With the banning of both Alrund’s Epiphany and Divide by Zero, it is reasonable to expect these mono-color strategies to become more popular.
However, they “also have high win rates against the field, especially against many of the less popular decks on the fringes.” Wizards attributes those high win rates, at least in part, to the fact that both decks are designed to attack UR Epiphany. Instead, that honor goes to Mono-White and Mono-Green Aggro. “Therefore,” Wizards conclude, “we’re choosing to ban Divide by Zero to make blue control decks less effective against other mid-speed and slow decks and force them to be more intentional about which threats they choose to prepare for.” Faceless Havenĭespite the fact that UR Epiphany decks received two bans today, the archetype didn’t even have the best winning percentage on MTG Arena.
Specifically, they are worried about the spell’s ability to provide “early interaction that is especially effective against slower, more powerful spells and permanents” without much of a tradeoff, which allows Blue control decks to safely assemble the Lier, Disciple of the Drowned or Hullbreaker Horror soft lock combo. “Even without access to Alrund’s Epiphany, our data gives us concern that other blue control decks are poised to reduce metagame diversity by shutting out certain types of strategies,” Wizards said. In a slightly more surprising move, Wizards felt the need to weaken Blue control decks even more in Standard by banning Divide by Zero as well. Standard UR Epiphany by Stanislav Cifka (from the Innistrad Championship) Spells (37) When taken together, Wizards wants to “create space in the metagame for more mid-speed and slow archetypes, and to address the often-frustrating play pattern of chaining extra turns” by banning Alrund’s Epiphany in Standard. Alrund’s Epiphany decks aren’t “entirely dominant,” according to Wizards, but they are “particularly popular and successful at the highest levels of competition and in tournament play.” Powerful Blue spells are often designed to help control decks combat midrange decks, but “a deck that chains together extra turns can be particularly difficult to stop and frustrating to play against when it represents too large a portion of the metagame.” When combined with the Foretell mechanic, which helps cards avoid traditional hand disruption, Alrund’s Epiphany had become particularly frustrating to play against.Īdditionally, Wizards is concerned about the metagames in their competitive tournaments. Three months later, Wizards is changing its tune-at least with regard to Alrund’s Epiphany. Way back in October 2021, Wizards acknowledged that they “aware of some players’ concerns about the impact of certain individual cards on metagame diversity, such as Alrund’s Epiphany and Esika’s Chariot.” However, they ultimately decided to leave Standard alone in the hope that both Innistrad: Midnight Hunt and Innistrad: Crimson Vow would help shift the metagame. Our goal is to create some churn among the current top decks, open up additional angles from which to attack the metagame, and leave room for more experimentation and innovation with the release of Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty.” Alrund’s Epiphany To address this, Wizards is making “a set of changes targeted at some of the top decks, including Blue-Red Epiphany and other blue control decks, Mono-White Aggro, and Mono-Green Aggro. “While a good number of decks are seeing success on the MTG Arena ladders,” Wizards said, “and each has strengths and weakness against the others, the most played archetypes have remained largely the same over the past months.” Wizards of the Coast has banned Alrund’s Epiphany, Divide by Zero, and Faceless Haven in Magic: The Gathering’s Standard format.
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