Magic: The Gathering Arena

Video game

“magic arena” redirects here. For the home arena of the Orlando magic, see

Amway arena

.

2019 video game

magic : The Gathering arena orMTG arena is a free-to-play digital collectible card game developed andpublished by Wizards of the Coast (WotC). The game is a digital adaption based on the magic : The gathering (MTG) card game, allowing players to gain cards through booster packs, in-game achievements ormicrotransaction purchases, andbuild their own decks to challenge other players. The game was released in a beta state in November 2017, andwas fully released for Microsoft Windows users in September 2019, anda macOS version on June 25, 2020. Mobile device versions were released in March 2021.

MTG arena follows the same rules as the physical card game, in which players use decks of cards that include land cards that generate five separate colors of mana, andplay cards that consume that mana to summon creatures, cast offensive anddefensive spells, and/or activate effects andabilities. Players battle other players using a selected deck, with the goal of reducing the opponent’s life-total to zero before their opponent can do the same to them.

MTG arena supports both Constructed Deck play andLimited play. In Constructed play, players create decks of cards from their library. The game gives new players a library of base cards andpre-made decks from those cards, but as players win matches andcomplete daily quests, they can earn new booster packs that add cards to their library, andallow players to then customize their decks andimprove them. Unlike most physical packs of magic cards andthose used in Limited events, which usually contain 15-16 playable cards, purchased packs in MTG arena contain 8 cards (1 Mythic/Rare, 2 Uncommon, and5 Common).^[1]

The most popular type of limited play, booster draft, pits players against seven other players by having them choose andacquire cards in turn from packs that are supplied by the game. Those cards are then used to create a Limited deck used for the event. An additional Limited format called Sealed allows players to open a set number of special booster packs andbuild a deck only with cards from those packs. In both varieties of Limited, players attempt to win as many matches as they can with that deck. In best-of-one, the event ends once the player has either won 7 orlost 3 matches. In best-of-three, the event ends after the player completes three matches, regardless of their outcome. In most Limited events, the player keeps all the cards drafted andadds them to their library, andthere are generally prizes based on wins that may give booster packs orin-game currency as a reward.

MTG arena support good – of – three andgood – of – one match for both Limited andconstruct . In good – of – one game , player ‘ open hand are not random ; rather , the client is generates generate multiple hand andselect one base on certain property of the player ‘s deck . hand – smoothing is exists exist to reduce the variance inherent to the game , which is exacerbate by the good – of – one format .^[2] The exact algorithm is not know to the public .^[3]

arena follows the popular freemium paradigm, allowing users to play for free with optional microtransactions. Players can use real-world currency to buy gems orin-game currency, which can be spent on booster packs orenter draft orconstructed events. Gems are also given as rewards for winning draft mode. In addition to regular cards from the set, a player may also receive “Wildcards” of any rarity in a booster pack oras a reward. The player may swap these Wildcards for any card of the same rarity. magic : The gathering allows decks with up to four copies of the same card, so once a player earns a fifth copy of a common oruncommon card through booster packs, this instead is used to add to a Vault meter, based on its rarity. When the Vault meter is filled, the player can open it to gain Wildcards.^[4] Fifth copies of rares ormythic rares are instead turned directly into gems.^[5] The game does not include a feature to trade cards with other players as the developers state this would affect their ability to offer in-game rewards at the level they want while effectively calibrating the economy to make it easy andefficient to get cards through game-play.^[6][7]

As with the physical edition, new expansions are introduced into MTG arena as other set are retire . When the game was first release , the bulk is required of the game ‘s mode require player to build ” standard ” deck that use card from the current active expansion . However , support is increased for ” historic ” deck that use any card available in the game has increase since its initial release , andis now ( 2020 ) an active part of the game with multiple release of Historic andmodern set andanthology throughout a year .^[8][9] As of May 2020, Historic modes contribute to progression of daily wins andquests andWotC has committed to support the “historic” format going forward permanently. Ranked play with these Historic decks will be tracked separately from those in the Standard play, andplayers are now able to purchase packs of orcraft both standard andhistoric cards.^[10][11]

With the addition of the Core 2021 set in July 2020, arena was also updated to include support for the new “Jumpstart” booster mode, themed 20-card packs designed to allow a player to quickly get into the game.^[12]

