The pandemic effect has limited our social interactions and the people’s movement, including gatherings on celebrations, wake, and the like. The main purpose is to prevent the spread of the virus. One of the activities that might trigger social gathering is the drinking session. Thus, liquor bans are being imposed in cities and municipalities. Iloilo City is not uncommon to implement this regulation and the recent one was initiated by the local government last August 4, 2020, and it will last for two weeks.

While this banning is helpful for virus prevention measures, the consequences now fall on the economic side. Most of the local businesses are already striving to survive and stay afloat the market and a few sells liquor to gain income.

This banning plunges them further and that the two weeks of no sale on their products will surely take a toll on their business. Some cities though did not implement the liquor ban and I am not sure if they have taken into consideration more of the economy.

That said, I do hope the authorities come up with a balance that is a win-win situation for both health and the economy of the country.

The Recent Standard Bannings

Anywho, on the other banning that I implied on this blog post is recent in the Standard format. The cards banned are the tier components of the decks dominating the metagame. Jund Sacrifice, Temur Reclamation, and Blue White Control will probably drop out once these banning take effects and so the Tier 2 decks will become popular. This move is sort of to ‘balance’ the Standard metagame.

Most are already played given the data from the past Magic Arena tournaments, but it was quite obvious that the top decks are still dominating the matchups with their top finishes. The recent Players Tour Finals Top 8 proved the point.

Wizards posted the announcement along with their explanation to justify these bannings on their official website. You can check it here.

In conclusion, both objective are to come up with a solution to solve the problem. Whether there is a consequence or not, it is still aimed to minimize it. Though, there are slight minor differences between the two.

Until the next blog post.