Starting with the upcoming PRD season, we are introducing the Seasonal Banlist, a system designed to allow us to refresh the metagame, and allow new strategies to develop from season to season without implementing permanent bans.

What is the Seasonal Banlist?

The Seasonal Banlist is a temporary, supplemental banlist, consisting of a small handful of cards, which is introduced at the beginning of each season. It is designed to create temporary metagame shakeups while avoiding the permanence of traditional bans.

Key features of the Seasonal Banlist include:

• Temporary by Design: Cards placed on the Seasonal Banlist are banned for exactly one competitive season (from one main set release until the next), after which they are automatically unbanned.

• No Consecutive Seasonal Bans: A card can never appear on two consecutive Seasonal Banlists, ensuring Seasonal Bans remain temporary shakeups rather than becoming de facto permanent bans.

• New Card Protection: Cards are ineligible to be placed on the Seasonal Banlist until three main set releases have passed since their first printing.

• Flexible List Size: The Seasonal Banlist will debut with three cards, but may grow, shrink, or even contain zero cards in future seasons.

• Mid-Season Changes: A Seasonal Ban may be issued in the middle of a competitive season. If this occurs, the card will remain banned only until the conclusion of that season.

Seasonal Bans are not intended to replace the regular Banned & Restricted List. Cards that present long-term health concerns will continue to be evaluated through the regular Banned & Restricted process.

Why are we making this change?

We want to be able to push the meta with more control than we have in the past. From a player perspective we understand that bans are jarring, and because of this, should only be applied under a very specific set of circumstances. If a deck is very good, but it’s not dominant, does it still deserve a ban? Generally, the answer to this question is no. As long as the play patterns of that deck aren’t significantly oppressive, we generally leave things alone and let the meta sort itself out naturally.

But if something is unfun, or feels like a gatekeeper for several formats in a row, we start wanting change. Players start wanting change. The Proxia’s Vault helps, but it tends to only be a nudge in a certain direction, since the set is limited to cards in the Regalia deck.

While no single criterion being met will automatically result in a Seasonal Ban, the following are some of the primary factors we take into consideration when evaluating if a card should be placed on the Seasonal Banlist:

• The card(s) is a key component of a well performing archetype. Seasonal Bans are intended to affect influential strategies, not fringe decks.

• The archetype has remained a defining part of the metagame across multiple competitive seasons. The goal is to shake up decks that have been dominant for several seasons in a row, not newly emerging decks.

• The deck acts as a gatekeeper for the format. If its presence in the meta suppresses deck diversity or discourages alternative strategies.

• The card does not present a long term health concern. Cards that require a permanent solution will continue to be evaluated through the regular B&R process as well.

• The desired outcome is to encourage metagame evolution, not permanently weaken an archetype. The intent is to create room for new decks and strategies to emerge for a season.

• The card is eligible under the Seasonal Ban rules. Cards are ineligible to be placed on the Seasonal Banlist until three main set releases have passed since their first printing.

This change helps players experience new play patterns, deckbuilding, and archetypes, while minimizing the disruption to the long term value of existing decks and collections. If you are playing a deck, and you have a key card put onto the Seasonal Banlist, you can know that at the start of the next season, you will get back the ability to play your powerful cards.

Our goal is for each Seasonal Ban to create an opportunity for the metagame to evolve in new directions. Over the course of a season, players will discover new decks, refine existing ones, and adapt to a new meta environment. When a card comes off of the Seasonal Banlist, it enters a format that will look very different from the one it left.

When will it happen?

.asphodel/paradise will be the first format to feature the Seasonal Banlist. The cardlist for the first Seasonal Banlist is listed below. All subsequent Seasonal Banlists will be announced one week prior to each main set release. This will often be at an Ascent closing presentation.

Our goal is to give players time to prepare for the upcoming season while keeping announcements close enough to the set release that the metagame remains fresh. If we find that players need additional lead time, we'll adjust this schedule in the future.

The Seasonal Banlist for the .asphodel/paradise (PRD) season consists of: Baleful Oblation, Fabled Azurite Fatestone, and Spirit Blade: Ascension.

As a reminder, these cards will officially be placed on the Seasonal Banlist at the start of the upcoming PRD season. Current Seasonally Banned cards will be visible on the most recent B&R Announcement.