Magic Arena Sucks: What I Play Instead

It's not that I dislike Magic The Gathering...I'm just not a fan of a few things
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CHAPTERS
00:00 - Introduction
00:19 - The Economy
01:49 - The Questing System
03:10 - A Historic Problem
06:19 - Games to Play Instead
Music Credit // StreamBeats
All Rights SENPAI RECORDS

[@girkyHD]

If I make more Magic related content, what would you like to see?

[@ShakerGER]

The bulshit FOMO store rotation is what ruins the game for me. I just wanted the eternal night lands; missed them twice and that's why I quit.

[@Uri6060]

I think the color based quests are really dope, but the kill ones suuuckkk. Like 2 colors, i can def find a deck that i feel like playing in that color. Or one that is shared between multiple quests. However kill spells can take for ever. Especially since the black decks id wanna play are running thoughtseize and the amount of times I do the Thoughtsieze when opp insta concedes is sooo annoying.

[@runcmd1419]

Funnily enough LoR just lost competitive PVP because it’s super generous card economy wasn’t generating enough money through cosmetics. That said, MTGA’s grind was so dull when I played it back in 2019/2020.

[@girkyHD]

I can relate to the dull grind, yeah. It's addicting to play magic (I love playing in person), but I'd rather play games like Marvel SNAP once a week instead of MTGA.

[@Larry.R]

I used to play Magic: The Gathering Arena, but I eventually quit. In fact, I helped beta test some of the earlier builds of the game. I agree with you that stalling is annoying and I think that Wizards needs to add stricter penalties to Arena. One way I think Wizards can implement a penalty for purposely stalling is by adding ante to Arena. Back when Magic first started out, both players would wager a card, and whoever won would get to keep both cards. Of course, that's since been discontinued in Paper Magic, but I feel if each player antes a card from their digital collection, that incentivizes them to stay engaged with their current game instead of going AFK to make some Kraft Dinner, go watch a movie, or just be a sore loser.

[@girkyHD]

I don't think ante would be the ideal solution for players stalling. It would probably kill arena on the spot. Players that stall would continue to stall, and players would lose cards from their collection to players with more consistent decks or with the better draw. It also goes against WotC intended design for the game. Which was why the mechanic was removed from paper magic. It's not a gambling game, it's a game to bring people together. Since this videos release, I've thought about it. Implementing a system that catches players running their time banks down to zero would be useful enough, but then what do you do with those players? Put them in a low priority cue? Pair them against other players with similar habits? It's a difficult problem to answer without limiting the players accidently go AFK waiting, combo players, or even players who start off with zero time banks. Realistically, I think the time banks are a "patched hole" for the human element to magic arena and it could use a rework. Ultimately, does the current player base desire a new feature? From the comments I've seen so far. It's yet to be a big enough problem that a new feature needs to be implemented in replacement for time banks.

[@ekszentrik]

Online Magic just is eh unless you are 110% hooked on MTG, like addict crack fiend tier for its gameplay. Turns out, we don’t play MTG JUST for the mechanics. Paper magic inherently and always is a tabletop experience, which means something (maybe especially so) with IRL randos.

[@girkyHD]

I agree, online collectible card games lack the human interaction that makes them great. Afterall, it's called Magic THE GATHERING

[@bobbystrong6849]

Why would i want to rip up old cards? New cards come out that may combo or synergize well with those old cards. I dont rip up my physical cards because i pulled it out of a deck for an update. The quest system could do with an update, I'll admit, but it does incentivize playing more than just the same deck over again though, which is the right direction, but it could go further. Historic play does feel like playing against the same decks over and over again at times, but this just tells me that they need to add in more vintage cards to promote variety. Yea, fuck Alchemy though. In a game based on physical cards, if i cant build it at home, it shouldn't be a thing at all. Miss me with all that "perpetual" bullshit.

[@HighLanderPonyYT]

Why? Because I want to turn cards I'll never use into ones I'd want "right now". Let me decide instead of preventing player agency.

[@Kryptnyt]

If you want to play Magic, Magic Online still provides a pretty good experience.

[@girkyHD]

That's what I've heard, plus (if I'm correct) they have a cashout option for paper cards.

[@Kryptnyt]

@@girkyHD Only sets that are still in Standard, but you can still get your money back in any case because you can trade your cards and tickets with sites that will buy them from you.

