Category: Banlist updates

  • April 2007 Banlist Update

    April 2007 Banlist Update

    Effective from April 15, 2007

    The decisive factor is the start date of the tournament or the date for which a tournament is scheduled.

    Changes to the previous list:

    • No changes
  • January 2007 Banlist Update

    January 2007 Banlist Update

    As of January 1, 2007, no changes were made to the banned or watchlist. There is a lack of meaningful test and tournament results.

  • November 2006 Banlist Update

    November 2006 Banlist Update

    Banned:

    Unbanned:

    Watch List (Changes):

    Added to Watchlist:

    Removed from Watchlist:

    Reasoning:

    1. Crop Rotation
    The format is currently perceived as healthy, with many different deck types being playable and played. However, TPS (The Perfect Storm) has emerged as a front-runner due to its immense speed, which surpasses many other decks. It is considered essential for the format to keep “combo” viable but to prevent it from becoming absolutely dominant. For this reason, Crop Rotation was banned in order to remove what is effectively a second Tolarian Academy from the deck, thereby reducing its explosiveness.

    2. Mana Vault
    The banning of Mana Vault was guided by the concept of a “gradual slowdown” of the format. Mana Vault creates situations where 5 or more mana can be generated on turn 2, leading to game states that become irreversible at such an early stage of the game. Moreover, it has been observed that the currently above-average decks — Stax, TPS, and FiresGeddon — all make use of Mana Vault. In an effort to intervene and slow down the pace of the game, Mana Vault was banned.

    3. Trinisphere
    Trinisphere can create a turn 1 lock with the help of Mishra’s Workshop (and other cards), which most decks cannot overcome. The Grand Prix-winning Stax deck made heavy use of Trinisphere to prevent the opponent from taking any meaningful actions or responses. To reduce such early decisions in the game and to maintain a chance for players to recover from early setbacks, Trinisphere was banned.

    4. Balance
    Balance has been reintroduced to the format. It has become apparent from the Grand Prix and other developments that control decks have fallen behind and are not being played successfully. To make control more attractive and provide a useful tool against the Beatdown strategies of various decks, Balance was unbanned.

    5. Watchlist Changes

  • July 2006 Banlist Update

    July 2006 Banlist Update

    Banned List:

    Watch List:

    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:

    1. Preserve format diversity: As many different deck types as possible should be tournament-viable.
    2. Allow combo decks but prevent dominance: Combo decks should be possible, but they should not dominate the meta.
    3. Ban as few cards as necessary: The fewer bans, the better.
    4. 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.

  • April 2006 Banlist Update

    April 2006 Banlist Update

    The following changes are effective from April 15, 2006 for all tournaments in the MagicPlayer.org Highlander format:

    Banned:

    Unbanned:

    We hope that these changes will lead to an even broader and more diversified metagame.

  • January 2006 Banlist Update

    January 2006 Banlist Update

    After long discussions and intense deliberations, we have decided to reset the banned list at the start of the year. A total of 14 cards have been unbanned and only one card has been banned. We hope this will bring fresh energy to the format and help us develop the ideal banned list for the Highlander format.

    This marks a significant departure from our previous approach of continuous maintenance of the list, which was originally based on the old 1.5 format. We are now venturing into a new space where combo decks may find their place in the format.

    All unbannings are to be understood as test unbannings, meaning that it should be expected that cards which prove to be too strong will be returned to the banned list at the next update (the next update is scheduled for April 15, 2006).

    We now invite everyone to put the cards to the test and help identify which cards may be too powerful for our format.

    Banned Cards

    All “Ante” Cards (Banned)

    Unglued & Unhinged

    All cards from the sets “Unglued” and “Unhinged” are banned, with the exception of basic lands.

