Magic: The Gathering Arena

 PC
User Score
2.9

Generally unfavorable reviews- based on 209 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 45 out of 209
  2. Mixed: 17 out of 209
  3. Negative: 147 out of 209

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  1. PeakZach
    Feb 11, 2020
    10
    Coming from MTG Online, this is an insane experience that is legitimately free. There are of course in-game purchase options, but the need is minimal and will not take away from any fun you'd otherwise have playing this great game. Grinding is always an option in place of real money spending, and the play is clean, crisp, and well thought out. Excellent emergence out of beta.
  2. supremememe
    Apr 4, 2021
    10
    Really confused by the bad reviews. Cheaper than 'paper' magic and MTGO by a large margin, and possible to play free if you know what colors/strategies you like to play and don't care about set completion. Or, if you're really good, you can really rack up free sh*t in draft formats (I'm not, but have had some hot streaks).

    Complaints about shuffler are complete eye rolls from me.    Really confused by the bad reviews. Cheaper than 'paper' magic and MTGO by a large margin, and possible to play free if you know what colors/strategies you like to play and don't care about set completion. Or, if you're really good, you can really rack up free sh*t in draft formats (I'm not, but have had some hot streaks).

    Complaints about shuffler are complete eye rolls from me. Sometimes you get mana screwed or flooded. Happens in paper all the time too. Just the nature of the game: there is a reason 'Opt' is consistently one of the best 1 mana spells in Magic (scry/draw). Go play hearthstone lol.

    Plenty of free packs and wildcards, easy to play a draft a week if you save your gold, and if you win you can keep going. Might be rough starting out, but as standard rotates out old sets you will naturally have many more options (as it's easiest to progress in the newest sets) if you stick with it.

    Overall the game is very responsive. Runs fine on my 6 year old 'gaming' desktop and fine on my i5 laptop with onboard video (obviously graphics turned to low, but no problem reading cards or even deck building.) Some card interactions and turn phases/priority checks are a little tedious in the client vs paper, but overall many things like shuffles being automated make for a much faster gameplay experience (tokens, +1/+1 counters, anthems etc). Queue times are extremely short for ranked until you hit mythic.

    Biggest complaint would be the sheer amount of net decking present but that is a problem that affects paper in 'current year'. Usually have no problem in ranked if you put together competitive 'jank' that is thoughtful of the current meta decks. Worth a try and brawl can be very fun if you get sick of standard. 'Best of 3' is also an option for some more thoughtful games versus hoping your deck lines up against the current meta with no sideboarding. Historic is shaping up to be an interesting format, but the price to entry is a little high if you're just jumping in now (you will need a lot of wildcards or know EXACTLY what your building for in your decks).

    Overall highly recommended if you like Magic the Gathering as a card game.    … Expand
  3. FidgetyJester
    Jul 8, 2021
    10
    This is a fun free-to play game. I get that there's micro-transection to get cards pretty fast. But crafting makes it easier to get the cards pretty fast so you won't feel forced to just buy, atleast it wasn't for me.

    Plus although I don't like micro-transection all that much I feel like in a card game it's easier to handle for me, cause it's better than buying new sequel to a card game    This is a fun free-to play game. I get that there's micro-transection to get cards pretty fast. But crafting makes it easier to get the cards pretty fast so you won't feel forced to just buy, atleast it wasn't for me.

    Plus although I don't like micro-transection all that much I feel like in a card game it's easier to handle for me, cause it's better than buying new sequel to a card game and start collecting all over again, right? And sure you can get cards in real life instead but keep in mind there are no craft in real life so getting those deck in real life will be expansive plus not everyone has many friends to play with either.

    I saw some of the negative reviews and those are what I think about them. Also let me say I would like this game even more if it didn't had micro toward cards, but I still put it high up cause crafting won't make your hard work feel like a waste for pay to win players cause crafting is easy to begin with, and it's still better than buying new sequels everytime that's not free.

    And maybe I'm just lucky but I didn't found much bugs either. I do have a bit of a control problem whenever it asks me to discard a card but that's for Mobile, PC version is ok.

    That being said those negative reviews are old so maybe it was correct for some of them like the bugs at one point in the past but it certainly isn't like that for me now though. I wouldn't called it 10 but just putting it 10 here to make up for all those past negative atleast a tiny bit.    … Expand
  4. Remmu
    May 24, 2020
    9
    I'm mostly going to address some of the negative reviews. Not to say they are all unjustified, but just to give my point of view.

    To put my experience into perspective, I've been playing Magic since around 2004-2005. I've played Magic Online and all of the different variations of Duels of the Planeswalkers games. I started playing Magic Arena right when it went into open beta in 2018.    I'm mostly going to address some of the negative reviews. Not to say they are all unjustified, but just to give my point of view.

    To put my experience into perspective, I've been playing Magic since around 2004-2005. I've played Magic Online and all of the different variations of Duels of the Planeswalkers games. I started playing Magic Arena right when it went into open beta in 2018. Which means I didn't have the unpleasant experience of having to lose my cards earned during the closed beta period. But one important thing to bring out is that even before they released the closed beta they already told people that they wouldn't be able to keep their cards. You can still find their FAQ and old blog posts about it. They were testing how the economy works during the closed beta and said there would be several wipes in the process. And everyone who used real world money to buy virtual currency called gems always got the gems re-added to their accounts once it was wiped of cards. Sadly the last wipe was the reason for many of the bad user reviews. I do understand it a bit since people were disappointed that they didn't get that much for supporting the game during the closed beta period.

    The mulligan system, which let's you redraw your starting hand of cards if you're not happy with it is by far the best one we have had in a Magic game to date. Not only is the new London system of drawing seven cards again and putting one back for every time you did a mulligan much better than the old one, but the system in this game also has a hidden feature where it actually draws you two possible hands and gives you the hand with the best land to non-land ratio.

    About the disconnections, I can only speak from my own experience. I think I get about one disconnection every 50-100 games and even then I can almost always re-join the match before I am truly disconnected. The only exception of late that I can remember is when I got the disconnection while there was a new update, so I wasn't able to rejoin the game before the update had finished which did frustrate me a bit since it was a ranked game.

    The animations look really good in this game, but I do have performance issues from time to time where the game just hangs from 1-2 seconds, even though I have checked that my CPU and GPU aren't even working 50%. Lowering the graphics settings hasn't helped against this either.

    I'm really hoping formats like free-for-all, two-headed giant, planechase, archenemy ect get added. For me personally playing with more than two people is one of the best parts of Magic.

    Magic Arena all in all is a fantastic game and it has come a long way since it got the meta score of 84. It's got a great tutorial and a good ranking system where you're only paired against people of your own skill level. Don't get disheartened if you lose most of your games. You can still climb ranks even if you lose more often than you don't and by completing daily quests you will get more gold and wildcards to get cards to build better decks. : )    … Expand
  5. DonKnottsGhost
    Nov 12, 2020
    9
    I've been playing Magic Arena on my Mac now for the last 2 months. Sorry to see that many people had a bad experience with it when it launched on PC, but my 10 year old son and are loving it. Truly free to play as I've made zero in-game purchases and we have about 10 good decks we have put together. Of note, some of those decks are from digital codes from our real world decks, but I'veI've been playing Magic Arena on my Mac now for the last 2 months. Sorry to see that many people had a bad experience with it when it launched on PC, but my 10 year old son and are loving it. Truly free to play as I've made zero in-game purchases and we have about 10 good decks we have put together. Of note, some of those decks are from digital codes from our real world decks, but I've always felt this was a nice feature of buying physical cards and then getting to practice the deck digitally against others online in Arena. I didn't even know how to play Magic the Gathering until we got stuck at home with the COVID pandemic. Now I've been able to learn on Arena and with my son and we have ranked up to diamond status online. Really fun to progress. I'm having as much fun playing Magic Arena online for free as I've had with some full price $60 games on our home consoles. It looks like many of the issues from before may have been worked out and there are lots of free cards to play if you use readily available free codes in the Shop.… Expand
  6. marcantoineg
    Feb 2, 2020
    9
    It's a good game. Don't let the negative reviews stop you from getting it. It's free and pretty generous compared to other mainstream card games. Much cheaper than paper magic too and no struggle to find opponents. Perfect for beginners who don't know all the rules. Yes Wizard is greedy with their events and there's still a few bugs. Overall, I played hours of arena and I'd say it'sIt's a good game. Don't let the negative reviews stop you from getting it. It's free and pretty generous compared to other mainstream card games. Much cheaper than paper magic too and no struggle to find opponents. Perfect for beginners who don't know all the rules. Yes Wizard is greedy with their events and there's still a few bugs. Overall, I played hours of arena and I'd say it's everything I want for a digital card game. A few advice to devs : stop rewarding wins only because it repels casuals and make cheaper events with DECENT rewards.… Expand
  7. laertan
    Mar 9, 2020
    9
    Best card game for free (seriously, I play it since the early beta and I didn't spend a cent). Sure, game isn't perfect, land screw/flood can be irritating, as well as constant getting opponents with better decks (even in unranked, which is odd). And when it comes to draft, card pick with real humans instead of bots would certainly make this format better. Still, despite all these flaws, IBest card game for free (seriously, I play it since the early beta and I didn't spend a cent). Sure, game isn't perfect, land screw/flood can be irritating, as well as constant getting opponents with better decks (even in unranked, which is odd). And when it comes to draft, card pick with real humans instead of bots would certainly make this format better. Still, despite all these flaws, I love this game, since it's the only possible way to play mtg without spending ton of money.… Expand
  8. Yaksa_Viguro
    Apr 20, 2020
    9
    The game is really good, but it is necessary to play a lot or pay in order to have the cards you want. I've never paid anything in the game, but with some time I got lots of cards and I could do nice decks. The wildcard system is really good and helps a lot. The graphics and animations are cool, and the sounds/music as well. I really love most of the animations which trigger when someThe game is really good, but it is necessary to play a lot or pay in order to have the cards you want. I've never paid anything in the game, but with some time I got lots of cards and I could do nice decks. The wildcard system is really good and helps a lot. The graphics and animations are cool, and the sounds/music as well. I really love most of the animations which trigger when some legendary cards enter the battlefield.

    However, as I remember, you can't skip the tutorial, which is really awful if you already know the game. Sometimes I get quite distrustful about the autenticity of random things, such as the land draw. There are some things that happen with a really really really low probability, happening quite more times than it should normally.

