Banlist: Badgermole Cub, Gran-Gran and Stormchaser's Talent leave Standard

08/10/26 •0•0

Standard gets three bans in the August update, while The Fantasticar is banned in Legacy and restricted in Vintage. Changes take effect immediately

Written byRomeu

Translated byEditorial

Revised byEditorial

Wizards of the Coast announced a new update to Magic: The Gathering's banned and restricted lists on Monday (10), with significant changes to Standard. Badgermole Cub, Stormchaser's Talent, and Gran-Gran have been banned in an effort to slow down the format and encourage a wider range of competitive strategies. In addition, The Fantasticar has been banned in Legacy and restricted in Vintage. The changes take effect immediately, with the next update scheduled for October 12.

In Standard, the decision was driven by the dominance of two strategies that were "clearly ahead of the rest of the field," according to designer Jadine Klomparens. The primary target was Selesnya Offense, an evolution of Badgermole Cub-based strategies that incorporates Practiced Offense from Secrets of Strixhaven. The deck posted the highest win rate by a significant margin, winning more than 57% of matches, while also holding the second-highest play rate in MTG Arena data. "The combination of a sustained high win rate and high play rate, along with Badgermole Cub's history of dominance, is concerning," the announcement said.

Badgermole Cub was described as a "cheap threat that demands an immediate answer and allows its controller to build an insurmountable mana advantage." The pressure it puts on decks to answer a two-mana creature forces the format to place too much value on mana efficiency. Stormchaser's Talent, meanwhile, was banned from Izzet Prowess because it is a one-mana card that offers "strength early and late in the game," a combination deemed inappropriate for its cost. Gran-Gran was banned from Jeskai Lessons, one of the most-played decks on Arena, because it functions as "a powerful mana engine" that demands an immediate answer and provides excessive late-game value for a card that costs 1.

The announcement acknowledges that Standard had been struggling with games being decided on turns three, four, or five. The changes are intended to slow the format down and make room for alternative strategies before the start of the Regional Championship Qualifier season for the World Championship.

In Eternal formats, The Fantasticar has been banned in Legacy and restricted in Vintage. The card, released in the Marvel Super Heroes set, had been monitored by the team since its release. Wizards of the Coast did not provide an explanation for the ban in its official announcement. Pioneer, Modern, Pauper, Alchemy, Historic, Timeless, Brawl, and Competitive Brawl remain unchanged.

Source: DailyMTG

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Wizards of the Coast

Wizards of the Coast is an American game publisher founded in 1990. It created the collectible card game Magic: The Gathering, first released in 1993, and publishes tabletop role-playing games including Dungeons & Dragons. A subsidiary of Hasbro sinc

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Romeu

Journalist, Writer and translator for Cards Realm, and Um Gamer's editor-in-chief. Player of virtually all formats of Magic: The Gathering and is a lifetime fan of Final Fantasy and role-playing games.

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