  • October 2005 Banlist Update

    October 2005 Banlist Update

    Changes to the MagicPlayer Highlander Format as of October 15, 2005, 12:00 a.m. CET:

    Banned

    • Umezawa’s Jitte

    Unbanned

    • No changes

    Added to the Watchlist

    • Back to Basics
    • Gifts Ungiven
    • Wonder

    Removed from the Watchlist

    • Eternal Witness
    • Price of Progress
    • Regrowth
    • Umezawa’s Jitte

    Reasoning

    The council has decided to ban Umezawa’s Jitte for the following reasons:

    1. Power Level and Casting Cost:
      For its cost (2 mana) and type (artifact), Umezawa’s Jitte has a power level that is too high. It serves several strong functions at once — board control and faster kills — for too little mana. Unlike Sword of Fire and Ice, the equipped creature does not need to deal damage to a player but only needs to deal combat damage at all, meaning the Jitte is usually active immediately.
    2. Lack of Self-Regulation:
      The self-regulation mechanism intended by R&D due to the Jitte’s Legendary type (where “my Jitte destroys your Jitte”) does not work in the Highlander format. In Highlander, it is very unlikely to draw one’s own Jitte at just the right moment, unlike in other formats where this happens more frequently. As a result, the Aggro vs. Aggro matchup becomes highly luck-dependent, since an unanswered Jitte, even for just 2-3 turns, often creates an insurmountable lead.

    Additionally, the council has recognized the issue of a metagame-dominating U/G Aggro-Control deck but wishes to give players the opportunity to address this development through their own deck-building choices. However, to prevent further stagnation of the format, additional bans will be made on January 1, 2006, if necessary.

  • July 2005 Banlist Update

    July 2005 Banlist Update

    Effective from July 15, 2005, 00:00 CET, the MagicPlayer Highlander format will be updated as follows:

    Banned:

    Unbanned:

    Watchlist:

    Added:

    Reasoning:

    1. Strip Mine:
    Despite its completely symmetrical design, a large number of Highlander players consider the card to be unfair and fun-destroying. As a result, the council, despite some reservations, decided to ban the card from the Highlander format. Originally added as a replacement for Dust Bowl to provide more than just Wasteland as a means to deal with annoying non-basic lands like Maze of Ith or Volrath’s Stronghold, it unfortunately turned out that Strip Mine was much more frequently used as an early attempt to color-screw or mana-screw the opponent. The effect could also be repeatedly abused with cards like:

    These interactions made the lock effect far too strong.

    2. Imperial Seal:
    Although very few players actually own this card, it had to be added to the banned list for the sake of completeness. The number of strong and playable tutors should remain limited to prevent combo decks from becoming too strong. Vampiric Tutor has always been banned, and for consistency, Imperial Seal is now banned as well.

    3. Necropotence:
    In light of the current strength of Tier 1 decks and the BBB casting cost, it was decided to allow Necropotence again. The goal is to give heavy-black decks a card that can compete with the power level of frequently played blue cards like Gifts Ungiven and Intuition. In the Highlander format, Necropotence has access to fewer effective life-gain effects than in traditional formats, meaning that playing the card carries a significantly higher risk. As a result, it is considered fair for this format.

    4. Enlightened Tutor:
    The color white is traditionally one of the weaker colors in Magic overall, and especially in Highlander. To give white mages a way to respond more flexibly to situations and to slightly counteract Red Deck Wins (RDW), since specific “hoser” cards can now be effectively available twice, Enlightened Tutor is being unbanned.

  • April 2005 Banlist Update

    April 2005 Banlist Update

    Effective from April 15, 2005, 00:00 CET, the MagicPlayer Highlander format will be updated as follows:

    Banned:

    • No changes

    Unbanned:

    • Mox Diamond
    • Relentless Rats

    Watchlist:

    • No changes

    Reasoning:

    Mox Diamond:
    Since discarding a land is part of the casting cost, its usage is limited, and the card is considered fair.

    Relentless Rats:
    Unbanned due to the errata text from December 1, 2004. Thanks to Michael Steinbach for the reminder. The errata states:

    “Dec 1, 2004 – This card’s text does not override other format-imposed restrictions on the number of cards. For example, in a Highlander format, you would still only be allowed one Relentless Rat.”