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One MTG Modern Horizons 3 card may head straight to the banlist

“One common from Modern Horizons 3 has a high likelihood of needing to be banned in Pauper”, says Magic: The Gathering’s Gavin Verhey.

Modern Horizons 3 Pauper ban - Magic: The Gathering card back, seen in front of Modern Horizons 3 Eldrazi art by Wizards of the Coast

Modern Horizons 3 isn’t even out yet, and one card might be heading for the MTG banlist. The announcement comes from principal Magic: The Gathering designer Gavin Verhey. In a Wizards of the Coast article from May 13, he says “there is one common from Modern Horizons 3 that has a high likelihood of needing to be banned in Pauper”.

Verhey hasn’t revealed what Magic: The Gathering card he’s referring to, but it apparently shares similarities with “a card we have banned in the past”. He also says the immediate MTG banlist update will be “totally fine”, implying it’s a feature of a new MTG set rather than a flaw. “As always, Magic sets shouldn’t revolve around Pauper – they should do what each set lead decides is the right choice for their set, and the MTG Pauper format will react accordingly.”

“But the result of this is that I expect we’ll be checking in very soon after Modern Horizons 3 to make any format adjustments needed”, Verhey adds. It sounds like the card in question will be allowed to enter the MTG format, but Wizards of the Coast will react quickly if it causes too many problems.

“We don’t want you playing a format that is broken for weeks and weeks like when, for example, Chatterstorm was released last time”, Verhey says in Monday’s article. “That is the point at which you can expect other potential actions taken on some of the things mentioned above, if needed.” “But Modern Horizons sets have a long history of greatly impacting Pauper—so we’re going to wait on any further changes until then.”

Right now, the internet is alive with theories about the mystery card. One popular theory is that the card comes with the Storm MTG keyword, while another suggests that we’ll see a card like Arcum’s Astrolabe enter play.

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