Final Fantasy's Vivi Ornitier is an exceptionally strong Magic: The Gathering card. Perhaps too strong. In fact, just a few months after Final Fantasy came out, it might already be time for Wizards of the Coast to put it down. Just how bad is the situation, and will Wizards ultimately do anything about it? Let's discuss.
The frustrating thing about Vivi Ornitier is there are countless ways Wizards could have made the card fairer. True, the designers sensibly decided it could only use its ability once per turn, but they were clearly taking silly pills when they stopped there, because there were so many additional restrictions they might've used.
Vivi could've had prowess instead of gaining counters. Its ability could have a cost or require tapping. There could be some kind of limitation on what his mana is spent on. They could have just left the pinging ability off altogether. Any of these changes would make Vivi less oppressive, but unfortunately the designers cut the brakes and made this creature as pushed as possible.
How good is Vivi? Well, it was already making waves before the recent sweeping changes to the MTG banlist. In Pro Tour Final Fantasy over 40% of decks ran the card - a clear sign of an unbalanced meta.
In fairness, it was Cori-Steel Cutter and not Vivi that was the star of the competition here, and that card was rightly banned. The only reason Izzet Prowess decks didn't sweep the tournament is that the other big deck, Mono-Red Aggro, was able to maindeck a sideboard card in Magebane Lizard to cheese a victory. I imagine the commentators had to work very hard to make this seem normal and not a complete travesty.
But even before the bans put down Cori-Steel Cutter and neutered red aggro, many fans were pointing to Vivi as the true villain, lurking in the shadows, waiting for the opportunity to strike. And the June 30 bans were exactly what he needed to achieve world domination.
Ornitier didn't skip a beat. For a while, Izzet Prowess continued to plough onwards as the top deck, built around Vivi instead of Cutter, but then it folded up (I say that, it's probably still in the top 5 MTG Arena decks) and a new Vivi Ornitier deck took its place: Izzet Cauldron.
With Agatha's Soul Cauldron giving every creature on the field Vivi's ability, the Izzet Cauldron archetype is horrifically good. No matter how new you are to Magic, you're no doubt aware how strong free mana is, and this deck splashes it around like confetti. It turns every creature you play into a 'roided up mana dork that doesn't even need to tap. Additional resources pour out of your cards like you've struck oil, a never-ending torrent that makes your deck go and go and go.
This combo is proving to be just as much of a problem as Cori-Steel Cutter ever was. It easily makes up 50% of the field in any competition, and it's stupidly successful in tournaments. In the latest Arena Championship, Vivi decks made up 7 of the top 8 competitors. In the MTG Online Standard Showcase on August 10, 8 out of the top 10 decks were Izzet Cauldron. Despite the largest wave of Standard bans since 2005, the format is in exactly the same dire straits as before June, and this single card is to blame.
If Wizards doesn't do something about the situation, I don't think it's hyperbolic to say that that's competitive Standard wrecked for the year. I think it's pretty bad for the format outside of the highest echelons of tournament play too. The deck is complex, hard to follow or properly interact with for newcomers, and thanks to its incredible dominance helping drive up prices, it costs about $800.
So, will the company take action? It seems like Wizards is sometimes loath to ban new cards, but Final Fantasy really doesn't need Vivi Ornitier to sell packs. And isn't WotC trying to save paper Standard?
Unfortunately, looking at details from the last few banning announcements, it seems unlikely we'll get any kind of ban before the next scheduled announcement on November 24. While Wizards was previously holding open a three-week window around every MTG set release, last year it changed its mind because of the Nadu incident, resolving not to ban cards during RC and RCQ seasons. And RCQ Edge of Eternities just started.
This may be a misguided philosophy, since I think it'll tank player interest in competitive Standard.
Obviously, WotC makes and breaks its own rules all the time, so there's still the possibility of some kind of emergency ban, but sadly, I think we will have to wait until November. When it comes, I thoroughly expect Wizards to axe Agatha's Soul Cauldron rather than Vivi himself. I'd love to be proven wrong, though.
If you think Vivi is just fine in Standard, come make your case on the Wargamer Discord. And while you're here you should check out our ranking of the best MTG precon decks, as well as the MTG release schedule.