Magic The Gathering is the granddaddy of the collectable card game hobby, not only was it and continues to be one of the worlds largest competitive CCG’s with a player base of 35 million, but it was also the pioneer for the digital CCG scene launching Magic The Gathering Online back in 2002 notably even before games like World of Warcraft were launched that would decades later produce modern digital adaptations of CCG’s like Heartstone.

In short, it is the original, it is the one and what we are here to answer is whether or not this old dog is still worth your time, specifically in the digital age via the current adaptations of digital Magic the gathering known as MTG: Arena.

I think I have to be honest here before I begin that I played Magic: The Gathering religiously and competitively (The table top version) from 1993 with the release of the Arabian Nights until about 2006 just after the release of Coldsnap. After that I quit the game largely because I moved away from California to Sweden where I really didn’t find a MTG scene. Suffices to say I’m an old dog, I know this game like I know my own face.

This also means that my return to magic is done so very casually and to a degree cautiously. I have no intention of collecting physical cards and I’m not interested in spending large quantities of cash or even really competing online or otherwise. MTG: Arena is free to play and so my commitment level to this project was about as non-existent as it could be, MTG: Arena would have to sell itself to me because the game itself, Magic: The Gathering, I already know everything there is to know about it. I was expecting no surprises and really, to a larger degree for this to be a very short lived foray into the nostalgic memories of the game, nothing more.

I also questioned here whether or not MTG: Arena was a cash grab, or if they found a fun way to play and enjoy Magic: The Gathering in digital form. Given that Wizards of the Coast are the kings of cash grabs, I had very little confidence that it was going to surprise me in this regard. The short answer, really to my amazement, was that they broke expectation in a pretty significant way. Yes… not only is it super fun, it’s actually wildly better then the real thing. Structured and organized in an exceptional way that makes Magic: The Gathering fun again.

I think it’s important to say that I believe what makes Magic: The Gathering a great game, as opposed to a terrible game is the format you play. Magic as a casual game to collect and play at home with friends with constructed decks in a non-format standard way is actually a really shit game, mechanically speaking. Essentially its a pay to win game and only in a very tempered group that sticks to formats and limiting budget does the game become reasonably fun. I believe this remains true of Magic: The Gathering today, whether you play the table top version or the online version.

To me the best Magic: The Gathering experience you will ever have is in draft play. Draft play is a format in which players open fresh booster packs, draft cards in a group and compete with the decks they construct from that draft. Their are various versions of draft play, including sealed draft for example but In these drafting formats, Magic: The Gathering’s playing field equalizes. The game goes from being about trying to collect all the strongest power cards (rares) and building highly optimized super decks and becomes a game of skill in drafting, constructing and using the cards.

It’s also at its best in a competitive environment because unique opponents bring unique experiences. When you play the same people, with the same collections, using the same style and decks, the game wares out its welcome very quickly.

In short, to keep Magic: The Gathering fresh you have to play it competitively, in draft formats and playing within a single set or at least within the current standard (the last 3 sets + the core set for the year)

In comes MTG: Arena. MTG: Arena does a really great job of not only making itself accessible by having a really great tutorial sequence and giving you a great starting collection for free, but it has an amazing setup for earning rewards and giving you reason to explore every inch of the games different formats and styles of play including most notably competitive play.

Now you have your standard mode, build a 60 card deck from your collection and play a casual game against an opponent. In so doing, you earn various rewards ranging from new cards, decks and cosmetic trinkets. In addition you earn the in game currency (gold) which can be used in various methods to get more booster packs to expand your collection. You could effectively play this way indefinitely, earning rewards, expanding your collection and playing “standard Magic: The Gathering”. Like your home games however there are going to be a lot of flaws in this format and I do believe it would get boring very quickly.

Fortunately this is not however what MTG: Arena wants you to do and likely for that very reason and so it puts carrots out there for you to get involved in the higher echelons of the games competitive scene and it does this in a number of really clever ways.

First their is ranked play, which is essentially exactly as the standard non-ranked play except that it tracks your progress in a ranking system made up of various tiers ranging from Bronze all the way to Mythic, with many levels in-between. A casual gamer might see this as intimidating but here is the thing. It’s worth it! You get more rewards from playing in ranked play then you do in non-ranked play and there is no drawback to it.

