The time has come for another look at the cards in the Gladiator format and their impact on the health, stability, and enjoyability of the best fan-created 100-card-singleton format on Magic the Gathering: Arena
Banned List Update
Banned in Gladiator
The One Ring
Reanimate
Effective immediately - Tuesday, May 5th 2024
Discussion and Voting
The following is a breakdown of the cards that were discussed during this format update.
The One Ring - BANNED
Viewing from a narrow “power level” viewpoint, it can be argued that the power level of The One Ring is high but not unreasonable compared to the entire Gladiator format. However, the council also considered the additional axis that The One Ring’s play patterns are often repetitive and generally don’t lead to more interesting magic being played. While a number of counterplay options certainly exist, there is a very narrow subset that can answer every facet of The One Ring, and continue to do so without being vulnerable to answers themselves.
- ElleMNOP — Yes
- Ellesandra — Yes
- Justin — Yes
- Wheeler — Yes
- Effie — Abstained
Reanimate - BANNED
I don’t think anyone would question Reanimate as one of the most powerful card effects of all time, being 1 mana to return any creature from any yard directly to play. As we continue to get more cards from the catalogs of Magic history it is always in the council’s mind to see how each of them affect how the format plays. Considering the continued strong performance of Rakdos Reanimidrange even before the card was previewed, Reanimate has been under close scrutiny since its reveal. The council believes that Reanimate offers too powerful of a tool relative to its extremely low cost of inclusion.
With all of this in mind we feel it is important to remind people that the Ban List is not a place where cards go to die. There may be a day where Reanimate rejoins the card pool depending on how the format develops and how the community develops strategies to face the Reanimator lists that dominate the top tables currently.
- ElleMNOP — Yes
- Ellesandra — Yes
- Justin — Yes
- Wheeler — Yes
- Effie — Abstained
Thassa’s Oracle & Tainted Pact - NO CHANGES
Both of these cards have been in the council’s eye before, and will likely be again as Gladiator continues to develop, due to the combo’s relatively narrow requirements for answers as well as demonstrable power in other Magic formats. At this time, the council does not see the same combination of pervasive play and consistent success in this format and community.
Thassa’s Oracle
- ElleMNOP — No
- Ellesandra — Yes
- Justin — No
- Wheeler — No
- Effie — Abstained
Tainted Pact
- ElleMNOP — No
- Ellesandra — No
- Justin — No
- Wheeler — Yes
- Effie — Abstained
Blood Moon - NO CHANGES
Blood Moon has made considerable impact on other Magic formats by attacking manabases and creating non-games of Magic. We have not seen the same effect in Gladiator.
- ElleMNOP — No
- Ellesandra — No
- Justin — No
- Wheeler — No
- Effie — Abstained
Mana Drain - NO CHANGES
Mana Drain is one of the most powerful Blue cards in the history of Magic - and it’s perfectly alright for Blue to have good cards. When Mana Drain was spoiled, the council wanted to make sure to give it a good look as play went on, and it has not shown itself to be problematic at this time.
- ElleMNOP — No
- Ellesandra — No
- Justin — No
- Wheeler — No
- Effie — Abstained
Looking Forward
Modern Horizons 3 looms large in the future of Arena releases. The council will be keeping an eye on both incoming cards to our format as well as the currently-banned cards that may now be a closer match for the new power level of the Gladiator format.
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 💖