Magic: The Gathering Banned & Restricted Announcement Shakes Up Modern Format

Photo Wizards of the Coast

Today, Wizards of the Coast has made its banned & restricted announcement, and although no cards have been hit by the ban hammer, the changes are expected to shake the Modern format.

As many in the Magic community predicted, two cards have been banned: Jace, the Mind Sculptor, and Bloodbraid Elf. The changes will be effective on February 19 (February 14 for online)

"As the rest of the format has caught up in power level, these two cards have been on R&D's short list of cards to reexamine for unbanning," Ian Duke explains. "We've been closely monitoring the evolution of the format over the last several years and chosen this as the best time to make a change."

According to WOTC, they unbanned Jace, the Mind Sculptor to give "controlling decks an alternative way to close out prolonged games."

While some players would be thrilled to have these cards back in the Constructed format they love, others have already expressed that the unbanning of these cards could ruin a format that's already diverse, well-balanced, and great. SaffronOlive recently wrote an article about that on MTGGoldfish.

It looks like Jace, the Mind Sculptor's price already went up to $150 USD following this announcement.

To read the whole explanation for each of the cards, check out the announcement at WOTC'swebsite.