Essentially the only difference is that as you advance in the ranks, you, in addition to the standard rewards also unlock ranking rewards. Even just playing 1 ranked game win or lose will earn you a booster pack and you can earn both gold, booster packs and cosmetic stuff by participating through success. There is quite literarily no logical reason whatsoever not to always be playing ranked and strictly speaking you are far more likely to meet opponents of your skill level in ranked play, then playing in non-ranked play where you are just matched up with whoever is available as opposed to someone in your current rank.

More importantly is that it’s a ladder and gets you into the competitive spirit where you try to improve your decks, find ones that work well and compete for your status in the MTG community. This becomes a vary natural addictive element and really helps to solidify your first steps into a larger world.

Over time you will earn gold in addition to other rewards and this is where MTG: Arena helps you to take the next baby step to induct even the most casual of players into competitive play. They do this by making the rewards for playing in events better then simply using the gold to buy stuff in the shop and it is not based on winning anything in these events.

Essentially if you take 5,000 gold you will be able to buy 5 booster packs in the shop. However if you instead take that 5,000 gold and join a Quick Draft Tournament, you will earn 4 packs and 50 gems even if you lose every single one of your three games. But by simply playing in the tournament you automatically gain the Bronze tier in limited play, which earns you another pack. Its just economically a better way to spend your gold even if you just do it once.

Here is the kicker though, you get to do a draft tournament and if you actually win a couple of games, a very likely scenario even for the most novice of players, you will earn even more rewards. Winning just 3 matches will earn you 300 gems. Gems are the other currency in the game, for which people pay actual money. 300 gems is roughly worth 2 bucks. You can use the gems to buy more packs or other rewards from the shop, or you can just go right back around and put it towards your next tournament entry.

Furthermore you get to draft pick the cards from the boosters and after the tournament add them to your collection. So even if you suck at the game and lose every match, rather then opening a random booster and getting what you get, you can hand pick the cards you want. This may not seem immediately apparent but is actually a far more efficient way to collect cards.

Its really a win win situation and the end result I can only assume is that everyone is using their gold to enter into tournaments, in a way this economic system turns everyone on MTG: Arena into a competitive player.

Just these two key carrots, ranked play and tournament play, because they made them attractive through rewards makes MTG: Arena an amazing implementation of Magic The Gathering as a system. It’s really a kind of economic eco system that will have you exploring everything the digital version of Magic: The Gathering has to offer, eventually you will find formats and a routine that works for you and as your game improves you will find yourself not only competing regularly but doing far better then you thought was possible.

As I spent more and more time chasing victories, building decks and massaging my collection I came to the stark realization. The game is actually a lot of fun too.

The digital implementation of Magic The Gathering in MTG: Arena is smooth, responsive, the interface clear, easy to manage and the general balance at least of the current standard is extraordinarily well done. Wizards of the Coast has clearly learned a great deal over the years of running the game, it has developed into a far better game then I remember it being.

MTG: Arena is not without its faults however but I honestly can’t complain too much. Like many modern digital ladder games, their is an XP/Leveling system with rewards, from which you get a lot more if you shell out the money for a premium account. You get rewards for leveling up on a free account as well, but obviously the premium account showers you with them enticing you to buy into the 20 dollar cover charge for the privilege. The thing is that you actually spend 3400 gems to do this, which means that if your successful in tournaments using your in game earned gold, you could very easily pay for a premium accounts from your winnings. In fact this is not that hard to do, every couple of days you will earn enough gold to participate in a tournament. You will likely play at least a dozen tournaments if you invest your gold. If you consistently get 2-5 victories in each of these tournaments you will earn far more gems then you need to pay for a premium account. In fact, a single 7 out of 7 victory will do that.

One thing worth noting as well is that there is no tutorial for drafting, so the first few times you do this its likely going to feel very alien to you and drafting is a skill that takes time to develop. Doing it poorly results in you having a really tough time winning even a single match and drafting is not a skill you will be able to practice often because its only available when you actually participate in a drafting event, which of course costs gold or gems to enter. Drafting is not hard to learn to do moderately well, but it will cost you precious gold or gems to practice.