    There are lots of updates which evidences the effort in making the game enjoyable, with of course some attempts to put the hand in your wallet. In general I think it's really good.    … Expand
  9. Rafarodfer
    Apr 13, 2021
    9
    Estou gostando bastante do jogo, o sistema de batalha é muito bom, quando você começa o jogo ganha várias cartas e decks e pode conseguir mais coisas gratuitamente. Pode duelar contra seus amigos, pessoas desconhecidas e bots. Tem momentos que o jogo te coloca pra enfrentar jogadores com decks melhores ou vem uma sequencias de mãos ruis para você perder e querer gastar no jogo, porem nemEstou gostando bastante do jogo, o sistema de batalha é muito bom, quando você começa o jogo ganha várias cartas e decks e pode conseguir mais coisas gratuitamente. Pode duelar contra seus amigos, pessoas desconhecidas e bots. Tem momentos que o jogo te coloca pra enfrentar jogadores com decks melhores ou vem uma sequencias de mãos ruis para você perder e querer gastar no jogo, porem nem sempre isso acontece e você tem a liberdade de decidir se vai gastar ou não. Um dos melhores jogos gratuitos que já joguem e uma ótima forma de jogar Magic gratuitamente.… Expand
  10. djqualia
    Jan 12, 2021
    9
    I really enjoy MTG Arena. I used to play Hearthstone, and I appreciate the relative depth of Magic vs that (e.g. being able to play during other people's turns, and to bluff). I enjoy that there's always new sets of cards being added, with new mechanics, to keep things fresh. I just wish the mobile version was out already!
  11. morof_r
    Apr 14, 2021
    9
    This game is really amazing, it's all of standard and historic Magic without compromise, including the very exciting drafts. The interface to build decks is very practical, it's easier than with real cards. In my opinion you get enough new cards without having to pay any real money. Also, the animations and sounds are a success.
    The only downsides for me are the boring tutorial and the    This game is really amazing, it's all of standard and historic Magic without compromise, including the very exciting drafts. The interface to build decks is very practical, it's easier than with real cards. In my opinion you get enough new cards without having to pay any real money. Also, the animations and sounds are a success.
    The only downsides for me are the boring tutorial and the fact that it's not very well optimised for macs, I had to do some weird manipulations I found online to get it to fit to my screen, and it sometimes crashes when I quit the game.
    For the people that say that the shuffler is rigged, you should go revise your probabilities. And I didn't experience rigged matchmaking or anything like that.
    In any case, try it, it's free!    … Expand
  12. PizzaWorm
    Feb 14, 2023
    9
    I'm aware the game has problems, but it's one of the most fun ways of playing Magic casually.
  13. Ambre
    Aug 6, 2019
    8
    Great game. A lot of new stuff implementing, many interesting thing to achieve and play, works even on low end pc. I dont understand why so many negative feedback on this site. Maybe it is one person with multyaccounts just angry at great game?
  14. Ethix
    Jul 8, 2019
    8
    The primary complaint this game gets are about it's mechanics. I felt it necessary to sign up on this site just to create my first review to counter the negative reviews.

    Deep user interface, makes me think it's either for the higher IQ's among us, or it's just not that simple to get understand[period]. I have given this game a little effort (without paying) in the last few days...    The primary complaint this game gets are about it's mechanics. I felt it necessary to sign up on this site just to create my first review to counter the negative reviews.

    Deep user interface, makes me think it's either for the higher IQ's among us, or it's just not that simple to get understand[period].

    I have given this game a little effort (without paying) in the last few days... around 2-3 hours or so, per day. That could be 5 games or 15. I am glad I found MTG: Arena. I think it may be a little harder than {certain} other games in the CCG category. So, after all it's got my attention for now, probably because of that, but it might be a little deeper, which may a little more on the part of the user in getting used to. They have as far as I can tell, evened out the Pay-to-Win factors quite a lot with a little significant time put in above just simple participation.    … Expand
  15. BenzoSt
    Jul 12, 2022
    8
    The gameplay of Magic Arena is faster, flashier, and more responsive than the older Magic Online game. But Arena isn’t necessarily better than Magic Online if your true goal is to improve your skill at real (paper) Magic; since Arena rewards players with loot for every game won, players disproportionately play fast, aggressive decks and also tend to concede games at the first moment theirThe gameplay of Magic Arena is faster, flashier, and more responsive than the older Magic Online game. But Arena isn’t necessarily better than Magic Online if your true goal is to improve your skill at real (paper) Magic; since Arena rewards players with loot for every game won, players disproportionately play fast, aggressive decks and also tend to concede games at the first moment their luck takes a turn for the worse. Sometimes custom formats are available, and these opportunities are my favorite way to play because they give me a chance to capitalize on my strong deck building skills.… Expand
  16. AJCk19
    Jun 30, 2023
    7
    tldr; low rating comes from people who don't play paper magic, the game has PLENTY of room for improvement, wizards can sometimes be evil, however the overall experience is still enjoyable as the digital brother of paper magic.

    For once, I consider the Critic Review's rating more accurate, if not only a tad bit high. The user review rating is so low, because most of the gaming crowd,    tldr; low rating comes from people who don't play paper magic, the game has PLENTY of room for improvement, wizards can sometimes be evil, however the overall experience is still enjoyable as the digital brother of paper magic.

    For once, I consider the Critic Review's rating more accurate, if not only a tad bit high. The user review rating is so low, because most of the gaming crowd, haven't step foot in the "arena" with paper magic. Which is a expensive card game of the big 3 TCGs. Not only that, it is the #1 most expensive card game. To make things worse, it is the 1st modern tcg, with all other tcg copying it.

    If anything, magic is not even a teen game because I mostly just see older adults, some young adults, and the rare child or girlfriend, because the older adults brought them along. This is a game where the people have disposable income, and they have been playing since they were a older teen or younger adult.

    With all that being said, you think the digital version of magic was going to be cheap? I think this is the worst criticism of the game, because its' game theory is completely separate from a VIDEO GAME. I wouldn't even call it free to play or fee to pay. Because paper magic is consider a investment, and premium in the collector's market.

    Now onto the actual negatives of the games (which are plenty, but it is still enjoyable as a digital brother of the paper game). 1) is no way to trade your cards with other players or sale on the market for currency (which big mmos already do this, don't see why we can't do that here). 2) needing to fix some game balance issue's with stall decks (Hearthstone Control Warrior is worse). 3) extremely long game timers. 4) no auto deck builder like duels had. 5) organization and search engine needs more options, especially easy of life click options. 6) Not enough sets and formats have been added. 7) Top magic arena players need more representation in the pro scene. 8) needs more cross promotion with the physical card game, like physical packs should include one free scanner for a digital pack.

    9) The biggest one, not enough guarantees they are going to pull the plug on us, like they did Duels. However if they do, I'm going to do more than just complain on Steam. Keep in mind everyone, this is Magic we are talking about, so be warned, this is a expensive game, and it is not a free to play. I wouldn't even call it a fee to pay, because paper magic is not cheap compared to other TCGs. So when you just pull/vanquish someone collection like that, or end support, it isn't cool. Especially with no way to transfer it out or compensation.

    10) Shuffle algorithm is bad, but it is as bad as most digital TCGs, it can never compare to a physical TCGs shuffling.

    11) Report system and tech support, is almost non-existent. Like most of the gaming industry.    … Expand
  17. kodaK
    Dec 8, 2019
    7
    It´s a good game in general. It´s not the best card game on pc, but stills pretty solid. I understand why some people don't like this game, the mechanics are not easy. But if you learn how to play it, you can have some fun.
  18. UrbanEelf
    Apr 20, 2022
    7
    decent game decent game decent game decent game decent game decent game decent game
  19. Grismar
    Nov 17, 2020
    6
    I'm a fan of the CCG and this digital version plays fairly well. But there's far too much wrong with the game to rate it anything over a 6, no matter how much you like Magic the Gathering. Installation and network problems, stalling techniques of trolling players, strategies that cause endless animations, really poor social interfaces, it goes on. WotC's support seems powerless, resignedI'm a fan of the CCG and this digital version plays fairly well. But there's far too much wrong with the game to rate it anything over a 6, no matter how much you like Magic the Gathering. Installation and network problems, stalling techniques of trolling players, strategies that cause endless animations, really poor social interfaces, it goes on. WotC's support seems powerless, resigned to giving users advice to hack the registry to get stuff to work and promising developers are looking at even the most basic complaints about aspects of the game that promote unsportsman-like behaviour, but not moving on them at all for years. The store works perfectly though, it'll never fail to take your money. I'm not saying this game should be 100% free - just pointing out that it's fairly clear what part of this game is important to its owners.… Expand
  20. Pietriej
    Jun 6, 2022
    6
    A really nice MTG experience you can enjoy on your smartphone, but with a bad monetization system.

    + A way to enjoy MTG from home with a much better interface than MTG Online. + Easy to find opponents. + A meaningful progression system - you can actually get booster packs and build decks by playing the game. - Limited number of formats. You can't enjoy fan favorite Commander on    A really nice MTG experience you can enjoy on your smartphone, but with a bad monetization system.

    + A way to enjoy MTG from home with a much better interface than MTG Online.
    + Easy to find opponents.
    + A meaningful progression system - you can actually get booster packs and build decks by playing the game.
    - Limited number of formats. You can't enjoy fan favorite Commander on Arena, and you don't have access to commander cards. Instead, there is Brawl that feels like a crippled version of Commander/EDH.
    - Monetization is bad. Like... REALLY BAD. You can enjoy the game for free or spending very little on it (e.g. welcome pack), but your deckbuilding options will be very limited. Then, if you would like to honor the creators and actually spend some cash your options are really bad - you can spend as much as you would for a triple A game and you won't be able to make a single deck out of it. I'm at a point where I'm missing some critical cards for what I'd like to make, and am willing to spend some cash, but the options I see in shop are outrageous.    … Expand
  21. superpyro296
    Nov 6, 2019
    6
    I think the game is well done overall but I see a serious problem that discourages me to continue play on a regular basis. In fact, almost everyone play with the same decks archetypes. So, if you want to have a chance to win, you need to play with a "net-deck" too. I would like a format where you can play with the preconstructed decks and be able to try more cards. So, I mean the problemI think the game is well done overall but I see a serious problem that discourages me to continue play on a regular basis. In fact, almost everyone play with the same decks archetypes. So, if you want to have a chance to win, you need to play with a "net-deck" too. I would like a format where you can play with the preconstructed decks and be able to try more cards. So, I mean the problem is in the matching process. Also, you will see that if you're in a winning position during a match, a significant amount of players will concede really early, which makes the wins less enjoyable. I think the early concessions should be punished and they should create a format for more janky decks or even preconstructed decks.… Expand
  22. MechaManekiNeko
    Aug 28, 2020
    6
    The gameplay itself can be a little slow, especially if your playing against someone who's not familiar with magic. Other than that the game is fun to play if you enjoy MTG. It needs to be said though, that the game is highly monetized (at fairly high prices too). You will need to invest cash if you want to make a deck with cards of your choosing that can compete in ranked matches (if yourThe gameplay itself can be a little slow, especially if your playing against someone who's not familiar with magic. Other than that the game is fun to play if you enjoy MTG. It needs to be said though, that the game is highly monetized (at fairly high prices too). You will need to invest cash if you want to make a deck with cards of your choosing that can compete in ranked matches (if your new to the game). They also have a draft mode which can be fun but boasts around a 10 dollar entry fee. Basically this game is the reason I wont ever spend money on WotC products again.… Expand
  23. netbattler15
    Mar 6, 2023
    6
    Magic the Gathering is the best card game ever created. I have played the game competitively for more than 10 years. Arena is essentially designed for me. I am not reviewing the current state of MTG formats as they exist outside (and inside) of Arena. Due to letting me play MTG, I start Arena at a 5.

    Arena launched as a barebones implementation of the game. You could play magic,    Magic the Gathering is the best card game ever created. I have played the game competitively for more than 10 years. Arena is essentially designed for me. I am not reviewing the current state of MTG formats as they exist outside (and inside) of Arena. Due to letting me play MTG, I start Arena at a 5.

    Arena launched as a barebones implementation of the game. You could play magic, sure, but not much more than that. Animations are a bit lackluster, match making can be slow at times, I've recently had some visual bugs.

    The economy is greedy. I have to spend about $100 quarterly to mostly (not entirely) keep up with the metagame, and that gives me no ability to sell out when I no longer have use for my cards.

    The feature roll out has been slow and drip fed. Features users have asked for for literal years get deprioritized behind new digital only formats that are incredibly unpopular (and require additional cards at additional cost).

