After Nearly 2 Years Of Complaints, Lurrus Is Finally Banned In Magic The Gathering's Modern And Pioneer

thegamer.com:

After almost two full years of warping Magic The Gathering's Modern format, Lurrus of the Dream Den has finally been banned.

Ever since the launch of Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths and its controversial Companion mechanic in 2020, Lurrus has completely dominated the Modern format. It's also had a significant presence in Pioneer too, where it is also being ousted in this latest banlist update.

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The full list on the official Magic The Gathering website explains what players have known for years: Lurrus' deckbuilding restriction of requiring every permanent to have a mana cost of two or less wasn't any kind of problem for the faster Modern format. The post does give some statistics to justify Lurrus', though, such as how 31% of Magic Online league decks that won four games or more uses it.

Lurrus wasn't as big a problem in Pioneer, but it was still a powerful card for many of the same reasons as it was in Modern. In the statement, Wizards implies that its ban here is more of a preventative measure. As Pioneer grows as a format, it's going to run into similar problems as Modern, which makes banning Lurrus now a sensible move.

Players have been begging for Wizards to ban Lurrus ever since it debuted. Companion, which allows specific decks to have a creature 'companion' sit outside the deck, where it can be easily accessed, is often seen as one of the game's most-popular mechanics of all time. Despite that, Wizards has said that it feels the other Companion creatures have a healthy presence in Pioneer and Modern right now, so it isn't considering making any further bans.

Pauper is getting a few, non-Lurrus bans of its own, with Galvanic Relay and Disciple of the Vault