Wizards of the Coast released an article about Magic: The Gathering's Standard bans in which it held up its hands to the fact Vivi Ornitier "probably needs to go" and admitted to a mistake in the timing of bans this year.
As a result, it's also moved the next MTG banlist update closer - but only by about two weeks. Instead of taking place in late November, we'll now find out if the Final Fantasy wizard is getting his comeuppance on November 10. So just two more months of bad Standard matches to slog through!
WotC is pretty plain about the reasons why it isn't just axing the card now. It points out that Standard doesn't appear settled, with mono red decks regularly beating Vivi at the highest levels. There's also some lines about how casual Standard play isn't as cancerous as competitive Magic… which, to be honest, seems irrelevant.
But the most important explanation is one we've heard before: Wizards doesn't want to interfere with RCQ season and piss off those players who have invested time and money into the best deck.
"Standard play may be hurt in the short term by one or two dominant decks. Long term, it is certainly hurt by banning decks out from under players in a surprise move," the article explains.
Delaying the bans is a controversial decision, however, since it seems to prioritize the desires of the few over that of the many. It's not even great for all competitive fans - particularly those who haven't bought into Vivi yet. Several commenters on Reddit claiming to be RCQ players have said their drive to attend is lower due to the format's many problems.
And of course, there's the fact that situations like this keep on happening, due to design mistakes by Wizards of the Coast. Last year, for instance, the first three weeks of RCQ season were wrecked by Nadu, before WotC clipped his wings. How many RCQs must be chalked up as losses due to Wizards' unwillingness to swiftly fix mistakes?
Ultimately, there's no good time for card bans. Whatever decision WotC makes will upset someone and six Standard sets a year on the current MTG release schedule means a new batch of cards has always just come out or is right around the corner.
But something clearly needs to change, for the sake of Standard, because it's been in a pretty miserable spot for months.
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