[@plzdonteatmyturtleilikemyt1432]

I would love to but it just doesn’t feel good to play. Arena, while it sucks, feels nice to operate.

[@Kryptnyt]

@@plzdonteatmyturtleilikemyt1432 The biggest thing for me is that you can still play multiplayer and have human interaction conversations with your opponents. The only way to communicate in Arena I can tell, is through emotes that will always come off as negative, or salty roping, haha.

[@laurelkeeper]

@@girkyHD And if you want to play Magic and don't have the wherewithal to get into MTGO, XMage is a free, open-source alternative with full rules enforcement.

[@chazzitz-wh4ly]

I hate how greedily monetized Arena is. I also hate the formats present and how everything else takes gems, gems that you acquire painfully slow. Also, i hate alchemy. I play Yugioh Masterduel for my tcg fix. Climbing the ladder has been fun with a half decent deck and getting rewarded gems for dailies makes it worthwhile to buy the “battlepass” since at least trying to climb, with dailies, gets you enough gems to get the premium track again.

[@HighLanderPonyYT]

Alternatives I recommend: - Hearthstone: More fun, faster games, better economy - Duelyst 2: Maybe, probably is struggling after its revival but could be worth a check - Gwent: Complete, no more big updates, can actually get everything this way. High polish, probably the best economy of them all. Not as physical or frantic as HS though - Legends of Runeterra: Is in support mode and not my favorite but a very solid game and certainly plays a ton better than MtGA. Also, better econ You mentioned Snap... it has a horrible monetization and progression model, I wouldn't dive into it.

[@chazzitz-wh4ly]

I’ve been having a lot of fun with Masterduel. Once you find an archetype you like, it actually feels rewarding to win games because you get the premium currency to buy packs or cosmetics. Yugioh itself as a game has a lot of issues though.

[@Canadianvoice]

"I want to play other decks how am i supposed to be able to do that, when quests ask me to play other decks..." this guy ..

[@sykrosis]

Don't wanna play mtg arena? Play this poker game instead! Tf lol

[@DoctorJango]

I do wish they would add a way to report players for being toxic

[@samuraibeluga3749]

thats just opens the gates for false reports of salty idiots.

[@duncanjala]

​@@samuraibeluga3749 maybe what would be better is if they just recorded how often someone times out a game. That's all I personally want. People who have clearly lost but decide to let the clock run down are way to prevalent and some system like for example if it happens three times in a day you can't play with people online who aren't friends for 24 hours

[@samuraibeluga3749]

​@@duncanjala that would be a better system than user report, at least to try out for a bit. i didint have the notion that it was such a big problem in the community. i play fairly casually and i only recall catching people like that like once or twice. i assume its worse in ranked.

[@Goldy01]

@@duncanjala if you're too impatient, just concede and move on. Otherwise I don't really understand the issue.

[@metalhev3989]

There is a way. Does literally nothing and, even if it did, they say in the email they cannot discuss actions taken against other users so you'll never know.

[@attackoncardboard]

The Economy - You can't really compare to Hearthstone. I played from Beta till Forged in the Barrens. Every expansion, if I wanted to stay competitive, I would need to drop $120NZD to be able to open/craft everything I needed to have a decent range of decks. Where as with MTGA, I've only ever bought the Season/Mastery pass which is about $25NZD. I'd take Magic's economy over Hearthstone any day. Not to mention if you're good enough, you can go "infinite" with drafting. There is certainly a grind to MTGA, but that's the price you "pay" for a F2P game. Questing System - You're not locked into the competitive scene? There's an unranked queue for when you want to meme, as well as brawl queues. "It's incentivizing people to play outside of what they want to be doing" - Yes, so they can try other decks as they might find they like them? If you don't like the progression systems, MTGO sounds like it would be much more up your alley. Historic - "It's me playing the exact same deck over an over again" - MTGA zone is currently got 6 tier 1 decks listed. Your gameplay then went onto show 2 Elves decks, 1 UW Control and someone playing Umori as a companion. None of which are in the top tier. As far as the monthly rewards go, if you make it to Gold (which is not hard considering you get double points for wins in Silver and Bronze) you get the same amount of gold as if you hit Mythic. 1000g, which is a single pack. You do get additional packs too, but it's 1 for Bronze and Silver and then an additional one for each rank. So if you hit Mythic you get 5 Packs and 1000g, whereas if you hit Gold you get 2 packs and 1000g. You do not need to play top tier decks to get to Gold. Gets upset that someone is roping so the game is slowed down - Is playing a deck that makes it so the opponent cant play... Roping is something that happens across all digital games. Hearthstone, MTGO, Marvel Snap, LoR. It's the nature of the beast of turn based games. It is funny to see you bring up Marvel Snap when the card collecting experience is absolute hell when you're trying to complete Pool 2 and Pool 3. I'm so glad I played during launch so I could get through the Pool 2 and 3 grind as quickly as possible. I agree there are faults with MTGA, the whole reason I don't play anymore and started playing Snap is because the games are so much quicker. MTGA can certainly be improved, but overall, it's still one of the best places to play and learn MTG online.

