mtg why is crusade banned?

Wizards of the Coast has removed images of seven cards from its online card database, Gatherer, and banned them from sanctioned play for depicting racism in either their art, name, or rules text. They also changed the Gatherer ID of Invoke Prejudice.

“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,” Wizards said. “To that end, we will also be removing a number of images from our database,” including:

Those images have been replaced with a statement that reads, “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.”

“There’s much more work to be done as we continue to make our games, communities, and company more inclusive,” Wizards acknowledged. “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.”

The Commander Rules Committee will follow suit and ban the seven cards in Commander, as well.

More than a few cards have been printed with racist or insensitive connotations in Magic’s 27-year history—but no card has warranted more criticism and controversy than Invoke Prejudice, which was printed in the Legends expansion in 1994.

Nearly every part of this card is problematic, from the name, art, artist, and rules text.

The name “Invoke Prejudice” quite obviously calls to mind the idea of racism while the ability, which makes different-colored creatures cost more, creates a version of in-game version racism/colorism.

The art, on the other hand, depicts axe-wielding hooded figures that look strikingly like members of the Klu Klux Klan. Perhaps that the meaning of the imagery could be explained away has happenstance—perhaps the artist didn’t know the name of the card?—except for the fact that the artist, Harold McNeill, is extremely problematic himself. His art frequently includes approving, even reverent, references to swastikas, Hitler, and other Nazi imagery.

As if that wasn’t enough, when you order Magic cards chronologically by set then alphabetically by card name, Invoke Prejudice is the 1488th card and was was therefore assigned the ID of 1488 in Gatherer. This number is significant to neo-Nazis because it references the white supremacist slogans of “14 words” and “Heil Hitler” (H is the eighth letter of the alphabet, so it can be represented by 88).

“Today, we will be changing the multiverse ID and removing the Gatherer card image for the card Invoke Prejudice,” Wizards said. “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,” they continued. “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.”

The six other cards whose images will be removed from Gatherer and banned in sanctioned play are all problematic in their own ways.

Cleanse has very problematic text—destroy all Black creatures—and Imprison depicts a dark-skinned person being jailed, while both Stone-Throwing Devils and Pradesh Gypsies use slurs in their names. Jihad and Crusade, on the other hand, both invoke religious wars to give benefits to White creatures.

The decision to ban these cards and remove their images from Gatherer comes more than two weeks after the murder of George Floyd at the hands of a Minneapolis police officer. Floyd’s death has sparked a nation-wide protest movement against racial injustice and police brutality and has forced many companies, including Wizards, to reckon with their own racism—implicit or explicit—and lack of diversity.

There is something to be said about consistency. When I saw Jihad banned, I immediately looked for Crusade, and to my surprise (and my disgust) Crusade was next to it. I did congratulate Wizards of the Coast for being consistent, banning both cards equally.

I always said both of these cards being in white was probably the greatest unintentional political statement Magic ever did, showing both sides were "good", from a certain perspective. It's one of those early things, that more then likely unintentional by Garfield, showed just how mature of a game Magic actually was. Honestly, Jihad could have easily been printed in Red (desert people), or Black, to show as a contrast or an enemy to Crusade and it wasn't.

So back to Crusade, its actually ironic, and in a way perplexing, that this card was banned. While the argument could be made it's a real world reference. The Crusades were a holy war fought in the Middle Ages against various groups, most infamously the lands of the Middle East, but a Crusade against the Byzantine Empire (with the sacking of Constantinople), and a Northern Crusades/Baltic Crusades, also had happened (not to mention the Children's Crusade). The Mark Poole art depicts one of these, complete with knights bearing crosses, but it's location is intentionally vague. However, like a jihad, a crusade has a second meaning: "to lead or take part in an energetic and organized campaign concerning a social, political, or religious issue."

In this sense, Crusade like Jihad has an entire definition removing it from the violence of the Middle Ages. This makes the argument of it's banning even weaker then it was.

The funny thing is this, Crusade has been reprinted numerous times, and was Standard legal for the entirety of the 90's. In fact, it even got the new border treatment, depicting story line favorite Elspeth Tirel. In fact, it's the only card of the banned 7 to get additional art, as well as the only one to see major tournament play.

This is why so many people campaigned against this banning. It's iconic of it's era, a common sight in the first decade of the game. It isn't a trivia piece like Invoke Prejudice, or an obscure oddity like Pradesh Gypsies or Stone-Throwing Devils. This is the Ur-Example of an entire archetype that has continued as part of Whites color pie to this day, the global buff.

The most hypocritical thing about it is, 20 other cards currently exist in the game, with the word Crusade or Crusader in their title. Will these cards also get the axe? Only time will tell (though I doubt it).

Playability: What can be said about Crusade that hasn't been said in the past by more qualified people. Pumping up all your white creatures can be an amazing boon in the right deck. It can make a White Knight trade point for point with a Serendib Efreet, Tundra Wolves take out most two drops, and allows Serra to trade with a Shivan Dragon. The best part is it stacks. While many designers complained that they hated it pumping opponents creatures, which was an intended drawback, in my experience it never came up to devastating. As a bonus, it's always fun getting a pump off an opponents Crusade. 5/5

Art: The Old School legal art (outside CFB) is like most of Poole's early work simple. Showing several knights standing triumphant over the victorious battlefield. In the back, a pyre burns in the background. The devil with this small piece is in the details, small things like the knights in formation in the back, the standards, and the fact the 'leader' is the only knight in a red tunic all sell this piece effectively. A neutral color of blue and green behind them compliments the figures well. All and all, the art is effective leaving a mark in small details while effectively showing what it is. 5/5

“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,” Wizards said in a statement. “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.”

The list of now-banned cards is: Invoke Prejudice, Cleanse, Stone-Throwing Devils, Pradesh Gypsies, Jihad, Imprison, and Crusade.

One card in particular, Invoke Prejudice, was singled out. It shows a hooded executioner with a black axe. “If opponent casts a Summon spell that does not match the color of one of the creatures under your control, that spell is countered,” says the card. It effectively kills off creatures that don’t look like the creatures already on the table.

Gatherer, the official online database of every Magic card ever published, displays the card at a web URL ending in “1488,” numbers that are synonymous with white supremacy.

“The card is racist and made even worse by the multiverse ID it was unfortunately codified with years ago,” Wizards said. “There’s no place for racism in our game, nor anywhere else.”

All cards will be replaced online with a note that calls out their racist depictions, text, or a combination thereof.

“There’s much more work to be done as we continue to make our games, communities, and company more inclusive,” Wizards said. “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.”

Magic: The Gathering recently celebrated its 25th anniversary. It also recently made another alteration to its catalog of cards, changing the name of a Godzilla-themed promotional card to remove a perceived reference to the novel coronavirus known as COVID-19.

The artwork of Crusade was changed due to public outcry, similar to the case with Unholy Strength. Regardless of the art, all editions of Crusade have been banned in all sanctioned formats as of June 2020 due to being "culturally offensive", along with others such as "Jihad".