    I can't give this game a 0 or a 1. Magic itself is too good for that. But I will give it a 6. It's worth it to play magic if you can't play in paper, but paper will always be better.    … Expand
  24. davey16
    Nov 15, 2021
    5
    I love the idea. Ive loved MTG for a long time but, the economy on it is horrible. Its no surprise that a game in this era of any kind is doing all its can to focus on profits. I get it. I dont have to like it, though. You can still make money and do things right for the customer but, they all chose not to these days. This is no different. MTG is a great game. This is a great idea. GreedI love the idea. Ive loved MTG for a long time but, the economy on it is horrible. Its no surprise that a game in this era of any kind is doing all its can to focus on profits. I get it. I dont have to like it, though. You can still make money and do things right for the customer but, they all chose not to these days. This is no different. MTG is a great game. This is a great idea. Greed keeps people out even more than the complexity of the game.… Expand
  25. ILikeBosch
    Sep 29, 2022
    4
    It has engaging gameplay loops that keep pulling you back in, but the sad reality is that this is just another game for whales to exploit lowly free-to-play users. If you don't buy cards in this game and construct a godlike deck made of countless rares and mythic rares, you're not getting out of Platinum ranked. You can get a mono aggro deck to Platinum easily, which speaks volumes aboutIt has engaging gameplay loops that keep pulling you back in, but the sad reality is that this is just another game for whales to exploit lowly free-to-play users. If you don't buy cards in this game and construct a godlike deck made of countless rares and mythic rares, you're not getting out of Platinum ranked. You can get a mono aggro deck to Platinum easily, which speaks volumes about the state of matchmaking. If you're playing standard casual, you're getting rocked by master players with cards f2p can't seem to find. Bronze to Gold ranked is almost all the same skill level, it's where free to play players go to grind their wins because they can't go anywhere else. Even if you do get out of platinum and into mythic, you're going to get destroyed by the "rigged" shuffler algorithm. It's not uncommon, and I mean this happens on a daily basis, to somehow draw up to 6 or even 7 lands in a row. I have lost count of how often this happens, and people were complaining about this "bug" as far back as launch many years ago. The fact that it hasn't been "fixed" seems to all but confirm all of the conspiracy theorists' thoughts about how this feature punishes free-to-play players into spending money. The algorithm pits you against players based on deck composition, so you're either getting people with the same deck, or people with the exact deck to counter your cards, and then sometimes it's down to who gets to go first in a game that decides the outcome.

    The economy is awful, often making it simply impossible for casual players to redeem wildcards to craft new decks. Rares and Mythic Rares are locked behind all-to-uncommon wildcards needed to create them, and copies of them once unlocked. This system may have been reasonable when there were only a handful of sets, but there are like 20 sets in MTG Arena now, if you don't specifically play standard, and even then, the handful of standard sets make up thousands of cards. If you're lurking on aetherhub or some other card builder site and you've spotted a popular mono white aggro deck or something that wins 55% of games, you're likely missing anywhere from 10-20 wildcards to make it. I've been playing casually off and on for a few years and I've still not been able to make more than a handful of new, fresh decks from scratch because MTG is so miserly with their rewards. Gold is locked behind dailies and weeklies, so once you've completed them, you can't make any more gold for the rest of the day. This is insane, as it restricts players for...playing the game. Card packs now cost 1300 if you want to guarantee a Mythic Rare in it. They strategically place this pack right next to the regular packs, and then hide Alchemy packs in-between so you could potentially buy an alchemy pack instead of a regular pack if you're not paying attention. The whole thing feels like a scam, and remains predatory toward casual players; this is ironic considering the entire game is marketed toward this demographic. The game is free to play, after all. Casual players don't drop whale fortunes on games.

    The one upside is that this display of shortsighted greed has made me want to explore paper Magic for the first time. If I'm spending money, I'd rather have something tangible with collectible value, and then I know I won't get screwed by statistically impossible land draw dysfunction every 6 games.    … Expand
  26. Azametzin
    May 2, 2021
    4
    I love MTG, and I am the kind of person who will avidly defend even some pretty egregious monetization. Even with all that said, MTG Arena has the worst monetization in any game I've ever played, it makes even Hearthstone look like downright socialist by comparison, and it's just too much even for me.
  27. TheFeanture
    Jan 24, 2021
    4
    Pay-to-win classics game. Still can be enjoyable if play from time to time. But not too often. The more you play more pay-to-winier it gets. back to game after month and you win again) Matchmaking made to force you to pay more if you play more)
  28. Faded0cean
    Sep 6, 2023
    4
    This game sucks. The card balance needs to be fixed. There will be days where I can't win a game. Wizards of the coast needs to be better,.
  29. BoneCub
    Nov 10, 2019
    3
    This is gaming's equivalent to the Homer Simpson makeup shotgun.

    What a way to make me interested in Magic again, if only for 2 days. At least I can't say this game is like MTGO: abandoned in the 2000's by a company swimming in so much money they could hardly care if some dummy in Alabama spends 200 dollars a week playing online drafts. MTG Arena has reached the gaming 2010's ladies and    This is gaming's equivalent to the Homer Simpson makeup shotgun.

    What a way to make me interested in Magic again, if only for 2 days. At least I can't say this game is like MTGO: abandoned in the 2000's by a company swimming in so much money they could hardly care if some dummy in Alabama spends 200 dollars a week playing online drafts. MTG Arena has reached the gaming 2010's ladies and gentleman, C0oL animations, clean UI and a deep, stark hatred for you, the consumer. What is the difference between playing bots and real life players in this game? Right there, on the left corner of the screen (or was it right?), can you see it? It's... a Name. Yeah the player has a name, and he can choose out of 20 avatars! But no friend's lists for you, also you have 5 emotes so there's no point in even trying to befriend someone, you can't even look at their decks when the game is over, it reminds me of baby preschool socialization if the teacher was a Chinese government censor. It's an explosion of "good" graphics to keep you from thinking "what the hell am I even doing here anyway?"

    Leveling up is annoyingly stupid too. You get a quest everyday (750 or 500 xp each), plus weekly quests going up to 2500 xp every week. Roughly you get around 1 level or 2 every day, which translates to a pack a day, or maybe 2 if you spend your gold in packs, but if you do say byebye to draft my dear, that costs 5000 gold, equivalent to almost a whole week worth of gold. After completing the quests, everything you do from now on is pointless. You can play ranked, or for fun, but expect nothing, winning might increase your rank, but even if you do the end-season rewards per rank are so petty you'd imagine this is an indie company gasping at straws to keep their company afloat. And by the rarity and sluggishness that the devs update the game, I'm honestly starting to believe wizards has been faking it's size for decades.

    Don't even TRY to get past gold with a non-competitive deck. Don't.

    Draft is broken, the bots simply don't draft the color blue (yeah, you draft against BOTS). Sealed is extremely expensive to play, and you can only play by paying real money. Most events are just boring or too easy, or they require such a huge initial investment from you that you'll be spending money to have a chance, only so that the rewards for these events be barely worth a nickel, mostly just COSMETICS. (Small note, but the cosmetics are also very underwhelming, it's like a faint breeze is passing through the card's artwork, which means you might notice a piece of cloth moving ever so slightly, but that's it)

    The company has also chosen this weird, senseless event "rotation", were certain game modes will not be available to create an artificial sense of urgency and freshness. It's not only events though, sealed and draft follow this same model too. Wanna play sealed this week? Just who the hell do you think you are?! Some people say it is to give space for new game modes to come around, but there is UNLIMITED SPACE, It's an ONLINE game, you can put as much in it as you want!

    Weak, empty, pointless, borderline insulting, expensive, frivolous, unpolished... Nice UI though.    … Expand
  30. LocketheAuthent
    Jan 24, 2020
    3
    Free to play monetization with crafting elements makes any game ugly, let alone what it does to a card collecting deck building game. Decent presentation and a faithful recreation of the actual game, but just dirty otherwise. Just go get the real cards so you actually have something tangible rather than have this manipulative puff waste your time.
  31. kingasbeck
    Sep 13, 2019
    3
    It's a faithful adaptation of the card game, but it's SERIOUSLY pay to win. I'm a long time player of the card game, but I realized how futile things were when I played my first game with a starter deck and faced off against a player with like 6 legendary cards played in the first match.

    Buying lots of microtransactions is the only reliable way to win. Avoid unless that's your thing.
  32. HurdyGurdy1
    Mar 21, 2020
    3
    Seit der Beta habe ich 500 unnötige Gems die völlig nutzlos sind.
    Ich habe während der Beta Geld ausgegeben um ein bisschen was reissen zu können. Damals habt ihr mir ALLES wieder weggenommen. Dafür erhielt ich Gems. Dafür schon mal ein "Fickt euch"
    Uebrig geblieben sind genau 500 Gems. Wer hätte das gedacht. 3 Packs kosten genau 600. Ihr seid solche Wichser. Nun wollte ich heute mal    Seit der Beta habe ich 500 unnötige Gems die völlig nutzlos sind.
    Ich habe während der Beta Geld ausgegeben um ein bisschen was reissen zu können. Damals habt ihr mir ALLES wieder weggenommen. Dafür erhielt ich Gems. Dafür schon mal ein "Fickt euch"
    Uebrig geblieben sind genau 500 Gems. Wer hätte das gedacht. 3 Packs kosten genau 600. Ihr seid solche Wichser. Nun wollte ich heute mal raus finden ob ich zuerst die Abzocker Gems kaufen muss um an Packs zu kommen. Habe unten links, ganz klein Change Payment Method gefunden.
    Um meine Kreditkarte nutzen zu können muss ich zuerst irgend einer Firma Geld überweisen? Noch nie sowas erlebt. Ihr seid das Letzte.    … Expand
  33. Davinonimus
    Sep 11, 2020
    3
    Es magic, así que por supuesto que es pay to win, ese no es el mayor problema entre los muchos que tiene, como por ejemplo el algoritmo propio para las manos iniciales en lugar de simplemente un robo aleatorio y mas justo, si empiezas a subir a platino y a diamante solo jugaras contra la misma baraja una y otra y otra vez, las cartas que no deberían ni existir de lo rotas que están lasEs magic, así que por supuesto que es pay to win, ese no es el mayor problema entre los muchos que tiene, como por ejemplo el algoritmo propio para las manos iniciales en lugar de simplemente un robo aleatorio y mas justo, si empiezas a subir a platino y a diamante solo jugaras contra la misma baraja una y otra y otra vez, las cartas que no deberían ni existir de lo rotas que están las aguantan 4 meses para vender sobres antes de banearlas provocando que esos meses tengas que aguantar a la misma baraja en tooooodas las partidas... en general el mayor problema que tiene es que magic tiene un power creep tan grande y este juego tiene formatos tan limitados que no hay variedad para que resulte minimamente divertido pese a que el juego esta relativamente bien optimizado y tiene pocos bugs que se agradece.… Expand
  34. bronzi
    Dec 29, 2019
    2
    Have you ever gone to FedEx to have something printed? You sit down at the computer, and you're required to swipe your credit card in order to log in. You're charged by the minute while you putz around in your email and Photoshop trying to print your tax forms.

    Playing Magic Arena feels like that. Not only is it insanely greedy--it's an incredibly boring grind. There is no risk or    Have you ever gone to FedEx to have something printed? You sit down at the computer, and you're required to swipe your credit card in order to log in. You're charged by the minute while you putz around in your email and Photoshop trying to print your tax forms.

    Playing Magic Arena feels like that.

    Not only is it insanely greedy--it's an incredibly boring grind.
    There is no risk or reward in the tournaments or gameplay. You pay to do everything and you get almost nothing for it, except rote, impersonal, consequence-less games of MTG.

    The UI leaves a lot to be desired, the graphics (gameboards and effects) are mediocre, the "premium" cards look 10x better in Hearthstone or Gwent, even though they've made premium cards and avatars the primary reward in Magic Arena.

    There's no sense of playing against real people in the game, especially in drafts, since you're competing for your card picks against AI...

