Magic: The Gathering's Aetherworks Marvel is Banned in Standard

There's a lot of big announcements for Magic: The Gathering this week. Just yesterday, Mark Rosewater announced what they're doing to improve the game. Today, Wizards has announced that Aetherworks Marvel is banned in Standard format. There are no other cards banned in any of the formats. The ban effective on June 19, and June 14 in Magic Online.

Temur Marvel decks have been dominating the Standard metagame for weeks now, and I remember that most of my opponents in Grand Prix Manila 2017 ran it. It's either you play Temur Marvel or prepare a strategy against a turn-4 Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger. While there are some Standard decks that can beat it, the win percentages of Temur Marvel decks are just too good. "Every popular deck except Blue-Red Control and Mono-Black Zombies has anywhere from an even to a positive matchup against Temur Aetherworks," Designer Aaron Forsythe points out. "We recognize that those numbers shift when play moves to higher levels—Grand Prix, StarCityGames.com Opens, and Pro Tours—and, generally, they shift in favor of Marvel. At Grand Prix Amsterdam, for example, 43% of the Day Two 7-2 decks were Marvel and nearly half of the Top 32. The data painted a poor picture, but not an absolute one. That said, when you shift to in-store play, the numbers almost certainly (but unverifiably) shift away from Marvel, both in metagame share and win rate."

So what do you think about the ban on Aetherworks Marvel? Do you think Standard will be a better format now than ever without it? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.

To remember how awesome this card is, you can watch Brad Nelson pilot his Temur Marvel deck against Sam Pardee in the finals of Grand Prix Omaha below:

The next ban announcement will be on August 28.

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