May 18th B&R Speculation: Big Bans, or No Changes?

Last updated on May 15, 2026

Badgermole Cub | Illustration by Nathaniel Himawan

Monday is ban day, so let’s discuss what could catch bans in several formats—if any. There’s lots of discussion about what could catch a ban in a couple of formats. Notably, we have no confirmation of whether or not a Commander ban will come out tomorrow.

While the most recent Commander ban announcement coincided with the announcement for other formats on February 9, in that announcement, Gavin confirmed Commander’s bans would happen on their own schedule. While he said “we’ll talk with you again likely this summer in May or June,” there has been no confirmed date.

Standard

Badgermole Cub | Illustration by Nathaniel Himawan

The big ticket cards to consider in Standard are Stormchaser's Talent and Badgermole Cub, twin powerhouses that reinforced their role as top cards in the meta with Pro Tour Secrets of Strixhaven, where most top performing decks played playsets of one card or the other.

Izzet has a massive presence in Standard, with several distinct decks taking advantage of cheap, efficient cards to wreck face. Most of them run playsets of Stormchaser's Talent, with the exception of Izzet Spellementals, which can’t afford many permanents or it risks lacking the instants and sorceries for cheap Hearth Elementals and Eddymurk Crab. But Izzet Prowess, Izzet Control, and Izzet Lessons all rock playsets.

Banning SCT would not kill Izzet; rather, it would neuter the archetype. I consider STC worthy of a ban because it is simply unbalanced: It is both an amazing 1-mana play that provides an aggressive start and a late-game value engine, not to mention a combo with Boomerang Basics to produce additional card advantage.

On the other side of the Standard coin is Badgermole Cub, the strongest mana doubler to come out in recent years. It’s been a major player in Standard since Avatar: the Last Airbender dropped; even now, three sets later, PT SOS had 5 Cub decks in the Top 8, and 13 of the 24 best performing decks were on Cub.

It offers explosive starts, especially with Llanowar Elves and, depending on the deck, Gene Pollinator coming down turn 1 to make it mana-neutral. Even if Cub gets answered, it leaves an earthbended land in play for the next Cub to boost.

These cards define current Standard, and I predict that…neither will be banned. In the previous announcement, Wizards seemed satisfied with the format and relatively little has changed since then. While I think both cards should be banned—of the top 24 decks at the Pro Tour, only three weren’t Izzet or landfall—Wizards has pretended the format is fine. If there are Standard bans, I would expect both to get hit; removing just one would allow the other archetype to dominate. If both got banned, Izzet Lessons might need a hit as well as its core card advantage engines would be relatively untouched.

Pauper

Sneaky Snacker | Illustration by Irina Nordsol

Pauper has a clear top dog: Tolarian Terror decks, which were called in the March 23 ban announcement, with Gavin mentioning they were keeping an eye on the deck. The most likely candidate for a ban, to my mind, is Sneaky Snacker.

While a 2/1 for 2 seems unimpressive by Pauper’s standards, you rarely pay mana for Sneaky Snacker. Rather, Terror decks send it to the graveyard with cantrips like Thought Scour, Mental Note, and Abandon Attachments. These are all cards Terror decks need to play to reduce the cost of Tolarian Terror and Gurmag Angler; that they get the Snacker into the graveyard and draw cards to reanimate it is simply a bonus.

If this free aggression in a top deck wasn’t enough, the Sneaker has broken Dimir confinement. Rakdos Madness gets to play it, despite lacking blue mana to cast it. Tireless Tribe decks are similarly positioned.

A free evasive threat that can’t be killed profitably because reanimating it coincides with drawing cards and it can always come back post-Lightning Bolt is well worth a ban, and I’d say the Snacker is most likely to be hit if action is taken against Terror decks.

Overall, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Monday’s ban announcement mirror March’s with the declaration of no changes to any real formats (Historic doesn’t count), though I would welcome a Standard free from Badgermole Cub and Stormchaster’s Talent.