Karn Banned, GeoDude Banned, Copter Unbanned

Foretell

Following a special episode of a Wizards of the Coast Weekly Stream, where WoTC discussed their ban philosophy and foreshadowed bans in Pioneer/Explorer, Modern, and even unbanning cards, a Banned and Restricted announcement was released today that will shake up the Pioneer, Explorer and Modern formats.

According to WoTC, these changes will hit Explorer tomorrow, December 5th.

Pioneer/Explorer

Karn, the Great Creator is banned.

Geological Appraiser is banned. 

Smuggler’s Copter is unbanned (Not available in Explorer).

Modern

Fury is banned.

Up the Beanstalkis banned.

Pioneer/Explorer Changes

Pioneer/Explorer Changes

In what is possibly the most telegraphed ban announcement in history, essentially every card that people assumed would get banned got banned, and the one card that everyone assumed would come off came off. Discover Combo/GeoStorm was a deck that was just slightly too consistent in its turn-three win capability, which led to feel-bad moments when it was on the play, and its unassuming opponent was left underprepared for the combo. With the many different variations that this deck has already seen, Geological Appraiser is the obvious ban because it is the fastest enabler of any of the combos. We’re left with Quintorius Kand and Trumpeting Carnosauras our primary Discover combo pieces, which while more expensive still offer a reasonable amount of resilience and consistency. We do not expect the Discover combo deck to leave the format at all, just change shape to match the expected power level of the format a bit better. 

On the GeoStorm ban, Wizards noted all of the above, while also noting it would keep an eye on the Quintorius planeswalker version. 

“Being able to win the game on the spot on turn three with Geological Appraiser after creating a single Treasure token puts a bit too much pressure on folks to be a good thing for the long-term health of the format. While it’s not clear that this is the strongest thing to be doing in Pioneer, without some form of interaction, players can lose the game as early as their own second turn. This doesn’t meet our long-term vision for the format, where players can enjoy a variety of macro-strategies before losing the game so early. If every deck must run one or two mana-interaction spells, the format shrinks.”

Green Devotion had been on many competitive players’ radars for months, with its ability to morph its game plan in Game One by fetching sideboard silver bullet cards via Karn, the Great Creator. Without the powerful planeswalker, we can expect to see the deck stick around in some form or fashion, either going head on into the ramp plan and powering out an early Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger or back to its roots with the old plan of Vivien Arkbow Ranger and Vorinclex, Monstrous Raider to fetch disruptive elements while applying huge pressure with their larger early turn creatures. We by no means expect to see the end of Nykthos / Kiora Behemoth Beckoner decks, but we are expecting this ban to allow more strategies that rely a bit more heavily on artifacts to come forward. 

On Karn’s ban, Wizards noted that although the metagame share was not egregious, the Mono-Green deck’s existence was warping the format.

“Even though the metagame share and win rate of Mono-Green Nykthos decks have been within a reasonable range, the deck has simply been a large component of the Pioneer metagame for most of the format’s lifetime. With Karn, the Great Creator capable of finding threats and solutions to whatever the deck encounters, it can be quite difficult to go over the top of this strategy. This causes the metagame to either try to go underneath it or try to ignore what it’s doing with their own combo strategy, effectively bending the metagame due to its existence.”

Smuggler’s Copter was the card that the vast majority of players expected to come off the banned list. In their preview stream, WotC employees mentioned that (paraphrasing) “the card we are looking at was banned in a different time, and the rest of the format has grown in power level around it such that they felt safe taking it off the list”. When this card was originally banned, there was essentially no real cohesion to the format yet, and aggressive strategies were highly dominant because midrange and control hadn’t had the time to codify their game plans yet. Now, four years into the format, we find ourselves in a place where the looter scooter is relatively on par with other micro-advantage-engines in the format without being too out of place or without a reasonable number of answers. Among all of the cards that were on the banned list last week, Copter made the most sense to release because it doesn’t highly affect the overall play experience at any level, especially in the way that a card like Kethis the Hidden Hand – the other card that people were guessing could come off – might. 

On the Looter Scooter’s unbanning, Wizards noted that the power of the format has crept up since it presented a significant issue, and they believe the Pioneer format can re-absorb the powerful vehicle successfully. 

“We banned Smuggler's Copter back in December 2019. Since then, many new sets have entered the format, and as such the format has naturally grown in power over time. While unbanning is not something we do very often, we believe the format can absorb it successfully. Reintroducing it will create new deck-building puzzles (or revive old ones) and provide additional diversity.”