    They made opening packs and collecting the set un-fun, by creating the "wildcard" system, which makes the process of opening packs essentially filling up a progress/experience bar. I could not care less if I open a mythic rare.

    If you take a break from the game you will lose all your progress. New cards are constantly added to the "legacy" format--even beyond the cards rotating out of standard--in order to prevent you from easily playing with your long-term collection.

    Game modes, like "Brawl"--which don't require you to have up to date cards--still require you to pay (EXTRA) just for the privilege of playing a casual Magic The Gathering game mode with cards you already own...

    The entire system (far more than paper MTG even), feels like it's optimized in order to PREVENT you enjoying the game at all without spending a constant stream of money.

    This game has the worst monetization scheme of all the digital CCGs, even Hearthstone, even Artifact.
    Even the old Magic Online's notorious monetization scheme (which was a literal representation of the tabletop game) was better, because despite being crazy expensive there was a real sense of risk and reward, which is what makes the gameplay exciting.

    Magic Arena is such a soulless, corporate, money-and-time-suck of a game, and the business attitudes behind it are bad news for MTG in general.    … Expand
  35. Bennz910
    Apr 6, 2019
    2
    I hope they implement some coop game mode agianst AI like the two headed Giant in Magic Duels. Its the only reason for me to play (and pay).
  36. rojcyk
    Jul 26, 2020
    2
    It is fun when you are doing the tutorial missions and there is a bit of PvE. But the moment you enter classic playing against other people who spent a fortune, this is where the fun ends.
  37. Eldoreth
    Dec 4, 2021
    2
    It doesn't deserve a 0 but Arena has a lot of problems that just never get addressed. Things that you would expect from a modern game, free to play or not.
    First of all, I have to say that not a single one of these is a deal breaker on its own, but as an aggregate you can tell where I'm going.
    1. The user interface just isn't very friendly. Figuring things out like how to change sleeves    It doesn't deserve a 0 but Arena has a lot of problems that just never get addressed. Things that you would expect from a modern game, free to play or not.
    First of all, I have to say that not a single one of these is a deal breaker on its own, but as an aggregate you can tell where I'm going.
    1. The user interface just isn't very friendly. Figuring things out like how to change sleeves etc. can require a google search or tutorial and it just shouldn't be like that.
    2. No information in the client. The event schedules are posted on websites rather than in the client. Why they can't tell me when an event will end until it's too late I don't know.
    3. Reporting tools are also not in client. That means I am further inconvenienced whenever I have to try and report another player's toxic behavior (stalling).
    4. Really bad payout structures for limited modes. Quick draft rotation sucks. No phantom draft. No drafting with friends.
    5. Slow and clunky match starts and ends. This creates really long down times between matches. Most games these days let you q up immediately after a match ends. Not so with this client that was perhaps created by an offshore outsourced dev team to cut corners and save money. STINGY
    6. Tone deaf developers who don't listen an iota to players.
    7. The only AI tool is a weak deck buggy mess called Sparky. It's an embarrassment to Arena that this thing even exists in its state. The AI kills its own creatures, attacks with abandon, and just horrible overall. I would expect a decent single player campaign or mode by now, but they can't even fix sparky's AI... embarrassing.
    8. The shop is so whale focused it's ridiculous. Prices are sky high for the littlest thing. If you just focused on making a good game and experience for everyone and not just the whales you could have farmed up a dedicated base of paying customers such as myself. But as it is, you really aren't giving me anything worth paying for...
    9. Expensive. Collecting cards is unwieldy, time consuming, and expensive. They're making it even worse with this Alchemy thing too, proving they are absolutely tone-deaf and greedy AF.
    STAY AWAY.    … Expand
  38. GedricMalkavsky
    May 12, 2020
    2
    Hello everyone.
    I came to the MTG arena from its paper version and at first I really liked it. It was in the summer of 2019, when the Core Set 2020 appeared in the game. The graphics are pretty nice looking, but always lagging when starting the first battle after the start of the game, with any settings. And this is on SSD.
    After the release of Theros in the game, a new inconvenience was    Hello everyone.
    I came to the MTG arena from its paper version and at first I really liked it. It was in the summer of 2019, when the Core Set 2020 appeared in the game. The graphics are pretty nice looking, but always lagging when starting the first battle after the start of the game, with any settings. And this is on SSD.
    After the release of Theros in the game, a new inconvenience was added: checking for updates after the login in the game could last 5-15 minutes. Reinstallation does not help. Moreover, this happens not only on one home computer, but also on a computer located in another house and with another Internet provider. After starting the game, it became a habit to go make tea, sandwiches or open a video on YouTube. They did not fix this with the release of Ikoria.
    I played in a relatively average way: do daily quests and gain cap victories. On average, it turned out 4: 4 or 3: 5 wins: defeats in one game session. Rarely were there a series of defeats 0: 6 (usually I went out after that and did not continue) or a series of victories 5: 0 for example.
    In the in-game store, I bought the Battle Pass and full pre-orders. Separately, I did not buy boosters for $. I was also not interested in, for the most part, ugly skins or card covers.

    The interesting thing started after the release of Ikoria. I watched a dull trailer and dull card art, and the whole idea of ​​the set seemed completely silly and childish to me. And I decided to buy a basic battle pass and not do a full pre-order. In addition, a lot of cards and wild cards have accumulated on my account, so I could craft all the interesting things.
    The beginning of May, Ikory’s quick draft for the next two weeks began and the game finally turned into some kind of casino.
    Not paid - not a player.
    Total endless series of defeats. But if you can still fight in the Draft somehow at first, but then fly off the enemy’s top deck. Then in the Constructed or in a non-ranking match there is a constant lack of mana (no more than two cards). And the opponents are matched all strictly with a counter deck and strictly the same playing cards. A new round begins, a new opponent, and the cards are played all clearly in the same order as the previous one, only the avatar and color of the card shirt changes. If you change the deck, then the counter deck will climb exclusively on it. It reminded me of Heartstone. Days pass, and this non-randomizer does not change.

    In general, thank you Wizards - your greed has freed me from this "game."

    Advice for doubters: if you want to play cards like that, then play better in the paper version, where you will depend only on the randomizer of the universe. As an option MTGO, if you are more comfortable at home.

    P. S. The music in the game is good. The cries and voices of creatures, phrases of plinswalkers, too. Actually, therefore, the rating of the game is not zero.
    P.P. S. S. If some of my phrases seemed too pretentious or simple, sorry - English is not my native language.    … Expand
  39. SoBadIMadeanAcc
    Sep 18, 2020
    2
    I made an account on metacritic just to criticize this - i've never done anything like that before but its a testament to how annoying i found this game. I won't touch the Freemium P2W/Land Algororihm aspects - others have dealt with those and its a problem. This game even comes with the highly realistic but somehow more improbable than real life situations where you mulligan 7 times andI made an account on metacritic just to criticize this - i've never done anything like that before but its a testament to how annoying i found this game. I won't touch the Freemium P2W/Land Algororihm aspects - others have dealt with those and its a problem. This game even comes with the highly realistic but somehow more improbable than real life situations where you mulligan 7 times and only get one mana or straight draw close to 7 mana after accepting a mulligan with a good curve in an aggro deck. You will find this very frustrating to play if you are new to MTG or from paper magic.

    This game somehow manages to be clunky BUT NOT clunky enough where it needs it. There is not enough information on when you are still allowed to cast instants, tap creatures, etc. It does not even properly display(Either bugged or incredibly poor visualizations) on whether something IS a declared blocker. You'll end up casting stuff AFTER you want to because of how poor the indicators of what is going on are. Some of the cards get hidden underneath their spell effects and its difficult to just READ the card that's been put into play. Steer clear and avoid the huge amount of frustration for what otherwise should be an enjoyable experience.    … Expand
  40. qwerts216
    Jan 15, 2021
    2
    Good way to test deck ideas, but the player base is terrible. Nearly every game the opponent will either take incredibly long turns or spam chat when you take any time at all during your turn. Also it takes far too long to earn coins for drafting.
  41. TurgidTenthInc
    Aug 11, 2023
    2
    I'm a lifelong paper MtG player and I have to say that this isn't it. First, WotC clearly prioritized cosmetics and monetization over client stability and performance. That is all exacerbated by the decisions WotC has made with regard to format balancing in both digital and paper over the years. Gameplay wise, the game is in the worst shape it has been in for years. Don't botherI'm a lifelong paper MtG player and I have to say that this isn't it. First, WotC clearly prioritized cosmetics and monetization over client stability and performance. That is all exacerbated by the decisions WotC has made with regard to format balancing in both digital and paper over the years. Gameplay wise, the game is in the worst shape it has been in for years. Don't bother investing in the Historic format as WotC has reserved the right to nerf cards after you have acquired them without refunding or giving you the option to exchange them back for wildcards. You'll see the same handful of decks, especially in Bo1 ranked, every game. Currently if you don't have a maindecked response to a certain 4 mana indestructible artifact that draws you a ton of cards every tun, you will lose. That brings me to the biggest problem with the format: Alchemy. It is an abysmal format with terrible balance, very little interactibility thanks to perpetual effects, and basically just seems like an excuse for WotCto create stupidly pushed cards that you need to use wild cards on to be competitive, nerfing those cards, and then not refunding your wildcards. Remarkable. Stability and performance -wise, the game is somehow in the worse state than in was during its "beta" period. I get crash and stutters on a high end PC. There's no way to turn off the annoying 3D particle effects that nobody asked for as well. Despite all this, WotC has clear put tons of time and effort into more pets, and assorted cosmetics. Honestly this game has one of the most egregious live-service models I have ever encountered. I'll give the game a 2 because of the rare fun back an forth matchup, but with the rampant roping, those are increasingly hard to find.… Expand
  42. MNecromancer
    Feb 3, 2020
    1
    I liked Duels because it allowed you to experiment with the new sets in a story mode, then you get a basic deck from that set that you can customize a bit now that you've played around with it. At this point I could go do drafts in real life with that basic knowledge of the set. It was a good way to get involved without having to waste a stupid amount of time and money figuring things out.I liked Duels because it allowed you to experiment with the new sets in a story mode, then you get a basic deck from that set that you can customize a bit now that you've played around with it. At this point I could go do drafts in real life with that basic knowledge of the set. It was a good way to get involved without having to waste a stupid amount of time and money figuring things out.

    I logged into Arena expecting to try out Eldraine or the new Theros, but all of my decks seem to be from Ravnica and Ixalan. I tried playing a couple of games, but I've only unlocked one booster from Theros and I'm not even close to being able to get an Eldraine. Who would ever want to grind like this? Why would you ever pay to win in a game where you could pay for the cards in real life? This is the dumbest magic game I've ever played. The 90's version had so much more game than this. Every Duels of the Planeswalker entry was 10x more satisfying than this.

    Now less than not being able to enjoy a MTG videogame, I've lost my main way of introducing myself to the sets. Duels kind of spoiled me on that. Without it, I'm just not going to go to Magic events anymore. They're kind of a waste of money unless you're already semi familiar with the content.

