Magic: The Gathering recently had a big shake-up in what is widely seen to be its "primary" tournament format, Standard. Instead of being based on a two-year cycle, Standard will move to a longer three-year cycle in a move that Wizards of the Coast hopes will revitalize the format.
Additionally, Magic's ban announcements will become more regular and somewhat less frequent. Speaking during today's WeeklyMTG, principle game designer Andrew Brown confirmed most ban announcements will now happen on an annual basis.
"The largest reason that we've heard from the community is that we are banning too frequently, too randomly," said Brown. "It was really hurting too many players, [and] we really want to ensure that people have confidence and that this will only happen once per year."
While the largest bans that span the most sets will take place once a year, Brown said that Wizards of the Coast will also provide itself some flexibility with a smaller ban window of three weeks after the release of a new set. This allows Magic's designers to remove problematic cards on an emergency basis should something slip through development.
Magic's next ban announcement will take place on Memorial Day, May 29, and be limited to just the Standard format. This will be Magic's last "special" ban date, with the new normal of annual bans picking up in the following weeks just before the release of Wilds of Eldraine. It will also focus on Magic's older formats while May 29th's announcements will stick to Standard.
As for what Magic players can expect to see banned, Reddit has a trio of likely suspects: Fable of the Mirror-Breaker, Invoke Despair, and Reckoner Bankbuster.
Fable of the Mirror-Breaker is a key card in the Standard-defining deck Rakdos Reanimator, providing aggressive ramp in the early game, card-cycling in the mid-game, and late-game pressure all at in a single card. It can also be found in the second-most common Standard deck, Grixis Midrange, alongside Reckoner Bankbuster and Invoke Despair.
Reckoner Bankbuster is problematic for appearing in four out of the top five Standard decks, providing both colorless card advantage and mid-game pressure for very little investment. And while Invoke Despair mainly sticks to Grixis Midrange, it provides massive card and tempo advantage that makes it extremely difficult to come back from.
Bankbuster and Invoke Despair bans are just speculation at this point, but VP of R&D Aaron Forscythe has made it clear that Fable of the Mirror-Breaker is a sure bet for banning in a discussion on Discord.
"Look… Fable is a very cool card. It may actually be the most fun 'best card in Standard' I can remember," wrote Forscythe. "But, Standard thrives on change, and while we want to dial back the amount of change somewhat, there are still things that should change. Fable will not be legal in Standard forever, sorry to say."
We’ll find out Fable’s fate one way or the other when Magic announces its next bans on May 29.