[@HighLanderPonyYT]

But roping is way more annoying in a game like MtGA than in a game like HS because of the response triggers and having to "OK" everything.

[@NHTYSYX]

I uninstalled mtga yesterday for all of the reasons you said plus a little more.

[@punishedbread4779]

I really like the passion you put in this video, it's clear that you want to see the game improve but just struggle to enjoy a meta that has staled due to poor card balancing and Wotc forcing people into their fremium shenanigans. I only know enough about Magic to recognize when to say "I pass my turn" but in terms of video games I know that you want everything to feel impactful- in a game like a take turn rpg it's important to have satisfying, brief, and flashy animations and crisp sound to occupy the part of your brain that recognizes the fact that you are essentially waiting in line to punch someone in the face and then getting punched- when you lack these things you might as well be playing an IRL card game where at the very least you can have a cool discussion over it or go "pew pew" as you use Dale Walking Dead Guy to fight a hoard of rats.

[@girkyHD]

It's inevitable for F2P games to become repetitive, especially online digital card games. It's not that they aren't enjoyable. I'd just rather spend my time playing something else. Something that challenges the imagination a bit more. There are ways to do it in MTGArena, but I'd rather go play in person. Thanks for your reply.

[@sensen9900]

Thats how a Ranking System Works..... Playing any kind of Ladder means you see only Meta Decks...... Aside from that, that is Magic. Every Format which is loves, except EDH, is a Meta Format.

[@sensen9900]

People Roping? So what? There is 1 out of 8 or so player who does that on Purpose.... Magic isnt a Fast "I am done in 2 Minute Game"- Like Yugioh or the other Crappy TCGs.... You need to think a lot about a lot of Stuff. Tournament Games in MTG regulary hit the Max Timer Mark for a Match....

[@girkyHD]

Players do need time to think about there next action, that I agree on. Magic is a complex game that requires thoughtful input from its players. On your other comment, when a player chooses to rope their opponent, it disrespects that person's free time. The frequency of those players who rope their opponents increases the more time you play. I love magic, it has great mechanics and it's difficult to replicate that experience in other games. I've played a many hours of IRL magic, but Magic Arena could use some work.

[@jonascourturee]

Feel exactly the same way - I decided to quit for this reason. Id rather keep magic as my Paper TCG and Hearthstone fulfills my digital TCG needs.

[@girkyHD]

Hearthstone was my main digital card game back in the day. I love the crazy combos you can pull off in the game. I log on once in a while and have a good time. I think what I'm finding out is, maybe I've grown out of digital card games as my source of entertainment. Maybe it's time to move on to a different genre.

[@WizWiteKnight]

Try Eternal (Steam, Mobile stores) or Infinity Wars (although thats probably never going to pick up again).

[@girkyHD]

I'll take a look into it

[@WizWiteKnight]

@@girkyHDEternal has been going on for almost a decade now and has some Pro magic players at the helm of it. Infinity Wars is a great game run by an group of absolute morons. I can say this as an ex employee. Honestly, its a crime how good it is and how its never going to launch because of management ineptitude. But you absolutely have to try it out.

[@dettonate]

Hey man video isn't too bad but it's an overplayed violin. I also don't buy into the must play meta because I play off meta in standard and I make it to diamond if not mythic. For alchemy, I agree, I hate it, but it does allow them to play with the card design and hopefully learn better ways to design. The main reason I hate it is because I often forget how they've changed the card and misplay.