    Another blunder is the introduction of wild cards. They allow you to get any card you want once you earn enough points. This means that every player you play who has researched the best decks can have the most powerful cards. I enjoyed that in Duels, the players who did research and power gamed their decks had to earn them by getting the whole sets and then were relegated to the top of the ranked lists, but now everybody just gets the best cards and womps. I want to safely experiment at the lower ends of the ranks without having to deal with this kind of power gaming nonsense. It takes the organic collection out of opening packs and makes completing a set completely fruitless.    … Expand
  43. BestNoob
    May 31, 2020
    1
    Hughe inbalance caused of overpowered cards. Indirect pay2win.
    Waste of time to play.
  44. Idiolized
    Jan 28, 2020
    1
    Copy pasted from MTG Duels of the plainswalker 2009, with the exact same issues as the old games.. you can put your deck together, with all lands in stack in the pile, and still have better land draw, than this game. Example from my latest game; starting hand with 3 lands, 2 creatures, a sorcery and instant card.. in round 5, I had 7 lands 3 creatures, a sorcery and a instant card.. 2Copy pasted from MTG Duels of the plainswalker 2009, with the exact same issues as the old games.. you can put your deck together, with all lands in stack in the pile, and still have better land draw, than this game. Example from my latest game; starting hand with 3 lands, 2 creatures, a sorcery and instant card.. in round 5, I had 7 lands 3 creatures, a sorcery and a instant card.. 2 games before that I started with 3 lands.. this or the total opposite happens 1/3 games, it's really fun!

    The only positive thing here (In my opinion) is that you now can create your own deck.. Other than that they just threw away that they were the dominant company on the market, and could have been way ahead of Hearthstone, but they ended up aiming at their foot, and now they are limbing behind basicly any other card games.

    Used to love the game (paper cards), but their computer games is absolutly terrible and a waste of time. And for a end note to some review, if you play this game, doesn't mean you have "deep IQ", 95% of the decks you'll encounter is copy pasta deck, and they can barely play them properly despite guide and beeing spoon fed details.. You'll meet alot of these copy decks, so it can be quite hard in the beginning, if you don't choose to do the same..
    And if you don't play regular your cards get outdated, and you can't get rewards, so you have to pay even more to follow up, everything is evolved around Pay 2 win, since the deck they made for new players, are terrible and are made to make you want to buy packages.. That the packages are overpriced and with fewer cards that the physical package, just shows even more clearly.. On top of that every event and what not, also cost money, of course.....

    The original paper card game was awesome! This rushed, badly designed, badly coded client, they have been years to put together (Mtg Duels of the plainswalker 2009), and still can't make just a decent client, or they don't care..    … Expand
  45. Wyv
    Oct 16, 2020
    1
    Pay to win with very bad matchmaking. Good effects, good music and stuff but this is it, nothing more.
    Completely broken combos make matches boring. Just shop the right cards and you win.
    Poor game.
  46. VesperCar392
    Mar 21, 2021
    1
    If you wanna spend hundreds of dollars in order to have a meta deck for a couple of months until they release a new set or ban key cards in your deck then this is the game for you. If you like playing card games where the game openly emits rigging your draws resulting in a forced 50% win-loss ratio then this is the game for you.
  47. tutuluis
    May 9, 2020
    1
    pay to win, cartas rotas, hackers que pueden alterar el orden "aleatorio" de las cartas que le tocan a uno
  48. Zyion
    Aug 1, 2021
    1
    This game is very pay-to-win. Tried playing for several months without spending any cash on cards and I would win maybe 20% of the time against the latest sets. And most of those times were only because my opponents got mana starved early on. Wild cards, which are cards that you can spend to craft any card in the game, could easily offset this if they weren't so heavily tied to time gatesThis game is very pay-to-win. Tried playing for several months without spending any cash on cards and I would win maybe 20% of the time against the latest sets. And most of those times were only because my opponents got mana starved early on. Wild cards, which are cards that you can spend to craft any card in the game, could easily offset this if they weren't so heavily tied to time gates and opening packs. Meaning the people who benefit most from the crafting system are those who spend lots of money on the game. The system is specifically set up so that you will never be competitive unless you spend allot of money on the latest set which becomes the new meta every couple of months.

    There are several card combinations that basically guarantee a win by turn 3, 4 or 5. There are also several high cost cards that are so powerful that they can completely flip a certain loss into a win in less than a turn. Which kills any strategy the game might have had as they turn every fight into a game of chance.

    All of this is made worse when you realize that WotC has locked out the ability to review the app on mobile devices. You can't review the product unless you purchase it, but since all purchases are done through the app instead of the store, the only way you can even review the product is if WotC gives you the opportunity to review their game. Which I was only granted after spending about $60 on cosmetics and playing for 3 months strait. They have so little confidence in how fun their game actually is that they have to maintain a stranglehold on reviews in the app store. Never trust any company that does this, and never purchase stuff from companies that use anti-consumer consumer practices like this.    … Expand
  49. Admer
    Feb 3, 2020
    1
    insane donations system. don't play this shiТ............................................
  50. shinokun
    Nov 20, 2019
    1
    If you enjoy Pay2Win games. This is the game for you. Otherwise stay away. There is no way to obtain individual cards except to craft them by obtaining crafting materials by buying and open packs.Matchmaking system is the the worst part of this game. If you first start out the game, youre pretty much screwed unless you pay a butt load of money for packs. Match making and card draws arentIf you enjoy Pay2Win games. This is the game for you. Otherwise stay away. There is no way to obtain individual cards except to craft them by obtaining crafting materials by buying and open packs.Matchmaking system is the the worst part of this game. If you first start out the game, youre pretty much screwed unless you pay a butt load of money for packs. Match making and card draws arent random either. There are subsequent metacodes for each card and youre deck is scored. Draws are based of that. The devs are blatantly trying money off you… Expand
  51. WriteToLive
    Apr 24, 2019
    1
    While this game can be fun and you can get a decent deck with mostly commons and uncommon cards that can win a decent percentage of times, the grind is so bad that it's obvious this is a pay to play game. I want this game to be good, I really do. But, the paper version of the game does not do enough to support this client. They need to take a page from the Pokemon TCG and include codesWhile this game can be fun and you can get a decent deck with mostly commons and uncommon cards that can win a decent percentage of times, the grind is so bad that it's obvious this is a pay to play game. I want this game to be good, I really do. But, the paper version of the game does not do enough to support this client. They need to take a page from the Pokemon TCG and include codes in their packs (almost like they could put them on the back of tokens like they do for pre-release events?) to allow players of the paper game to actually have a better experience in game, even if it's a 1 out of every 4 packs deal or if there are codes to getting a box in Arena when you buy a box in real life. Getting gold is a grind, gems is impossible unless you pay (which is where all the good stuff is at: avatars, deck sleeve skins, card styles, etc.).
    Wizards needs to get back to what make people play the game instead of trying to gouge them for every penny they have.    … Expand
  52. LevRav
    Oct 29, 2020
    1
    As someone who's played the actual card game, this as a video game is terrible.

    The pacing is slowed by the render times and your network, yeah you need to connect to a network to play the single-player campaign mode. Also, the campaign mode is structured so poorly that it's more of a puzzle game than a card game. Let's not forget the godawful tutorial segment that YOU CAN'T OPT OUT OF.    As someone who's played the actual card game, this as a video game is terrible.

    The pacing is slowed by the render times and your network, yeah you need to connect to a network to play the single-player campaign mode.
    Also, the campaign mode is structured so poorly that it's more of a puzzle game than a card game.

    Let's not forget the godawful tutorial segment that YOU CAN'T OPT OUT OF. Seriously, I couldn't care less about a lore-based tutorial segment. I just want to learn the general mechanics of how the game plays without all the interruptions from stupid and shallow banter by an npc designed to lose.

    I have no idea what the online games/matches are like because I can't unlock enough cards through the campaign mode to even stand a chance against real players.
    Not to mention how obviously the devs want you to pay for DIGITAL cards just so you can have a possible chance of having fun in an online match.

    I will actively discourage anyone from playing this horrendous excuse for a card game. Go get TableTop Simulator! It's actually fun for a poorly optimized game and you don't have to pay money to find good games for it!    … Expand
  53. sparky176
    Feb 6, 2021
    1
    This game should not receive nearly the ranking from the official critic reviews. The true nature of this is very evident to a player of the paper version or for that matter any card game. The cards are not by any means randomly shuffled, dealt and played as in a normal card game. This version of MTG is nothing more than a good way to learn card play of the new sets coming out andThis game should not receive nearly the ranking from the official critic reviews. The true nature of this is very evident to a player of the paper version or for that matter any card game. The cards are not by any means randomly shuffled, dealt and played as in a normal card game. This version of MTG is nothing more than a good way to learn card play of the new sets coming out and their mechanics. The actual head to head game play turns into a candy Krush version of play where you just hope the right piece or card drops. It is not random. If there are any doubts read all the following reviews or speak with an actual MTG player. What a shame.… Expand
  54. Cerpin
    Mar 13, 2021
    1
    If you're sensitive to predatory game economies and love Magic the Gathering this game will hurt you deeply. I enjoyed it for quite a while, but the little insults really add up. They'll come out with interesting (enough) game modes every few weeks, but they cost just enough in game currency that it feels suffocating. You can technically earn the coins, but that income will fall offIf you're sensitive to predatory game economies and love Magic the Gathering this game will hurt you deeply. I enjoyed it for quite a while, but the little insults really add up. They'll come out with interesting (enough) game modes every few weeks, but they cost just enough in game currency that it feels suffocating. You can technically earn the coins, but that income will fall off quickly if you don't spend the coins on packs for the new sets.

    The biggest issue with this game is its dual nature. This is also a physical card game, and the prices for some in game modes seem analogous to costs irl. The problem is that irl you are obtaining a real product and forming memories in a physical space. Much of the warmth that people expect when doing something communal, like playing a fantasy card game, is absent. What's here is cold and repetitive. It's built to make you feel uncomfortable with anything you purchase. If you have memories of this game and want to revisit it this isn't how.

    I was going to give this no stars, but people with expendable incomes, or people that are willing to let wotc extort you into letting this being your only game can have a much better time. I would struggle to say the pay to win currency is generous, but it's not insulting. If you're a skilled limited player you can also get a decent ftp currency farm going. Also, it's possible to get a collection going playing ftp if you're very diligent and wait a few seasons, but honestly, your time has value, and what they ask you to spend in time is exorbitant.

