Magic: The Gathering has undergone a lot of changes in the last year, starting with the addition of a core set in semi-perpetuity for Standard with Foundations, and then making changes to the legality of Universes Beyond sets. Since UB sets became Standard-legal, this has caused a shift in terms of release schedule, where now there have already been four sets this year with two more on the way, and 2026 looks to keep the same approach based on WotC’s comments. MTG‘s Final Fantasy set sold $200 million worth of products in a single day, which shows that these UB sets are here to stay. However, not all their cards should get the same treatment.
Whether intentional or not, some new cards from MTG‘s Final Fantasy set have been proven to be quite powerful in terms of gameplay, and there’s potential for several cards from both Spider-Man and Avatar: The Last Airbender to follow suit. All sets turn out to have some big hits, regardless, but one could argue that UB releases have a higher chance of including some pretty strong cards that reshape the meta in one or multiple formats. Since this is the case for Vivi Ornitier, Wizards of the Coast may have to bite the bullet and ban it this November.
Magic: The Gathering Has a Wizard-Shaped Universes Beyond Problem
FF‘s Vivi Ornitier is broken in Magic: The Gathering, and there is little evidence to the contrary, if at all. It’s a cheap card to play with a CMC of 3 (1 generic, 1 Blue, and 1 Red), and it has a series of busted abilities. The first allows players to generate mana in Izzet colors (Blue and Red) equal Vivi’s power, and surprisingly, it doesn’t require mana spent or Vivi to tap in order to be activated. The second allows Vivi to get a +1/+1 counter and ping each opponent for 1 damage whenever the owner casts a noncreature spell.
This is also quite broken, as the restriction is just “noncreature” rather than something like “instant or sorcery spells,” meaning it can be abused in multiple ways with 1-mana cantrips as well as mana rocks, artifacts, enchantments, and so on. On top of that, the mana ability on the card makes Vivi OP in Izzet Cauldron decks in MTG‘s Standard format, as one can give it to all creatures by simply exiling Vivi from the graveyard. This also means that, theoretically, a removal is useless against Vivi in Izzet Cauldron decks, and it can instead be counterproductive.
Last week, tournaments had a ridiculous number of Vivi decks being used, with the card fundamentally accounting for around 50% or more of the current meta share. Considering how strong Vivi Ornitier is and has been since its introduction, and considering WotC’s statement in the June 2025 bans for MTG regarding meta dominance of any given deck, it’s only fair to assume that Vivi would be banned. In fact, this was the criterion used for Cori-Steel Cutter and other cards.
One could argue that banning a card from the best-selling product in the game’s recent history may be a bad move on WotC’s part, but not banning Vivi would set a problematic precedent for all OP cards from UB sets.
However, the next possible ban window is in November 2025, and Wizards of the Coast has stated that it doesn’t really want to have multiple MTG Standard bans per year, so this could fall on the first ban window in 2026. If WotC is true to its own statement, though, Vivi should be banned in November 2025 as an “emergency ban” due to its dominance in Standard.
The thing is, WotC could then address the issue by banning accessory cards, like Agatha’s Soul Cauldron, instead of banning Vivi itself. This would just be a band-aid solution, as Vivi is indeed too strong in terms of what it brings to the table, and without Agatha’s Soul Cauldron, it would still be played in Izzet Prowess decks, and then maybe other archetypes created by the Spider-Man set in September or the November Avatar set for MTG. The issue could arise again in perpetuity if action is not taken, and since releasing an errata seems unlikely and potentially worse for all the other formats Vivi is legal in, the safest bet would be to just ban this card in Standard.
Why Banning Vivi Might Be Necessary in Magic: The Gathering
Vivi is a powerful card, to the point that even Wizards of the Coast designers admitted to having overtuned it based on current tournament results and participation. Initially, it was supposed to be tapped in order to generate mana, and while it would have been a much less interesting card from the get-go, it would have also been more balanced. If Magic: The Gathering‘s new Avatar cards or Spider-Man cards end up being meta-shaping in their own right, the same discussion will need to be had in the near future.
The problem is that this might be a lose-lose situation for Wizards of the Coast, as banning Vivi would result in potential losses regarding the Final Fantasy set and future UB sets, but not doing anything or banning accessory cards could then damage the integrity of the game. Banning Agatha’s Soul Cauldron makes sense, especially considering it’s a relatively old card by now, but it only works if WotC doesn’t add other cards that make an OP combo with Vivi, which seems fairly unlikely.
- Original Release Date
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August 5, 1993
- Designer
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Richard Garfield
- Player Count
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2+
- Age Recommendation
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13+
#Gathering #Bite #Bullet #Long #Dodged #November