[@girkyHD]

Alchemy is an attempt to make the digital version of Magic unique. I can respect it as a concept, but it's a little too crazy for my taste. That's really what I was trying to get at in this video "this is my take". Overplayed violin or not, I wanted to put it out there. Thanks for checking out the video!

[@mikechartofilis]

Many problems you listed aren't really problems, it's how a game functions. You made a comparison to hearthstone in the beginning but never mentioned it again cause Hearthstone and all other online card games did and still do the exact same "problems" you mentioned. I know you sort of recognize that these exist so that a free to play game can work but then you go and nitpick stuff. For the record, I don;t disagree that the game has many faults, many of those in the subjects you mentioned, its just that plenty of what you mentioned fall into the online categories. A rogue like like Balatro is a completely different kind of game, it's not fair to compare these together, its like apples and oranges. Marvel Snap is even worse imo cause all that limitation that you speak of in MTGA, that is behind a huge paywal in Marvel Snap If quests didn't exist, then how should you earn gold ? Granted their system is messed up but not for the reasons you mentioned. There are of course quests for various color combinations cause as you said, they want you to play their game. You don't have to follow them but that's how things are. Hearthstone does the exact same thing, you need to have various missions that can cover the whole range of players. For the mastery system. What exactly do you not like about it ? They don't offer anything negative about the game, they only reward you for playing the game. Before they existed, similar games had nothing extra that someone would say got replaced by this mechanic. For the ranked system. Again what is the problem here, if you want to go competitive then there will always be a meta. This exists for the online and the paper version of MTG and every single out there. Besides that no one is forcing you to play the same deck. Again if you want to play ranked, there will ALWAYS be a meta. Now regarding you mentioning that if you fail to meet a quote you don;'t get the same rewards. I mean...you miss 1 or 2 packs max which is a day or two of magic, its a pretty insignificant reward to make you want to play ranked even if you don't want it. Also the rewards are until Mythic rank. You can get to mythic or at least high Diamond with a number of off meta decks, at least I consistently do it with an average of 7-8 games per day with random fun historic decks I like. Finally regarding people roping, that is gonna happen to every single game that is bound to have a timer for each character. In mtg its worse due to the amount of timer you have to endure, but nonetheless its the same tiring experience in every multiplayer game.

[@girkyHD]

You bring up some great points I wish I would've brought up in the video. You're correct that articulating my issues with the client is difficult. Additionally, I think what I'm really experiencing is burnout. When I started taking this KZbin channel seriously, I focused on MTGArena as my main source of content. I enjoyed it, but it didn't fit what I wanted to do long-term. I love magic, it has great mechanics and it's difficult to replicate that experience in other games. I've played many hours of IRL magic, but Magic Arena could use some work. I expected more from WotC.

[@jeffe2267]

Complaining about Arena's monetization and then suggesting Snap is wild. I love both games, but Snap's monetization is way worse.

[@girkyHD]

I personally haven't had a problem with SNAPs monetization system. I'll take a slow, progressive unlock system over the money dump that Magic Arena makes me take. Really, I'd rather have a system similar to Hearthstone where you can 'recycle' your old cards for new ones.

[@NetherVoiD]

The game doesn't know the meaning of fair play. Yes it can be a F2P game. But the handicap for F2P players are many. Namely 1. Opponents always goes first. 2. Shuffle rigging. 3. Mana shorting and mana flooding the players draw. All those are for P2W player perks as they pay and play

[@girkyHD]

What your describing still happens regardless of your monetary status with the game. As a player who has paid money, I still experience mana flooding/mana shortage, I still get bad draws, and my opponent goes first. It just feels like it always happens because of the amount of time spent on the game. I said it in a previous comment, but I say it again: I think what I'm finding out is, maybe I've grown out of digital card games as my source of entertainment. Maybe it's time to move on to a different genre. I still love magic, but I don't think I'll be spending my free time on arena as much.

[@NetherVoiD]

@@girkyHD it still happens true But not as often as being a F2P player In Arena. You played P2W that is why you don't experience it much.

