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Oko, Thief of Crowns is now banned from the Brawl format and events – effective in MTG Arena as of November 5, 2019. This means that you cannot use Oko as your commander or as part of your deck (outside of Direct Challenge). Read the official announcement below for more information but note the following important points:
- There will not be any Wildcard refunds for this banning
- The banning is only effective on MTG Arena (not tabletop)
The launch of Brawl in MTG Arena with the celebration event has been met with positive reception, but some of that experience had been dampened with the unmet power level of Oko, where he can invalidate the opposing commander with ease. It was not surprising to see instant concessions as soon as the opponent found out that he was your commander!
This announcement was made in anticipation of the beginning of weekly Brawl queues to begin in MTG Arena – called Wednesday Brawl – from November 6, 2019 at 8 AM PT for 24 hours. Will this news be a sign of what’s to come in Standard?
MTG Arena Zone will also be doing a weekly column for Brawl! Each week before the weekly queues begin, we will be making new decks, reviewing current ones and any other interesting tidbits of information collected throughout the week. In the meantime, check out the following links:
- Brawl Format Guide: Rules, banlist, events, and more regarding the format itself.
- Brawl Decks: Our dedicated section to Brawl decks – find all of them here!
NOV 5 – BRAWL BAN ANNOUNCEMENT
MTG Arena Effective Date: November 5, 2019
Brawl:
- Oko, Thief of Crowns is banned.
This includes using Oko, Thief of Crowns as your commander or as part of your deck. As a general reminder, Direct Challenge outside of Tournament Mode does not enforce card bans.
REGARDING PLAYER COLLECTIONS:
Players who have Oko, Thief of Crowns as part of their in-game collection on MTG Arena prior to this announcement will not be receiving Wildcards as part of this update. Oko, Thief of Crowns is still playable in all other formats and events.
A NOTE ON WEDNESDAY BRAWL:
Players will need to restart their client at any point before the start of Wednesday Brawl on November 6, 2019 at 8 a.m. PT for Brawl decks containing Oko, Thief of Crowns to appear unplayable. Otherwise, players will not see that their deck is invalid until they hit “Play” (which will cause an “Invalid Deck” error message to appear).
