On July 14th, 2025, the Discord Points Panel released a survey to receive feedback on the 2025 Spring/Summer points update announced on May 12th. 140 players responded to the survey, and the findings are as follows (comments from survey respondents in italics):
Format Direction and Effectiveness of Year-Start Philosophy Shift
The Spring/Summer update was small but popular. Over 95% of respondents approved of the direction of the points changes, with no respondents disagreeing with the direction of the format. Trust in the council appears to be at a high, and many respondents remarked on how diverse and balanced the format feels at the moment.
Despite this general confidence in the state of the format, there are some concerns regarding the strength of color combinations containing the Gruul color pair, as both Minsc & Boo and Wrenn and Six remain on the points list. In addition, combo was often cited as being particularly prevalent and powerful due to its fair adversaries being the most affected by the start of year points update. Some are concerned about the cadence of points updates and would prefer to see more frequent updates to be able to add or remove 1 point cards to help finetune the points list in a more nimble fashion.
Because this update was small, respondents were asked to comment on the effectiveness of the council’s new philosophy which was enacted at the start of the year. Various format staples were pointed as a way to curb some strength from fair decks and reduce homogeneity across lists in the format.
83.5% of respondents believe this philosophy has improved the quality of gameplay in the format, with an additional 13% choosing to remain neutral or abstain. The experiment to point a few fair cards was generally met with positive reception. A few respondents have expressed their concern about the state of non-blue fair decks as a result of these pointings, as these decks were understandably the most affected by these changes.
As the start of year changes represented a stark departure from prior pointing philosophy, respondents were asked which format staple pointings, if any, from the last 12 months they wished would be reverted. 64.7% of players would like to see at least one card come off the list, representing a slight majority; however, the preferred choice is split. Most players would like to see one of the Gruul planeswalkers come off the list, as the color combination has struggled a bit since losing some of its strongest threats and engines in tandem with format shifts.
Wrenn and Six was the most popular with 29 votes, followed by Minsc & Boo with 23 votes. The next most popular choice was Reanimate with less than half the votes of Minsc & Boo at 11 votes. Saga at 7 votes and White Plume Adventurer at 5 votes were far less popular choices, with a lone holdout for Psychic Frog.
However, even though a slight majority of players want a card off the list, the most common choice was for none of the cards to come off the list at this time. A large portion of the player base has enjoyed the diversity and choices in deck building created by these pointings and wishes to keep these cards on the points list for the time being.
Points Changes
This points update placed Balance and Merchant Scroll back on the points list, along with newly adding Nadu, Winged Wisdom.
Balance from 0 to 1
Most players are happy to see Balance back onto the points list. At zero points, Balance was the ultimate emergency safety valve for combo decks and punished opponents for playing optimally by trying to apply pressure to race the combo decks. Balance has continued to see some play at 1, which is a welcome outcome since Balance initially came off the list for lack of play, and there was some concern that it would return to its previous soft-banned status.
- Balance was a needed hit to artifact combo decks, and with Sol Ring going down the weaker artifact combo decks still have plenty of points to tinker around with. Once it saw play in non-combo lists such as Blood and DnT, I knew it probably needed to go.
- This card gives combo a huge boon to fight low to the ground aggressive decks, as well as taxes decks. While only being one card in 100, being able to tutor for it if needed made it appear much more often. With this pointed, it now feels like there is a real weakness to combo decks that choose to not pay for it, while allowing combo decks to still play it if they fear aggro is a strong force in their metagame.
- Balance is a broken card and should require the deck builder to be intentional about including it. While it’s been free, I’ve stripped my opponent’s entire hand several times in the same night, and a 2 mana wrath is disgusting in the right deck. I do think the experiment of making it free was warranted, but I do believe 1 is where it belongs.
Merchant Scroll from 0 to 1
Opinions regarding Merchant Scroll are fairly split. Merchant Scroll was chosen as “the blue point” primarily to try to curb the power of Recall-based control decks which were seen as overly strong after the January points update which had minimally affected them. Merchant Scroll being pointed does hit the Recall-based control decks as desired, as well as Flash Hulk which is a powerful yet unpopular deck, but the card is difficult to justify paying points for in the current state of the format, leading to an effective soft-ban status.
There is some debate as to how effective this pointing has been at reducing the strength of Recall decks which still remain one of the top performing archetypes in the format. The community is in favor of a blue point, but it is uncertain whether Merchant Scroll was the correct choice, and there is some concern about choosing such a narrow tutor compared to something more flexible like Spellseeker.
