Seeing a card getting unbanned in Magic: The Gathering is a rare event, but one not unheard of in the history of the game. Once a meta has developed well enough past the problematic era, Wizards of the Coast may determine a card is safe to return to the game.
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The eternally powerful enchantment Splinter Twin found itself back in the Modern format after facing years of exile to the ban list. But why did Wizards of the Coast decide that now was a good time for this card to return? We’ve got you covered for all your burning Twin questions.
What Is Splinter Twin?
Rarely does competitive Magic find itself in a situation quite like the one that led to Splinter Twin getting banned. Enchantments are sort of a forgotten card type in a lot of formats; short of being attached to another card type like creatures, they often just don’t do enough to warrant being played.
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Then along came Splinter Twin, a red four-mana enchantment that looks fairly unassuming on its own. This aura allows the enchanted creature to tap to create a token copy of itself, giving the token version haste, though. Once the next end step rolls around, however, that token goes away.
Why Was Splinter Twin Banned In The First Place?
The year was 2016, Battle for Zendikar was fresh on players’ minds while they were eagerly looking forward to the release of Oath of the Gatewatch. A little leak ahead of time let everyone know that a little red enchantment that had been dominating Modern was getting the axe. Splinter Twin was banned for the same reason that most cards get banned: it was squeezing other decks out of the format by performing a bit too well. At the time, Splinter Twin was condensing other decks into roughly the same package. Temur Tempo, Temur Delver, Jeskai and Grixis decks, were all shrinking down to being based around a similar blue and red shell.
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With so many decks becoming some type of Twin variant, plenty of games were coming down to a crucial turn three. Do you tap out on turn three to hope your opponent doesn’t have the combo, or do you keep your mana open in an attempt to disrupt the combo? While Splinter Twin might not have been as dominating of a card at the time, it was certainly doing a lot of work in tournaments at the time. All this led to the red enchantment getting banned.
Why Is Splinter Twin Unbanned?
So, why did Wizards of the Coast unban the card if it was so strong and disruptive? Mostly, that answer came down to time. It has been eight years since Splinter Twin was banned, and tons of sets have been released between them, including three Modern-specific sets with the Horizons sets.
Crucially, there are a few cards that have helped clear the space for Modern to be able to handle a return of this combo deck.
Interestingly, Splinter Twin also really only goes in one deck archetype. There isn’t a whole lot of variance in the decks since it requires very specific creatures to be played, either Pestermite or Deceiver Exarch, or some creature with those same abilities.
What Decks Will Use It?
With eight years between the card’s banning and now, there have been plenty of ways to combat the oppressive power contained in this card. Primarily, Splinter Twin will be played in a dedicated blue and red shell, focused entirely on getting the combo off by any means possible. All the usual suspects will be there, Pestermite, Deceiver Exarch, Lightning Bolt, Preordain are all staple Izzet cards to jam in the deck.
A good portion of the deck is also going to be dedicated to protecting the combo. You can utilize many of the cards that Wizards believes will help keep Splinter Twin in check to keep your cards safe. A quick counter package could include Flare of Denial, Counterspell, Stern Scolding, and Pact of Negation. Depending on your meta, you could also include some number of Spell Pierces, Spell Snares, and Force of Negation in the sideboard.
Another perk of having Splinter Twin return to the game now is that you get access to neat tools in Lorien Revealed and Expressive Iteration, along with a few Snap caster Mages, and you have yourself a pretty good starting point for a turn four combo deck. Whether or not Splinter Twin will do much in the current state of the game still has yet to be determined, but with some time, players will quickly see how the meta settles around this powerful enchantment.
Magic: The Gathering
- Franchise
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Magic: The Gathering
- Original Release Date
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August 5, 1993
- Player Count
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2+
- Age Recommendation
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13+
- Length per Game
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Variable