In an unexpected move, Wizards of the Coast announced that after the Magic Online downtime on Wednesday, November 16, Peregrine Drake will be banned in Pauper. This marks the first time since the emergency ban of Memory Jar that a card has been banned outside the normal schedule.

Erik Lauer cited the increased dominance of Drake decks, which won by generating a loop with Archaeomancer and Ghostly Flicker, as reasoning behind the ban. Drake was "significantly harming the diversity of the competitive metagame."

The timing of the announcement did not go unmentioned. From the release:

Magic formats typically only have changes to the banned and restricted lists with each of the four major set releases each year. However, since Pauper is only a format on Magic Online, we have the ability to more quickly make changes in ways that affect all players since the legality of changes can be universally enforced. This differs greatly from the paper game, and this change should not be considered typical. It was, however, an opportunity for us to leverage the flexibility and data of our digital platform.

While there are communities that play Pauper in Paper it is still largely an Online format. This move couldhave repercussions for other formats that live primarily in the digital world moving forward.