Wizards of the Coast has announced the banning of three Magic: The Gathering cards in the new Pioneer format: "Once Upon A Time", "Smuggler's Copter", and "Field of the Dead".
The decisions were made after analyzing the results from the Players Tour Qualifiers (PTQs) on Magic: The Gathering Online. "Smuggler's Copter" was banned due to the dominance of Mono-Black Aggro decks; "Once Upon A Time" because of the dominance of green decks in the format; and "Field of the Dead" because ramp decks are suppressive controlling and reactive decks.
WotC banned these cards with hopes that "will result in greater diversity among aggressive decks, a clearer role in the metagame for reactive and controlling decks, and a push toward better color balance among competitive decks."
These three cards were the Top 3 in our list of 7 cards we expected to get banned in Pioneer today.
Here's a list of the other banned cards in Pioneer:
Bloodstained Mire
Felidar Guardian
Flooded Strand
Leyline of Abundance
Oath of Nissa
Polluted Delta
Veil of Summer
Windswept Heath
Wooded Foothills
The off-cycle Pioneer ban and restricted announcement continues every Monday, so the next one will be on December 9, but according to Magic designer Aaron Forsythe, there are only few weeks left before Pioneer ban changes will coincide with the regular scheduled announcements with the other MTG formats.
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Magic: the Gathering