Magic: The Gathering bans Field of The Dead in the Standard format

One of the strongest cards in the current Magic: The Gathering meta will no longer be eligible for use in Standard play soon.

Wizards of the Coast officially banned Field of the Dead from the Standard format today. This comes after the metagame at Mythic Championship V was dominated by Bant Golos.

The ban date for Field of the Dead in tabletop is Oct. 25. On the digital end, it’ll go into effect via Magic Online today and MTG Arena on Oct. 24. 

For Magic Arena players who have Field of the Dead in their libraries, the card should still be available for play in the Historic mode. But it won’t be accessible in any Standard formats past Oct. 24. At time of writing, WotC hasn’t said whether MTGA players will receive wildcards or gems in exchange for copies of Field of the Dead. 

The ban of Field of the Dead should allow other archetypes to develop in Standard since the only response to playing against Bant Golos was either an aggro or Simic Bant/Ramp style deck. 

But with Oko, Thief of Crowns still active in Standard, some people in the Magic community are wondering if—or how much—the metagame will really change. Unlike Field of the Dead, however, there are multiple ways to remove Oko from the battlefield. And Field of the Dead was banned because of a lack of removal, not Oko. 

The ban of Field of the Dead from Standard will go into effect from today to Oct. 25 for MTGO, MTG Arena, and tabletop.