Eternal Blade Recall

It has become a tradition, just prior to GenCon, for the designers and the Organized Play folks to sit down and examine the state of the game. Of course, given the current state of the Guild, this is a metaphoric sit down, as we are scattered across the globe, but it follows the pattern set down by our predecessors at Wizards. Our quest lies in those figures that are causing problems for the Guild membership at large.

There will always be pieces in the metagame that are aggressively costed; the vernacular is to call these pieces bent, or sometimes "broken." When such pieces come to dominate the metagame to the exclusion of many others, it creates a harmful play environment. Based on the results of the recent qualifier season, this appears to be happening in the current game state.

The piece in question is the Eternal Blade. This is a piece which was considered as a candidate for banning last year, and it has become evident that it is simply not tenable to allow the piece to remain in the metagame. We are therefore issuing, as of July 1st, 2009 a temporary ban on the Eternal Blade. The piece will not be allowed to be used in DCI-sanctioned tournaments after this time. The Floor Rules will be updated shortly to reflect this development.

The miniature will be examined again after GenCon by the Guild design and development teams and Organized Play, and including input from the 2009 D&D Miniatures Constructed Champion. At that time, the Eternal Blade may be re-issued for play with some modifications, or alternatively, it may remain on the ban list.

Banning is not to be done lightly or with little consideration, but it is a tool that should be used when necessary. We believe we've acted correctly in this case. In future, we will continue to discuss potentially concerning figures and maps prior to major events, both to discuss potential candidates to add to the list and potential candidates to remove from the list.

New and exciting designs are coming up, and the _Legendary Evils_ pre-release at GenCon should be particularly exciting. At the same time, we remain committed to supporting all of the prior released miniatures.

For now, we're issuing the Guild's first red-card version of a card for use in non-sanctioned play, shown below (a PDF will also be available this week). Red cards are not legal in sanctioned events, but they do allow you to play alternate versions of figures in casual games. (In the distance, I hear an epic battle between good and evil that smacks of... ice? and death?).

If we can continue to have concerns with only a single figure a year, we will certainly be content, and we hope you will be too -- get out there and play a tournament or two without the influence of the Eternal Blade and see what new wonders you can discover in the other 1,140 figures in the game.