    The image that the online format makes this famously overpriced card game more accessible is a mirage if you value your time, or like most people, need the money for food and shelter. If you really need free MTG. Proxy cards aren't against the law or WoTC's TOS. As long as you aren't selling them. Putting sharpy on bulk commons to play amongst friends seems like a higher barrier of entry than an online card game, but when that game is MTG Arena it's not.    … Expand
  55. AutoNacho
    Jan 5, 2022
    1
    There was some huge chances to improve paper magic with this product that was completely missed. Firstly either my account is glitched or there is a pay wall I have not found- regardless on my account I am lucky to go first once a night if I play many many games, at this point I build decks to go second. Also the "shuffler" is terrible, generally copies of cards always clump together,There was some huge chances to improve paper magic with this product that was completely missed. Firstly either my account is glitched or there is a pay wall I have not found- regardless on my account I am lucky to go first once a night if I play many many games, at this point I build decks to go second. Also the "shuffler" is terrible, generally copies of cards always clump together, especially land chunks. It is so predictable if I draw two land I know the next three are land. This makes games where both players have a fair fight around 20-25% of games. Might as well download a coin flip app instead.… Expand
  56. Niceguy3000
    Jan 13, 2022
    1
    The game is horrible. It predetermined whether you will win or lose before the match even starts. You can play 10 games and it will give you 3 mana in 11 turns each game. Even if you pay anything for the game, you will still lose. It is a complete cash grab. Nobody should play this game for learning purposes because it will teach you that no matter what, you’ll lose.
  57. firezone
    Mar 24, 2023
    1
    i swear that the shuffler is rigged. some games i will get everything i need from off the top while others i struggle in even getting a single card i need. i played a event and around 8 out of 13 games i was stuck on 2 lands, at this point it feels like a slog just to play the game with how much net decking there is along with the alchemy cards . i wouldn't recommend this if you want toi swear that the shuffler is rigged. some games i will get everything i need from off the top while others i struggle in even getting a single card i need. i played a event and around 8 out of 13 games i was stuck on 2 lands, at this point it feels like a slog just to play the game with how much net decking there is along with the alchemy cards . i wouldn't recommend this if you want to play casual or don't want to spend much money on the game… Expand
  58. neffu
    Mar 12, 2021
    0
    Bugged bugged bugged. Every update makes something not work. Stuck in constant "draws" of games that never actually start, just automatically end with a draw after looking for a long time to find an opponent. Server showing a message "connection to server error" or similar while in fact, behind tht message the game actually is being played and my opponent is moving, and im registeringBugged bugged bugged. Every update makes something not work. Stuck in constant "draws" of games that never actually start, just automatically end with a draw after looking for a long time to find an opponent. Server showing a message "connection to server error" or similar while in fact, behind tht message the game actually is being played and my opponent is moving, and im registering everything. But the message just hangs not letting me do anything. Have to restart the client to be able to move again. The technical aspect of this game is utter garbage. But even when it does work, the mechanics themselves are frustrating. I enjoy the paper version perhaps because I have less opportunities to play it in real life, thus not seing the same stupid card combos. Like the recent "Tibalt's Trickery" card which always ends in a 2 turn game, either my opponen wins automatically without me having any chance to respond, or if he is not lucky enough to get a good draw, he loses automatically on the second turn. Most stupid game play design ever created.… Expand
  59. PansyFire
    Jun 12, 2019
    0
    There is little redeeming about the game, the shuffler is basically non-functional, one game you might draw seven lands in a row, the next you will only draw two mana and never pick up a land again. You better hope you don't win too many games in a row because then you will be matched against players who know how to work their decks against the game's algorithm. A good deck in Arena is notThere is little redeeming about the game, the shuffler is basically non-functional, one game you might draw seven lands in a row, the next you will only draw two mana and never pick up a land again. You better hope you don't win too many games in a row because then you will be matched against players who know how to work their decks against the game's algorithm. A good deck in Arena is not a good deck in the physical game, I have played a deck for 20+ games with four of a certain card and never once drew that card either in my opening hand or throughout the course of the game, where other players will draw four of the same card either in their opening hand or near the top of their deck. People will play this game for a short time until they get wise to the algorithmic nonsense and then uninstall and go play a real game. Trust me.

    Go to your local card shop on draft night and get your Magic kick there, it's more fun than this silly nonsense.    … Expand
  60. Plt712h
    Apr 5, 2021
    0
    On the mobile version: you can play only on a bluestacks emulator for a PC with a core i9 geforce2080super and 64gb of RAM. It won't save you from freezing and crashes, but you can at least read the text on the cards.

    On the game itself: I think most people in the world have installed this game out of nostalgia. I've played Magic irl since the 7th edition and the early 00s, participated    On the mobile version: you can play only on a bluestacks emulator for a PC with a core i9 geforce2080super and 64gb of RAM. It won't save you from freezing and crashes, but you can at least read the text on the cards.

    On the game itself: I think most people in the world have installed this game out of nostalgia. I've played Magic irl since the 7th edition and the early 00s, participated in small tournaments, and have never seen such matches in real life. 7 lands in a row? You are welcome! Do you or another player have perfect, "Magically" cards come out to counter everything that comes out of the opponent? You are welcome! All cards that can be useful against the opponent's deck do not come out at all after 7 moves, but only those that are completely useless come out? You are welcome! 1 land, and all the other most expensive cards from your deck in terms of mana cost after 3 mulligans? You are welcome! If you go second, you lose in almost 90% of such matches. You won too many times in a row and you start getting thrown against those types of decks that are most effective against you in the ratio of 2 such matches against 1 of your victory in addition, you always go second, without exceptions. And how do you like that, the enemy clearly does not know how to play and is constantly making mistakes, despite the fact that with his cards it was already possible to finish the whole game a long time ago if done wisely, and now he already has 8 cards or 1 life left and then the game just stops pretending that she initially played against you, you have one useless trifle or only lands in general, you scry 3 cards 3 times in a row, each time pull one and shuffle the deck and there are only lands again and again! And these are several moves in a row! And there are 12 out of 30 cards left that could have won you a game! This is even impossible according to the theory of probability! And like the icing on the cake - you finally draw the card you want, because you already pulled out all the lands)) and the game can no longer not give you them, but this turn you lose 100% because your opponent already has 10 of the most expensive and powerful creatures, either a full hand of canceling or directly damaging you instant spells! In this case, the enemy draws 4 identical cards in a row if it helps him without scrying.

    Summing up, this game plays by itself, and it itself determines who will win and who will lose even before the start of the match. I want to assure all those who got acquainted with Magic The Gathering thanks to this garbage that this has nothing to do with a real card game. It's a pity, because the idea was great, to play without leaving your home and going to your local club, without the need to look for other players in real life, especially if you live in a province and there are 20 people like you in the whole city, and you all know each other for a long time as flaky, especially in terms of the tactics of the game. But the implementation, alas, is not that unsuccessful, it simply does not exist.

    PS. About donation and Pay-to-Win, it is clearly has it place, but it is not that much useful, and it works very little. $50 for pre-ordering the new set of boosters gave me a decrease in the number of obviously "not my" matches for less than a week, then everything returned to "normal". So I do not advise you to download and install IT, and even more so to support it with your penny. The game does not develop and fix in any way from Beta. Technically it still manages to slow down on top computers and mobile phones, has an animation gliches, slow matchmaking connections and occasion crashes. In general it doesn’t solve it's problems about the balance and the problem of forcibly won and lost matches.    … Expand
  61. LuisGuerrero
    Aug 12, 2020
    0
    Unfortunately the game barely works... almost all the time will get bugs or will never connect to server a total waste of time of a very good game...
  62. timmerino
    Sep 20, 2020
    0
    There's no reason to play this game. It's not fun at all. Every player uses one of three decks that they copied from an e-sports player. No other decks are viable. The promise of this game is that there are so many cards and all of them have unique abilities and wouldn't it be interesting if it were possible to discover unique synergies? Nope. There's no other way to win except by usingThere's no reason to play this game. It's not fun at all. Every player uses one of three decks that they copied from an e-sports player. No other decks are viable. The promise of this game is that there are so many cards and all of them have unique abilities and wouldn't it be interesting if it were possible to discover unique synergies? Nope. There's no other way to win except by using one of the three most powerful decks. So that's what everyone does. This is a game that pretends to allow you the ability to be creative, but ends up enforcing conformity. I've never played a game as dull as this one. Don't waste your money.… Expand
  63. JotnarGiant
    Feb 24, 2019
    0
    This is pay-to-win garbage that gets really boring really fast. The interface is way too clunky, and sometimes you literally have to spend 10 minutes clicking 'accept' on every little thing your opponent does. Although this game is 'free' to play, I wouldn't bother wasting your time, and definitely would never pay a dime for it.
  64. HMolinet
    Dec 26, 2020
    0
    One of the best experiences we MTG players could have until you find out that it is a pay to win game and winning is not guaranteed specially after a new card set is out.
  65. hellsing5959
    Oct 5, 2019
    0
    The game matchmaking is messed-up that your NPE decks are always matched against totally ridiculous netdecks. Performance and Connection issues are exacerbating everyday but WotC just keeps priotizing Monetization. Magic Subreddit is just the place for whales and fanboys because whatever negative posts you post there will be downvoted and removed by some handsome-paid Reddit admin.
  66. Green59
    Jun 15, 2019
    0
    after i start playing this game i say:wow what a nice card game,,,but after 2 months i realise that this is biggest pay to win trash i every played in my life
  67. Drusek
    Oct 1, 2020
    0
    Either pay hundreds of dollars or play same boring decks because you don't have cards for new ones. Also everyone is playing same meta decks.
  68. Brilpoetsdoekje
    Sep 28, 2020
    0
    MTGA is a perfect example of greed killing a once great product.

    You might as well put all your money in a slot machine, because MTGA takes “collecting cards” to a whole new scummy level. Gone are the days of paying to get something of value. On arena, you put money in, and the only “value” you get is being forced to play against meta decks piloted by the unemployed and whales. This is    MTGA is a perfect example of greed killing a once great product.

    You might as well put all your money in a slot machine, because MTGA takes “collecting cards” to a whole new scummy level. Gone are the days of paying to get something of value. On arena, you put money in, and the only “value” you get is being forced to play against meta decks piloted by the unemployed and whales. This is not magic, this is a casino. F wotc and F their greedy business plan. Done with this absolute garbage    … Expand
  69. Petrakis
    Aug 25, 2020
    0
    Unfair, uninteresting, imbalanced piece of sh***t :(
    Not only MTG Arena or standard format, but Magic The Gathering at all (if be honest, each TCG is a piece of sh***t, but MTG is the worst, 'cause Wizards of the Coast is company of greedy and untalented
    sl***ts)
  70. Nati
    Dec 16, 2020
    0
    Odds clearly are stacked to get you into the store and spend real money.

    Achieving 0.05% odds everyday yet never ever do you get lucky to the extent of below 1% odds... its absolutely stacked. Also 2021 Decks are the most imbalanced joke ive ever seen. This game is so dead... Wizards dont care anymore. There are decks that in 4 turns have x2 5/7 attackers and they spawn 16 1/1    Odds clearly are stacked to get you into the store and spend real money.

    Achieving 0.05% odds everyday yet never ever do you get lucky to the extent of below 1% odds... its absolutely stacked.

    Also 2021 Decks are the most imbalanced joke ive ever seen. This game is so dead... Wizards dont care anymore.

    There are decks that in 4 turns have x2 5/7 attackers and they spawn 16 1/1 minions on the 5th turn.

    Its just pathetic... this game used to be about having great battles and using odds/tactics. Now its literally about finding decks that can be manipulated to ruin the game.    … Expand
  71. HobusTobu
    Mar 6, 2020
    0
    I think the issues with land draws go far beyond what we used to think. Mulligans used to fix the issue, but now you can mulligan down to 3 cards before you'll actually get viable mana.
    There was a user who actually covered over a million games in a study and despite what gaslighting fanboys say, the issues with the draws are well outside normal variance.
    Despite the fact that the    I think the issues with land draws go far beyond what we used to think. Mulligans used to fix the issue, but now you can mulligan down to 3 cards before you'll actually get viable mana.
    There was a user who actually covered over a million games in a study and despite what gaslighting fanboys say, the issues with the draws are well outside normal variance.
    Despite the fact that the reddit thread for that game is the most viewed and most discussed, it's rated lower than other reddit threads about the game due to Google coordinating with WOTC (which isn't abnormal for most large companies to work with Google and adsense to create favorable search results).

    The bigger issue is that the discussions around this game come down to people who spend WAY too much money on this game telling everyone else that they're crazy. Beyond ironic.
    The playerbase is so incredibly toxic online, it's probably better to ignore the majority that keep buying because it's an addiction and not a hobby for them.

    The core issues with the game are still yet to be resolved. It's unoptimized for older hardware, the client loses connections to the server all the time, the actual game itself is cripplingly unfun if you actually want a fair experience, and there's no way to really enjoy yourself in a de-stress, single player scenario. Primarily due to the fact that they want you to keep grinding losses until you finally break and spend more money on the game. I don't get the absolute autistic devotion to Wizards of The Coast since it's pretty clear that their goal isn't a well-made game, it's to get as much cash out of addicted gamers as they can.

    According to the Metacritic ratings, I'd say it sounds like the majority or normies aren't happy either.

    Corporate shills gonna shill fam.

