Thursday, June 4, 2020

MTG Arena Open UPDATE 1- the Meta changes



The popularity of the MTGArena open tournament showed how ready and willing people are to try an online format for the game.  It also provided a lot of important statistical information that the creators of the game, Wizards of the Coast, use to determine banned and restricted cards in the current meta of the game.  Wizards of the Coast don’t often ban cards because of the belief that creativity and diversity in decks and strategies keeps the game fun and entertaining, but there are some exceptions.  Specifically, when cards and deck archetypes come out that make it 1: too easy to win with and 2: too oppressive to have fun with, the cards that make those deck archetypes too strong are looked at and, in some cases, banned from use.  

    This tournament highlighted 2 specific cards that were all over the tournament scene; Fires of Invention and Agent of Treachery. Due to their high amount of play and the difficulty to respond to them in game, the developers ruled that those cards were simply too strong for the game as it is, and were banned from competitive use.  Hopefully, this ban will ensure that more diversity and originality will flourish once again in the competitive scene, and help balance decks that utilized these cards far beyond their intended potential. 

3 comments:

  1. Hello Guillermo, I really like the pictures you used in this post I think it helped me understand your blog topic better. I’ve never played MGT before and found it interesting to read about how players create their own cards and how the makers try not to ban any cards. I look forward to read more updates.

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  2. Hello! I've never played magic, but my roommates play it all of the time. Although I've never played, I know enough to understand what you are writing about. I've heard the boys refer to cards as "OP" but I never quite understood what that meant until you explained it. I didn't know that specific cards could be banned, has this happened with other cards before?

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    1. There are certain cards that are banned from competitive play, but the ban list is different depending on which 'format' you're playing in. Different formats have different restrictions to what cards can be used and how, so a card that's absolutely broken in the "standard" format might be basically useless in the "Vintage" format.

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