FaB Analysis: The Impact of the 1/24 Banned and Suspended Announcement

Classic Constructed

Belittle (1) is banned.

Winter's Wail is banned.

Amulet of Ice is suspended until Iyslander, Stormbind becomes Living Legend.

Hypothermia is suspended until Iyslander, Stormbind becomes Living Legend.

Crown of Seeds

According to the official announcement:

Notably absent from this announcement, Crown of Seeds has its own discussion. We are not blind to the fact that a tremendous portion of Oldhim, Grandfather of Eternity's power lies in the card filtration and damage prevention of Crown of Seeds. However, we recognize what the Legendary acquisition process means to a Flesh and Blood player.

We take the bond between a player and a Legendary seriously. That is not to say we will never ban a Legendary card. We are always thinking and trying to make this format as healthy as possible, but we are extremely careful when it comes to these cards. Given internal testing, as well as cards releasing in Outsiders, we believe Crown of Seeds should remain part of Classic Constructed at this time.

Further details can be accessed here in the official announcement.

After the official bans' explanation, I leave here my analysis of them and what to expect from this format from now on.

Oldhim, Grandfather of Eternity was today's biggest loser. Besides losing his signature weapon, the hero also loses an important control tool. We'll be able to see, then, more aggressive versions of this hero come up, which are more focused on Guardian attacks (something like Bravo, Showstopper does) with some sort of control — once there are still tools like Blizzard.

We can also expect lists in which the hero uses more Earth type cards. The greatest challenge will be regarding which direction to go with the weapon: will it be better to use Titan's Fist and keep your off-hand equipment, or use the other two options and abandon these weapons.

Hypothermia was already problematic in Blitz, so seeing it banned here is no surprise. What really surprised me was the Amulet of Ice ban, but when analyzing it properly, it makes sense when its value is extracted out of an Aether Icevein (3) followed by its ability. Any version of this hero is affected by this list of bans, but the presence of cards such as Channel Lake Frigid still make her extremely strong and an excellent control deck.

It's important to stress here that, though it wasn't in the spotlights and in lower positions, another hero that comes out worse with these bans is Lexi, Livewire in its Ice version (which currently is the most competitive). This hero isn't in her best days, and the absence of Amulet of Ice will make her even weaker.

I also didn't expect Belittle (1)'s ban. Certainly, the Fai, Rising Rebellion decks would get a ban, but this ban not only weakens the hero, which is who gets the most value out of this card, as it also weakens several decks, such as Viserai, Rune Blood, Briar, Warden of Thorns and Katsu, the Wanderer. I wouldn't be surprised to see this card banned in Blitz in the future — once it is already banned in Commoner.

By analyzing the cards as a whole, it is notable the attempt at weakening the main 3 decks in the format, but many others will also suffer with these changes. Despite that, we can expect a slight advantage for aggressive decks, which will have a new phase, and the control decks are the most negatively affected.

Some heroes will be in an excellent position with these bans. I'd say the hero that is winning the most with these changes is Dash, Inventor Extraordinaire. Though Guardians still have a favorable match, the absence of Hypothermia will allow this hero to be more aggressive against Ice heroes more easily, and if the deck tries to race against the other aggressive decks, the absence of Belittle (1) might put it ahead on damage output.

Azalea, Ace in the Hole is in a good position now, but with controls being weakened, and the new cards that are to come out with Outsiders, it has everything to be the current spotlight hero. I wouldn't find it strange to see it being the new deck to beat very soon. Another hero that might start to shine again is Dorinthea Ironsong, which used to suffer a lot against controls — specially when punished by Frostbite and losing Dawnblade's Go Again.

I'm also happy to see the company's concern in not banning Crown of Seeds as they understand the difficulty and the cost for a player to obtain it. I'm still hesitant regarding how much this decision can affect the format as a whole, but we should give them a vote of confidence - even more with the many bans Oldhim, Grandfather of Eternity got.

The next update of banned and suspended was set to March 20th. It was also stressed that in case Briar, Warden of Thorns (or any other hero) hits the necessary points to become Living Legend until January 30th, from February onwards it will have that status and will no longer be valid in Classic Constructed (alongside his weapon, Rosetta Thorn).

So, what did you think of this list? Would you like to see something else get banned? Do you think control was too way too nerfed? Leave your comments down below.

Thank you for reading, and until next time!