Plus two other bans
Booting up Magic: Arena will pull up a brand new banned list, which now includes the extremely contentious Oko, Thief of Crowns planeswalker that was just introduced in the most recent set of cards: Throne of Eldraine.
Oko was an extremely oppressive card that could get out as early as turn two (with help), and set the tempo for the rest of the game. Pro players were essentially building around Oko or against him, as the entire meta was completely dominated by that one card: to the point where roughly 70% of some championship events included Oko in every deck. That reign ends today, as Oko is banned in standard play in paper form and in Magic: Arena. This is a huge deal, as Oko was a marquee character for the new set and one of the faces of Eldraine.
But he’s not the only banned card! Veil of Summer and Once Upon a Time are banned as well, on top of the existing recent Field of the Dead ban. In a statement, Magic overseer Wizards of the Coast stated that “the standard metagame has been in an unhealthy state,” and they are addressing “green’s general dominance” in the meta by banning the two aforementioned cards on top of Oko.
There’s no grace period for this in Arena: those cards are banned right now and you cannot play with them, though you will receive wildcards based on how many copies you own (see my confirmation in the screenshot below). Tabletop play is scheduled to ban the cards on November 22. You can find the full ban list below and read more about the decision here.
Welp, I only had one Oko deck, but several of my builds included Once Upon a Time (man, Gruul was so powerful with it in the meta). All for the greater good! These multi-bans should shake up the meta more than just throwing an Oko ban bone.
Banned and Restricted announcement [Wizards of the Coast]
Announcement Date: November 18, 2019
Standard:
Oko, Thief of Crowns is banned.
Once Upon a Time is banned.
Veil of Summer is banned.
Brawl:
Oko, Thief of Crowns is banned.
Legacy:
Wrenn and Six is banned.
Vintage:
Narset, Parter of Veils is restricted.
Tabletop Effective Date: Nov 22, 2019
MTG Arena Effective Date: Nov 18, 2019
Magic Online Effective Date: Nov 18, 2019
The list of all banned and restricted cards, by format, is here.
Next B&R Announcement: December 16, 2019
