New Magic: The Gathering Card From Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths Banned With Explanation

All the cards from the upcoming Magic: The Gathering set Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths have already been revealed, and today, Wizards of the Coast has announced that it's banning one of the latest cards from the expansion.

"Lutri, the Spellchaser" is banned in the Brawl format. The Izzet-colored (red/blue) creature with the brand new Companion mechanic was banned in Brawl because its Companion restriction is already built into the format rules, Wizards of the Coast's Ian Duke explains. He went on to explain that dekcs that it would create a large imbalance between decks capable of including Lutri and those that can't, but Duke notes that this wasn't an oversight. "In fact, discussions surrounding the legality of this card in Singleton formats began early in the design process," Duke explained. "As we playtested with Lutri, we decided that the fun deck-building challenge and opportunity for self-expression it presents in other Magic formats clearly made the design worth printing, even if it didn't make sense in Brawl."

Other Companion creatures in Ikoria will still be useable in Brawl.

This isn't surprising since Lutri was also banned in Commander when it was first revealed last week.

Here's the Ikoria mechanic spotlight for Companion:

Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths is set to launch on Magic: The Gathering Arena on April 16, for tabletop play in China, Japan, Korea, Taiwan and Hong Kong on April 17, and for tabletop play everywhere else on May 15.

Related:Wizards of the Coast Defends Cuts to MTG Arena's Ikoria Mastery Pass