Cranial Ram is pre-banned from Pauper

The Pauper Format Panel announced, this Thursday (6), the banning of Cranial Ram, a common card that will be released in Modern Horizons 3 next Friday (7), marking the first pre-ban of the format, that is, the act of banning a card from a new set before it is officially released in Magic.

Cranial Ram has been the subject of controversy on Pauper since the last Banned and Restricted update, where the committee removed All That Glitters and explained that there was a card in Modern Horizons 3 that they were keeping an eye on and wouldn't be afraid to take swift action against.

In today's announcement, the PFP explained that Cranial Ram is far too similar to Cranial Plating and All That Glitters to be a healthy addition to the format, and with Grixis Affinity being one of the best decks in the Metagame, it was clear that the artifact would cause problems even with its vulnerability against Hydroblast and the possible changes that MH3 could bring.

The committee also made it clear that a pre-ban is a rare and emergency action, which was imposed this time due to the proximity of major Pauper events in the two weeks following the release of Modern Horizons 3, such as the Magic Online Creator Showdown and Paupergeddon, where both would be dominated by Affinity and/or would make players focus too much on a specific matchup.

Check out the full announcement video below:

Cranial Ram is the fifth ban on Pauper caused by Affinity, where it joins Atog, Disciple of the Vault, Sojourner's Companion and All That Glitters as too powerful for the archetype since the Bridges came out in Modern Horizons 2.

Source: DailyMTG