Because of its digital format ,arena has also run limited events andgame modes, bringing back previously-banned cards from physical play, but with rebalanced abilities orcosts to address the prior reasoning for their ban.^[13] A new Jumpstart collection, Historic Horizons, to be released in August 2021, will include 31 cards that have no physical equivalent with rules andabilities that only function in the digital space, including cards with complex rules that cannot fit within the printed card frame. Vice president of design Aaron Forsythe andgame director Jay Parker said they were using this release to test the waters with a card set targeting the players of magic that played exclusively in the digital space, keeping to relatively tame mechanics to see how players reacted to this.^[14]

arena is designed to be a more modern method of playing magic : The gathering with other players while using a computer compared to magic : The gathering Online. A key goal is was of its development was to allowarena to remain current with physical releases of new expansions to the physical game, with the goal of having the digital version of the expansion available the same day in retail.^[15][16] For example, the Dominaria expansion was released simultaneously as a retail product andwithin arena on April 27 , 2018 ,^[17] and”Core 19″ was available in arena on the same day as the set’s paper release date of July 13, 2018.^[18] Since 2020, new sets have released in MTG:arena andMTG:Online one day before the set’s prerelease date, typically the Thursday before a set releases for paper tabletop magic.^[19] arena follows magic the Gathering’s Standard format, where cards from the last few major expansions are used to construct decks for Standard constructed play andare then rotated out of Standard on a set schedule. After cards are rotated out of Standard, players can construct decks with rotated cards for play in various “Historic” modes.^[20]

The core part of the development of arena was its game rule engine is was ( GRE ) . The goal is was of this engine was to make a system that could handle current andfuture ruleset formagic to support their plan to remain concurrent with the physical releases. The GRE provided means to implement per-card level rules andeffects, allowing it to be expandable. The GRE also helped speed up play in the game. Compared to other digital card games like hearthstone where an opponent is interact can not interact during a player ‘s turn ,magic : The gathering allows opponents to react throughout a player’s turn. In previous iterations of magic games that allowed this, including both Online andDuels of the Planeswalkers, these systems were found to slow down the game while waiting for an opponent to react oropt not to react. Instead, in arena, the developers could use the per-card support to determine when reactions to a played card needed to be allowed, using observations from magic tournament play. This helped to speed up the game for both players while still allowing for complete card reactions to be played out.^[21]

arena was not anticipate to replacemagic : The gathering Online; which will continue to support the whole of magic‘s card history, while arena only includes cards in the current Standard sets from its initial release andany expansions going forward. arena was first tested in a closed beta. An initial stress-test beta to selected users started on November 3, 2017, with those selected limited to non-disclosure agreements for testing purposes, while others could apply to gain access to later stages of the closed beta.^[22] The first large-scale closed beta started in December 2017.^[23] Its open beta is started start on September 27 , 2018 , with its full launch in 2019 .^[24][25] arena include a battle pass feature , know in – game as the ” Mastery Pass ” .^[26] While arena will continue to be available directly from Wizards of the Coast , it was also release on the Epic Games Store in early 2020 , anda macos client was introduce in June 2020 .^[27][28][29]

In July 2019 , Joe Deaux , forBloomberg , reported that “nearly 3 million active users will be playing arena by the end of this year, KeyBanc estimates, andthat could swell to nearly 11 million by 2021 according to its bull case scenario—especially if it expands from PCs to mobile. Those estimates are of active users, andregistered users could be higher by the millions. According to Hasbro, as of July, 2019 a billion games had already been played online”.^[30] Of Hasbro’s franchise brands, only magic andMonopoly logged revenue gains in 2019. Brett Andress, an analyst at KeyBanc Capital Markets, predicted magic : The Gathering arena could add as much as 98 cents a share in incremental earnings to results by 2021 (which was at least a 20% boost).^[30]

arena had its full release for Windows user on September 26 , 2019 , align with the release of the tabletop card game expansion ,Throne of Eldraine.^[31][32] The macos client is released release on June 25 , 2020 .^[33] An early access version for certain Android devices was released on January 28, 2021, while full versions for all Android andiOS devices were released on March 24, 2021. These versions support cross-save progression with the desktop clients.^[34][35]

