Come on, it is past time to fix this error. I'm not paying a penny until it's resolved.

Everytime I try direct challenge I get waiting for server then can't load deck. Would really like to play with friends!

I've had this issue for MONTHS, which has worsened since the Ixalan update. It's infuriating that my partner and I spent money on this set, and we can't even enjoy it together. My partner works in QA so we've done extensive troubleshooting on our ends. We will not be spending any more money on Arena, that's for sure. Seriously feels like we got ripped off, especially since this critical issue isn't even a priority to WOTC.

Same here. Went to play some historic brawl challenge matches yesterday and nearly all of our decks were invalid for no reason.

I can't play with any of my friends any more. Either one of us will have the "unable to submit deck" every time.

When I try to queue into a direct match with a friend (AKA my wife) it will attempt for 20-30 seconds to connect to the server, after which it will fail and say “Network Error - Could not submit deck, please try again later.” This happens with multiple decks, both old and brand new, at various times of the day, and whether we are connected to Wi-Fi or using data. The expected result, obviously, is to be connected to each other so that we can play, like we’ve done easily 200+ times in the past. We both play primarily on iPhone, which is where we’ve noticed the issue.

Same issue, got worse after Ixalan update which was supposed to improve this.

This issue started for me about a month ago, same time as the original post. Since then I haven't been able to play against my partner. Any direct match has the issue where it seems to start for one of us (we go into the waiting room) but the other person gets the spinning wheel and "waiting on server" until it times out. We have tried many, many times over the past month and this happens every time. It doesn't matter which one of us initiates the direct challenge or which device we play on (we have tried on android, iphone, mac, and windows, and every combination of pairing between those). Direct matches are the only reason they have an account and spend any money on it. It's been incredibly frustrating that we bought cards but haven't been able to use them against each other for the past two sets (WOE and LCI). Wizards, you need to fix this ASAP, it is a major functionality of your game that people spend money on that is just completely broken. Unacceptable.

What's the point of a card game if you can't play against your friends? I only play to play with friends and if I can't I wont be spending money on it.
Wizards, stop ignoring this 2 year old issue! WE WANT TO PLAY! FIX YOUR GAME!

same problem here and no response from WOTC? oh man this is so sad :(

we are three friends who just came together to play versus each other and it doesnt work :-( pls fix it soon

Hopefully it gets resolved soon!

Can’t load direct challenges at all!!!
Come on guys, maintain your product!

Can’t load direct challenges at all. Which is the main way I usually play on arena. Very frustrating.

Can't choose most of my decks and network error when choosing any that are left to choose. On android.

Same here, not working after choosing Direct Play, selecting deck, and clicking Play. Spins with "Waiting for Server" until eventually saying "unable to submit deck". Started after latest set update. Has been happening consistently now... can't get a direct play match to work. Please fix. Seems like SRE needs better indicators of system uptime given the status page says "no issues reported".

On Windows 11 playing via Steam. Tried to verify file integrity, restart game, restart PC, change DNS servers... nothing makes it work.

Same here.

This HAS to be fixed. 99% of the reason I play MTG is to play with my friends. My experience is that the issue happens when I try to submit a deck. The game spins for awhile, tells me "deck could not be submitted, please try again later" and then network errors out on me. This can't be a local thing because it happens on all my platforms regardless of how I try to internet.

Fix. It.

I intend to stop playing MTGA and magic entirely if this is not fixed ASAP.

My wife and I cannot challenge each other either thru the friends list or Direct challenge anymore. This all started after the lost caverns of Ixalan update.