wiw niceeee

Doesn't help the game is rigged. **** magic arena. It's worthless and WotC are a trash company peddling garbage.

This game is rigged. This game is dogshit. This game is worse than cancer.

Agreed, game is garbage. Only benefit is all the employees who will be replaced with AI and lose their jobs. But we won't see a difference in quality either way because quality is non existent anymore.

This game has officially priced me out. A car payment for a box now. Way to go WOtC and Hasbro. You have officially ruined Magic for people like me who used to play.

I think all of us Alpha/Beta/Revised players are in the same boat. While some would argue that multiple iterations of the game attract new players, we all know what WOTC/Hasbro are doing...

I also share the same sentiment and wrote a message describing some of my issues with hand smoothing, hidden MMR results, shuffler rigging, and bo1 inconsistencies - along with a free ways to cost-effectively mitigate them. A WOTC rep that responded then told me: " I can guarantee that everything is working as intended.", which means everything is working out for the investors bracket as intended. That's so great. Video games are a known distraction and these investors would rather watch you tick moments of your life away versus invest in the paper version, make some irl friends, and laude the inventors of MTG as the mystical beings that they were.

Instead, we're left with an absolutely toothless version that leaves a sour taste.

There are some white knights that will come out of the woodwork to defend this title because it emphasizes a small part of their nerdiness and becomes part of their identity. If you say anything about either, you will be chastised.

In any case, you have ultimately made the right decision in moving away from arena, but there is always an LGS where you can make real friends, play janky decks, proxies, and create your own control values for maximum fun.

Company and product are the same. Absolute garbage. I hope wizards goes under and all the people working their lose their jobs. Absolute bs product.

I was going to make a post about my horrendous go first ratio; my consistent "I start with 2 land and get no more lands" or "i start with 4 lands and get nothing but lands" draws/mulligans; my consistent "you've won 2 games in a row that took you 7-10 turns to win, get ready to lose 4-5 in a row on turn 3". I'm used to standard being a fast format, which is fine, but it's good to know that WOTC has been doing the same nonsense since they started arena (issues with forcing you to go second if you have a winning ratio with a deck; flooding or starving you of land based on an algorithm, and not a percentage chance based on what is actually in your deck; swarming you with people whose decks are obviously over your level when you break into a new rank) and have done nothing to combat what their community generally views as B.S. Just happy to see I'm not the only one noticing it, nor the only one that is affected. o7 to all the comments below mine.

It’s a shame that the game and company I once knew and loved is a frail shell of its former self. I used to be ecstatic about new sets coming out, since it was limited to 4 per rotation. We had time to playtest ideas at FNM and speculate metas. Now a new set comes out seemingly every other month. It used to be that if I didn’t have the cash for premium Type 2/Standard power, I could rummage up a pile of Wild Mongrels, Roar of the Wurm and Aquamoebas and compete. This is no longer the case, since it appears you now require high dollar cards to win and the strategy has shifted to “whoever draws them first, wins.” It used to be that I was excited to travel and attend Grand Prix events and Premier events with my friends. We’d pitch in for hotels and attend if possible, or watch all our favorite Professionals play feature matches online. This is clearly impossible now since you’ve completely eliminated the Professional and Premier circuits. It used to be that the game rewarded those that spent the time to practice and playtest. It used to be exciting thinking of clever deck names like Soggy Pickles, Death and Taxes, The Rock, Sligh, Maverick, Fish, Turboland, Caw-Blade, and Eminent Domain. It used to be that the game rewarded a players understanding of timing and priority. It used to be that the game took a lifetime to master, but was enjoyable to all. It used to be that the game was more than a game, but a force that built community. It used to be a game that was my entire life, spanning from my formative years well into adulthood. The game used to be fun. The game used to matter. And it felt like out of all the commercialized garbage corporations out there, that Wizards cared AT LEAST AN IOTA about our subset culture. The culture that made them what they are now. I gave my best efforts to give the benefit of the doubt to the company and game I once knew and loved. But what’s there to recognize? It’s all gone. You’ve done everything you could to dismantle and modify practices and the game itself to the point that it’s completely unrecognizable. It used to be that Wizards was completely distinguishable game company from all other gaming companies. Now you’re just another Activision/Blizzard, and Magic is just a tabletop version of Hearthstone, or more accurately, a slightly more complicated Guess Who. I’ll always cherish the memories, but I don’t know who you are anymore. Oh well. Everything has to end at some point.

I'm not here to vote for what ever BS they think is the problem. But mostly wanted to just say my peace. First off this game tuly changed my life for the better I've made so many wonderful friends. I've played so many hours of this game, spending the time to learn the ins and outs off all of the mechanics, learn the odd ball interactions. Spent hours brewing new decks for friends and to beat friends. But in the past couple years I've grown to not care about any of that stuff and it's breaking my heart. The way the game is being treated is so tragic. Taking away draft packs, designing around commander players constantly, Price hikes just to have price hikes, Products, upon products, upon products. I could just care less if a new set going to come out. I'm tired so very tired. Might just be time to shelf the cards.

I don't even care about meta. What I care about is if you play for "free" (paid with your time) whether you use Gems or Gold, you are 100% guaranteed to go 0/7 or 2/7 max in any limited format, as you'll be "totally randomly" drawing 7 land hands, or 0 land hands anytime in limited to ensure the paid "clients" you are "totally randomly" matched against get their win.

Pay for gems with real cash? Suddenly you're a 7/7 win rate wiz for the 2* games you bought gems for.... and then back to 0/7 as soon as paid-flagged gems run out.

