Today has been a day filled with drama in the world of Magic: The Gathering following the ban of well-known competitive-player Austin Bursavich by Wizards of the Coast (WoTC) from all formats of play. While Bursavich can be a polarizing figure in the game community, the reason for his ban appears to be rooted in revealing a lack of competitive integrity for upcoming tournaments, and WoTC does not seem able to handle controversy well.

Troubling Information Revealed

Details are still emerging about precisely what has occurred, but for now it appears that WoTC provided its own Magic Pro League (MPL) players with crucial information on the change in competitive format and used their standard non-disclosure agreements to ensure that non-MPL players would not be made aware of this information for weeks to come, which destroys any supposed competitive integrity in the tournaments to come and provides MPL players with a significant advantage.

An unnamed member of the MPL leaked the details to Bursavich, who is not under any non-disclosure agreement. Bursavich then revealed this information online, and WoTC demanded to know his source. When Bursavich refused to reveal his informant, WoTC issued what appears to be a permaban from all forms of the game, be it paper or online. As one might expect, reaction to the ban has largely been negative, regardless of how one feels about Bursavich.

A Loss Of Integrity In Magic: The Gathering

Before diving into the handing of this ban, we need to pivot back to the leaked information about the change in format in competitive event. The change appears to be taking effect in June and will move from modern and draft to standard and draft. MPL players having this information long before competitors allows for more time to prepare and practice, whereas non-MPL players will continue to hone their skills in a format that, unknown to them, is no longer the principle method of winning competitive events.

The obvious benefit to providing this kind of information to MPL is that one of those players now has a significant advantage and potential to win upcoming events, which would be great for the WoTC brand. But now that the secret is out, the entire competitive scene feels compromised. What is the point of trying to compete in Magic: The Gathering if the game creators stack the rules in favor of their own players? Ultimately, there should be almost no incentive to play given that the TCG market is filled with great alternatives.

Of course, events will still move forward, and there will still be players competing for a top spot. Unfortunately, the results of upcoming competition will surely be tainted by this news, and going forward, there is no reason to believe that MPL players are not being prepped in advance to have a competitive advantage, which is sad to see for a game as rich and complex as Magic: The Gathering.

RELATED: Magic: The Gathering - The Top 10 New Commanders From Ikoria, Ranked

The Ban – Undeserved And Heavy Handed

Although players are understandably upset and disillusioned at the reveal that there is no competitive integrity in Magic: The Gathering, the extreme permaban of Bursavich is equally frustrating. While WoTC is free to ban anyone, they wish from their game, Bursavich is a long-time member of the community, a world class player with highly ranked finishes at Mythic Championship events, and not bound by any non-disclosure agreements.

Unless new information is revealed to the contrary, it appears that WoTC banned one of the best players in the world for refusing to give up a source. Rather than own up to their lack of integrity in competition, WoTC seems bent on punishing anyone they can. In a sense it is likely strategic, since this manner of bullying and intimidation may keep others from speaking out the next time, they discover similar actions of dishonesty at the supposed highest levels of competitive play.

What Lies Ahead?

For now, we hope that Bursavich sees a reversal on his bans for bringing to light the shady behavior on the part of WoTC, but we are not going to hold our breath. In the past, WoTC has issued bans for all sorts of reasons, many times in situations where it also felt unfair, such as being in the same group chat as someone leaking information under a non-disclosure agreement.

The bottom line remains that the competitive integrity of Magic: The Gathering has now been shattered, and it is hard to say if, or how this might be rectified in the future in any way that feels genuine. After all, WoTC could publicly apologize for providing their MPL players with information that provides a competitive advantage but continue doing so thanks to more non-disclosure agreements. We hope this is resolved in a meaningful way soon, but we are not overly optimistic at this moment.

Source: Twitter.com

NEXT: Animal Crossing: New Horizons' Island Rating System Encourages Bland Uniformity