    I hope that someone reports WOTC to the BBB or the FTC, I don't know how much it would do, but at the very least some audits done in discovery could be made public that would really blow the lid on how messed up they are.    … Expand
  72. Ferorake
    Jun 4, 2019
    0
    I quitted league of legends to start to rank on a game where I didn't have to waste time for game's decision and... this game is even worse.
    It's clear that there are some alghoritms behind the game. After you start to win too much, you get into games where YOU CAN'T WIN. If you know how MTG works, you know that you can't win if you draw only lands, or mulligan 2 hands in a row because    I quitted league of legends to start to rank on a game where I didn't have to waste time for game's decision and... this game is even worse.
    It's clear that there are some alghoritms behind the game. After you start to win too much, you get into games where YOU CAN'T WIN. If you know how MTG works, you know that you can't win if you draw only lands, or mulligan 2 hands in a row because you only have 1 land. Ok, this is a card game, but it's clear that the system WANTS you to stop. I don't talk about rankeds game ( which are useless because even if you get to HIGHEST possible rank, you get a trash reward that doesn't justify the effort ), but about " constructed event", which is the only way a F2P player can get cards ( you invest some coins in the start, and you play until you lose 3 games, when this happens, you get rewarded for the games you won and get coins+rare cards ). After 2 days where I won I guess 5-6 events ( 7 wins with at least 2 lost ), I'VE NEVER REACHED NEITHER 4 VICTORIES ( and lost a lot at 012 victories ).
    Another funny thing is that I climbed until mythical rank after 2 weeks, using a "meta deck" found online: mono red aggro. This is the only way a F2P player can get competitive on a short amount of time.
    I spent 20€ on it, and I still don't have enough cards for 2 decks. So imagine a completely F2P player that wants to build a deck. You have no chances to build a 2-3-4 colours deck without spending at least 100€. If you don't build a mono-red aggro in the start, you'll be stucked on completely annoying matches getting stomped, and trust me you'll quit even before to get how the game really works.
    If you start to play and grind one month, I guess you reach the chance to build a deck with 11-12 cards ( and only because in the start the game gives you 9 free packs and other free things ). The only DECENT deck you can build with this amount of gold cards is the mono-red aggro. Every free to play player is vinculated to play it, and for that reason you'll play A LOT of games against it.
    I talk about myself, and after 1 month I'm trying to build a boros redwhite deck, and simply I can't afford it ( remember I even spent 20€ and played 23 hours every day ). Without gold lands you can't play it, and I don't have enough "wildcards" to get gold creatures and silver spells, imagine if I have wildcards for lands... ( wildcard it's a card that you can change for a card that you want. there are comune-uncommune-rare-mythical wildcards, and obv rare and mythical are incredibly rare ).

    And for that reason you can't blame players for "lack of imagination", but the game for being oppressive and "grind based". A new player that reads online how grind and effort is necessary to unlock cards, won't waste time building a deck that doesn't give him the chance to win the most possible games. So every new player goes online, searches for "meta mtg arena decks", and starts to build it. Results? You have nearly no chances to meet strange decks, only "meta decks" that you already met an enormous amount of time.
    No, for me it's a big no. The game had to give you the chance to trade cards, but because there's a trash old game called "magic online", Wizards of The Coast fears to lose all the old players, so they made a card game without 99% of the "card game mechanics".
    So this game is:
    -read online how hard is building a deck ( and getting baited to play by youtubers that get free gems and codes to try new decks and attract people )
    -search for an owapowa deck that gives you the highest chance to win, just to give you the chance to build your OWN deck faster
    -start to play
    -stomp F2P players that didn't "study" before to start to play and built a deck based on their imagination instead on "mtg arena meta decks"
    -reach platinum
    -get stomped by "uber meta 34 colours planeswalker deck more than 40 rares"
    -after some time where "uber pro bla blas bla bla" decks reached mythical rank, you can play again against normal people
    -get stucked on a winlose loop
    -build a mono-red aggro ( which is the only deck that gives you the chance to reach mythical as free to play )
    -reach mythical
    -understeand that it was just a lot of wasted time to get 5 packs ( neither an icon or things like this )
    -think about building a new deck
    -start to play constructed events to get cards
    -meet the META OF THE META decks, because every F2P players that wants to build a deck fights to the death there
    -read online how much gold cards you need for a 2 colours deck ( at least 8 GOLD LANDS )
    -try to build an half deck replacing goldmythical with commonuncommon and with normal lands
    -get stomped
    -uninstall    … Expand
  73. Mercestes
    Apr 13, 2019
    0
    Let me preface this by saying, I can't rank this game low enough.

    A wise woman once said, "this one does not bring joy" and that pretty much sums up the MtG Arena experience. If in turn 1 you see a forest and a Llanowar Elf in turn 1, you're pretty much guaranteed to see a Gigantosaurus by turn 5. Every deck has an answer to Carnage Tyrant, or you lose. If you spend any coins    Let me preface this by saying, I can't rank this game low enough.

    A wise woman once said, "this one does not bring joy" and that pretty much sums up the MtG Arena experience. If in turn 1 you see a forest and a Llanowar Elf in turn 1, you're pretty much guaranteed to see a Gigantosaurus by turn 5. Every deck has an answer to Carnage Tyrant, or you lose. If you spend any coins whatsoever on any of the constructed drafts, you're guaranteed to see a Teferi deny deck. Eventually you just start seeing the same half-dozen decks or so and the turn by turn plays get pretty predictable. Always the same over-powered cards in the same turn order over and over again.

    Meanwhile over here I can't get a dual-mana deck to line up to save my life.

    The entire culture of MtG Arena is toxic. If you deck starts to win, expect to suffer troll-stalling forever. Want to know exactly what MTG Arena is about, just search for "mtg admin bans arena player"

    If you can perform any action whatsoever (valid or not) you have to click "next' non-stop through each and every phase, except in the very few instances it makes since to actually do something, then the game doesn't pause and just skips right on by you.

    I log in and do my weekly quests for cards because I clearly have no will power and I make poor life choices. Don't make the same mistakes I did.

    "But there is no hacking in MTG Arena!!!" That may or may not be true, but the statistical probability of decks in excess of 200 cards always managing to drop a land every turn *AND* curve out their creature drops every time I come against one when I have to concede out of a quarter of my matches because I can't get more than 2 manas out of 3 mulligans (and I run 20 lands + 8 mana searches) is *pretty* bad. Just sayin'.

    If you ever doubt there is hacking in MTG: Arena, just pay gold to play a game.    … Expand
  74. DBomb73
    Mar 1, 2019
    0
    Schizophrenic Wallet Warriors will excel at this game. "In order to make the world a better place, we need to exterminate the human race." - Misanthropist.
  75. Misanthropist73
    Mar 19, 2019
    0
    The game uses a Fixed-Number-Generator. Meaning if you make a powerful deck, you'll only see other powerful decks, which defeats the whole purpose of competing. The Wizards of the Coast run this game like Sociopaths.
  76. NubleX
    Apr 13, 2019
    0
    Been playing MTG for over 20 years. Arena is in no way fun - it's grindy and becomes old very fast. You spend playing the same decks over and over again. The shuffler is broken. Even though the game is in beta and broken in many aspects, the company "updates" the game with cosmetics which give a lot of players motion sickness. The cosmetics cost a fortune, well above industry's standardsBeen playing MTG for over 20 years. Arena is in no way fun - it's grindy and becomes old very fast. You spend playing the same decks over and over again. The shuffler is broken. Even though the game is in beta and broken in many aspects, the company "updates" the game with cosmetics which give a lot of players motion sickness. The cosmetics cost a fortune, well above industry's standards and with poor quality. Developers fail to acknowledge mistakes. The game should fall under gambling laws due to it's addictive nature where players are psychologically pressured to pay money to play better, more competitive cards. If you want a good MTG experience then stay away from this garbage.… Expand
  77. AtlasEndymion
    Apr 23, 2019
    0
    MTG Arena is fun for a while, until you realize the matchmaking is heavily influenced by hidden algorithms which always puts you up against the deck that your deck is weak against. Sometime you have to wait minutes for a match up, so the "right" opponent can be found for you. You will see the same decks over and over again. You grind and grind for wildcards to build a better deck and it'sMTG Arena is fun for a while, until you realize the matchmaking is heavily influenced by hidden algorithms which always puts you up against the deck that your deck is weak against. Sometime you have to wait minutes for a match up, so the "right" opponent can be found for you. You will see the same decks over and over again. You grind and grind for wildcards to build a better deck and it's not uncommon to lose even more with the new deck because how heavily scripted matchmaking is. This ruins any sense of progression and reward from creating a better deck, and thus the game. Communication between opponent and you is minimal, just a few basic phrases like "hello", "nice", "oops" and "good game". Why would you play a game where your win rate will gravitate towards 50%, and you'll never make any friends.… Expand
  78. Nerdslayer
    May 14, 2019
    0
    Awful pay to win. Full of losers who pay a ton to get a better deck than you and then rage when they lose.
  79. roland265
    Jun 15, 2019
    0
    magic took a turn for the worse, the game itself was decent, now the game it's just horrendously slow, this game it's even slower, especially with player who take ages and the game let them do that, combo who actually tilt the game and thing like that, instead of banning, the dev allow them and then after a lot of time ban one of the card, a lot of time the game feel very scripted (2 landsmagic took a turn for the worse, the game itself was decent, now the game it's just horrendously slow, this game it's even slower, especially with player who take ages and the game let them do that, combo who actually tilt the game and thing like that, instead of banning, the dev allow them and then after a lot of time ban one of the card, a lot of time the game feel very scripted (2 lands in hand starting for 5-6 consecutive games is very suspicious, even games in which you seems to be play always the opposite of your deck and so on)… Expand
  80. gaw0319
    Jul 29, 2019
    0
    It's the most blatant example of a rigged cashgrab I've ever encountered in gaming (trust me, the user score is deserved here, it really is that bad). Anyone familiar with statistics would realize after a few days or weeks of playing that everything, the card draw, the matchmaking, everything that should be 'random', is fixed carefully to get you to win and lose on a particular schedule,It's the most blatant example of a rigged cashgrab I've ever encountered in gaming (trust me, the user score is deserved here, it really is that bad). Anyone familiar with statistics would realize after a few days or weeks of playing that everything, the card draw, the matchmaking, everything that should be 'random', is fixed carefully to get you to win and lose on a particular schedule, and get you to spend as much money as you possibly can on the game in the face of regularly-scheduled defeats. Example: Playing a fairly competitive deck with 25 lands, wining more or less consistently for an hour or so, and then, in quite literally the next 8 out of 10 games, not a single land in the starting hand, or on the first mulligan. The statistical chances of this being random chance are enormously, astronomically improbable.
    The 'big business stink' of pay-to-win becomes quickly apparent after finishing the tutorial. It's too bad - The visuals and sounds are good. It could have been a fun game, only if the parent company wasn't so f****** scummy.    … Expand
  81. Krefted
    Feb 13, 2023
    0
    Don't listen to the reviews from players that are just bad. There's a guy crying about Gigantosaurus lol. Coming from a spike though, Magic The Gathering is the greatest game ever made but Arena is a poor approximation of it. Biggest problem is alchemy. That is the cancer that has infected Arena and secured its steep decline. For those unaware, alchemy is digital only mechanics aka fakeDon't listen to the reviews from players that are just bad. There's a guy crying about Gigantosaurus lol. Coming from a spike though, Magic The Gathering is the greatest game ever made but Arena is a poor approximation of it. Biggest problem is alchemy. That is the cancer that has infected Arena and secured its steep decline. For those unaware, alchemy is digital only mechanics aka fake cards. Diverging from paper is a horrible mistake, but the biggest issue is it infected a lot of people's favorite format historic. You can no longer play historic without encountering fake cards or them changing how your cards function. Yes you read that right, the buff or nerf cards to make them different from paper. Blasphemy. The Explorer format however has saved Arena. It is pioneer lite without any fake card nonsense, but it's missing a lot of cards still. Once it gets to the point where you can play every single top 20 pioneer deck exactly like how you could in paper or MTGO I'll change my review to 10 stars.… Expand
  82. Rakshasa
    Jul 18, 2019
    0
    I am a 25 year player and I sent photo proof to Wizards as the land algorithm is wrong so unplayable fairly. You may put mid range decks with many lands but I play aggro and 13-14 of 18 lands come in the first 30 of 60 cards every 3rd game orrr no land in every fifth game. No land is acceptable as 18 lands but the other is more common.
  83. DannyDerpson
    Jan 30, 2020
    0
    The game is full of bugs, crashes every 10 to 15 minutes and full of annoying badly designed cards. I regret i ever spent money on this digital pile of crap.
  84. Inghak
    Feb 3, 2020
    0
    Игра просто убогая и будет убогой, не смотря на все механики и красоты, пока не сделают нормальный рандомайзер колоды. Получать по 10 земель подряд или не получать их вообще реально задолбало.
  85. MkyRvs
    Mar 5, 2020
    0
    377/5000
    I would only recommend this game if you want to get frustrated by:
    - That the lands never touch you - You don't know why there are days where you never start and others where you start all the time - While in free, if at any time you invest money with the rotation you lose everything - There is no tournament mode between players - They don't take the time to review criticisms and    377/5000
    I would only recommend this game if you want to get frustrated by:
    - That the lands never touch you
    - You don't know why there are days where you never start and others where you start all the time
    - While in free, if at any time you invest money with the rotation you lose everything
    - There is no tournament mode between players
    - They don't take the time to review criticisms and improve the game    … Expand
  86. JonBrunone
    Nov 20, 2020
    0
    MTG Arena’s shuffling algorithm is by far the worst. It makes this game unbearable. Do not spend your money on this game. If you go on a 3 game win streak, you will experience the inability to draw a land card for 6 turns, or, you’ll only draw lands for 5-6?turns. Game is absolutely terrible.
  87. DELETE_ARENA
    Apr 18, 2020
    0
    Basic pay to win design but that is not the worst part. The game has a horrible internet connectivity issues. You can only play on a wired connection even if you have high speed wifi. Their game pass is only good for a couple months but if you buy it a few days before a new card set drops then it become unusable and you need to pay again, no joke. I was also charged a foreign transactionBasic pay to win design but that is not the worst part. The game has a horrible internet connectivity issues. You can only play on a wired connection even if you have high speed wifi. Their game pass is only good for a couple months but if you buy it a few days before a new card set drops then it become unusable and you need to pay again, no joke. I was also charged a foreign transaction fee from my bank and their customer service told me to just delete my account if I was not satisfied, how is that helpful?

