Are all fetchlands banned on Pioneer format?
Asked by LoliTron 2 years ago
First of all, i am new to the game, so i get a bit lost sometimes. But hear me out, the thing is, there is a small amount of people who play magic (non digital version) here where i live, and the format everyone here plays is pioneer, so here is my problem: I have been having this argument with a friend who plays with me, he says (and other players back him up on it) that all fetchlands are banned from pioneer, things like Evolving Wilds. That are, in fact, some fetchlands banned from pioneer, like Flood Plain, but every site i looked into says that evolving wilds is not actually banned from pioneer, and the same goes for other fetchlands, such ass: Blighted Woodland and Fabled Passage. I recently went and did some research. when wizards announced the pioneer format back in 2019, the format actually came with 5 cards banned initially, all of them fetchlands (from Khans of Tarkir).
So, the thing is, these guys i play with are thinking that those bans meant all fetchlands that got released during that time or any fetchlands that were released after the format began, are banned. I do not know what to believe, being a new player and having so much info and so many rules thrown at you is already too much, but now i can't even be sure of which cards are banned or not? What should i believe? What is the truth here?
Thanks for your atention, sorry for such a big question.
"Fetchlands" is just an informal term. I don't know where it started from, but it's just a way to refer to the cycle of "Pay 1 life, search for an X or Y" cards. Scalding Tarn, Wooded Foothills, et al. People usually don't refer to every land that can search for another land as fetchlands.
May 30, 2022 11:47 p.m.
FWIW, everyone I know IRL refers to all... fetch lands as "fetch lands", and the Arid Mesa cycle are distinct by being "pain fetches".
Gidgetimer says... Accepted answer #1
https://magic.wizards.com/en/banned-restricted-list
That link is to the official banned and restricted list. Pioneer lists 22 cards as banned. Those 22 cards are the only things banned. However there are other cards that are simply not legal in the format. To be banned a card must first have the possibility of being legal in the format, which for pioneer means a standard legal set since Return to Ravnica. Polluted Delta was printed in Khans and is banned. Flood Plain has not been printed in a standard legal set since RTR and is not legal. Evolving Wilds was printed in M15 and is not banned, so it is legal.
While you are getting used to what was printed when it is probably going to be best to just use a card search engine (I prefer Scryfall) and just look at the legality of cards there if you are unsure. If you would prefer the official source Gatherer is the official WotC website, but the interface is pretty bad.
May 30, 2022 11:46 p.m.