Explorer Anthologies
Explorer Anthologies should mostly contain Pioneer playable cards. An inspirational list is attached:
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Staroson#58054
commented
A moneygrab of trickling Pioneer staples out over countless anthologies only works if people are buying. I for one will be avoiding these anthologies (just like I have the last 2) like the plague they are. Please, if you're going to say you're working on getting toward playable Pioneer then give us playable staples and not this bulk that no one wants outside Historic Brawl. Or at least temper our expectations and roll back your original statement and say you're not actually working on Pioneer in the near future.
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JackalMain#65119
commented
This for me, same as many other people, is making me lose interest in Arena. I want to play Pioneer on Arena, but when the company insists on adding nonsense cards nobody asked for and missing so many obvious inclusions, nobody is going to buy this.
Give your customers what they are asking for, and they will buy it. I don't know how this is a difficult concept to understand.
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anakinsdad#01349
commented
I want to play Pioneer on Arena, so I can figure out what decks to build in paper, so I can give my LGS and WOTC more money. This anthology leaves a bitter taste in my mouth, and is actively disincentivizing me from playing Pioneer.
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Josh_Dunville#04746
commented
Is the person who came up with this list of cards ignorant of the Pioneer meta? Whatever happened to "our priority on card implementation will be driven by what we see in the Pioneer Constructed meta"?
We got 10 cards that see little to no Pioneer play (Canopy Vista, Cinder Glade, Smoldering Marsh, Sunken Hollow, Orzhov, Charm, Accorder's Shield, Obzedat, Ghost Council and Omnath, Locus of Rage). These could have been left for later anthologies or remastered sets.
Thespian's Stage, Sylvan Scrying and Prairie Stream are the only worthwhile cards. Creativity has been off Xenagos Wurm for a while now. The other 10 are fringe cards that should have been replaced by cards that see a lot more play.
How did you not include Oath of Nissa, Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth, Chained to the Rocks, Hidden Strings, Dreadbore, Reckless Bushwhacker, Bring to Light, Treasure Cruise, Dig Through Time, Dark Petition, Radiant Flames, The Chain Veil, Sylvan Caryatid, Kytheon, Hero of Akros, Voyaging Satyr, Dragonlord Dromoka, Tasigur, the Golden Fang, Stubborn Denial, Retraction Helix, and/or Silence? These are cards that are played more than all the cards in this Anthology besides Thespian's Stage, Sylvan Scrying and Prairie Stream.
Please fast track Explorer Anthology 4 with highly played Pioneer cards. Please stop trickling out a few staples with the majority of the cards in these Anthologies being unplayable garbage. Actually do what you intended. Talk is cheap and so is this Anthology
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Negativeskew#81119
commented
Very misguided from what the community wants with supporting Pioneer. Maybe card inclusion for the next Anthology should be driven by community voting/request.
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Zeulberg#79181
commented
This anthology was extremely underwhelming and it just shows to us that bringing Pioneer to Arena to cultivate the competitive Magic community is not something WOTC is interested in. This looks like a cash grab of 4 playable cards and more absolutely random inclusions. At the very least we deserve an article explaining every inclusion.
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Meroving#20417
commented
I won't be purchasing the anthology. Pls, make EA4 better
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oldemodave#98049
commented
Shadow of a doubt this was a big swing and the miss and the bat landed in the second tier behind home plate. Even if delve is too hard to program, where is reckless bushwhacker/glavecover scout?? These plus others are just standard cards using already existing mechanics
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MasterNeo#16728
commented
Seems like a case of trying to please everyone and winding up not pleasing anyone. While there's probably no chance of increasing how often we get anthologies, or the power level at the choices, at least if there's a theme or an understanding of powerlevel it would help. Simply put if you're gonna drop jank in, make it quantity over quality. This thought of Accorder's Shield REPLACING a better pick is this idea that they are limited, but if for example you dropped a 50 card anthology including a bunch of Janky fun cards that casual players enjoy, and would fit well in cube you could include messaging that the theme is "Jank decks" or "We are focusing on this anthology to try to add diversity to the explorer metagame at the more casual levels. Many of these cards will not impact the higher level meta but will hopefully bolster some of the less powerful decks". When there was no expectation set players took it upon themselves to set the expectation based on the frequency of releases.
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Tswizzle#92783
commented
This anthology is missing many cards. Why state the intention to bring pioneer to mtga without following through?
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dandalicious#55933
commented
Please add cards that are actually seeing play in pioneer, instead of a random assortment of garbage. This anthology has made me want to stop playing arena altogether
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totodile98#50592
commented
The objective of Pioneer in MTGA was clearly set and gven by WOTC. There have been no real actions towards this goal.
And it's unacceptable to keep waiting for something that will not happen. -
Noraa#23335
commented
Explorer Anthologies should have the singular goal of achieving the full pioneer experience on Arena. Until this is done there should not be cards that are unplayable in pioneer in these anthologies. Nobody wants explorer to be its own unique format; Explorer players just want Pioneer and we’re currently being forced to settle for less.
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Sixskins#87808
commented
Releasing all the cards for Lotus Field Combo except for Hidden Strings is extremely frustrating to players such as myself who were hoping to finally be able to play the deck on Arena. I will most definitely not be purchasing this product as a result.
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Griff#79464
commented
Extremely disappointed in this anthology. Arena is the primary way I play and was really looking forward to an anthology. This does not move the needle at all towards opening new decks for me. Will not be buying or supporting this product.
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otoninho#32502
commented
I still don't understand wizards aversion to digital products. We are in the year 2023, stay connected with your audience. How can you say you want to bring pioneer to the client with this kind of anthologies? At least you could explain these design decisions or implement a roadmap. Cheers
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AlephNull#05058
commented
At this rate we will never get to the actual Pioneer meta game, which should be the goal in my opinion. Please consider adding cards that are actually played.
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cursecatcher#69601
commented
The cards in this anthology add almost nothing Pioneer-relevant to the format. I’ve lost so much interest in Arena lately, and this is a huge contributing factor. Please get it together, WOTC. We want to play pioneer on Arena and you’re doing nothing to make that happen.
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jnikolas92#34418
commented
I understand that the dev budget allocated towards the Anthology series is limited and is low on the priority ladder. I want to make it clear that this is not an issue to me, this is just how f2p games operate. However, the lack of communication and context behind the cards selected for these series has led to a frustrating level of tension with players who have been excited for Explorer's eventual merge to Pioneer. Releasing cards meant for other formats under the "Explorer" umbrella without any context as to why they are there and what Pioneer players can look forward to has extinguished my time waiting for that future. The quality of EA4 is so poor and confusing in the eyes of a player who wants to engage with the title format that I am no longer confident in the teams goal of building towards Pioneer. It's become clear over the last while that unfortunately, making Arena a viable platform to play Pioneer for competitive prep is not a product goal, and waiting to catch up is not sustainable or worth my energy and attention.
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Neon Markov#25606
commented
My main way of engaging with Magic Arena is Explorer, and lately I have been feeling discouraged from playing altogether. My favorite deck (Izzet Phoenix) is missing some critical cards in the blue Delve spells, and the staleness of the current meta makes me not want to play Explorer as much as I used to. I have been loking into other TCGs, but, if Pioneer was realized on Magic Arena, I would be much more interested in both digital play and potentially buying my Pioneer decks in paper.