the opponent. It often has an extremely smothering effect on the game by drowning the opponent in card advantage, while at the same time limiting the UGx players opportunity to make meaningful decisions, since very little is better than looping Uros. The combination of Uro/Oko/Life from the Loam emphasized these strengths of UGx to a point, where it was by far the “best fair thing you could do”. We hope this banning will result in more deck diversity and lead the community to explore new, different, and exciting paths of deck building.

    Mind Twist

    Similar to Umezawa’s Jitte , we mostly got positive feedback on this card during the trial period. While some concerns were raised about frustrating gameplay experiences when on the receiving end of a Mindtwist we ultimately think that these situations will be few and far between. Mind Twist stays on the watchlist for now, in case we were to be wrong about this. However, we are confident that the results of the trial period are valid and there won’t be reasons for unease.

    Intuition

    Intuition has been a powerful tutor for a long time already and even enjoyed a short period on the watchlist previously for setting up strong interactions with cards like Sevinne’s Reclamation . Then it was mainly used for cards like Uro and Life from the Loam in order to get card advantage from it. This was already raising eyebrows from players about the power level of this card, but with the edition of channel lands, it crossed the line into brokenness, at times essentially providing almost always 3+ cards. While not being that fast at 3CMC, it often turns into a powerful shell for escaping Uro as well as setting up for a lot more card advantage in future turns if paired with Loam/Channel Lands/Urza’s Saga. Despite the current Uro ban, we want to keep monitoring this card and its interactions, so we decided to put it on the watchlist again.

    Dig Through Time / Opposition Agent / Tainted Pact

    All three of these cards have been on the list for quite a bit of time now. While all of them are very potent we don’t think that any one of them is a cause for concern at the moment. We are therefore removing them from the watchlist.

    Birthing Pod

    With two bannings and one unbanning as well as the recent release of a new set there is already plenty of change happening in the format. While we might ultimately end up testing an unban of Birthing Pod we’ve decided that it would be best to run trials like this only after watchlist announcements (or maybe ban announcements without any other changes) as to being able to better assess the influence of a trialed card. For now we would like to hear your feedback about a possible unban of the powerful phyrexian artifact.

    Contact us

    Next scheduled banlist update: August 1st, 2022

  • February 2022 Watchlist Update

    February 2022 Watchlist Update

    Changes to the present watch list, effective 15/02/2022:

    Ban watchlist

    Unban watchlist

    Because we are testing Mind Twist for an unban (see next point Trial Period) we are putting the card on the unban watchlist.
    If we decide not to unban Mind Twist after evaluating its trial period, we will remove it from the watchlist again (similar to how we previously dealt with Skullclamp).

    Trial Period

    The following card will be unbanned from February 15th till May 1st 2022. It will be default banned at that date unless it specifically gets unbanned:

    Single card explanations

    Umezawa’s Jitte

    This powerful equipment was unbanned with our last announcement after being extensively tested during a trial period. Because Jitte didn’t prove to be problematic during either the trial period or the time since the unban we have decided to remove it from the watchlist as we don’t expect this card to be banworthy again any time soon.

    Mind Twist

    We want to continue to give some cards that have been on the banned list now for quite some time a chance to reenter the format. The choice this time fell on Mind Twist as we thought the card to be least unfair. The general idea is, that Mind Twist only shines when it is played for 4 or more mana (Hymn to Tourach is the more efficient card at lower values!). However Highlander has become much faster over recent years. People play lower mana curves and a four mana spell that doesn’t evolve your board has to be pretty good to be played. We think Mind Twist is still a good card, but we don’t think that it is as much of a deciding factor in our game as it used to be some years ago.
    We especially want to gather feedback on whether or not Mind Twist exclusively leads to “unfun” play experiences for the person casting it or the one being on the receiving end (games being decided by hitting either no relevant cards or all relevant cards).

    To further improve the format and gain valuable information we need your input, worries and opinions on these changes and views on the format. Do not hesitate to contact any of us via private message or just start a topic in the forum.

