Magic: The Gathering is a big game that features plenty of content. Some of this content is outdated, some are just flat out controversial. In light of recent #BlackLivesMatter protests, Wizards of the Coast did a full rundown through the collection of cards and found a few cases of racism and prejudice. According to the developer of the game, 7 cards from older Magic: The Gathering sets will never be used again.
The cards that will be revoked forever are Invoke Prejudice, Cleanse, Stone-Throwing Devils, Pradesh Gypsies, Jihad, Imprison, and Crusade. All of these cards carried racist messages or featured questionable art.
In a special statement published on the game’s website, Wizards of the Coast explained their decision in detail:
Today, we will be changing the multiverse ID and removing the Gatherer card image for the card Invoke Prejudice, originally printed in 1994. The card is racist and made even worse by the multiverse ID it was unfortunately codified with years ago. 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. The events of the past weeks and the ongoing conversation about how we can better support people of color have caused us to examine ourselves, our actions, and our inactions. We appreciate everyone helping us to recognize when we fall short. We should have been better, we can be better, and we will be better.
To that end, we will be removing a number of images from our database that are racist or culturally offensive, including:
Invoke Prejudice
Cleanse
Stone-Throwing Devils
Pradesh Gypsies
Jihad
Imprison
Crusade
Replacing those card images will be the following 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.”
Additionally, these cards will be banned in all sanctioned tournaments play.
There’s much more work to be done as we continue to make our games, communities, and company more inclusive. Know that we work every day to be better and that we hear you. We look forward to sharing more of our plans with you as our games and organization evolve.
It would be cool that more companies could examine their past decisions and do right by players who are feeling uncomfortable. We hope these small steps will have a snowball effect through the entire gaming industry. Nice work, Wizards!
