The software is just much higher quality than anything we've ever seen before. Playing MTGO can feel like a chore or a grind sometimes, but playing Arena is a breeze and feels like a real video game.
Now, the downside to this is that basically, Magic has become just another video game. It's like a Hearthstone clone with the superior Magic game mechanics. But the upside is that Magic is much more fun to play on Arena. It's beautiful and engaging and expedites everything in the game smoothly.
- 'Pathy' on MTGO
- Eastern PA player
If you haven't tried it, give it a shot - I find it much more palatable to play than MTGO, at least in terms of interactions. The actual physical experience of MTGO feels like more of a chore, whereas MTGA feels closer to playing in paper. It's not perfect (for instance, I'm not a huge fan of the deck-building interface, which feels more like hearthstone, where the names are listed and you mouse over to see the cards, rather than dragging them into a visual list; the rope is kinda annoying too), but it just "feels" better than MTGO in a way that's difficult to describe without actually playing it.
That being said, it is a bummer that it doesn't support eternal formats. I have enjoyed the drafts I played, though. You draft against bots, which admittedly does have some issues, but for the most part all it does is get rid of the tedious waiting between picks, and lets you start a draft, go get your mac and cheese you started making or whatever, and come back to it. It's nice to not have to play all your games at once.
I mean I get it if the interface is better then that's great. I don't enjoy drafting (non cube that is) or standard so it's a no go for me personally. I guess my real gripe is that there seems to be a million people watching and streaming arena and no one really streaming modern or legacy anymore
The fall in value was great. The fallout from that fall was small.
How many up in arms rage posts and threads on Reddit were there? Social media freakouts? etc. etc. The value of MTGO collections dropped by half and the reaction was a big shrug. Given that, I don't think Wizards is too worried about eventually killing the system.
Well so far there is no sign of them killing of the client. My guess as to why there is not a lot of complaining regarding collection values is that most players who actually have spent a lot of $ have done so just to be able to play, and not seen it as an investment. If the prices go down, that's good because it gets cheaper to try out new things.
If they were to kill mtgo entirely anytime soon, well then i would be angry/sad/upset/complaining, not because i lost money but because i could no longer play the game.
I think you can get most decks for ~ 500$, that's not a lot of money for a grown up with a job to spend on a hobby. There are very few hobbies where you can expect to get all money spent back.
I do hope MTG Arena is really successful and that wizards huge investment in it will pay off for them. It's not for me, but neither is standard/limited on MTGO. If in the end eternal formats will go to Arena(my guess is that this will never happen) and MTGO killed off, then i will probably go to Arena instead. If that will cost me another 500$ it's not a big thing. It's still cheaper than golf :)
Given enough time, there will be Arena 'eternal' formats. But they may only go back as far as Amonkhet (or whatever the first Arena set was).
And given enough time, there may be interesting and exciting decks in those formats. It happened in Modern...
Legacy will always be my favorite, but I've been playing a lot of arena. It's convenient, fast, and fun. I love playing UW draw-go, so I'm happy to jam my control brew every day.
As someone who has spent a lot of time in arena, my impression is that arena modern will be more fun than regular modern. Here's why:
- the current standard format had more strategic diversity than modern. Modern had too many aggressive linear decks that attack from unorthodox angles. Answers have trouble keeping up and sideboards are paramount.
- the play test team had given us a plethora of flexible answers. It's easy to pack main deck outs to any permanent. I'm sure arena bo1 contributes highly to this philosophy. They can't allow even one 'modern' style linear deck to sneak through these safety valves. It would greatly harm their new revenue stream.
- expect good, flexible answers alongside appropriately costed threats up and down the curve. As always, the cards sightly above rate will define the format, but there seems to be a lot hanging around that power level. All large group of cards and packages are viable.
- I believe the new format will start with kaladesh, but I doubt it will be a problem. They'll likely be safe and keep the standard bans. Given a much deeper format, I doubt the strategies from kaladesh will be broken. Just look at modern. None of the pet standard decks of that time made an impact.
- I love fetchlands as much as any brainstorm aficionado, but I would also be interested in an eternal format where the Mana isn't so good. There's also not really any non-basic hate in standard, making fetching for basics unnecessary. The third color is a real cost, which I feel is a sweet spot for a format's deck construction. (Wasteland performs this function in our favorite format.)
- I'm eager to give this a shot. Would anyone be interested in a thread to discuss speculation and brews?
Does no one think they are going to develop eternal cards in MTGA format and then slowly release them like the did for mtgo?
Additionally, once they've developed all of the cards in the MTGA format why wouldnt they port all of the MTGO cards and accounts to the new MTGA platform. This would allow them to capture all the profits from both a F2P model and the MTGO model. Once the cards are on the same platform maintaining both would be super easy.
MTGO has a HUGE barrier to entry. It's very difficult to get people to invest in an online game like MTGO without really ever playing the game. A F2P model is the perfect way to introduce players to the game and then get them hooked into something like mtgo, assuming that MTGO has the same platform.
Play 4 Card Blind!
Currently Playing
Legacy: Dark Depths
EDH: 5-Color Hermit Druid
Currently Brewing: [Deck] Sadistic Sacrament / Chalice NO Eldrazi
why cards are so expensive...hoarders
Play 4 Card Blind!
Currently Playing
Legacy: Dark Depths
EDH: 5-Color Hermit Druid
Currently Brewing: [Deck] Sadistic Sacrament / Chalice NO Eldrazi
why cards are so expensive...hoarders
All Spells Primer under construction: https://docs.google.com/document/d/e...Tl7utWpLo0/pub
PM me if you want to contribute!
Play 4 Card Blind!
Currently Playing
Legacy: Dark Depths
EDH: 5-Color Hermit Druid
Currently Brewing: [Deck] Sadistic Sacrament / Chalice NO Eldrazi
why cards are so expensive...hoarders
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