Sunday, February 18, 2018

Jace, the Mind Scultptor unban

Modern format has very diversified meta. To support my claim you should know, that Pro Tour, which took place two weeks ago, had 64 different archetypes! There is no deck, which is clearly better than others and it has siginificant percentage of the meta. In spite of that Wizards decided to unban Jace, the Mind Sculptor and Bloodbraid Elf. Here is summary of what is motivating the change:


  • Modern's return to the Pro Tour, shining a spotlight on the format, makes this a great time to revisit past decisions and see if they still make sense in the current era. 
  • The data we gathered both from the Pro Tour itself and from the several weeks of Magic Online play as pro players tested for the event have helped us cross-check our decisions against what's doing well in the real world. 
  • Compared to other B&R windows, this one has the maximum amount of time before another Modern Pro Tour. This will allow the format to breathe and evolve without immediately undergoing the pressures of the world's top competition. 
  • The reprint of Jace in Masters 25 will provide greater availability for our player base.


Over time, competitive Modern has evolved to be a format of fast, proactive threats. The bar for tapping four lands during one's main phase to cast a single spell is quite high, often restricted to cards that threaten to win the game immediately. In my opinion it is good decision, which will not ruin the format. Do you remember what Bitterblossom and Ancestral Visions unbannings did to the format? Literally nothing.

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