Watch/Ban List Updates 5/07/18

Hey, everyone! This is Jared Saramago, here with the latest updates to the Watch and Ban List for May 2018. Let’s dive right into what’s changing:

Rock

No changes.

Immortal

No changes.

Standard

The following cards have been added to the Standard Watch List:

The following cards have been removed from the Standard Watch List:

You can view the entire Watch/Ban List for each format here.

No new bans to announce. We recently made some balance adjustments to Champions in the Standard environment, and we think those changes will shake-up the Standard format a bit. We’ll evaluate the metagame again once the format stabilizes and decks have time to evolve, but for now we’re not making any drastic changes.

We’ve updated the Standard Watch List to add and remove some cards that we have been keeping a close eye on. Just to reiterate our comments from last month’s Watch/Ban update, the Watch List is going to be used more liberally as a way for us to give insight into what cards we are most closely tracking, not as a guaranteed precursor to being banned. You’ll likely see more cards go on and off the Watch List without being banned.

Standard Changes

Rowdy Piper is a card that can lead to explosive turns without a lot of setup. Once a Piper hits the board, he has the potential to facilitate a game winning turn before an opponent can react. We have always been aware of this card’s potential, but we want to monitor the decks it enables carefully to ensure they are still promoting interactive gameplay.

Scribe of the Flayed Man is a powerful facilitator for value-centric decks that can then also run a semi-combo thanks to the Scribe’s second power which lets players put expensive threats into play for the low cost of 3 resources. We’ve seen a lot of clever deck builders maximize this card’s potential, and we want to make sure that decks built around Scribe aren’t exceeding the capabilities of the other top decks in the format, both now and as we continue to release new sets.

While still a powerful card for many of the same reasons as Scribe of the Flayed Man, after additional observation, we felt that Mordrom’s Gift was much less likely to enable negative play patterns. While the effects it grants can really swing a game, it typically happens late enough that opponents can react with crypt-hate abilities or disrupt the card in other ways. As such, we’re taking this card off the Standard Watch List.

Rock and Immortal

There are no changes being made to either of these formats at the current time. These tournament events have seen a wide variety of decks and diverse playstyles flourish, and we have not identified any single cards that warrant bans in either format.

Thanks for reading everyone, and I’ll see you in the Battlegrounds!

HEXSirSleepy | Jared Saramago

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