Secondly there is no way to trade cards The lack of card trading in a collectable trading card game is a really strange decision to an old school MTG player like me. The replacement for this function is a wild card system. Essentially periodically you will get wild cards for different rarities when opening packs. These you can use to craft any card of the same rarity. Its worth noting as well that you can’t have more then 4 copies of any card, so anytime you would get a 5th card you get credits towards your “vault” which earns you wild cards. Its an ok replacement for card trading, but this leads MTG: Arena into a separate issue of online community isolation (more on that later).

This is functional enough, but when your trying to put together a specific deck and you don’t have enough wild cards your kind of left hanging. Since collecting cards, trading them and building decks is a really big part of a CCG experience, its absence in MTG Arena is sorely missed.

Finally and I have to admit that this is a mixed blessing, their is virtually no interaction between you and your opponent above and beyond playing a match. In fact there is no interaction with any part of the community in game. There are no chat channels of any kind in the game, no trading, really no reason or way for people to communicate through the platform (aka community isolation). Now from my personal experience with the previous digital rendition of Magic The Gathering (MTG Online) I can say that the MTG community leaves a lot to be desired, like most online communities. So having them be effectively silenced allowing you to focus on the game rather then watching profanities scroll by may have in fact been the right call by Wizards of the Coast who notably doesn’t have a public forum either for any of their games. Likely hard lessons learned about the generally poor behavior of online communities.

You do have emotes where you can congratulate an opponent on a win and other such one liners, but generally even though the game is called MTG: Arena and it is an online game with real life opponents, as you play you barely even make that connection. They may as well be bot AI’s.

On the positive note when it comes to tournaments in particular you can just focus on the game and because the various event based tournaments are not precisely linked by specific players, you can participate in these events at whatever pace you like. You can join a draft, spend as long as you like building your deck and then play as many or as few matches as you like, whenever you have time. There is no pressure to “hurry up and finish” the tournament or waiting around. The pacing of the arena is very steady and at your leisure. The only obligation you really have to the online universe here is to finish the current match you’re in.

Conclusion

I have to admit I really didn’t think I would enjoy or continue to play, let alone get back into the competitive scene of Magic The Gathering when I started with MTG Arena. I was really surprised how easy and rewarding the experience has been and though I suppose I do miss some of the human interaction, overall I would say the experience has been very positive.

At its core MTG: Arena is the full Magic: The Gathering experience in digital form with all of the competitive and casual formats you would expect to see. There are always new releases coming, new challenges and interesting special events that makes logging in every day and running some games fun and worth doing and has just become the new norm for me.

I absolutely love the fact that you are always rewarded in some way for your matches, that your encouraged to compete in events and that you can do all of it at your own pace, in your own time. It’s really quite perfect especially since you can go from launching the game to being in a competitive match and back out to deal with laundry inside of 10-15 minutes. Its so convenient, smooth and easy, for anyone who has a love for the game, this platform is in just about every way I can think of quite perfect for your typical MTG fan.

Now of course it is still Magic: The Gathering and the rules for the game have not changed in 30 years. Many of the mechanical warts of the game are still there and compared to modern CCG’s, MTG certainly shows its age. You can and will get mana fucked with reasonable regularity, there are insane combos that once executed you can’t do shit about, there are trick decks that will annoy you and if you are in a rush to get your collection up, you can as always spend your rent money in short order. The game can sometimes be a bit frustrating.

MTG: Arena is certainly not enough to get me back into the physical game, in fact, it had quite the opposite effect. If I want to play Magic: The Gathering with friends, in particular in these Covid-19 days, playing the game on MTG: Arena is far superior to the real thing. I would much rather play this then spend time fucking about with Magic: The Gathering Cards.

If you have never played Magic: The Gathering and have always wanted to try it, this platform is perfect. If you already love Magic: The Gathering and want to play more, this is the perfect platform. If you already don’t like the physical form of the game, playing it online is not going to change your mind. This is the same old Magic: The Gathering it has always been. It’s a bit leaner, a bit smoother and much more accessible in MTG: Arena, but still Magic: The Gathering the classic collectable game for better or worse.