[@connortreleaven5304]

This video is…strange to say the least Complaining that a ranked systems rewards you for playing good decks and following a meta is the entire point of a ranked system. It’s competitive play, you need to bring the best or bring meta calls to beat the meta. Also from a game design perspective of course daily quests are gonna be there, it’s how it keeps people coming back. Not to mention your collection of other cards games at the end, two of which aren’t even CCGs they’re just roguelites, doesn’t really seem to demonstrate a knowledge of the topic You claim to be someone who’s dumped hundreds of hours into magic with the copy paste replies to a few comments, but this video definitely doesn’t convey that experience

[@floydyutiamco]

Just play draft

[@HighLanderPonyYT]

MtG is cool. MtGA is a travesty of a software: - The UI/UX is still bare bones and ugly... since the beta - One of my main reasons for quitting was all the slow players. That, and the mundane grind ofc - The daily wins and the daily quests coming in triplicates are also conflicted design - Requiring wins in a game with high variance is also stupid - The wildcard system is also stupid - The events are confusing and too gatekept - The final straw for me was when they got out of beta or such and basically nuked all of the Amonkhet cards, along with the main deck I was building. Just gone, poof - The lack of formats also sucks - The vault is an absolute embarrassment. Good idea, horrible implementation

[@Kupjes]

I am completely satisfied with MTGA. I've been playing MTG exclusively with good friends for decades and we still meet up regularly. We mainly play Commander. Tournaments and 'Friday night Magic' at the local card store have never appealed to me. The main reason for this is, to put it mildly, the difficult characters and cheaters who hang around there. Besides, if you want to get something out of a tournament, you have to play META and a deck like that can quickly cost 1-2k. MTGA Standard or Histroric, on the other hand, is a blessing for me. Much less toxic decks, much less toxic people, much less costs. I've never heard anyone who plays MTGA say "I have the most fun when my opponent has the least fun." And even if you're playing against a deck that would prevent you from doing anything for half an hour in order to draw a combo in a hundred years, you can just skip it. Also, you don't have to play META in MTGA to at least reach Diamond. Because most opponents can't handle having to play against a well-designed deck outside of META with their copied decks. In case something is not understandable, English is not my native language.

[@girkyHD]

First off, your English is great, don't sweat it. Magic Arena in a vacuum is not a terrible experience. What I should've dove into in my video is really that Magic Arena, compared to other digital card games, needs improvements. Elements of other card games that make them unique. And yes, playing in person with friends is still my preferred way to play magic. MTGA sucks in comparison to the other experiences you could have with Magic in person.

[@darnelljenkins5972]

I got a magic arena ad on this video lol

[@girkyHD]

That's pretty funny! Truth be told, Magic players always complain about the game, but we still love it.

[@ogerpinata-nu2th]

Hello there

[@mondaynugget6503]

GENERAL KENOBI

[@Quillcy]

Complains that it costs money to use the client, complains that there aren't enough features. While I do think the economy of the game is terrible, that doesn't mean it shouldn't try to fund itself. The development team for Arena is told by their parent company to focus on features that drive spending. That is why we won't get a spectator mode, and unlikely to get multiplayer. If you truly want to complain about the economy I would postulate that the sheer number of products released make it hard to collect in the amount of time needed for F2P using draft. The quest system is fine, there are plenty of casual queues to grind silly quest focused decks. From Historic brawl, color challenge, or unranked queue it is not unreasonable to build decks for a F2P player to knock out any of the daily quest(s). I think your displeasure for historic is kind of weird, there are two additional eternal formats, explorer and timeless, available on Arena; and all three have distinct metagames. The rewards for ranked drop off after platinum. During your time in gold you still earn 2 to 1 pips of wins over losses, making climbing a matter of putting in time to play. No one who climbs to diamond or mythic are doing so for the extra couple of packs at the end of the month. Overall it seems like you have an understanding that there are issues with the client/formats, but not the knowledge to correctly articulate or describe what are the actual problems.

[@girkyHD]

You bring up some great points I wish I would've brought up in the video. You're correct that articulating my issues with the client is difficult. Additionally, I think what I'm really experiencing is burnout. When I started taking this KZbin channel seriously, I focused on MTGArena as my main source of content. I enjoyed it, but it didn't fit what I wanted to do long-term. I love magic, it has great mechanics and it's difficult to replicate that experience in other games. I've played many hours of IRL magic, but Magic Arena could use some work. I expected more from WotC.