I hope they reconsider the decision in some form, but I adhere to their ban list because that is what my playgroup goes with. It is a bit of a bummer, but now I have a legitimate reason to go suicidal alpha strike on any player running Iona. “This is for Painter’s Servant…!”

The fact that Painter’s/Iona shut out every other player at the same time is why it got the boot. Mindslaver/Academy Ruins only affects one other player (which is obviously bad in 1v1), which is why both of these cards are still allowed. While this may not see like a more fun combo, you can still play spells when it’s not your turn (assuming they haven’t tapped all your lands and stripped all instants

Remember, these bannings are suggestions and if your playgroup can still play with whatever cards they want to allow or ban. The suggested ban list is for if you go to a new area and play against new people as then they would be most likely following this list as well. If they aren’t, but you follow this list, they really can’t get mad at the new player. I’ll throw this up at a later time as an article though.

And sorry Derfington, I’ve already made editor’s comments about your Jaya article. Don’t want kids to get the wrong impression.

I am a little unimpressed and a little miffed with this banning, partly because Jaya and Teysa are two of my generals. To be frank, Painter’s Servant was banned only because of Iona – no one had a problem with the Servant before Iona came out.

There are tons of zany little EDH combos with the Servant – that’s why he was fun. Jaya? Chaotic Backlash? These are EDH combos: fragile and tenous, and utterly amazing when they happen. Even Teysa needs a buttload of cards to properly go off. These combos, in my opinion, should be celebrated! Lame combos like Erayo + Arcane Lab, on the other hand, are just douchebag-esque.

Banning Servant won’t stop people from playing Iona, who is still oppressive to both mono and multi-coloured decks, and who can be easily abused with recursion. And at $25 a pop, are people really going to start playing Grindstone again without its partner in crime? As a “well-maybe-they’ll-make-another-Iona-like-card-in-the-future” banning at the expense of every other card interaction with Painter’s Servant, and as the first banning I’ve experienced since starting EDH, I’m not too happy with this.