Table of Contents
As we go into the release of Omens of the Third Age, this has to be a BnR that many players were curious about. The May 2026 banned announcement is live, and brings significant changes to both the CC and Sage formats.
May 2026 Banned Announcement
CC Banning Update
It's a very rare thing for me for a developer to announce what is going to be banned several months prior. In my 12 years playing card games, I've never seen anything like it.
The list of banned cards are unchanged from now and the March announcement.
- Channel Lightning Valley is banned.
- Electromagnetic Somersault is banned.
- Skyward Serenade is banned.
- Phantom Tidemaw is banned.
- Reaping Blade is banned.
- Volzar, the Lightning Rod is banned.
The official article cites that Channel Lightning Valley was designed when cards like Art of War were still legal. The notorious "book banning" fundamentally changed FaBTCG, so they considered the ease of card draw something they wanted to control in the new Lightning heroes.
Somersault read as a somewhat lazy design. Blocking in FaB is a huge trade off, that cannot be taken lightly. By using cards to preserve your life total, you're also denying aggressive options on your own turn. That tension is one of the things that makes FaB so great. Somersault violates that contract by returning those cards to your cards to your hand, allowing you to use cards to defend, then attack right after.
It's well documented that Skyward Serenade is a card that should not exist as printed. The modular non-attack action has 3 modes and base Go Again. The Go Again should have been a 4th bullet point in its printing, and was printed as though it had Go Again as base. This is one of the biggest contributors to Aurora, Shooting Star hitting Living Legend so quickly.
Throughout their article, the developers were talking about a build of Zyggy Starlight that used and abused this card, likely pairing it with Reality Refractor. This is another up-front banning like Talk a Big Game before Super Slam released.
Reaping Blade, since the days of Florian, Rotwood Harbinger has been much too efficient.
By banning original Volzar, you're deleting Oscilio, Constella Intelligence and denying the possibility of the Sigils matter version of Oscilio, Forked Continuum. Both decks need to drastically reevaluate the directions they're going in.
It's troubling to me, and many members of the community that only these 6 cards have left Classic Constructed.
Victor Goldmane, High and Mighty is at the top of the CC metagame, especially with the nerfs to Oscilio. Decks truly struggle against anything that blocks that efficiently yet still sends absurd damage off the back of Visit Goldmane Estate. However, he's at 899 Living Legend points, with a 1.5 multiplier, as of the time of this article being published. It's possible that LSS wants him to ride out into the LL sunset, and to take Miller's Grindstone with him to punish other Fatigue decks.
The part I find more puzzling is the lack of bans targeted at Arakni, Marionette. The other best deck in the metagame, known for sending absurdly tall Graphene Chelicera tokens was previously targeted with bans in the form of removing Blue and Yellow hnt027-orb-weaver-spinneret-2-the-hunted-booster. Mario's power and meta presence is overwhelming, so there being nothing done to curb the power of the Assassin is surprising.
Silver Age Benching Update
This May Banning Announcement brings the first ever change in Hero Legality in Silver Age.
- Ira, Crimson Haze is benched until Prerelease Weekend of the unnamed Set 20.
- Kano is benched until Prerelease Weekend of the unnamed Set 20.
- Kayo is benched until Prerelease Weekend of the unnamed Set 20.
Largely, I believe that player sentiment towards heavy Arcane, and the feels-bads of dying on your own turn is why Kano ate enough votes to leave the format. Players remember the Brute's meta dominance during the early days of the format, following World Premier London. Ira is the only banning that tracks with current player sentiment.
In the article, LSS stated that they were considering choosing Kano themselves, but that the community did it for them. They also stated that they could have still chosen Kano, meaning he'd be off legality for 2 seasons (Prerelease weekend of set 21, early 2027).
As for the meta share, the removal of one of the effective arcane damage decks means Oldhim's relevance will rise sharply as the format fills with more physical damage decks. In a surprising turn, we were able to see the final results of the votes on the most recent Dev Talk podcast video.
Sage Bannings
The following cards are now no longer legal in Silver Age:
- Ebon Fold
- Beckoning Haunt
- Reaping Blade
- Volzar, the Lightning Rod
- Flourish
- Deathly Delight
- Vantom Wraith
There are numerous bans targeted at Chane returning to the metagame. Ebon Fold no longer being legal ensures that its harder to banish that one key Rune Gate card, and the loss of Beckoning Haunt means the deck has lost 2 virtual life that the 2 block Guardwell grants.
The biggest loss is in the form of the 2 cost Rune Gates, and Reaping Blade. No longer can you convert a single Blue in to a 2 cost with Go Again (thanks to Chane), then Reaping Blade. We can expect the deck to evolve off of relying on Rune Gate, and playing other pump effects to go wide and stay as strong as expected.
Flourish is a ban solely targeted to Briar, as it's another, versatile pump that the deck uses to generate Embodiment of Lightning. The new printing in Gem Pack 5 will feel horrendous to open.
The head scratcher is banning Volzar again. We've already seen it taken away from CC, but taking it away from Sage, where the number of Lightning Wizard Instants is about to go up will drastically affect the competitive viability of Oscilio and Oscilio, Scion of the Third Age.
Sage Unbannings
The unbannings that have come to Silver Age look surprising, controversial even until you consider the context:
- Aether Spindle is unbanned.
- Burn Up||Shock is unbanned.
- Lightning Press is unbanned.
Aether Spindle is not the power house for Kano that we thought now that he's gone, however Briar, Aurora, and all the new (and old) Lightning heroes profit from Lightning Press being back in the format.
I had the priviledge of being in Prague, where the full deck lists were revealed. These previously banned cards are in those decks, and have since been unbanned to make the precons valid for in store play. As a store manager and tournament organiser, I am all for this. Let's remove the barrier for people being able to play; I say as I put the Kayo decks into the stock room.
Wrap Up
This BnR is set to shake up Silver Age in a pretty drastic fashion. With new heroes coming to CC, we can only wonder if there will be anything new coming to the mainline format.
Keep up to date with the latest in Flesh and Blood news right here on fabtcg.gg
