Magic The Gathering is the strategy card game produced by Wizards of the Coast, who has just announced new bans and restrictions for its organized play.
In an official statement, it was announced that the Standard format will remain the same following the world championship tournament that occurred this past weekend. However, changes will be coming to the Magic: The Gathering Arena-exclusive Historic format. No longer will Tibalt’s Trickery be allowed in historic, Wizards said, and the previously suspended Brainstorm is also banned. Memory Lapse is also suspended with the company currently looking into a decision as to whether it will make a permanent ban for that card.
Wizards also announced it would rebalance five digital-only cards first introduced in the Historic Format in the Jumpstart: Historic Horizons set: Subversive Acolyte; Davriel, Soul Broker; Davriel’s Withering; Srkhan, Wanderer to Shiv; and Faceless Agent. In a post to their website, Wizards explained why they decided to do the rebalancing, which is something the company has never done before:
“Going forward, we will be managing formats on MTG Arena in two different ways. ‘Print’ formats, like Standard, will continue to work exactly like they do in tabletop Magic. For ‘Live’ formats, like Historic, we are adding live balancing alongside banning and suspension as a tool to address problems and make improvements to the format.”
The post went on to say that this will be a digital-only card practice at this time and that changes go into effect on Oct. 14.
What do you think of the Magic: The Gathering rule changes?