After several days of MTG Arena bans and suspensions for numerous players, Wizards of the Coast has released an official statement finally regarding its stance on the situation. The statement was given in an email response to a player who was affected by the brief ban.

Wizards of the Coast Issues a Response

User prankstagamez posted the emailed response in the official MTG Arena forums that included Wizards of the Coast’s stance on the matter. The email was simple and clear, noting that the user’s account was found guilty of exploiting a bug with spam clicking the Mastery pet cat reward.

The MTG Arena bans are happening because the user and others are reportedly exploiting the bug of the cat to force win a match over and over. However, users like this one are claiming that this isn’t the case. In fact, this particular player asked others in the forum thread why there isn’t a warning in place.

Interestingly enough, this forum thread became heated with comments on both sides of the matter and it eventually led to another statement from Wizards of the Coast. Community manager WotC_Lexie responded to the thread, defending the actions that the company has made thus far.

The community manager began by noting that they “wager a guess” that the player exploited the cat bug in more than one match, figured out that it could result in easy wins, and continued to abuse the mechanic in the game.

The community manager continued, stating that they are 100 percent positive that Wizards of the Coast has pulled the game logs for the people who were part of the MTG Arena bans and found that they were using this exploit in multiple matches. As such, they were given a “five-day vacation from the game.”

The Wizards of the Coast community manager concluded by noting that “most people who have cats” have spam clicked for a little bit, went about their game, and didn’t cause match disconnects in the process. As such, they haven’t been banned from the game.

While it is likely that many of the MTG Arena bans were for players who had found out they could use the exploit to win matches, there are still some players who claim that they weren’t aware of this exploit but were banned anyway.

As such, it would have been the best move to at least give players a fair warning to stop spam clicking the cat pet in the game as a way to give the player a chance to learn not to do this in the future until the bug is fixed and move on.

It is unfortunate that potentially innocent players are being banned from the game for simply using the cat’s effects as a way to pass the time. This is something that, as many players in the thread referenced, streamers have been doing on a regular basis.

Origins of the Elemental Cat Exploit

There are players who aren’t doing this to harm their opponent but just to waste time until their turn or as a way to think about what to do next. The exploit all began with the release of the Mastery System. This new progression reward system offers unique items and rewards not found anywhere else.

One such reward is the elemental cat, the first pet to be offered in the digital version of the card game. The pet has no intended effects whatsoever on gameplay, simply existing as a cosmetic addition to the field during matches as a way to show off to your opponents.

Players who purchase the Mastery Pass, the paid version of the seasonal progression system, receive the pet automatically and can begin using it in matches thereafter. The pet sits there and can be clicked on to waste time, much like the towers and gargoyles on the field.

Like those other existing structures, clicking on the cat provides a neat little visual effect to pass the time. In the case of the elemental cat, clicking it will cause it to change colors with each click. If you are able to click quickly, you can create a stream of rainbow colors for yourself and your opponent.

The problem with this, though, is that the constant visual effects create a bug that affects the performance of the game itself. The performance issues are no stranger to the game currently, as numerous problems began with the release of Magic Core Set 2020 at the beginning of this month.

However, the elemental cat allows for an exploitation of these issues. If the player continuously clicks the cat over and over, it can result in stuttering, lag, and frame rate drops for the enemy. If you do this while it’s the other player’s turn, you can potentially cause them to lose the match.

Clicking the cat fast enough can result in the opponent disconnecting from the match and giving the exploitative player an easy win. It can also cause the time to run out for the player’s turn, giving the player who is spam clicking the elemental cat the upper hand.

This is completely unfair but there could have been other ways to handle this situation. Wizards of the Coast could have implemented a warning system that continuing to exploit the bug will result in a ban or just disabled the cat’s effects until the game is updated with a solution.

Regardless, if you are playing the game currently and own the elemental cat or plan to, we recommend that you refrain from clicking on the cat at this time. There is the likelihood that doing so could result in a ban or suspension even if you aren’t doing it to force a win for yourself.