- I think this increase is a good way to weaken Recall decks; however, at 1 point, I fear Scroll is not a worthwhile investment for any deck that is not a Recall deck, and it probably is not worthwhile in Recall decks either.
- I understand the rationale behind the increase, but I am yet to see the impact in the games I play and watch.
- I believe this card is hard to ever justify at one point, and I do struggle with whether Seeker is a better pointing albeit splashing other non-Recall blue decks.
- It’s a niche enough card that decks should be allowed to play it if it reflects their strategy. It is versatile in blue (Recall or Force or removal) and gets the combo in Flash Hulk. Something like Stoneforge is versatile in midrange (Clamp, Prewar, Lion Sash) and gets the combo (Shuko) in something like Nadu. Scroll does go in better decks than Stoneforge Mystic, but I’d rather see Scroll decks punished in a different way. If I’m paying 7 points to play a Flash deck, let me play the Flash cards. If I want to pay 8 points to play a Recall deck, let me play the Recall cards.
Nadu, Winged Wisdom from 0 to 1
Nadu going onto the points list is the most positively received points change this update. More than half of respondents strongly agreed with this change, citing the strength of the Nadu combo and the freeroll nature of including the combo into decks. Nadu, as an individual card, is a monstrous value engine and leads to frustrating and drawn-out gameplay patterns.
Pointing Nadu requires decks to commit to being Nadu decks, rather than getting to incidentally include the Nadu + Nomads/Shuko combo for free. However, despite the positive reception to Nadu being pointed, some have voiced concerns that creature combo is not particularly strong in the format and that reducing its strength in any form will push the archetype further from viability.
- Loved the framing of having to pay 1 point as a concession to “yes, I’m doing the Nadu thing.” I felt similarly to Urza’s Saga. Some pointed cards to me should be cards that give your deck a new angle of attack (Saga, Nadu, Strip Mine).
- 0 point combos should be much more fragile, like Chain of Smog combo. There should be some amount of buy-in to play a combo as strong as Nadu, even if it’s just 1 point.
- Nadu is a ridiculous card. I’m not particularly worried about the strength of the deck, but making it a place where players who want to play it are pushed towards playing it (rather than it being the default creature combo deck) is a good decision.
- It makes sense on an individual card level, but I’m not sure it makes sense on a deck/metagame level. Creature combo wasn’t particularly strong. Nadu decks weren’t dominating any metagame really, so I’m not sure this was needed.
Metagame Analysis and the Future of the Format
There are some concerns about the relative strength of combo decks in the format. Decks like Citadel Storm, while not necessarily being the most winning decks, have highly polarized matchups that have strongly shaped the format. In general, combo mostly avoided pointing so far this year and decks like Breach, Flash Hulk, and Time Vault were often cited as concerning forces on the metagame. Cards such as The One Ring, Bolas’s Citadel, Tinker, and Mystical Tutor were often brought up as cards people wished to see pointed in the future.
On the fair side of the format, Jeskai has become the de facto blue deck in many metagames and has saturated the blue slice of the format, only occasionally being trumped by Esper Red. Players have noted that Rakdos midrange has been very popular, although not necessarily overbearing. Taxes decks have seen a major resurgence due to the perceived prevalence of combo, specifically Boros Taxes, and many players view the prevalence of Blood Moon and disruptive strategies as being higher than desirable.
Many feel that green as a color is struggling in the format, in particular mana dork midrange decks and aggro decks, especially those in Gruul color combinations, lands decks, and non-Nadu creature combo. Red-based aggro decks also struggle in the current format, although some of that is simply the result of Magic design which is difficult to address via the points list. Players also remark that Thassa’s Oracle could possibly be reduced to 5, as it still sees minimal play or success despite having been lowered to 6 at the start of the year.
Conclusion
Most players believe that the format is in a very good place right now and is remarkably balanced featuring a wide variety of archetypes. The current philosophy of pointing some fair cards has been met with general approval and is a direction that players wish to continue pursuing, although there are not many fair cards that players currently wish to be pointed. The council has announced plans for expansion outside of Victoria, and the player base is looking forward to the future of the council and the format with a high degree of optimism.
The role of the Discord Points Panel is to gather data and capture community sentiment, assisting councilors by providing connections to Canadian Highlander sub-communities around the world.
Current members:
Cyclopes8 (Myself) – Moxfield
Impulse27 – Moxfield
Vaaste – Moxfield
Feel free to DM or @ any of us on the Discord if you have any questions, thoughts or concerns.