    Contact us

    Next scheduled banlist update: May 1st, 2022

  • November 2021 Banlist Update

    November 2021 Banlist Update

    Changes to the present banned list, effective 15/11/2021:

    Banned

    Unbanned

    Single card explanations

    Umezawa’s Jitte

    A powerful equipment for sure, Jitte was deemed to be over the limit for a long time. But, in the days of fast, aggressive and powerful tempo decks, the initial investment of 4 mana to get the card going means it is not so over the top anymore. That’s not to say it isn’t potent. In fact beyond the 1st activation it is anything but weak. Still, during the trial period we got mostly positive feedback on this card and that’s why we feel confident Umezawa’s Jitte can stay in the format for now.

    Skullclamp

    Clamp in testing was warping decks towards smaller creatures, tutoring and anti-clamp tech. We saw an uptick of Stoneforge Mystic and Steelshaper’s Gift being played. Also Urza’s Saga, as the newcomer of the format, was used for this. Anti-clamp techs saw various artifact hate and instant based removal being played.
    The trial period showed that Skullclamp mostly wasn’t healthy for the format because it was warping games, it was included in from a card advantage point of view, and it was also freezing the boardstates into an unfun holding pattern with little to no hope of out-tempo’ing or out-value’ing the card. This was most crucially evident in midrange on midrange matches where advantages gained from Clamp could not be compensated for by the opponent. At the same time, the card pushed out many decks that didn’t have a chance to be competitive (in particular control decks that are already lagging behind) due to clamp being in the format.

    As Skullclamp has proven to be too powerful for the format as of now we have decided to keep it banned as well as to remove it from the unban watchlist for the time being!

    Secret Lair x The Walking Dead

    The ban of the Walking Dead Secret Lair never happened due to power or in-game reasons. Because the original contributing factors for the ban have been taken care off by Wizards, we don’t see any more reasons to keep the TWD cards banned. Therefore we decided that future “Universe Beyond”-cards will be legal in our format, too.

    Ban watchlist

    Unban Watchlist

    Additional Topics

    Secret Lair Statement

    As stated above WotC announced future “Secret Lair// Universe Beyond”-cards will also see printings in regular sets or on the “List”. (Source: https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/news/secret-lair-universes-beyond-update-2021-06-07) Therefore they will be available much more easily and we decided that future “Universe Beyond”-cards will be legal in our format.

    Trial-Period Feedback and changes

    We were satisfied with the Trial Period as an instrument to playtest possible unban candidates. As it was the first time, we applied this instrument, we now have the opportunity to evolve this tool and adjust it to the specific needs of our player base.

    A large number of players were concerned, that the duration of the Trial Phase was too long. In the possible but hopefully not imminent case of the trial of a meta-breaking card, this would lead to an unhealthy metagame for a long period of time. Therefore, we decided to limit the Trial Period to three months. Some might be concerned that this time span is too short, but we felt that three months are enough to at least get a gist on the effects a possible unban will have on the format without influencing and possibly hurting the metagame for a long period of time.

    Possible trial candidates are all cards mentioned on the Unban watchlist, emphasizing its importance. If you see banned cards you would like included on the Unban watchlist and therefore possibly tested in a trial period, please mention them in your feedback of your own Trial Period testing.

    Furthermore, the Trial Period will be linked to the Watchlist announcements, giving us the possibility to react to the results of the testing and the community feedback in our upcoming Ban announcement. In this context we want to stress again how vital your input is in the further progression of our format.

    To further improve the format and gain valuable information we need your input, worries and opinions on these changes and views on the format. So please do not hesitate to contact any of us via private message or just start a topic in the forum.

