I played matches all morning and ran some test decks in regular play. Not one of my decks contained mythics because frankly I don't have the wild craft to craft them. I was matched against players that would have multiple mythics and mythic planeswalkers. Once again none of my decks contained a planeswalker.
I am not sure what the deck power matchmaking algorithm is but is is not working for players to complete on a balanced playing field.
You must create a meta deck to actually have some wins in normal play atm. This was not the case a few months back but now it is ridiculous.
Also I have even tried out the starter decks that were given out a few weeks ago and I am placed against meta decks and I made 0 edits.
Please fix you matchmaking!

our decks are most of the time matched against few very similar or identical types of decks and we can't do anything about it. there are so many other types of decks / strategies out there that we'll never be able to play against with certain decks, because the matchmaking doesn't allow it. it's not like the matched decks were the only ones that would create a "balanced" match and every other constellation would be unfair, we all know that.
it's more like the game matches you with something that couters your deck and it all comes down to drawing luck. where's the fun in that?
this only leads to more people following the meta and ultimately to most people playing the same decks / strategies.

it would be great to have a card filter option before playing a match, where you will not be matched against decks that contain the selected card(s).

vote for it here: https://feedback.wizards.com/forums/918667-mtg-arena-bugs-product-suggestions/suggestions/44071368-card-filter-option-for-unranked-matchmaking

our decks are most of the time matched against few very similar or identical types of decks and we can't do anything about it. there are so many other types of decks / strategies out there that we'll never be able to play against with certain decks, because the matchmaking doesn't allow it. it's not like the matched decks were the only ones that would create a "balanced" match and every other constellation would be unfair, we all know that.
it's more like the game matches you with something that couters your deck and it all comes down to drawing luck. where's the fun in that?
this only leads to more people following the meta and ultimately to most people playing the same decks / strategies.

it would be great to have a card filter option before playing a match, where you will not be matched against decks that contain the selected card(s).

vote for it here: https://feedback.wizards.com/forums/918667-mtg-arena-bugs-product-suggestions/suggestions/44071368-card-filter-option-for-unranked-matchmaking

our decks are most of the time matched against few very similar or identical types of decks and we can't do anything about it. there are so many other types of decks / strategies out there that we'll never be able to play against with certain decks, because the matchmaking doesn't allow it. it's not like the matched decks were the only ones that would create a "balanced" match and every other constellation would be unfair, we all know that.
it's more like the game matches you with something that couters your deck and it all comes down to drawing luck. where's the fun in that?
this only leads to more people following the meta and ultimately to most people playing the same decks / strategies.

it would be great to have a card filter option before playing a match, where you will not be matched against decks that contain the selected card(s).

vote for it here: https://feedback.wizards.com/forums/918667-mtg-arena-bugs-product-suggestions/suggestions/44071368-card-filter-option-for-unranked-matchmaking

Hello,

I have been told that in best of one queues if there are not enough players online then Arena will most likely just pair you with the person you just played. (I am talking Premier Drafts)

I was wondering if you could change this algorithm as I feel it’s unfair for these reasons:

1. Let’s say the opponent you just played destroyed your deck. I don’t want to play that deck again. This is the reason I play best of one over best of three, the variety.

This next reason is imho the strongest

2. This feels like I am playing best of three, playing the same opponent 2 times in a row. However with one huge difference, I don’t have the opportunity to sideboard. Yes the same can be said for the opponent but if my deck doesn’t match up great or there are some cards I could sideboard in/out to increase my chances I am going to do it. However with this process it’s like I’m playing the same opponent without the opportunity to sideboard against them.

3. I just played the same opponent two times in a row with a wait time for the second pairing of only a few seconds. At least make it wait 1 minute or so before you pair me with that same person. I don’t mind waiting.

4. Give us players on the Arena interface of the number of players that are currently active and playing limited best of one queues so we have the option of whether or not to join a queue to play.

Please let me know your thoughts

How tf do I mulligan 3 times, down to 4 cards and every time there isnt a single land. I'm running a standard deck 24 lands. Yet your algorithm sucks azz. Like wtf, this **** really starting to **** me off and not want to play

You guys need transparency with your shuffler and how the coin toss and deck matchups are chosen. You are losing customers who don't understand the algorithms you use and your "independent studies" of the matter are far from independent and so unrepresentative they are a joke. Furthermore, every day on your support discord and forums you have people complaining about it and sucking up valuable time and resources, as well as doing damage to the brand. Release the code for the shuffler, let people look at it, if you truly have nothing to hide. Until then I am going to continue to assume that you bias it in favor of new players who have yet to purchase cards. I bought the cards for several meta decks and climbed to Mythic with a 72% winrate over the course of a week two months in a row. Since then I am on the draw more often than not with a bad hand, a bad matchup, or a land drought/glut and struggle to maintain a winrate above 50%. The same is true for how matchups are chosen. If I face three monowhite lifegain in a row as a monored player, I shouldn't immediately face three decks with zero creatures as a Rakdos sacrifice player which is designed to deal with them. As it stands now I will never spend another dime on your product until I start getting fairer matchups. But you already got my money, so why do you care?

I believe that deck shuffling should not be left to an algorithm. It seems all too often that as you play a deck more and more the mana gets separated from the spell cards. I think if you could create a "shuffle interface" that allows the player to "shuffle their own cards, at least the blame of a poorly shuffled deck wouldn't be blamed on the game. Ask me and I'll share my idea with you! Thanks. -WARLORD

I decided to test the algorithm, and in 14 hors of playing, and shuffling through 23 decks, I've only won 3 games. It was an insane way to spend my day off, but I wanted to know for sure.

