With Pioneer, Magic: The Gathering’s newest constructed format, Wizards of the Coast is taking an extremely aggressive approach to bans. Indeed, the developer is not shying away from promptly banning cards that it deems to be too powerful for the new MTG format, and fans have already seen the likes of Smuggler’s Copter, Once Upon a Time, and more targeted. However, it seems that WotC has even more cards in its sights, and yet another two have just been hit with bans.
Specifically, Wizards of the Coast has announced that Oko, Thief of Crowns and Nexus of Fate are both banned in Magic: The Gathering’s Pioneer format. These two bans will go into effect on Magic: The Gathering Online and in tabletop play on Tuesday, December 17, and players can expect the next Pioneer ban announcement to come on Monday, January 6.
Considering the power level of these two cards, it is not especially surprising to see them removed from the Pioneer-legal card pool, but Wizards has provided further details on the decision none the less. With respect to the reason that Oko, Thief of Crowns has been banned, the developer cites the impressive performance of Simic Food Ramp decks, which are said to have “a nearly 60% non-mirror match win rate on Magic Online.”
Similarly, Nexus of Fate is a key component of another one of the format’s best-performing decks, Simic Nexus, which has in part led to the card’s banning. Additionally, WotC states that Simic Food has proven to be one of Simic Nexus’s only bad match-ups, and with Oko’s ban lowering the overall power level of Food, the developer has decided to take action against Nexus before it gets out of control.
With this announcement, the Magic: The Gathering Pioneer ban list grows to 14 cards, and only time will tell how many more are to be added. Certainly, players should continue to remain cautious when it comes to investing heavily into any particular Pioneer deck, as there is still no guarantee that it will not be hit by bans in the near future. That said, Pioneer is one of MTG’s most exciting formats at this time, and finding a way to play it with minimal risk is undoubtedly worthwhile.
Magic: The Gathering’s next set, Theros: Beyond Death, releases January 24, 2020.
Source: Wizards of the Coast
