On the next Monday, August 10, Magic: The Gathering will release its next Banned and Restricted update. Expectations around it are somewhat mixed. Typically, this season's banlist would bring the annual Standard maintenance before rotation, but since rotation now applies only at the start of the year, it is possible that it will be postponed to later sets.Pioneer and Modern have few reasons for bans or abrupt changes. In Modern's case, an unbanning is a more viable possibility, but there are few valid candidates to experiment with without the certainty of a polarized Metagame or uninteresting play patterns. Legacy and Vintage, on the other hand, share the same enemy: The Fantasticar was not designed for 1v1 formats, and its ability has become easy to enable with Rituals and free spells.Another unknown lies in Pauper. Everything indicates that Bonder's Ornament's fate is sealed and it will return to the Metagame, and while there is much discussion around Sneaky Snacker, Balustrade Spy, and Affinity, Tron's return to the competitive radar could make any change at this point harmful to the format's competitive health.Below, I present my impressions and possibilities for the next Banlist!StandardThere is a moment this year when Wizards of the Coast will likely make recalibration bans in Standard to prepare it for the next season. It could be in The Hobbit, in Reality Fracture, or right after Star Trek's release, given the change in rotation date.It is in everyone's interest that these changes happen, and Standard needs them. The entire season has been dictated by a cycle of Izzet variants and Badgermole Cub Aggro-Ramp for quite some time. Since Secrets of Strixhaven, changes have occurred; decks like Jeskai Control/Lessons, Boros Artifacts, and Mardu Discard have produced convincing results, but hundreds of cards from new expansions always seem overshadowed.This is a natural consequence of the expanded card pool with the three‑year rotation, and if the status quo is maintained for so long in future seasons, perhaps a single annual intervention may not even be enough to keep the Metagame dynamic.These are the three cards I believe, in a eventual maintenance, are candidates for banning. All are enablers for the most present and longest‑lasting archetypes today, and their removal would significantly weaken those strategies, but not to the point of killing them entirely.Izzet today is divided into three main variants: Lessons (currently with white for Jeskai Revelation), Prowess (with sub‑variants depending on the player's choice between speed or resilience), and Elementals. The challenge in evaluating how to handle "Izzet" is that each has a distinct card structure, and the only universal element among them is the mana base. Banning Steam Vents and Riverpyre Verge would be madness and would only serve as a palliative measure.Gran-Gran and Boomerang Basics are in the same deck in non‑splash versions of Lessons, but both could be banned for different reasons. Gran-Gran has proven to be an enabler for reactive spell decks that would run Accumulate Wisdom as a Draw 3 anyway. It turns Wisdom into an Ancestral Recall and speeds up the cast of Jeskai Revelation and any future bombs with colorless costs. Gran‑Gran also presents the problem of being an efficient one‑drop that demands removal to avoid filtering the hand, in archetypes where we would normally prefer to cut removal to add more efficient cards in Control games.Boomerang Basics has the same issue as This Town Ain't Big Enough. It generates positive value with any ETB, but unlike serving as disruption, it replaces itself. It is absurd with Stormchaser's Talent, but we can say that Talent and Eddymurk Crab — another common target — will rotate next season. The problem is that we also have no guarantees about which cards it will interact with starting next year, and the positive value it generates while we benefit from reusing our spells is counterproductive to Magic's current design, where every permanent tends to have immediate quality.Of the three, Badgermole Cub is probably the most likely ban at some point. Free mana will always be a problem, and Cub generates immediate value while also demanding an immediate answer to avoid burying the opponent in the following turns. Cub's existence invalidates playing Midrange because Aggro decks can go over the top of you, and historically, a Standard without a traditional Midrange deck among the top five tends not to be a very healthy Metagame. Nature's Rhythm decks would likely take a hit, but Selesnya Offense, for example, gained the new Bejeweled Warg, which would serve as a viable and synergistic substitute.PioneerWith Pioneer still in limbo, it seems unlikely that Wizards of the Coast will make any changes to the format. The Metagame is also as expected. Without any competitive event announcements, players continue to have no reason to try to innovate, and the most reliable archetypes (Greasefang and Prowess/Red Aggro) remain the ones with the best results in Leagues.Some emerging decks appear in each Challenge. Fiend Artisan found a combo list with Shang-Chi, Master of Kung Fu and The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl, Dredgeless Dredge returned to the format after years off the radar, Vivi Ornitier and Agatha's Soul Cauldron have been putting up results, and even a combo between Genji Glove and Tony Stark has shown recent results. In short, the format is transforming, but slowly due to the lack of a spotlight.I still believe there may come a time when Greasefang, Okiba Boss needs to be banned, but it may not be now. Additionally, I have questioned which card could leave the format if Red Aggro and Prowess dominated again, and both variants differ greatly in essence, except for Monastery Swiftspear and Soul-Scar Mage as one‑drops and Emberheart Challenger as the main second‑turn attacker. Perhaps removing the one drop with immediate impact would be the solution.ModernBans seem unlikely in Modern. One could argue whether Mox Opal's unbanning was a mistake, but Affinity did not show dominance numbers at Pro Tour Marvel Super Heroes, despite being one of the most popular archetypes. Boros Energy, Eldrazi, and other archetypes have also been putting up results without any seeming too dominant.Discussing unbans is an option which would help keep the environment fresh with possibilities for innovation. The three cards below are commonly cited as "safe" to unban, or as deserving the benefit of the doubt whether they would still make a difference in the format in 2026.Hypergenesis is an unknown. There are matches where the opponent will not do much, and you will cast the spell via Cascade on turn two with Gemstone Caverns for Emrakul, the Aeons' Torn for an immediate win, not unlike what players did with Tibalt's Trickery when it was still legal. The difference is that Trickery casts the spell while Hypergenesis