Effective Tuesday 13th May 2025
Balance (0 → 1)
The landscape of Canadian Highlander and Magic: The Gathering as a whole has changed dramatically during the two years following the removal of Balance from the points list. While this shift is defined by the abundance of cheap threats able to slot themselves into a variety of archetypes previously lacking in board presence, the knock-on effect of combo strategies rising through the ranks by capitalizing on this change has been just as noteworthy. Balance has been a key player in this rise, allowing combo strategies a devastating tool for survival at little to no cost. While part of our initial lowering of Balance was fueled by the goal of providing combo and prison strategies with an emergency button, the council believes the impact this sorcery has on the format is too overwhelming for it to remain unpointed.
Nadu, Winged Wisdom (0 → 1)
Nadu, Winged Wisdom is no stranger to Banned and Restricted announcements. Despite the Canadian Highlander Points List being a tad more forgiving than some of the regulatory measures of official formats, it too has a place for this multi-format powerhouse. The strength of Nadu as well as the flexibility of accompanying combo pieces has led to unwanted homogeneity across the creature-combo ecosystem. While the council believes that Nadu plays an important role in this ecosystem, we are aiming for its inclusion to be a conscious decision rather than an afterthought.
Merchant Scroll (0 → 1)
Last year, we removed Merchant Scroll from the Points List due to minimal appearances across tournament winning decks. The council made this decision knowing it would bolster strategies packing additional pointed cards with higher appearance rates, such as Flash or Ancestral Recall, but also with the hope of providing support to combo shells designed around Gifts Ungiven and Intuition. Since then we’ve seen Merchant Scroll become a staple in top performing archetypes, allowing for a level of consistency we’re not entirely comfortable with. So while our hearts go out to every High Tide player having to make a tough decision following this announcement, the council believes adding Merchant Scroll back to the points list will lend to more diversity in archetype variance and play patterns.
Council Expansion
Canadian Highlander has grown exponentially over the past half-decade and the council is looking to make administrative changes to reflect that. While we do believe it is important for the format to retain its de facto headquarters of Victoria, BC, the council acknowledges Canadian Highlander has grown beyond the coastline of its island capital.
It is because of this that the Canadian Highlander council is committing to an expansion of the council, with the goal of incorporating international representatives. The council will be adding two additional seats, and the selection of these candidates will take place over the remainder of the year, with their appointment to be announced accompanying a future points update.