Magic: The Gathering Arena
Main game
3.67 average rating based on 266 ratings
- Developers
- Magic Digital Studio
- Publishers
- Wizards of the Coast LLC
- Franchises
- Magic: The Gathering
- Series
- Magic: The Gathering
- Event
- The Game Awards 2019
- Platforms
- Android, Mac, PC (Microsoft Windows), iOS
- Genres
- Card & Board Game, Strategy, Turn-based strategy (TBS)
- Themes
- Fantasy
- Steam
- View on Steam
Release Dates
User Stats
How Long Is Magic: The Gathering Arena?
I just can't play this
Arena is probably the least worst digital version of Magic since the 1998 MicroProse game. It's much better designed than the yearly "battle of the planeswalkers" installments. But i can't play this for three reasons:
No single-player mode. I like to play quick games (card games/other games) against the AI. Sometimes you don't want to deal with slow, bad, annoying or overpowered human opponents.
Let's face it, Magic just isn't that good as a digital game. It's a fun, interactive game in real life. But it's a 25 year old game meant for the tabletop, and in those past 25 years people have improved upon the formula. The land system is clumsy. The attack phase kinda sucks. Instants don't work as well in a digital environment. And it's sorely lacking a balancing system like TESL's Prophecies.
I don't want to start from scratch again. I've done this in so many many games; Scrolls, Hearthstone, The Elder Scrolls Legends, Eternal, Spellweaver, Duel of Champions, Card Hunter, Gwent, Solforge, Infinity Wars, Hex, Duelyst, Faeria, March of War, Card City Nights, Northmark, Hand of Fate, Shadowverse - you name it, i've played it. And i already have started Magic from scratch several times. …
Arena is probably the least worst digital version of Magic since the 1998 MicroProse game. It's much better designed than the yearly "battle of the planeswalkers" installments. But i can't play this for three reasons:
No single-player mode. I like to play quick games (card games/other games) against the AI. Sometimes you don't want to deal with slow, bad, annoying or overpowered human opponents.
Let's face it, Magic just isn't that good as a digital game. It's a fun, interactive game in real life. But it's a 25 year old game meant for the tabletop, and in those past 25 years people have improved upon the formula. The land system is clumsy. The attack phase kinda sucks. Instants don't work as well in a digital environment. And it's sorely lacking a balancing system like TESL's Prophecies.
I don't want to start from scratch again. I've done this in so many many games; Scrolls, Hearthstone, The Elder Scrolls Legends, Eternal, Spellweaver, Duel of Champions, Card Hunter, Gwent, Solforge, Infinity Wars, Hex, Duelyst, Faeria, March of War, Card City Nights, Northmark, Hand of Fate, Shadowverse - you name it, i've played it. And i already have started Magic from scratch several times. I also played Arena's predecessor Magic Duels until it randomly wiped all my progress. That game is only 3 years old! How long until Arena gets scrapped and you have to start all over again, again? I feel like Sisyphus.
Cardboard crack in digital form
You will never escape this game once you start playing.
A great tabletop game with an ok digital execution
I've played magic in many iteration of the years. From paper cards to multiple version of Duel of the Planeswalkers to this. The basic game is brilliant and it's pretty easy to find people to play against. The things I dislike:
- This piece of software is all about selling you various things, whether boosters, card backs, graphics thingies or events. It's all up in your face, all the time.
- Arena allows play with a LOT of MtG expansions, meaning a lot of keywords, mechanics and rules up front, which can be off-putting for a new player.
- The menus could be clearer, while they sprawl and divide things in a way I do not find intuitive.
- There are bugs here and there, I think, with the implementation of Magic rules, and I haven't seen a way to record the fame plays
- There's less of a single-player game than there was in DotP, which is a shame.
Cockatrice is pretty great. You can get all the cards. for free. can import and export decks and upload them directly to database sites of you choice. (Haven't figured out how to do custom card art, but that will be lots of fun) It strings you along a bit better than TTS (I hate card games on that thing), but still more open ended and less streamlined than this/MtGO
Don't worry though, Wizards of the Coast, I'll still buy cards time to time. (Or rather, i'll trade my valuable ones for boosters and themedecks due to the mission creep) You've got me there. I doubt any competent deckbuilder really knows a strategy to out-wizard the wizards themselves
Anyway, just spreading the word. if you like this stuff check it out. it was real easy to set up, get going and play
I'm done with Arena, not really because of the economy or whatever. Though, the economy in game sucks. It's just that I play MtG casually. I like to build fun decks with friends and...y'know...have fun. But as an online game, MtG Arena makes the game impossible to play the way I like. Sure, you can spend a TON of resources on a janky, fun deck. But you'll go up against people that will murder you with meta decks. And, sure, I can make new friends and join discord channels and play private matches but at that point I'd rather play around a table with friends.
