Emergency OTF Ban Addition

by Charlie Plaine, Chairman

29th January 2018

We regret that it has become necessary to issue an immediate update to the OTF Ban List, effective Sunday, January 28th, 2018. There has been some concern for some time about the card IDIC: Wisdom of Surak from Live Long and Prosper. It became apparent, as we head into the competitive season, that this deck was far better than the baseline and threatened to warp the play environment.

After a brief discussion with some of the Department of First Edition staff, I made the decision, as the Acting Brand Manager, to immediately ban the card. I apologize for the immediacy of the ban, but I am confident this decision will allow players to properly plan for the upcoming Regional season and avoid damage to the competitive play environment.

The OTF Ban List is a "holding area" for cards that are problematic for the game, no matter the reason. Though we rarely use short-term bans, instead focusing on developing a long-term fix, I felt the deck based around this card (along with several others) was degenerate enough that it needed to be guaranteed from the environment. This action will give our Errata Team sufficient time to develop and test a permanent solution to the speed and power of the deck without any warping of the play environment.

If you have any questions or concerns about this action, or about any other card or card interaction, please do not hesitate to contact me.

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