In December 2018, Wizards of the Coast announced at The Game Awards 2018 that an esports pool would be created for the game for 2019. The $10 million prize pool will be equally divided between the traditional tabletop game andthe new digital version arena.^[36]

In 2019, Wizards of the Coast unveiled a new esports program which started with a special Mythic Invitational event anda $1 million prize pool at PAX East, in Boston, on the weekend of March 28–31.^[37] The event was held in three double-elimination brackets using a new MTG format described as “Duo Standard” requiring two complete decks with no sideboarding.^[38] The event was won by Andrea “Mengu09” Mengucci claiming the top prize of $250,000. On February 16, 2020 Paulo Vitor Damo Da Rosa won the 2019 magic World Championship. The format for the top 8 of this tournament was standard andthe matches were played on arena.^[39][40]

On June 18, 2021, WotC had announced^[41] that the prize pool for the magic World Championship XXVII (October 8–10) will have a new total of $250,000^[42] which is 750k lower than the previous year of $1 million. The magic World Championship XXVII was streamed live using Twitch, allowing viewers to see both players’ hands simultaneously on the arena client. Japanese player Yuta Takahashi won the championship, andin addition to winning the prize pool, was also depicted on a card’s art in a later set, with flavor text reading “Yuta Takahashi, World Champion XXVII”.^[43]