That said, here is a prerelease code from the Streets of New Capenna prerelease. Please let me know if you claim it and I will remove when you do: 34E7F-83E00-38E82-F921D-2CF9C
The newest update totally nerfed this game. Long periods of time with just a black screen before getting to the main menu. If I'm lucky enough to play someone (sometimes it just times out and I get a draw without actually playing a real person) it can be laggy.
It's happened about three times since a few days ago where I would lose and the game would just freeze with the word "defeated" on the screen and I had to alt+esc to close. Nothing better for morale than seeing the words "defeated" and you can't do shit besides force quit. A couple times this happened during a draft game and I semi panicked thinking it didn't register a win, which I actually won a game. Gladly it did register but I don't think it went toward my quests.
This was all after another update tried to fix the first blunder of an update. It hasn't gotten any better in fact it's just as unplayable as before.
I heard if you uninstall the game and reinstall it may fix some issues. Now the piece of garbage keeps giving an error. In could be because I have the game installed on an …
The newest update totally nerfed this game. Long periods of time with just a black screen before getting to the main menu. If I'm lucky enough to play someone (sometimes it just times out and I get a draw without actually playing a real person) it can be laggy.
It's happened about three times since a few days ago where I would lose and the game would just freeze with the word "defeated" on the screen and I had to alt+esc to close. Nothing better for morale than seeing the words "defeated" and you can't do shit besides force quit. A couple times this happened during a draft game and I semi panicked thinking it didn't register a win, which I actually won a game. Gladly it did register but I don't think it went toward my quests.
This was all after another update tried to fix the first blunder of an update. It hasn't gotten any better in fact it's just as unplayable as before.
I heard if you uninstall the game and reinstall it may fix some issues. Now the piece of garbage keeps giving an error. In could be because I have the game installed on an external HDD but I kind of am done with all this non-sense.
Sorry for the rant but it's time for a break from this broken game. I have plenty of steam games to check out until Wizards comes out with a solution. Maybe by then my LGS will be open for in person gaming and I can play commander with my actual paper cards.
That would be nice. Won't have to deal with the word "defeated" in front of my face unless my opponent is a dick. Then I can just tell him he's a dick.
ICYMI: There's an event running in which you can build a deck with any card in standard (not only the ones in your collection) and win prizes. Quite fun.
There gets to a point with games for me when I play too much of one and need a break. Other people feel this way?
One of my passions in life is Magic:The Gathering. I've spent thousands of dollars on physical cards, and sold thousands of dollars worth of cards. I love commander and at one point was ranked in the top 200 in my state for limited.
But after awhile, enough is enough and I need a break. For those who love magic and play MTG:A, what do you think of the newest set (Theros: Beyond Death)?
Does anyone plays this? I've just restarted and all my old cards went out of standard :(
Been playing a lot of this lately. It's come a long way from the older beta. It's sleek, fun, and gives you plenty of freebies to get started. Loving this. It's rekindled a dying interest in MtG for me.
Not to brag but 20+ years of playing magic has trained me to dominate most opponents. For the price of free, this is a really nice virtual mtg platform. It's only going to get better too with updates and new sets!
I just wish the friend list and direct challenges were built out better.
Not sure if I want to continue with this for a few days. I've loved Magic: The Gathering for over twenty years now but there are a couple things I don't like about this.
I don't like how long it takes to update and bugs that occur when it does update (e.g. updated after at least 10 minutes, started match, game crashed).
Also I don't like how clunky it is to play certain cards (e.g. Waker of the Wilds). I clicked the creature, clicked until I wanted to pay for x, then it wouldn't let me do anything else. I had to concede because I lost a couple turns and I was too angry to continue.
I shouldn't have to research how to use a card. The game should have a better interface to allow abilities to work relatively easily especially since turns are timed.
Hearthstone, thank you Blizzard, has a much better interface. Arena is still in Beta I believe but right now it's getting to be an annoyance.
Maybe I'll pick it up again in a few days.