Magic: The Gathering's infamous Vivi Ornitier is getting a nerf today on MTG Arena, though the card may be banned in some formats on November 10. Magic: The Gathering is enjoying a period of increased sales and overall success, which can be partly attributed to Universes Beyond releases like Final Fantasy. While UB reception remains mixed, Final Fantasy was very well received by fans, and it spawned some powerful cards and combos.
With Universes Beyond main sets being added to Standard's rotation and legality, players started experimenting with the new Final Fantasy cards as soon as they came out in June. This came with a big issue: Vivi Ornitier started dominating Standard's meta, and the most powerful Final Fantasy deck in MTG cost $800. After several calls for action, Wizards of the Coast moved the November Banned and Restricted post to November 10 and explicitly stated that Vivi may be banned. Now, a new post was released ahead of the bans, stating that Vivi is getting rebalance changes in MTG Arena.
November 10 is Suddenly a Big Day For Magic: The Gathering
Wizards of the Coast is about to make decisions about Magic: The Gathering's future on November 10, which will be a big day regardless of the outcome.
Say Goodbye to Magic: The Gathering's Vivi Ornitier As You Know It
Magic: The Gathering's Vivi and Agatha's Soul Cauldron combo is incredibly strong in Standard, and while this is not playable in the Alchemy format, WotC is making changes to Vivi in order to keep it in line with other meta cards. In Alchemy, Vivi can combo with Swiftspear's Teachings for just 1 Red to ping opponents for 1 damage, put a +1/+1 counter on itself, and thus generate more mana with its primary ability, all while giving the next played creature both haste and prowess.
Now, Vivi must be tapped to generate mana, but its ability is no longer restricted to once per turn. With Swiftspear's Teachings also nerfed, now giving the next played creature either haste or prowess instead of both, the combo could be less dominating in Alchemy. However, the change extends to other formats too, and now Vivi could be even more powerful in Historic due to potential MTG combos that infinitely untap creatures. Since Vivi grants a lot of mana, it's easy to achieve this with cards like Crab Umbra and Freed from the Real.
There is a major Historic tournament for MTG this weekend, so the changes come at a very bad time for online players.
On top of that, the online version of Vivi getting changed puts the paper version between a rock and a hard place, as WotC has to either issue an errata and change the text box with new reprints or take action with the current paper version in mind, possibly banning Vivi in tabletop but not online. If that wasn't enough, MTG Standard decks have reached a point where the meta is all Vivi + Cauldron or counters to it, like mono-Red aggro.
MTG players are expressing frustration at the situation, as the rebalanced version of Vivi would have been much less toxic and overpowered in Standard than it currently is. Considering the predicament in which Wizards of the Coast finds itself, it may even decide against banning Vivi in MTG to test the online version first, and instead ban cards like Agatha's Soul Cauldron in order to break the most popular deck in the game and possibly let the meta heal. This is speculation, though, and fans will have to wait for the November 10 post.
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OpenCritic Reviews
- Top Critic Avg: 82 /100 Critics Rec: 81%
- Released
- September 27, 2018
- ESRB
- T for Teen // Blood and Gore, Mild Fantasy Violence
- Developer(s)
- Wizards of the Coast, Wizards Digital Games Studios
- Publisher(s)
- Wizards of the Coast
WHERE TO PLAY
- Genre(s)
- Digital Card Game