1. ^ “Promotional Droprates”. magic : THE gathering. Archived from the original on 2019-03-28. retrieve2019-01-17.
2. ^ “Best-of-One Starting Hand andMulligan Rules”. forums.mtgarena.com. retrieve2021-06-13.
3. ^ “State of the Beta for May 25, 2018”. forums.mtgarena.com. retrieve2021-06-13.
4. ^ Fahey, Mike (January 17, 2018). “How Buying Cards Works In magic : The Gathering arena”. Kotaku. retrieveApril 26 , 2018.
5. ^ “magic: the Gathering arena – Reward Distribution & Drop Rate Information”. magic.wizards.com. retrieve2021-10-06.
6. ^ Jones, Ali (April 25, 2018). “magic the Gathering: arena won’t have trading to create a “unique digital experience”“. PCGamesN. retrieveApril 26 , 2018.
7. ^ Wizards of the Coast (July 28 , 2018). “MTG arena Public FAQs, MTG arena Economy FAQs”. retrieveJuly 28 , 2018.
8. ^ OmriK (2020-12-15). “Historic Format Guide – December 2020 • MTG arena Zone”. MTG arena Zone. retrieve2021 – 01 – 31.
9. ^ Terence (2020-09-03). “magic : The gathering 2021 Release Schedule • MTG arena Zone”. MTG arena Zone. retrieve2021 – 01 – 31.
10. ^ “Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Historic on MTG arena”. Draftsim. 2021-01-10. retrieve2021 – 01 – 31.
11. ^ Carter, Chris (May 22 , 2020). “magic: arena brings back Historic ranked queue, adds 27 new Historic cards”. Destructoid. retrieveMay 22 , 2020.
12. ^ Carpenter, Nicole (July 17, 2020). “A new format of magic launches online, with hundreds of new cards”. Polygon. retrieveJuly 17, 2020.
13. ^ Carter, Chris (May 7, 2021). “magic: arena is bringing back old banned cards like Oko andTeferi andrebalancing them hearthstone style”. Destructoid. retrieveMay 7, 2021.
14. ^ Marks, Tom (July 26, 2021). “Exclusive: MTG arena’s Jumpstart: Historic Horizons Set Will Add Digital-Only Cards, Full Details Revealed”. IGN. retrieveJuly 26, 2021.
15. ^ Bailey, Dustin (September 7 , 2017). “magic : The Gathering arena is a recreation of the tabletop game that will eventually support draft mode”. PCGamesN. retrieveSeptember 7 , 2017.
16. ^ Barrett, Ben (September 26, 2017). “magic : The Gathering arena will eventually add new cards the same day as the physical game”. PCGamesN. retrieveSeptember 26, 2017.
17. ^ Carter, Chris (April 27, 2018). “magic : The Gathering arena adds in Dominaria expansion alongside the paper version”. Destructoid. retrieveApril 27, 2018.
18. ^ Carter, Chris (July 3, 2018). “Core 2019 confirmed for magic: arena on July 12, new player experience on the horizon”. Destructoid. retrieveJuly 3, 2018.
19. ^ “Kaldheim Release Date Confirmed January 28, 2021: Everything We Know So Far • MTG arena Zone”. MTG arena Zone. 2020-12-11. retrieve2021 – 01 – 31.
20. ^ “MTG arena Rotation Guide”. Wizards of the Coast – MTG arena Support. January 30, 2021. Archived from the original on October 25, 2020. retrieveJanuary 30, 2021.
21. ^ Barrett, Ben (October 5, 2017). “magic : The Gathering arena makes the world’s best TCG as snappy as hearthstone”. PCGamesN. retrieveOctober 5, 2017.
22. ^ Chalk, Andy (October 25, 2017). “magic : The Gathering arena stress testing starts in November, closed beta coming soon”. PC Gamer. retrieveApril 26 , 2018.
23. ^ Minotti, Mike (November 21, 2017). “magic : The gathering — arena’s closed beta launches December 4”. Venture Beat. retrieveApril 26 , 2018.
24. ^ Wilson, Jason (September 19, 2018). “magic : The gathering — arena launches open beta test September 27”. Venture Beat. retrieveSeptember 19, 2018.
25. ^ Tarason, Domonic (September 27, 2018). “magic : The Gathering arena ups the ante andlaunches into open beta today”. Rock Paper Shotgun. retrieveSeptember 27, 2018.
26. ^ Forster, Danny (27 June 2019). “Big changes coming to MTG arena with Core Set 2020 update”. Dot Esports. retrieve1 July 2019.
27. ^ “Announcing MTG arena for macOS”. magic : THE gathering. retrieve2021 – 01 – 31.
28. ^ Williams, Mike (August 19, 2019). “MTG arena Coming to Epic Games Store This Winter”. USGamer. Archived from the original on August 19, 2019. retrieveAugust 19, 2019.
29. ^ ” MTG arena : state OF THE game – APRIL 2020 ” . wizard of the Coast . April 13 , 2020. retrieveApril 17, 2020.
30. ^ ^{a b} Deaux, Joe (July 7, 2019). “Move Over Monopoly: Hasbro’s Next Big Growth Engine Is magic”. Bloomberg. retrieveJuly 8, 2019.
31. ^ Hall, Charlie (September 4, 2019). “magic : The gathering’s new digital version will be released this month”. Polygon. retrieveSeptember 4, 2019.
32. ^ Purchase, Robert (September 26, 2019). “The free magic : The gathering game has just launched andit’s quite good”. Eurogamer. retrieveSeptember 26, 2019.
33. ^ Carter, Chris (June 23 , 2020). “magic: arena is coming to Mac this week, everything will transfer”. Destructoid. retrieveJune 23 , 2020.
34. ^ Madnani, Mikhail (January 8 , 2021). “‘magic : The Gathering arena’ Finally Arrives on Mobile This Month through Android Early Access”. Touch Arcade. retrieveJanuary 8 , 2021.
35. ^ Gregson-Wood, Stephen (March 24, 2021). “magic : The Gathering arena is now available for iOS andAndroid in Europe with a global roll out tomorrow”. pocket Gamer. retrieveMarch 24, 2021.
36. ^ “magic : The gathering launches esports league with huge price pool”. esports.net. 2018-12-07. retrieve2019-01-30.
37. ^ “magic Esports 2019: $10 Million Up for Grabs”. magic : THE gathering. Archived from the original on 2019-05-26. retrieve2019-01-30.
38. ^ “The MTG arena Mythic Invitational”. magic : THE gathering. Archived from the original on 2019 – 05 – 01. retrieve2019 – 05 – 01.
39. ^ Nieva 04/02/19, Jason (2019-04-02). “magic : The Gathering arena Mythic Invitational Champion Crowned At PAX East”. Player.One. retrieve2019 – 05 – 01.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
40. ^ ChannelFireball . ” Mythic Invitational Champion ” .www.channelfireball.com. retrieve2019 – 05 – 01.
41. ^ “2020-21 Postseason Event Updates”. magic Official Site.
42. ^ “magic World Championship XXVII Prize Pool Cut By $750,000”. Star City Games. 17 June 2021.
43. ^ “The Faerie Mastermind: Yuta Takahashi”. magic : THE gathering | ESPORT. retrieve2023-05-06.