    Contact us

    Next scheduled banlist update: February 1st, 2022

  • August 2021 Watchlist Update

    August 2021 Watchlist Update

    Ban watchlist

    Unban watchlist

    Single card explanations

    Demonic Tutor

    The discussion about tutors in Highlander is as old as the format itself. After years on the watch list, we now decided to take Demonic Tutor from the watchlist. Tainted Pact will stay for now. This has the following reasons. First and foremost, we are quite happy with the banned/unbanned status of the tutors today. Of the really powerful tutors Demonic Tutor, Tainted Pact, Imperial Seal, Vampiric Tutor, Mystical Tutor, Enlightened Tutor and Worldly Tutor, the latter two are of a manageable power level, because they create card disadvantage and their scope is somewhat limited. Demonic Tutor and Imperial Seal on the other hand have a maximal scope but are much slower at sorcery speed, which we deem also ok. Vampiric Tutor and Mystical Tutor on the other hand, are not only instant but the breadth of their scope pushes them over the top in terms of power level. Finally Tainted Pact is a somewhat complicated animal. It is instant and has a very large scope, however it restricts deckbuilding to a significant degree and some combos can’t really make use of it because they risk to exile other necessary combo pieces. Our experience is, that Tainted Pact is ok in good-stuff decks however the printing of Laelia, the Blade Reforged and related effects prevented a majority for taking it of the watchlist too.

    Urza’s Saga

    Modern Horizons II introduced many powerful new staples to our format. A standout of these is Urza’s Saga. Being a land makes it exceptionally hard to interact with, while generating a board presence and tutoring value engines (Retrofitter Foundry, Skullclamp), hate pieces (Relic of Progenitus, Pithing Needle) or combo pieces (Zuran Orb, Expedition Map, Grindstone). It finds inclusion in all archetypes and might be overly powerful in comparison to the rest of the format. The singleton nature of Highlander emphasizes its strength even more, being a land, threats and value in just one card.
    We do want to watch its development closer and have the possibility to take action against it if necessary.

    Thassa’s Oracle

    In the last update we stated our vision of combo decks in the format. Therefore there is currently no reason to keep Thassa’s Oracle on the Watchlist for the moment.

    Other Topics

    Discussion of Skullclamp and Umezawa’s Jitte

    Half of the test phase of the unbanning of Skullclamp and Umezawa’s Jitte is now over and at this point we would like to ask you how your feeling are about those cards in Highlander. For that reason we will start discussions here in the Forum as well as on Facebook within the next week and want to encourage you to tell us your experiences with those cards. Additionally, you are welcome to write any of us directly or use the council email for direct feedback.

    Use of Proxies in European Highlander

    We noticed the recurring discussions about the use of proxies1 or playtest cards2 in highlander, as the price of decks and cards always increases. That’s why we need to state that we cannot decide for or against the use of those at all. The use of proxies is completely with the tournament organizers and these are usually bound to the specifications given by WotC.
    The boundaries between proxies, playtest cards and counterfeits are partly fluid and subjective.
    This means there is a possibility for store owners to lose their contracts if they allow those on sanctioned tournaments or even if people play with those in their store. Additionally, the harm of counterfeits3 is imminent and not only hurts the store but is also a legal offense that a tournament organizer cannot permit.

    All in all we cannot give any regulations for the use of proxies / playtest cards in the format as we are not in charge here. And of course as we want to support our local games stores we cannot recommend to allow proxies or playtest cards on official tournaments. However, we want to support the use of playtest cards in any casual environment outside of a tournament.
    And last but not least we want to distance ourselves from ANY counterfeits. Using, buying, selling etc these is a legal offense and we would never accept these in any tournament nor store environment.

    1Proxies = a placeholder card given out by a judge as a replacement e.g. for a marked or damaged card during a tournament; only legal for this specific tournament; c.f.: Magic Tournament Rules 3.4 (status: July 23, 2021)
    2Playtest cards = what players really mean if they talk about proxies; a placeholder for a card in your deck, not legal on official WotC tournaments
    3Counterfeits = a fake card; something that imitates a card produced by WotC; Proxies and playtest cards that are not immediately recognizable as those are also included here

    Dungeon Mechanic in European Highlander

    Dungeons aren’t cards in the traditional sense, but are regarded more as tokens. They can’t go into your deck, and their main function is as a specialized progress marker. That’s fine in Highlander and they’ll work as normal. We take the very same stance on Dungeons as has been taken in Commander.

    Contact us

    Next scheduled banlist update: November 1st, 2021