This is unacceptable, who wants to play a game where the only way to win is to by 1000s of dollars to get all the best cards. If your coming here to add to the complaints, feel free to delete the game with the rest of us, because they won't be fixing it, otherwise they probably wouldn't come up even for the "Work" they put in.

Cant win a match period lost 50 games in a row really not going to touch this game with a stick! Ill play real paper cards with better sbm and rng. This game has idiots that are strictly money motivated at the helm not any fun factor, strictly cash. support the local game store and dont feed this crap wagon. I just dont see how i can lose 50 games ( with video proof ) and the devs thinks thats fun and ok? Wow! I mean wow! How hard is it to match on card and strength? I lost 50 in a row! With a winning deck! I call it rigged unless proven otherwise! I might retain a lawyer! For wasting time and money on a game thats not fun! I want my hard earned money back from this scam!

Matchmaking seems deck based as last 10 days I can only find Tibalt's Trickery decks with my MonoRedAggro deck, which makes it unplayable in Play Queue Bo1. Besides, all other decks seem to be matched with hard counters: Mill decks are placed against 80+ card decks and/or decks that have advantage on being milled, creature decks are placed against full removal decks, and so on. Even with Rogues deck I am being placed against MonoReds that unconcieveably bring Ox of Agonas in Bo1. My conclusion is that the game is purposedly trying to nullify my capacity to play Play Queue Bo1 in order to, perhaps, force me to switch to Bo3 and spend money as more cards would be required.

In fact, matchmaking seems much more like the Fifa Ultimate Team scripts (patent protected by EA in that case) made to troll players into spending. If this is the case then it is logical to assume that the system is programmed to render your decks useless at some given time by hard matchups.

It is a disgrace on the verge of legality. Although the fact that they don't seem to even bother to check these forum boards speaks volumes by itself. A great game like MTG deserves something better.

Please for the love of God fix your casual queue matchmaking algorithm. I'm just trying to play some fun jank with lesser used cards in my collection and all I see are S-tier, standard meta decks. I'm not competitive against any of them. Please somehow use the cards most used in the meta to determine which decks play against each other, because it is not fun to play. I stepped away for a couple months only to come back to the same problem. It's very likely I step away for good at this point.

Matchmaking is stupid, i ran into 7 monored aggro decks in a row, when i pay a certain slow deck! it seems im only put against counters

nice game of rng to keep you on the brink of spending money. Great gambling simulation WoTC!

We absolutely need to improve the land distribution algorithm within the deck, 12 turns without drawing a single land. Deck 25 lands 35 nonland cards. There is something wrong with the algorithm some games only land 2 others maximum 3, so it becomes impossible to compete.

My IDEA is freaking fix your **** algorithms. I have been playing magic since it started back before 1995. I HAVE NEVER IN MY LIFE BEEN SO EITHER MANA SCREWED OR MANA DROWNED SINCE I STARTED PLAYING. I have no idea how many matches I have played but I lose 60+% of them for getting no mana or all I get is mana. This is effing ridiculous, if it was in regular matches (in-person) there are things that you can do to fix it. I understand that it is not easy to get things perfect but lately it is way out of whack. Even decks that used to run extremely well are not anymore. PLEASE PLEASE FIX IT. Also, there is a legendary card out there that gives poison counters if any monster that has death touch hits you. It would be fine but there is absolutely no way of removing them which makes playing against them pointless.

with a aggro deck i get matched only against other aggro decks. Ok that's fair but to counter all those aggro decks i thought i'll play with a control deck. But since then i only get matched against yorion decks! 10 times in a row! No one can tell me that's fucking random. And a Control against Yorion control is no fun at all! That's just a 30+ Minute game of time waste.
With my mono white control deck i never face a aggro deck. Never been so angry and frustrated in 20 years of gaming with any game.
FIX MATCHMAKING! JUST MAKE IT MORE RANDOM.
It's not fun to play against the same deck all the time.

oh, guess what when i made an anti yorion deck to counter them? Yes i never get matched against it...

I get matched with decks that don't even make sense in the meta or play mode. Like I recently started playing a creature heavy deck from a control deck, and OUT OF NOWHERE I end up matched against Esper/Control decks that are playing MASSIVE amounts of removal. Like so much removal it would make your deck worthless in a normal meta. I played a deck that was ONLY removal and Ugin, not even counters. Literally just 22 removal cards. Why does this exist? WHO is playing such a worthless deck? If I was not playing creatures this deck would be utter trash, but I've been paired against similar decks MULTIPLE times suddenly, when I never saw anything even remotely like that before. Like, the algorithm in this game is SO BAD you can make a deck that is land, removal spells, and Ugin, and win games at diamond rank because it will apparently pair you up with creature heavy decks. Over and over! Over and over I played these decks until I switch back to control and suddenly they drop off the face of the Earth. Christ Wizards. Come on.

This issue is the number one reason I get fed up with arena. I want to try a deck out against more then one type of deck. I have reported this problem before and Wizards does not care to fix it. I will probably be leaving arena soon because of it.

Arena is still a nightmare because of your matchmaking algorithms. I choose a control deck, I get matched with Aggro, I choose a Giants deck I get matched with a Giant deck, I choose a white ****** deck and get matched with a cheap burn deck. Does paper Magic have an algorithm? Why take a good game and ruin it? Doesn't make any sense. I'm out after Forgotten Realms if you guys don't stop fixing matches.

I'd like a reply from someone that details what you think you're accomplishing.