preventing endless matches against stale, copycat decks (like 5 games against Life Skills in a row)
If a player uses a card (the same card in any deck) for say 5 matches in a row (other than lands), they are not allowed to use that card for the next 2 matches or so.
MTG has a deckbuilding aspect and a game aspect, both of which are really fun. Playing on computers on the internet allows us to gather data on the strengths of cards and strategies, which is great.
However, those two things lead to people seeking an optimal copycat deck instead of creating new things. Players don't start with every card available, but they do start with plenty of material to provide more variety than... 5 games of Life Skills opponents in a row.
The idea of "meta" is detrimental to a game like this. Finding good strategies in MTG isn't "meta". It's just the game. When a large chunk of the playerbase converges on the same strategy, it takes fun away from both the deckbuilding and gameplay for people who want to create and explore.
With my proposal of some kind of forced variety, there are a number of benefits:
- variety when it comes to opponents and more interesting tactics
- players would have to / be able to experiment with their own decks more
- if people leave matches because of the opponent's deck, the leaver fairly loses rank, but if it happens often enough, the deck user is forced to bring something else out. If people are truly leaving games against someone frequently, that opponent is part of the problem.
What I'm proposing might not be for everyone, which is cool. If there's a special queue for people who want variety, and one for people who can't get enough Scute Swarm, that would work for everyone.
This isn't exactly the same as the drafting mode, because I still think cultivating the perfect (unique) deck is a great part of MTG.
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Tyloc#65287 commented
EXACTLY!! Thank you. I just started playing Arena, though I started playing mtg when I was 12 (1994. Third edition. Dark expansion was on the shelves.) I've literally played 5 ranked games in arena and 3 were, from what I saw, identical. Likely the same deck you mention. White, lifelink based.
I would be game for that resolution you came up with! I was thinking along the lines of if people want to play their copycat decks against each other have a separate mode for it, but the logistics of that seem too complicated.
Deck building is *most* of THE GAME! I'm glad I found like minds so quickly. Hopefully something will be done. Cheers!