The Pioneer format for Magic: The Gathering has added a new card to its ban list, as Veil of Summer is banned in both the real card game and Magic Online. Wizards of the Coast announced the brand new Pioneer format for Magic: The Gathering only a month ago, which launched with several cards already on its ban list.
The Pioneer format was introduced to allow players to keep using their Standard cards after they had left rotation, which was previously the purpose of the Modern format. The problem with Modern was that the format had become too big, as the included sets dated all the way back to 2003. The earliest legal set in the Pioneer format is Return to Ravnica from 2012, so it has a much smaller pool of available cards.
A new post on the official Magic: The Gathering website has announced that Veil of Summer is the latest card to hit the Pioneer format ban list. Veil of Summer is a green Instant that costs a single mana and it allows the player to draw a card if the opponent casts a black or blue spell during the turn it's used. Once cast, Veil of Summer prevents any spells the player casts from being countered for a turn, as well as giving both the player and all of their permanents hexproof from black and blue spells that turn.
It's easy to see why Veil of Summer has been banned in Pioneer, as it grants a lot of effects for the cost of a single mana. Veil of Summer gives the player a free card and a single turn of uncounterable spells and hexproof to most of the cards on their side of the field, all as a response to the opponent playing a single black or blue card. Veil of Summer offers an incredible advantage against black or blue decks with little cost or drawback, making it a must-have for green decks and their sideboards.
Veil of Summer isn't the only card that hit the ban list in recent months, as Magic: The Gathering banned two powerful cards from play in October. The Field of the Dead card was banned from Standard, as it allowed players to swarm the field with 2/2 zombies, while Arcum's Astrolabe was banned in Pauper for offering multiple kinds of mana for too cheap a cost. The Modern format was changed by its banned list only a few months ago, when Hogaak, Arisen Necropolis, and Faithless Looting were banned, as Hogaak had been dominating the tournament scene.
The Pioneer format is still new and the creators of Magic: The Gathering will need time to balance things out, so it's not surprising to see Veil of Summer being added to the ban list so quickly. The success of Magic: The Gathering Arena has brought new players to the game, so it's in the developers best interest to try and shut down overpowered cards and strategies as quickly as possible, even if they're currently plaguing tabletop-only formats.
Source: Wizards Of The Coast