Thread by @Metallix87

Incoming long thread: I've been putting this off for a few days, but I wanted to break down the current state of @MTG_Arena, and what issues the client faces. @CubeApril inspired me to finally talk about this with her tweet a day or two ago on Twitch numbers. #mtg #MTGNeon

For starters, I will point out that the cloud of negativity surrounding both the client and the Alchemy format, which I mentioned last week, still lingers, and is driven by content creators and social media. This is not to say there isn't reason to be upset, but it exists.

That being said, I want this thread to primarily focus on the other challenges I feel the client is facing, and how I think they can best be fixed. I'll be discussing economy, card pool / format options, and general client features, just to be clear.

I play a LOT of Magic Arena. It's been my primary means of engaging with the game of Magic now for well over three years. I spend hundreds of hours each year playing, and my account allows me to essentially play almost any deck in any format currently on the client.

My investment level was initially higher, but for a year or more now, I spend exactly $50 each set release to preorder the Mastery Pass bundle, and leverage the draft tokens and my current Gem supply to draft a whole lot. Drafting well is currently the way to "game" the client.

I've been playing Magic in general since the late 1990s, around the time of the release of Urza's Legacy. I'm not a pro. I point all this out to explain where I'm coming from, and why I feel I can talk about Arena and Magic with some reasonable amount of standing on the matter.

Without a doubt, we have to start with the Arena economy. The economy is the biggest hurdle the game faces currently. The cost of a complete collection in the client currently is extraordinarily expensive, and getting worse every few months, and Wizards doesn't seem to care.

The cost of an initial Standard deck is relatively low, but subsequent decks, especially those sharing little with your first, really get pricey fast, as you burn through Wild Cards. Rewards don't come fast or frequent enough to alleviate this.

The bare minimum we need, as I've stated before, is a direct purchase option for Wild Cards on the Arena storefront. This will give the players direct access to exactly the card(s) they need for decks, giving them greater control, and begin to open up the platform to new players.

More change is necessary, though. The client is significantly less generous than other competitors. There should be more free giveaways, more daily rewards, and also a dusting equivalent, matching up closer to the other digital card games on the market.

Daily rewards, in particular, needs a drastic overhaul. The current structure is win-oriented, and has diminished returns after 4 and 10 wins, and stops outright at 15. We need a structure that better incentivizes casual play, while also rewarding competitive grinders more.

I don't know what the former looks like, to be frank. Maybe changing to a "games played" structure, with a bonus reward for wins? The latter is simpler: stop cutting off rewards at 15 wins, and don't have the rewards diminish as quickly. Make the grind worthwhile.

Another element of that is having it so ICRs you earn from your daily rewards have to be of cards you don't own a playset of. This adds value to your grind that currently is largely absent. Getting 20 Gems here and there is significantly less impactful.

Beyond those basic changes to the economy, the client itself desperately needs a big refresh. The client left beta well over three years ago, and basic features are still missing: spectator mode, tournament mode, favorite basic land art, favorite card style, and more.

We've actually lost features over time, in weird ways. The current sideboarding system has been a disaster for months now. Historic Anthology releases have vanished. The direct-to-Historic Brawl Commanders stopped nearly two years ago. The development roadmap is likewise gone.

The current focus is seemingly shifting towards digital-only cards, which I'm very much in favor of, but it should come alongside greater transparency from the development team, and a continued desire to expand the card pool with more and more old fan favorite cards. And formats.

Pioneer on Arena has been a talking point for years now. We last heard about it, albeit briefly, in December 2021 during Weekly MTG as still being very far away. Without an updated and visible development roadmap, this could basically mean anything. Pioneer content has dried up.

Remember Remastered sets? Both Amonkhet Remastered and Kaladesh Remastered were supposedly big hits on the client, both for drafters and Historic players. Pioneer Masters was delayed indefinitely. Where's Shadows Over Innistrad Remastered? That should be the next logical release.

We've also had a huge missed opportunity last year at expanding the Historic card pool in the form of Time Spiral Remastered. That set seemed tailor-made for the release structure established by previous Remastered sets, and many of the mechanics already exist on Arena.

Was it a power level issue? Doubtful. Historic is already a very high-power format, and that would've been just before the Mystical Archive, which had a huge impact in this regard. Are classic cards like Tarmogoyf and Damnation really too much?

Some will say this amounts to a cost / resource management issue. Okay, let's say that's the case. Sure. Why isn't Hasbro, given the huge financial success of the client, investing in expanding the developer support further? This seems like an issue that can be resolved easily.

That's seemingly the crux of the problem: Wizards and/or Hasbro seems unwilling currently to improve the economy and spend money to improve features and expand the card pool. This is driving a lot of the toxicity towards the client, and pushing players away gradually.

We've been told an episode of Weekly MTG is coming in the "near-future" about the Arena economy for months now. Supposedly, now we can expect it shortly after the digital release of Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty. We will see if that comes to pass. But it's more than just economy.

What we need, in summation:

1.) Numerous economy changes.
2.) More basic-level features.
3.) A fix to the sideboarding system.
4.) More content releases, in both Anthology form and Remastered sets.
5.) A clear and visible development roadmap, with direct communication.

I want to end with the obvious: Despite these numerous issues, I still love the Magic Arena client. A lot. It's still one of my preferred ways to engage with Magic as a whole. I point out these issues because I want it to be better, and I want it to be viable for more players.

@fireshoes You're someone who I respect a lot with regards to reporting on Arena, and I know you've been vocal on issues with the client in the past. I tried being thorough here, but I'd also love your thoughts and input on the matter, as well.