puts permanents directly into play; the extra turn does not apply. The absence of the trigger would make it easier to answer with, for example, Solitude, or to have an entire turn cycle to deal with it.There are three reasons not to unban Hypergenesis. First, it risks causing more non‑game situations, especially on Magic Online, since, like Tibalt's Trickery, Genesis rewards aggressive mulligans searching for the combo. Second, Violent Outburst was unbanned, which allows casting Outburst on the opponent's turn for Hypergenesis with backup from Force of Negation and an Emrakul that can already attack on the following turn. Third, we talk a lot about Emrakul, but Atraxa, Grand Unifier is just as absurd coming from a Hypergenesis and sets up the ideal setup for the next loop.The main argument for unbanning Birthing Pod today is that Green Sun's Zenith, a supposedly much more powerful card, was unbanned and did not do as much as expected. Pod would be slower, easier to answer, and a Metagame like the current one discourages toolbox lists with mana dorks. In theory, it is too much work while the opponent is playing Kappa Cannoneer on turn two or cheating mana costs to play Eldrazis and Atraxas.There is merit to that, and among the options, Birthing Pod would be the most exciting to unban. Players have been asking for its return for years, and creature‑based combo and toolbox strategies similar to Pod decks have had trouble establishing themselves for quite some time. The problem is that, as a colorless card, we should not underestimate players' ability to use the artifact in unexpected ways.I believe Bridge from Below should remain on the Banned List merely because it does not act like a Magic card, but is it really necessary for it to be there? Faithless Looting, a card with more utility that was also banned as collateral damage from Hogaak, Arisen Necropolis, has already been freed and did not break the Metagame. Looting had many more homes and scope to impact the Metagame, while the number of archetypes where Bridge from Below fits is very limited and requires more extensive setup than most other combos available in Modern.Bridge is one of the worst card designs of all time, but if that is the only reason to keep it on Modern's banned list, perhaps it does not make sense for it to stay there.Legacy & VintageThe Fantasticar has already been banned from Duel Commander, and there is no reason to keep it legal as a four‑of in Vintage when Raker Shops has been dominating the format. Legacy, however, may have some discussion on whether it is worth keeping it legal when the hype around it is fading, but having to deal with a potential sudden hit‑kill while trying to hold off another combo line, as Doomsday has been doing, is not a healthy plan.There are some fair ways to play with The Fantasticar. Some Dimir Tempo lists have been looking to capitalize on it, and other strategies could emerge if it remains for a few more months in the format. However, the best option seems to be to admit that the vehicle was not designed for 1v1 formats, that most decks have trouble answering 16 power with Haste split across four tokens, and to remove it from Legacy entirely.PauperPauper is in an interesting place. It is true that Red Madness and Blue Terror remain popular, especially in Leagues. Together, they make up about 20% of total results in Leagues, Challenges, and other events. That seems like a lot, but it is still far from being problematic when split between two archetypes. Moreover, compared to Standard or Pioneer, Pauper is in a great place numerically and closer to Modern.Results outside of Magic Online also show room for diversity and innovation. Monster Tron won the CLM Pauper in Brazil, a TurboFog made Top 4, another Tron variant succeeded at Paupergeddon, and the most concerning decks, while very present, did not reach a position of dominance in paper events.This is the update that will define Bonder's Ornament's future, and the unbanning was a success. The artifact is good enough to appear in some lists, boosting Tron's return — the archetype that grew the most in this period — and did so without dominating the Metagame, to the point where some lists prefer Bender's Waterskin in its place for prioritizing extra mana over card advantage. There is no reason to return it to the banned list.In recent updates and in some articles and videos, I have discussed how much Sneaky Snacker is a homogenizing card in Pauper that rewards players for using effects that, technically, should have a drawback. The number of enablers for Snacker has not decreased, and it continues to have the same splashes in lists as it did since the last banlist. It is still in 25% of competitive lists, and I still believe Pauper would be better without it, but competitive results from recent months have not placed it in a dominant position.It is up to the PFP to decide whether the homogenization factor is an aggravating factor in Snacker's case. It is present in the two most played archetypes, remains a staple in various strategies, and forces players to adapt lines that, in some cases, contradict the posture and sideboarding required in certain matches. On the other hand, besides results not pointing to the need for a ban, many decks would become much worse without it. While Madness Burn and Dimir Terror could probably stay relevant in its absence, Naya Gates, Boros Inside Out, and other Tier 1.5 and 2 archetypes might cease to exist as competitive options.Sneaky Snacker is a terrible design for Pauper. A card that has homogenized the format to such an extent that its ban now seems more harmful to archetype diversity than beneficial to the Metagame's health.For the third time, we discuss Tolarian Terror and Balustrade Spy. The PFP has already mentioned both in previous announcements and admittedly considers Spy Combo's gameplay pattern far from ideal for Pauper. If this banlist is an annual maintenance, it would make sense to take Terror, Spy, and Sneaky Snacker and see how the format develops from there, but that would be too radical a change and, honestly, hardly necessary today.One deck, perhaps, has changed the entire perspective on how this Banned and Restricted update will be conceived for Pauper. Tron has grown in representation, and Big Mana has once again become a relevant strategy in the competitive scene. Again, it was a Tron that won a 300‑player event in Brazil. Removing cards from decks that go under it, like Mono Red, Terror, and Spy Combo, could serve to cement its space and disrupt a balance that, today, gives Pauper viable representatives across all spectrums of Aggro, Tempo, Midrange, Control, Big Mana, and Combo.The best option for Pauper next Monday may be a "no changes."Wrapping UpThat's all for today!If you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment!Thanks for reading!
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