Umezawa’s Jitte is finally legal in MTG's Modern format

One of the most iconic pieces of equipment in Magic: The Gathering history finally becomes Modern legal

Fifteen years after Modern became a sanctioned Magic: The Gathering format, the iconic card Umezawa's Jitte has finally become legal to play. The powerful equipment was on the original Modern ban list and stayed there until today, when the latest Banned and Restricted Announcement shook up one of Magic's most popular formats.

If you've ever been on the receiving end of an attacking creature equipped with Umezawa's Jitte, you probably understand why the card was banned for such a long time. Its ability to accumulate counters with combat damage turns any creature, no matter how small, into a value engine that can easily snowball into ending the game. However, Modern has changed a lot since its inception, and cards arguably more problematic than Jitte are now the norm.

According to Carmen Klomparens, senior game designer on Magic's Play Design team, the intention is to make aggressive, creature-based decks more popular in Modern, along with revitalizing Stoneforge Mystic strategies. The format is being shaken up pretty significantly: Along with Jitte, Violent Outburst, an important card for Living End decks, was also unbanned. More importantly, the two strongest decks in the format, Boros Energy and Amulet Titan, were hit with the ban of Phlage, Titan of Fire's Fury and Lotus Field, respectively. Overall, Modern is going to look pretty different in the coming months.

Umezawa's Jitte being unbanned is significant not just in terms of gameplay, but because the card is an iconic piece of Magic history, so it will feel great to see it more often at the table. When this card was legal in Standard, it dominated the format, appearing in essentially every deck that played creatures. It will be interesting to see if it's still at that level in the contemporary competitive environment. If you want to try for yourself why the card is so famous, you should snag a few copies quickly before speculation begins. There's also a recent reprint from the TMNT set, called Raph's Jitte. Nothing beats the original, but this version at least has art from Turtles creator Peter Laird.