Banning Will Likely Alter The Course of Singles Sales
Posted by Jeffrey Dohm-Sanchez on October 10, 2019 @ 2:57 pm CT
Wizards of the Coast announced via Twitter that it has shifted the next Banned and Restricted Announcement for Magic: The Gathering up to October 21 from November 18. This was an awkward move because the last Banned and Restricted Announcement was released only a few days ago on October 7, and no changes were made to any of the formats. The date change is essentially a tip-off that there is a format imbalance that needs to be addressed soon, and a ban is coming that will likely alter the course of single card sales because the metagame will shift in reaction to which card or cards are banned.
There are a few possible targets for the next ban announcement. The most probable targets are Field of Dead and Golos, Tireless Pilgrim which are both part of the "Golos" Standard decks that had claimed seven of the top eight spots at the most recent Star City Games Team Open tournament. WotC generally acts upon data-driven analysis, and with Mythic Championship V decklist submissions rolling in, they could have decided that these two cards are so over-powered and format-warping that banning one or both them in Standard is necessary.
Overall, these potential bans are fairly positive news for retailers selling singles. Field of the Dead and Golos, Tireless Pilgrim are rares from Core Set 2020, a set that has already run its initial sales cycle over the Summer into Fall. A ban won't affect that set's product sales all that much, especially because players and collectors have already moved onto Throne of Eldraine. Also, should the "Golos" decks become defunct as a result of a ban, it will open up single sales for some of the more lagging Mythic rares and rares from Throne of Eldraine as the second tier decks will start filling in the power vacuum left by the ban. The last time a major ban occurred, the race to buy cards to build new decks resulted in sales record for TCGPlayer on the day of the ban announcement (see "'Magic: The Gathering' Ban Announcement Leads to Sales Records on TCGplayer").
We previously announced the next B&R date as Nov. 18. After further reflection on the (very busy) competitive gaming schedule and discussion on implementation windows with our digital teams, we are shifting that next announcement to Oct. 21.
— Magic Esports (@MagicEsports) October 9, 2019
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