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Conversely, Runeforge Champion decks and Mono-White Aggro have become less popular over time. Jeskai variants (featuring either Hinata, Dawn-Crowned or Lier, Disciple of the Drowned) have been growing in popularity at higher levels of play but remain with healthy populations and win rates. Various three-color mid-speed decks are the most played archetypes, the most popular of which (Esper and Grixis) each occupy about 10% of the ladder metagame. Our data from the platinum and higher MTG Arena ladder shows the Standard metagame as being in a healthy spot. Below is a short summary of our "no changes" decisions for several formats. For each of those other formats, we found the metagames to be in a generally healthy state, characterized by moderate play rates and win rates among the most played decks, and good variety of choice among competitively viable decks. While we're choosing to make changes only to the Pioneer banned list at this time, we did examine and discuss the health of each of our competitive play formats. However, now that Winota, Joiner of Forces is banned in Pioneer, we plan to leave it banned in Explorer going forward. When we made that change, we noted that we would revisit that ban with the release of Dominaria United. Winota, Joiner of Forces was previously banned in Explorer. This means that Expressive Iteration will also be banned in Explorer. It's worth noting that we will continue to align Pioneer ban announcements with action in Explorer. To lower the win rate of the wide variety of Izzet decks and bring them further in line with other strategies in the format while maintaining what makes them special in Pioneer, Expressive Iteration is banned. As Pioneer's card pool has fewer strong cantrips and no fetch lands, we're hoping many delve cards can continue to be a part of the format at a more moderate power level compared to how they would play in other nonrotating formats. It has fueled a variety of highly successful Izzet Strategies in Pioneer by both providing card selection and card advantage at a much higher rate than what is available to other decks, making it extremely difficult for other strategies to engage them in wars of attrition.Īlthough we recognize that there are several other powerful card-draw spells in the format, notably Treasure Cruise and Dig Through Time, we currently believe that delve spells contribute to blue decks in Pioneer having a unique identity among Eternal formats. Not only is it a resilient midrange deck that can leverage many of the powerful mana creatures available in the format, but its explosive draws involving the deck's namesake can create unassailable battlefield states as quickly as turn three.ĭue to its large metagame share, high win rate, and ability to create frustrating removal-check gameplay, Winota, Joiner of Forces is banned in Pioneer.Įxpressive Iteration has been a multiformat all-star since its release in Strixhaven: School of Mages. Over time, it has become clear that Naya Winota is suppressing diversity as its power and consistency have drastically reduced incentives to play other linear creature-based strategies. PioneerĪs noted in previous updates, we want Pioneer to provide as diverse an experience as possible, built out of an ever-growing collection of Standards past.
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The list of all banned and restricted cards, by format, is here. (Note that Winota, Joiner of Forces was already banned in Explorer.)