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Twitch Esports and MTG Arena teamed up to announce that the organizations will host a $75,000 tournament on the same day as the next Magic: The Gathering Banned & Restricted list announcement, which takes place on November 18, 2019. The decision to host a tournament immediately after the potential for cards to be banned is a unique one, and it’s only been fairly recently that Magic: The Gathering announced bans as frequently as it does, so there isn’t a lot of precedent for what a same-day tournament for B&R updates will look like.
MTG Arena has been a major player in esports over the past year thanks to a renewed focus from developer Wizards of the Coast in its professional player programs – especially when it comes to prize pools, which were given $10 million USD in support for 2019. Currently, several Standard format cards are viewed as problematic in the community, and it seems all but inevitable that Oko, Thief of Crowns, the planeswalker that made up an incredible 69% of the most recent Mythic Championship’s metagame, will be getting banned. Interestingly, there are other cards that might be enablers and equally at risk for bannings, including Once Upon a Time and Veil of Summer, the latter of which was already removed from Pioneer’s card pool for being too powerful.
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Banning discussions aside, however, the Twitch Esports MTG Arena tournament taking place on November 18, 2019 makes a lot of sense, and $75,000 will be sure to draw a lot of eyeballs on the event, which was announced on Twitter earlier. The Swiss round tournament will be in the Standard best-of-three format on MTG Arena, which will allow players to flex their deckbuilding muscles even more, as sideboards – which can be used during games 2 and 3 – will likely be even more important with a potential major shakeup just hours before the event begins. All affiliate and Twitch partner Magic: The Gathering and MTG Arena streamers are invited to participate in the tournament.
It’s a bigger-than-average prize pool for MTG Arena competitions on Twitch, and it’s going to draw out the most popular Magic streamers on Twitch. Hopefully, if there are any major changes to the banned and restricted list, it will also provide a roadmap for competitive players to follow and create excitement about Standard as a format. After months of green dominating Standard in an unhealthy way, the hope among many players is that November 18 ushers in a setting where other exciting cards from Throne of Eldraine can shine.
Of course, there’s also the potential for disappointment. Oko, Thief of Crowns is one of the major faces of Eldraine as a plane and as a set, and banning him creates a problematic situation for those opening new booster packs only to find a chase mythic rare that they can’t play. It’s a tricky situation for Wizards but, with the right decision, a combination of a revitalized MTG Arena Standard format and a gigantic Twitch MTG Arena tournament to celebrate could spell even bigger things for the game heading into 2020.
MTG Arena is available now on PC. A Mac release is planned for the future.
Source: MTG Arena/Twitter
