Wizards of the Coast has banned five Magic: The Gathering cards, including The One Ring, which was defended in the last ban announcement (see “WotC Shakes Up ‘Magic’ Formats”).  In banning The One Ring from Modern format play, WotC noted its presence in Boros Energy, the most played and dominant deck in Modern, and the fact that the opportunity cost of including it is too low and that Modern would be more enjoyable without it. Lead designer Mark Rosewater had identified the card as “too good” in August (see “The One ring Card Was Polarizing”), and the status of the card has now been changed.

Other bans in Modern included Amped Raptor, which will also reduce the play and win percentages of Boros Energy; and Jagantha, the Wellspring, which will also reduce the dominance of Boros Energy. Jagantha, the Wellspring was also banned in Pioneer and Explorer formats.

Mox Opal, Green Sun’s Zenith, Faithless Looting, and Splinter Twin were unbanned in Modern.

In Legacy format, Psychic Frog was banned to increase the diversity among existing archetypes without removing them from the format, and Vexing Bauble, which has a “concerning” win rate. 

WotC will make its next banned and restricted announcement on March 31.