August 7, 2023 Banned & Restricted - Preordian Unbanned In Modern, And More

Many formats have gotten quite the shake-up thanks to Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-Earth. Specifically, The One Ring and Orcish Bowmasters have been seeing play in just about every deck possible, and they were the number one and two played cards at the recent Pro Tour in Barcelona. That said, many people wondered if either card (or perhaps one of the elementals Grief or Fury) would be banned come to the August 7, 2023, Banned & Restricted announcement. Let's jump right into the big news!

As of now, Preordain is unbanned in Modern, and Mind's Desire is unbanned in Legacy. We don't frequently get unbannings so this is very exciting news. Let's look at the logic behind unbanning the cards and what it means for Modern and Legacy.

(You can read the full announcement here)

(And find a complete list of banned and restricted cards for all formats here)

August 7, 2023, Banned & Restricted Announcement

No cards are being banned (so yes, The One Ring and Orcish Bowmasters survived), but we do have multiple cards being unbanned across two formats. All changes are effective as of August 7, 2023. Without further ado, here are the cards and the explanations from WOTC.

Modern

After 12 years on the Modern ban list, Preordian is now legal. This is pretty big news and likely makes Preordain the most powerful cantrip in the format. It powers up some combo decks looking to dig for combo pieces and is an invaluable tool for fairer blue decks like Izzet Murktide. So, why did Wizards of the Coast decide to unban it seemingly out of the blue? Here is what they had to say:

Legacy

I was not expecting to see a storm card unbanned in Legacy, but here we are, Mind's Desire is Legacy legal after 20 years on the ban list. I say I was surprised to see this unbanned as if Legacy Storm is all the rage, but that's not true; Quite the contrary. Unless you're Bryant Cook from the epic storm, you're probably not crushing with storm right now. But perhaps that will change now. Here is what WOTC had to say about the decision:

The One Ring And Orcish Bowmasters Not Banned

There was much talk leading up to the August 7, 2023, Banned & Restricted announcement and Pro Tour Barcelona about The One Ring and Orcish Bowmasters taking multiple formats by storm, and many believed one or both, stood to get the ban hammer. Neither did, but they are on the Wizards' radar for sure. Here is what they had to say concerning the duo in Modern:

You May Also Like: The One Ring May Be The Best Card In Modern! It's Seeing Play In EVERYTHING

They continued with:

Vintage

The One Ring is also making waves in Vintage but not enough to be an issue for the format at this point. The statement is as follows:

Conclusion

There you have it, my friends, your August 7, 2023, Banned & Restricted announcement. And instead of dropping the hammer on cards, we get unbannings! This is certainly not the norm, but as a Modern player, I can't complain about having Preordain in the format.

I'm looking forward to hearing everyone's thoughts on Preordain in Modern, Mind's Desire in Legacy, the reasoning behind them and the lack of bans on The One Ring, Orcish Bowmasters, or anything else. Comment below and let me know what you think. Personally, I dig it.