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Magic: The Gathering Statement About Chandra Controversy Blocked in China, Russia & More


Last Friday, Wizards of the Coast issued a statement addressing the issue of how Greg Weisman's latest Magic: The Gathering novel, War of the Spark: Forsaken, handled the resolution of Chandra and Nissa's romantic relationship, but multiple sources have confirmed that the article is not available in China, Russia, Singapore, Philippines, and other countries.

"Over the past week, we have seen and heard strong reactions from fans about how we handled the resolution of the Nissa-Chandra romantic relationship in the recent Forsaken novel, and we apologize," the statement reads. "We didn't live up to the expectations we created for Chandra and what she means to our fans." You can read the rest of the statement here.

WotC published the article on the official MTG website but it looks like the company is censoring the apology in several countries.

I'm currently visiting the Philippines, and here's what I see now on this link:

click to enlarge

As you can above, it says, "The content is not available".

Several other users on Twitter are reporting that the content is not available in China, Russia, Singapore, and other countries in Asia. Here are the tweets that prove that the article is not available:

WotC hasn't explained why the content is censored in China, Russia, and other countries yet. China is a huge market where Hasbro and WotC are attempting to work with to get new consumers, and the article contains sensitive issues about LGBTQ representation that War of the Spark: Forsaken may have ruined, so they might just be following legal advice to avoid any trouble or country bannings of MTG products. There are big LGBTQ communities here in the Philippines, and they're well-represented in Filipino films and TV shows, so I don't see any reason why they would censor here it, so it's likey that the whole Asian-Pacific region blocked the content.

Numerous MTG writers expressed their disappointment with the direction of Chandra's story, and one alleged previous writer claimed that Chandra's retcon was from outside sources. Magic head designer Mark Rosewater also recently talked about the controversy, admitting WotC's mistake on the direction of Chandra's story, so it's unclear why WotC is choosing to do this.

Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.

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