The Evo 2022 fighting game event is underway in Las Vegas, playing host to high-level fighting game tournaments and special announcements about upcoming games in the genre. One of the hottest new fighting games on the market is the crossover fighter MultiVersus, and so it's no surprise that it has a presence at the event. However, Evo tournament rules have banned participants from selecting two MultiVersus fighters or fighting on one of the stages.
As outlined in the MultiVersus Evo 2022 rules, characters that were added after the start of the open beta are not allowed in the tournament. This means that both LeBron James and the Iron Giant are not available to MultiVersus tournament participants. Neither LeBron nor the Iron Giant are the game's most popular characters, but they still have their fans, and so some Evo attendees may be disappointed about their ban.
Besides LeBron James and the Iron Giant being banned from the character pool, one of the MultiVersus stages has also been made illegal for tournament matches. Presumably due to the same reason LeBron James and the Iron Giant have been banned, MultiVersus Evo players aren't allowed to play on the Cromulons stage. The Cromulons stage, based on the hit adult cartoon show Rick and Morty, was added some time after the open beta went live, which is the likely reason why tournament-goers can't select it at Evo.
Future Evo events and other fighting game tournaments will take place after MultiVersus has its official launch, but it's possible that certain characters will be banned from those events as well. For example, a Velma and Jake exploit has recently been discovered by the community, and so it would make sense for officials to enforce where those two can't be on the same in any potential 2v2 tournaments.
It's possible other characters will be banned if they are released relatively close to a tournament start. For example, if there's a tournament that takes place shortly after Morty is added to MultiVersus, the promoters may decide to ban him from the tournament since participants may not have had much of a chance to play as Morty and against him.
MultiVersus will presumably be adding Morty when it kicks off its Season 1, though it remains to be seen exactly when that will be. MultiVersus Season 1 is currently without a release date, with the open beta extended indefinitely.
MultiVersus is available to play in open beta for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.