Welcome back to another Gladiator Format Update. This is a big one for us, so we’ll get right underway.
Banned List Update
Banned in Gladiator
Guide of Souls
Solitude
Emperor of Bones
Invert Polarity
Tasha, Unholy Archmage
Tajic, Legion's Valor
Effective - Tuesday, June 10
Discussion and Voting
The following is a breakdown of the cards that were discussed during this format update.
Guide of Souls - BANNED
Guide of Souls has been used with Ocelot Pride for the past few months, creating a trivial exercise in gaining life and creating a very large number of cat tokens - which then continues the life gain. The Council believes Guide of Souls to be the more egregious of the pair, and requires far less vulnerability to achieve its ceiling of potential, granting evasion and large increases of power for a quite low cost of following the gameplan most decks in the format follow: playing creatures. The cost of inclusion for Guide is quite low, its ceiling and floor both are quite high, and its potential for unsavory gameplay even without combo lines is enough for the Council to ban the card.
- Ellesandra - Yes
- Howdy - Yes
- JRandomHacker - Yes
- SeismicLawns - Yes
Solitude - BANNED
White has been a fairly dominant color for a large portion of Gladiator’s lifespan, often due to its removal options that no other color has been able to realistically come close to. While the bar for banning removal is higher than average, Solitude has limited options in deckbuilding for a while, and especially hurt the diversity of midrange strategies to either include white for its removal options or prioritize combo lines that can win suddenly through cheap removal. The Council hopes that removing Solitude will enable more flexibility in deckbuilding and produce better gameplay without what may be the strongest piece of removal in the format on account of its cost, flexibility, and ability to be tutored.
- Ellesandra - Yes
- Howdy - Yes
- JRandomHacker - Yes
- SeismicLawns - Yes
Emperor of Bones - BANNED
Emperor of Bones is a card that has become a household name for many black decks - but primarily its utility in Reanimator decks has proven to bring about some very problematic play patterns, especially in regards to ending games at a pace other decks might not be able to keep up with. Particularly with Solitude joining the ban list, the Council wanted to ensure that at least one tool would be taken from decks like Reanimator - and this is the tool that has felt the most like a power outlier in the most places.
- Ellesandra - Yes
- Howdy - Yes
- JRandomHacker - Yes
- SeismicLawns - Yes
Invert Polarity - BANNED
Invert Polarity shares many common features with Mana Drain. Both spells can swing the game in a way that surpasses what other spells can do for 2-3 mana. Invert Polarity also shares properties with The One Ring - it frequently leads to frustrating and uninteresting games of Gladiator. Due to both miserable play patterns and concerns about power-level the council has decided that invert polarity is not a healthy card for the format.
- Ellesandra - Yes
- Howdy - Yes
- JRandomHacker - Yes
- SeismicLawns - Yes
Tasha, Unholy Archmage - BANNED
As a four mana planeswalker from Baldur’s Gate, maybe nothing else need to be said - but Tasha has been around in the format for a lot longer, and has had relatively little community discussion around it. But as the Council meeting progressed, we decided that one goal of this banning was to open up the format and what you can do in it. As with a fair amount of the cards on the ban list, Tasha’s play patterns are not conducive to enjoyable magic, as too often it stops the pace of the game entirely until it is dealt with or until the game has ended.
- Ellesandra - Yes
- Howdy - Yes
- JRandomHacker - Yes
- SeismicLawns - Yes
Tajic, Legion’s Valor - BANNED
Cards that are incredibly efficient, warp the game around them, and require specific answers are not healthy for the format. Many cards on the current ban list fall into this category: The One Ring, Field of the Dead, Psychic Frog, and others. Tajic is no different. It is simultaneously one of the best ways to stabilize and apply pressure. It fundamentally warps combat around it and it is difficult to answer. Tajic is a card that has been on the radar for awhile, we feel that leaving it in the format after the other bans in this announcement carries too much risk.
- Ellesandra - Yes
- Howdy - Yes
- JRandomHacker - Yes
- SeismicLawns - Yes
Ocelot Pride - NO CHANGES
While the line of Guide of Souls plus Ocelot Pride is repetitive and leads to more non-games of Gladiator, the Council feels the blame rests primarily on Guide of Souls’ shoulders. Among the 1-drops, Ocelot Pride looks a lot more like other premier 1 drops in the format like Nethergoyf or Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer - they present a big threat if unchallenged, but are answered fairly cleanly with either creatures that scale to the midgame or early removal. While the problematic line appears still present with another Soul Warden effect, other options appear more vulnerable and less independently powerful. For these reasons, the Council is not banning Ocelot Pride at this time.
- Ellesandra - No
- Howdy - No
- JRandomHacker - No
- SeismicLawns - No
Fury - NO CHANGES
Since Solitude was voted on and discussed, the Council did have a discussion regarding Fury as well - but at this time we do not feel any action needs to be taken in regards to Fury. It has not actually been much of a problem and more often than not as a card, has shown itself to be helpful with answering threats - from Nadu to Teferi, Hero of Dominaria. However, it is a card that we will be keeping an eye on, especially in regards to the format shake up that the bans will cause.
- Ellesandra - No
- Howdy - No
- JRandomHacker - No
- SeismicLawns - No
Looking Forward
This is the largest single change to the banlist in the history of our format, and we understand that it will be high-impact. Some of the updates from today were focused on removing individually problematic cards, while others were aimed at broader metagame impacts. As with any change, further adjustment may prove to be necessary, and the Council will be monitoring the state of the format going forwards to see how things shake out - including whether long-standing banlist residents could return to Gladiator.
As always, we urge everyone to maintain a civil and respectful discourse surrounding this announcement. If you have any questions or require further clarification, please do not hesitate to reach out to me or one of the other council members. We’d be more than happy to talk.
Thank you for your continued support and dedication to the Gladiator format.
See you in the Arena, Gladiator 💖