Wizards of the Coast (WotC) announced today that it is banning seven cards in all sanctioned tournament play and replacing their art on Gatherer due to their racist art or text.
The article is led by the acknowledgement that the card Invoke Prejudice from Legends, printed in 1994, is racist. On top of the imagery, the multiverse ID of the card, 1488, is a hate symbol and a general endorsement of white supremacy.
The card was brought back into the spotlight on Monday when Zaiem Beg, a contributing editor, then editor-in-chief for ChannelFireball, posted a detailed look at the company where he claims it has a long history of discriminatory behavior. Brian David-Marshall, the former Magic Pro Tour historian, amplified the post and called for the banning of Invoke Prejudice, raising even more attention to the card.
WotC’s article clarified its stance with the card and apologized by saying, “There’s no place for racism in our game, nor anywhere else. But to that point, it should never have been published nor placed in the Gatherer. And for that we are sorry.”
WotC also said along with Invoke Prejudice, six other cards would be banned and have their art on Gatherer replaced with the statement, “We have removed this card image from our database due to its racist depiction, text, or combination thereof. Racism in any form is unacceptable and has no place in our games, nor anywhere else.”
The seven cards banned are:
- Invoke Prejudice
- Cleanse
- Stone-Throwing Devils
- Pradesh Gypsies
- Jihad
- Imprison
- Crusade
The Magic: the Gathering Twitter account made a follow-up Tweet making it clear that this is just the first sweep of reviewing cards and WotC will continue to take actions on similar cards in the future.
Aaron Foresythe, the vice president of design for Magic, made it clear the seven cards are no longer allowed in sanctioned constructed play. The Commander Rules Committee also made a Tweet noting that it supports the bans and stands with WotC.
Read the original article.