Gifts, meet the Banhammer.

Well, as per the laid out groundwork, the new EDH banned list came out with the DCI banned/restricted lists last Friday. Not much changed in the world of competitive Magic, just some Vintage changes (Is Thirst for Knowledge really that imba?).

However, in EDH, the world was rocked.

Firstly, Fastbond got nailed. Too unfun with Crucible of Worlds and Strip Mine. Go directly to jail, do not pass go, do not collect $200. Can't say I'm too disappointed with this, although I see Crucible as more of the offender, especially given that it was banned, and no one complained about Fastbond until Crucible was unbanned. However much fun I had with Fastbond and Future Sight is moot now. Supposedly Crucible opens up more room for deckbuilders...but I don't see how, outside of the Fastbond + Strip Mine shenanigans.

Braids, Cabal Minion got the axe as a general. This I understand. Again, it could be fallout from Crucible's unbanning, but I don't really care. Perhaps I'll share the tale of Black Guy Mike someday, but he's probably the only one crying over this.

Were it just these two changes, it wouldn't have been much either way.

However, Gifts Ungiven was also given the Banhammer. This hurts blue (not enough to make it anything other than the best color), but what it really hurts, in my mind, is when blue is used with other colors. Sure, in a mono-blue deck Gifts is a pretty good "Draw 2 and set some stuff up" card, but where it really excels is with colors with better recursion. One of the best feelings is when I can resolve Gifts to go fetch Genesis, Eternal Witness, Volrath's Stronghold, and Regrowth...hell, or anything, really. Life from the Loam is great to fetch.

Gifts was great because it could fetch whatever you needed whenever you needed it. Not so much anymore. I can see where it would be a problem with vicious combos...but I'm an advocate of there being an answer for anything in this format, given its extensive card pool.

We'll see how these changes play. Right now I've got Opportunity replacing Gifts in my decks, but I might try to convince my group to use a house rule to unban Gifts. Because Gifts is such a cool (and powerful) card that's pretty much been put to pasture in most formats.