You've all probably come across Magic Arena by now, be that because you actually play the game or because of the many, many adverts all over Youtube or websites like Kotaku or Gamespot.
For those of you that somehow don't know what Magic Arena is: Arena is a digital platform version of the very popular Trading Card Game, Magic: The Gathering. Some of you might be saying "but wasn't there already a digital version of Magic: The Gathering?" to which you may be referring to Magic Online - or possibly Duels of the Planeswalkers, but forget about that one. Magic Online was an earlier digital version of the TCG yes but one that had a dodgy interface, slow loading times and a very warped economy. Arena has a much more user friendly interface and even includes animations of the card art when you cast them, adding to the immersion somewhat, oh and it's also free.
Arena takes after the Hearthstone model of gaming: Free to play but you can pay if you want to, you can even craft cards which eliminates the trading or buying element that Magic Online almost forced you into.
If you haven't tried Magic Arena yet I would definitely advise you to, it's a great way to play Magic pretty much whenever/wherever you want with little to no cost. I'll pop a download link below for anyone that's interested.
Moving on.
Recently, Wizards announced a new format for Magic called Pioneer. Again, for the uninitiated: Magic has multiple formats. Each format has a card pool that players can build their decks from - for example: Standard is possibly the most common format where players can build their decks with cards from the most recent 6 to 9 sets released. Modern is a very widely played format with the pool stretching all the way back to sets released in 2003.
Pioneer is an attempt to meet the two formats in the middle; players have access to everything from Return to Ravnica in 2012 onward. What this does is gives players that haven't been able to buy into Modern but still have cards from Standard formats gone by a chance to utilise those cards and not just letting them gather dust in their trade binders.
Now, the recent updates to Magic Arena doesn't specifically aim anything towards Pioneer as there are still a lot of things they need to work out - it's not as easy as just adding every card since 2012/13 to Magic Arena and being done with it. The reason I'm putting Pioneer in the spotlight to kick off this article is because I think on the whole this format is being incredibly poorly handled. First off, when you're trying to promote a new digital flagship product like Magic Arena maybe don't wait for it to exit Beta and then immediately announce a format that that digital flagship product cannot support. Secondly, as good as an idea as it is to incorporate players stuck in a limbo between Modern and Standard back into the fold with a new and exciting format, most players have made their decision by now, either buying into Modern or selling out most of their collection after each big Standard rotation and starting again when the new Standard comes in. Lastly, I don't understand why Wizards thought it would be a good idea run a premium event such as the Player's Tour with the Pioneer format. These are literally the most enfranchised players you could ask for and suddenly they're being asked to play baby's first Modern. I understand that it's a new format that is shiny and interesting but it seems like a slap in the face to ask some of the best players in the world to stem their deck building prowess because Wizards wants to promote a new format that isn't even directed towards them.
Rant over, let's actually take a look at the Magic Arena updates.
You got a friend in me
We've finally got a friends list function! I've been waiting for this for a long time and it baffled me that there wasn't even an attempt in the Beta. I know it's not the easiest thing to implement but it's also by no means the hardest. What's more is the fact that we had direct challenge function before we had a friends list function, which feels like it should have been a hand in hand kind of thing but you do you Wizards. This Friends list will allow you to see what your friends are doing and can let you direct challenge players. Wizards have also said in the future they are looking towards the ability to share decks with friends.
Event Horizon
Event selection on Arena have always felt a bit stilted, this is mainly due to the young nature of this version of the game and not wanting to overwhelm players with so many different options. Looking to the future, Wizards are going to be improving the events side of Arena by giving players a much more rounded selection along with the possibility of additional formats. Historic is one such format they're looking towards which coincides with them releasing cards specifically for the Historic format this month, with plans to drop more each quarter along with a Best-of-One launch event and Best-of-Three Ranked queues. More can be found in their fully fledged article here https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/magic-digital/mtg-arena-historic-rollout-2019-11-13. Experimental formats are also going to continue no matter how throwing-at-a-wall-and-seeing-what-sticks they may seem. Some of these experimental formats have been fine, I myself really enjoy the Momir Basic format that Arena has randomly every now and again because it takes me back to a time when Magic Online was good and fun to play. The same can't be said for all of the other experimental events. Keep your eyes open for these and remember to give as much feedback to Wizards, be that good or bad feedback, so they can design better formats in the future and give everyone a much better play experience than Oko's Madness.
Heading for Remaster
Lastly, Wizards have said they will be producing remastered sets specifically for Magic Arena. What this means is the MTG Arena team will look at multiple old sets, take the fun and relevant stuff out of each of them and then combine those, creating a remastered set for Arena. This is set to start late next year and will be a long term thing going forward, eventually giving players enough of a card pool to start supporting older formats, like Pioneer, which brings us full circle to the start of the article.
Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed this look at the Magic Arena updates and be sure to check out all of our previous articles, I'm sure there's something you'll enjoy. Also be sure to give a follow on Twitter @gcgamingtank for those rare times we actually tweet.
Happy gaming guys!
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