Banning cards from any format is done to act as a stopgap for strategies that are too strong, or to boost strategies that could do with the help from cards lost to competitive viability.
This October banned and restricted announcement was not one we had previously any knowledge of, as the next scheduled one isn't until November 3rd, to go into effect on November 10th. With a successful Living Legend Battle Hardened taking place in Hamburg, we've seen a number of cards be utterly removed from the eternal format. And some coming back.
Banned and Restricted Cards
In the Living Legend format:
- Count Your Blessings is restricted.
- Zephyr Needle is banned.
- Warmonger's Diplomacy is unrestricted.
It's a policy of Legend Story Studios to ban cards if they start in play, like Weapons and Equipment, but to restrict ones that start in deck. This is why Count Your Blessings is still at 1 copy, even though it'll never see play due to it needing other copies to be at full effect.
Despite it being card of the week after Worlds in 2024, there is a general consensus among the design team and among players that CYB is a deeply un-fun card to play against. It's a card that LSS "would like to move on from".
With the printing of the Retrieve mechanic, seen on cards like Pick Up the Point and Up Sticks and Run the downside of Zephyr Needle has been mitigated more and more. It's because of that, the powerful Ninja Weapons need to go.
While LSS has taken much, they offer the chance to give back in the form of disruptive staple card Warmonger's Diplomacy. With Runeblade heroes like Chane, Bound by Shadow, Briar, Warden of Thorns, and even Viserai, Rune Blood all filling in top 8 lineups, it's a good idea to bring real disruption to those heroes into the fold.
Wrap Up
With more and more high level Living Legend events on the calendar, it's essential to see this format being balanced in such a way. This October Banned and Restricted announcement has shaken up the eternal format for the better, and we can hope to see that care for Living Legend continue going forward.
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