The creators of Magic: The Gathering made a surprise announcement on Friday that has some fans venting their frustrations across the internet. The company, Wizards of the Coast, announced that one half of a particularly strong killer combo can no longer be used in standard format play. Sad to say that it’s this bad-ass cat beast called Felidar Guardian.
The now-banned card is fairly strong on its own but–as reported earlier on Kotaku–becomes a game-ending threat when paired with another called Saheeli Rai. Introducing both into play allows for the infinite replication of the neon cat beasts which has affectionately become known as the “Copy Cat Combo.”
Wizards of the Coast put out an explanation/apology for the card being pulled noting the likelihood of the combo showing up in decks would result in some rather unfair game-play. In the grand scheme of things, the company’s statement reads a whole lot better than most apologies by politicians or corporations dealing with life or death scandals.
They end their statement by taking responsibility for the hassle that it’s caused saying they “understand we shouldn’t let combos like Saheeli-Felidar get out the door in the first place. For that we take ownership and are making changes to try to prevent this from happening again. But our highest priority is keeping Magic fun and enjoyable for our players. We believe this banning coupled with a number of internal testing process improvements will be significant steps toward making Standard the fun, dynamic format we all want it to be in perpetuity.”
And while some may scoff at the serious nature of this card being banned and comment things like “it’s just a game!” should know that Magic: The Gathering has become a serious economy for expert players. Tournaments are held pretty much worldwide with some prizes in the hundreds of thousands. So, developing strategies with your deck and confidence in certain cards being allowed in tournament play is some pretty serious business.
What are your thoughts on the card ban? Did Wizards of the Coast handle the ban well? Let’s discuss in the comments below!
Card Images: Gatherer
Featured Image:Â Wizards of the Coast
