August 10, 2026 B&R Announcement

[Oversoul]

Yes, there really is a new B&R announcement already. Yes, we just had one like a month ago. Yes, I know.

Banned and Restricted Announcement – August 10, 2026

See statements regarding Standard, Legacy, and Vintage. Changes will be effective August 10, 2026.

magic.wizards.com

Standard
Badgermole Cub is banned.
Stormchaser's Talent is banned.
Gran-Gran is banned.

Pioneer
No changes

Modern
No changes

Legacy
The Fantasticar is banned.

Vintage
The Fantasticar is restricted.

Pauper
No changes

Alchemy
No changes

Historic
No changes

Timeless
No changes

Brawl
No changes

Competitive Brawl
No changes

Changes effective as of August 10, 2026. View the list of all banned and restricted cards by format.

Next announcement: October 12, 2026

The Fantasticar is banned in Legacy. This change is effective as of August 10, 2026. We'll be on WeeklyMTG tomorrow, August 11, at 10 a.m. PT to discuss this change and more.

 

[Oversoul]

At this point, I think the number of people I'd trust less to manage a Magic format than Carmen Klomparens has shrunk to zero.I guess the silver lining to this cloud is that once Carmen Klomparens is gone some day, if Legacy still exists, whoever takes over it will be able to safely unban a card every month for a long time without even affecting the format. And if that finally happens, it will be funny.

Ain't I ever the optimist?

 

[saprolingtoken]

At this point, I think the number of people I'd trust less to manage a Magic format than Carmen Klomparens has shrunk to zero.I guess the silver lining to this cloud is that once Carmen Klomparens is gone some day, if Legacy still exists, whoever takes over it will be able to safely unban a card every month for a long time without even affecting the format. And if that finally happens, it will be funny.

Ain't I ever the optimist?

In the video discussing the B&R announcement they she mentioned that they only wanted to unban cards when the format is stale and hasn't changed for awhile. Which, to me, is really strange. Since Innistrad, Legacy has been dominated by Delver. Miracles, Ancient Tomb nonsense and different combo decks (the ones that aren't incorporating all the aggro-control cards) have had some time in the sun but really the format has felt stale to me since the Deathrite Shaman ban. I'm not some super mega-genius but anyone could see that taking out random threats and leaving the the surrounding shell intact was a concerning action to take. Since then we've been in the "ban whatever threat is broken in Delver" paradigm and it obviously isn't working. And it's shocking to me that very few Legacy players even acknowledge that fact. Even pre-FIRE, creatures were rare targets for bans because they're the easiest card to answer. And, historically, they're the ones that are most vulnerable to power creep. Even Tog which was the best creature in every format, hands down, only lasted about 6 or 7 years, before it too was phased out. Though in Vintage much of that had to do with Gush-es shifting immigration status. Goyf lasted longer but was less impactful on game play. I'd estimate less than 10 creatures in the game have demonstrated an ability to be resistant to power creep. All that to say that it really doesn't make a ton of sense to ban creatures, especially modest ones like DRS or DRC.

Honestly, there is so much crap on the banned list still that they could probably go a whole year unbanning cards and not really do much. But they should just unban Necropotence and Goblin Recruiter. I know I've been beating a dead horse but it really makes no sense why they're banned and the aggro-control decks have super elite tier cards and are only wanting for a broken card advantage engine like Gush. Necropotence has generally more interesting play patterns than BR Reanimator spam out Griselbrands/Atraxa or Oops killing on turn 1. How is Bargain still banned? Survival? EARTHCRAFT?! Sigh, just more of the same. Legacy players have such bad Stockholm Syndrome that they cheer when WotC bans these cards. Like, really? A beaten down playerbase that aspires for nothing more than scraps.