Spies for Hipsters of the Coast planted deep within Magic’s R&D department have just reported back with some shocking news. Despite Ian Duke’s assertion that, “[Wizards does] not anticipate making any changes to Modern with the January 15 announcement,” our sources are reporting that Wizards of the Coast in fact has plans to ban all Trolls from Modern ahead of the Pro Tour that takes place in early February.

Trolls to be banned:

Not unlike the emergency banning of Felidar Guardian, a key component in the oppressive Cat Combo decks in Standard earlier in the year, this announcement is also predicated by community concerns, once again reinforcing the idea that Wizards of the Coast takes the voices of their audience into consideration when making these decisions (except when it comes to Splinter Twin and letting Erin Campbell play Dredge in every format).

Trick Jarrett, a community manager for Wizards of the Coast refused to confirm or deny the information that was leaked to us, simply stating that, “We are always having internal discussions about the future of competitive Magic and want everyone to know that our tournaments are a safe space for creatures of all sub-types except for Cat Beasts and Trolls.”

Mark Rosewater, head designer of Magic the Gathering also refused to comment on the banning of Trolls, but also wanted to reiterate that, “There is a lot of market research that we’ve done, which I can’t share, but it shows the way the community feels about certain cards and creature types, including but not limited to Trolls, and we use that internally to drive decisions, along with community feedback.”

The next Banned and Restricted announcement is expected on January 15th, ahead of Pro Tour Rivals of Ixalan which begins in Bilbao on February 2nd.

 

Do you know any Trolls in the Magic community that harass and bully people or use hate speech? Help keep the Magic community a welcoming place by reporting their actions.

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