3 Busted Cards Pre-Banned in High Powered Format

Last updated on July 22, 2025

Magus of the Moon | Illustration by Franz Vohwinkel

Modern-day Magic players must be washing with Downy because they're just so soft.

Ok, well that's not exactly fair. Just because land destruction and broken fast mana gets emergency banned out of a format doesn't mean there's not good reason for that. The Edge of Eternities cards pre-banned in Historic aren't exactly fun for most people, so it makes sense that they'd get the axe before the set even fully releases on MTG Arena. That soft thing still holds true, just not for this particular reason.

Pre-Banned EOE Cards

Ancient Tomb | Illustration by Yeong Hao Han

Wizards of the Coast announced that the following cards would be banned in Magic Arena‘s digital-only Historic format ahead of Edge of Eternities‘ release next Tuesday:

• Ancient Tomb
• Magus of the Moon
• Strip Mine

Fast mana and efficient land disruption are two categories that are heavily policed in Historic already, so these bans line up with the format's philosophies.

Notably, none of these cards will be banned in any other Arena format, including Brawl and Timeless, and none of them are actually in the main Edge of Eternities set. Ancient Tomb and Strip Mine are Stellar Sights bonus sheet cards, whereas Magus of the Moon is a Special Guests card from the set.

Ancient Tomb

Ancient Tomb‘s an all-timer broken land that powers out many strategies in Legacy and Vintage, and recently earned Game Changer status in Commander. It's mostly found in artifact decks or those with prison elements like Chalice of the Void and Trinisphere.

It doesn't really matter what you're ramping into with Ancient Tomb, just using your life for extra mana during the first few turns of the game is broken. And sure, there's a downside to using Ancient Tomb too many times, but decks running the land are either trying to end the game before the life loss catches up to them, or lock the opponent out in some way so their life total stays padded.

It'll be a huge boon to Brawl in particular, where fast ramp is king and accelerating the right commander out a turn early can be game-winning. Timeless is a powerful enough format already, and Ancient Tomb's already poised to enable combo decks like Sneak Attack and Show and Tell

Strip Mine

Why ban Ancient Tomb when they're also introducing one of the best possible answers to it? Well, you remember what happened when they brought kudzu to the US to deal with erosion? No one but die-hard Magic boomers really want Strip Mines everywhere.

Strip Mine's the ultimate land destruction card. Even though it's symmetrical in the sense that both players are losing a land, the Strip Mine player knows they have it, and the other player often doesn't. An ill-informed, land-light hand can get completely obliterated by a turn-1 Strip Mine.

Strip Mine seems like one of the easiest ways to win a game of Brawl, too. That's the format where some opponents just auto salt-scoop to Duress, so imagine the miser points you can stack up by popping someone's first land of the game, especially if it's that triome that The Prismatic Bridge player really needed. It'd be a huge boon to fast aggro decks like Adeline, Resplenent Cathar and Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer, since mana denial's a great way to stay ahead in those strategies.

Green decks could also pull off some broken plays with Ol' Strippy. Imagine making a second copy with Mythweaver Poq. Or think about all those Azusa, Lost but Seeking decks that recur fetch lands with a Conduit of Worlds or some such card, except replace the fetches with Strip Mines.

Magus of the Moon

Magus of the Moon is the most debatable of the three bannings. Blood Moon‘s already banned in Historic, so it makes sense to have the Magus version banned as well, though the creature's always been a more fair alternative to the enchantment. Still, it seems like the Arena team just doesn't want this sort of hoser in the format at all, and that's totally fair.

However, Magus is totally free to be played in Brawl and Timeless, and you know what? It's not a half-bad answer to Ancient Tomb and Strip Mine, among other broken lands like Field of the Dead. Is the presence of Magus net positive for Brawl? Probably not, but Blood Moon's been around for over a year now, and someone's got to deal with those greedy 5-color piles. Shoot, at this point just bring Golos, Tireless Pilgrim back and let it suck on double Blood Moons game-in, game-out.

Edge of Eternities releases on Arena next Tuesday, July 29. You have a very low chance of opening these cards in EOE boosters, but you can always craft them with wildcards and start ruining casual Brawl players' days as soon as the set drops. And stay tuned for some potential Timeless shake-ups in the near future. Historic players… you'll just have to make due with all the other cool cards from EOE.