Wizards doesn't even deny it, put in a ticket highlighting it and they'll "admit no wrong doing" and refund you in gems.

You'd think they would understand that the whole point of MTG is that its slightly random mostly skill based game, where having 0 interaction games is rare.

I am having the same issues with this. And now it's to the point where I don't want to play arena at all; or support Wizards of the Coast for that matter. It seems as though they have it like this so in order to get our quest done we have to play way more games then we need to. Also a big issue with me as well is I am see the exact same patteren with match making as KevSJ#82331. and now I am very up set to see that Wizards will allow this to take place in their game.

I don't have the same problem as most here, but I do have a different issue. My win percentage is consistently around 30%, no matter what deck I use. It doesn't matter if it's a starter deck with minimal modifications or a finely-tuned deck with expensive cards.
I've noticed some very unusual patterns with my matchings and draws. For example, I see a lot of Black/Red decks with heavy removal, so I'll modify my deck to include protection. But then, I'm either paired against a Blue/White control deck or I never draw my protection spells when facing Black/Red.
When I adjust my deck to counter control strategies, I never seem to draw those anti-control cards when needed. Or, I don't draw the right lands. It feels like I'm always chasing the meta but never hitting it right.
I watch a lot of gameplay by professionals on YouTube, and while I'm not a pro, I've recreated some of their successful decks. However, I never get the same match-ups or card draws they do. When they play those decks, they go 8-0 or 7-1 , I can barely manage a 1-7.
There have been a few times when I've gone on a winning streak, like 7-1, and it's always right after I've made a purchase. I'll have a couple of hours of decent wins, but after a day or two, I'm back to where I started.
I have a natural distrust for video game producers that control the algorithms. With the gameplay I'm experiencing, it feels like the draws and matchings are being manipulated so I'm enticed to always pay for new cards. I like to work with a single deck strategy for a long time, fine-tuning it and seeing it pay off with some fun play. I'm not trying to be super competitive with the best possible win ratio. I just want to have some fun and challenging games. But with this play I'm always experiencing, it is often a blow-out, most often against me. Even when I'm on a winning streak, it doesn't feel right. It doesn't feel challenging. There are very few games that could go either way right up until the end.
I've noticed something else kind of strange when it comes to my starting hand draws. I sometimes play against the AI, Sparky. Yes, it is awful and not comparable to real players. When I play against the AI, I will often play for a couple hours, just clicking away while watching a movie. It's just a little distraction. But I've gotten a lot of games in against it. I've noticed that my opening hand draws are consistently better when playing against it. Very rarely do I have to mulligan. I frequently get the right mix of lands and spells. It doesn't feel right. It isn't the same types of draws I get when playing other players. I'm consistently on curve against Sparky, but very rarely against human opponents.
The differences in gameplay I'm seeing in pro/sponsored players on YouTube/Twitch and playing against the AI from what I'm experiencing against human opponents all seem very suspicious. I would be happy to put more money into the game if I didn't feel like I was being manipulated to do so.

Unfortunately blue gets all the cheap card draw, all the cheap counterspells, and all the cheap big un-targetable creatures, Wite and black have 2 card combos, but lose to control, Wizards just killed magic unless you enjoy playing blue and saying no or your deck pumps out 2-3 creatures per turn, all other deck types are dead in constructive.

Oh my gosh! I was seriously afraid I was alone in feeling this way. I've been playing since the Dark, and have always considered MTG to be the greatest game ever produced.
Now, after 30 years, you've managed to finally kill the joy I once found here. I hope that WOTC can seriously analyze what made the game successful in it's first decade and bring back the spark (pun intended). Otherwise, I'll never purchase another card of this sludge.

This has only gotten worse. Black and White colored decks either need severely nerfing, or people need to be more original. I’d say the top 25 - 50 decks that are used in worlds should be banned in all formats each season to premote more original deck creation/strategy. I’m sick and tired of facing so many unoriginal decks. If it doesn’t get adjusted then the random battle generator needs fixed, and why not put it so the 15 win reward can be done against the Ai or change the reward entirely.

This game is a stagnant bore fest. Fkn hate these same 3-4 decks. Life gain, shrines, tribal boreing bs i hate wotc.

constant 25 minute games against boring control board wipe. think I fell asleep during a game today

agreed currently the latest xpac is the All will be one, phrexia. And all i'm facing in a span of three days is: red/black token sac, blue/black toxin control, mono green toxin, mono white toxin. Trying to win my daily 15 games has become a chore and introduce more stress for me. This is probably the last time i'm actually going to pay for the pre-order but arena isn't worth it anymore

100% agree with this. i am new to magic and thought i would play this to try and learn it, so i could replicate it hopefully in irl. so many of my matches are paired with people with tons of instant kill cards or cards like borrowed time, its not fun placing cards and instantly removing them or having them locked. ive noticed no one really builds unique decks. anytime i ask for help i met with answers like "just look up a deck and copy it". i also feel like arena shuffler is rigged or has a really bad shuffling algorithm, lots of matches i lose right out the gate. i either get land flooded with no creature or vice versa. i have put 4x or 2x of multiple creatures just to never see them in my hand or i wont get the lands to play them. lastly i hate the roping system, I don't mind some one taking the time to think of a strategy, but i have been in so many matches where someone makes a decision right at the last second before it forced to me. i don't know if its lag or trolling at this point, but all i know is I don't see how people take the time to drive to events to deal with some of these lame mechanics.