    NO OTHER ONLINE GAME HAS SUCH WIDESPREAD CONNECTIVITY ISSUES.    … Expand
  88. gewn
    May 1, 2020
    0
    The user interface constantly ruins the user experience. I feel unsafe making purchases because I feel like they are either negligently or purposefully designed to make you make less wasteful purchases that don't give you the cards you think you'll be receiving. I would never feel comfortable letting my teenager or child playing this game purely for the terrible design of the shop. Also aThe user interface constantly ruins the user experience. I feel unsafe making purchases because I feel like they are either negligently or purposefully designed to make you make less wasteful purchases that don't give you the cards you think you'll be receiving. I would never feel comfortable letting my teenager or child playing this game purely for the terrible design of the shop. Also a lot of the designs for the cards don't carry over well into the game. The game is also desperate to place you into poorly matched games against random players, while making it kind of difficult to play with your friends which has always been way more important to me when playing MTG. Overall huge disappointment. A lot of room for improvement.… Expand
  89. DaSalmon
    May 2, 2020
    0
    Been playing since Alpha/Beta. The only review you need to read of this game:
    Pros:
    -Free to play(sort of). -Interface is quick and fast. -A huge visual and usability step up from MTGO. Cons: -It's literally rigged. You don't spend money? Grinding out too many wins and unlocking free cards? Have fun going first 30% or less of the time. That'll stop you! -It's rigged even further    Been playing since Alpha/Beta. The only review you need to read of this game:
    Pros:
    -Free to play(sort of).
    -Interface is quick and fast.
    -A huge visual and usability step up from MTGO.

    Cons:
    -It's literally rigged. You don't spend money? Grinding out too many wins and unlocking free cards? Have fun going first 30% or less of the time. That'll stop you!
    -It's rigged even further by keyword logging what your deck type is and is good/bad versus. If you win too much, you'll get matched by nonsense decks that are purely designed to beat you. (You can get around this usually by building an infinite mana combo deck where you go off and win in one single turn in which you take so long to win your opponent's concede before you win so it has no idea exactly how you're winning, lol.)
    -Heavily pay to win on a competitive level, and it requires a ridiculous amount of money just like the filthiest mobile phone games.
    -Magic the Gathering as a whole currently has serious power creep and card balance issues so Standard is almost never fun to play, and they often forget to ban certain format ruining cards in the for-fun formats.
    -Shuffler in best of one has some randomization issues(unless you mulligan or shuffle your deck 1 time.) This has been confirmed, and never fixed for whatever reason. Basically in best of one games the less land you have in your starting hand the less chance you have to draw more land. Inversely the more land you have in your starting hand he more likely you will be to draw more land. This is seriously abusable and has caused many mono colored decks to win far more often than they should including allowing them to get away with playing 13 lands in a 60 card deck.
    -Feedback from the community was originally being listened to during MTGA's beta, but once they setup their current bug report/support system issues that have been upvoted to high heavens and complained about are never dealt with and left to remind you they were only ever in it for the cash grab in the first place.    … Expand
  90. C_Bat
    Feb 4, 2021
    0
    This is the company that killed Hex? The card effects don't work correctly & this game feels and looks like it is from 20 years ago
  91. neilmagic
    Apr 20, 2021
    0
    Won't allow me to install the game on mobile, so 0/10

    Stop arbitrarily locking out devices, it's random discrimination
  92. Terpreynolds
    Aug 16, 2020
    0
    Another rigged **** Tencent china game. Don't believe me just check there mtg arena forums literally as post with 12,000 reply on how this game is rigged **** But its a china tencent game and they don't care about anything but your money till the well runs dry then its off to another scam.
  93. FelisMortis
    Aug 19, 2020
    0
    Uses a "hand smoothing algorithm" which results in unrealistic draws, basically invalidating the entire game.
  94. lCaptainBob
    Aug 15, 2022
    0
    The software is **** garbage. The only way to make the game play smoothly on lower end PCs is to lower the resolution to the point that the text becomes unreadable. The reconnect feature doesn't work, it will pop up a message with the options to "reconnect" or "log out" and it can't be dismissed, even if the connection is back and you can clearly see your opponent playing in theThe software is **** garbage. The only way to make the game play smoothly on lower end PCs is to lower the resolution to the point that the text becomes unreadable. The reconnect feature doesn't work, it will pop up a message with the options to "reconnect" or "log out" and it can't be dismissed, even if the connection is back and you can clearly see your opponent playing in the background, so the only way to get rid of the message is to hit reconnect, which will disconnect you from the match and not even kick you to the home screen but instead basically restart the program and then take a long-ass time reconnecting you. In this time, the game will have skipped over your turn and not even have used your timeouts.
    Animations can't be disabled which makes the game run even worse. Sometimes the game gets stuck loading the home screen after a match, forcing me to alt-f4 and restart in order to get a new game.
    The game will also randomly reset to max resolution causing freezing and bad performance.

    As for the gameplay side of things, I'll spend a week grinding enough gold to play best-of-three draft, which is the only format I really enjoy only to get disconnected out of a winning position and basically waste the 10.000 gold entry fee.

    If you are a newcomer to Magic, maybe you will enjoy your time, but If you are a paper player don't bother with this game, it's just suffering for the sake of it.

    2022 edit: Revised score from a 3 to a 0.    … Expand
  95. Simpson_761
    Jul 29, 2022
    0
    When a games storefront is updated daily but bugs are left unfixed forever... then I have an issue.
  96. WhyWizards
    Nov 10, 2020
    0
    Probably the worst Digital Card game in online game history...

    1. They only care about money... seriously there is no trade and most of your collection just eat digital dust. You need certain number of Rare or Mythic Wildcards in order to create a competitive deck (RDW is one of the closets decks for starters if you are f2p) 2. Worst Matchmaking system there will be a time that your    Probably the worst Digital Card game in online game history...

    1. They only care about money... seriously there is no trade and most of your collection just eat digital dust. You need certain number of Rare or Mythic Wildcards in order to create a competitive deck (RDW is one of the closets decks for starters if you are f2p)

    2. Worst Matchmaking system there will be a time that your deck will be paired to the your worst match up. Imagine that you are playing BO1 and you will lose 7 to 8 matches or worst 10 matches before you start facing the decks you are destined to win.

    3. Worst RNG or Algorithm in any game. I've played Yugioh in mobile and MTGO and I've got to say MTG Arena is rigged as fck...

    4. Their Customer Service is almost do not exist. You send them mails that you have issues or something and they won't give a damn at those. They do not even listen to the Criticisms

    5. They ban cards like there is absolutely no tomorrow. This is one of the problems in their Game Designers I hope they get a new one.

    6. I don't know but this happens to me. If you spend money for gems in the game you will be given a fantastic win rate but if you don't prepare for so many frustrations while playing the game. I started in April and I understand that I am just new in the game and lose a lot then comes May I spend money and wow I got Mythic Easily then June come I spent again money climb to Mythic so easily currently not spending any money in the game (with the exception of passes) and I really don't know why this game is not skill base anymore.

    I would recommend you guys play MTG Online instead.    … Expand
  97. BrickN
    Aug 2, 2021
    0
    Do you like playing the same copy pasted meta deck loaded with rares that some jackass paid $80 to get instead of earning it? Do you like overpriced cosmetics that are earnable through either literal months of play or just paying WotC $20? Do you like waiting 5 minutes for each turn as your opponent waits down the timer just to piss you off more? Then this is the game for you! Every deckDo you like playing the same copy pasted meta deck loaded with rares that some jackass paid $80 to get instead of earning it? Do you like overpriced cosmetics that are earnable through either literal months of play or just paying WotC $20? Do you like waiting 5 minutes for each turn as your opponent waits down the timer just to piss you off more? Then this is the game for you! Every deck in every format is just copied from the top 8 of the last tourney posted on MtG Goldfish, and you won't get anywhere on ladder if you aren't willing to sell your soul and play some godless affront to MtG that is control now. If I could rate this lower than 0 I would. Not only is this game a scam freemium version of MTGO, which actually had purpose and value, but it doesn't even let you play MtG in any of the actually fun community formats. Instead the game forces you to play the **** formats that WotC promotes and wants to make popular, but now one gives a **** about. To top it off, Wizards killed their world tour in favor of the twitch streamer focused pro tour which absolutely flopped so hard that it killed local competitive magic.

    Long story short, save yourself some pain and just invest in irl MtG or MTGO, but don't give the developers an ounce of credit by wasting your time on this travesty.    … Expand
  98. 12abb17
    Dec 30, 2020
    0
    Cash grab with manipulated shuffler and matchmaking. Avoid this one like it was covid-19
  99. LordDarkFox
    Jan 22, 2021
    0
    Wizards of the Coast's Arena game for Magic The Gathering is an anti-consumer money pit ...

    They use cheating algorithms to entice users to spend more and more money. Play the same people (usernames) over and over, same meta decks over and over, depending on the deck you (the player) decide to play. Play control and face mostly other control decks, etc. The worst part is hands are    Wizards of the Coast's Arena game for Magic The Gathering is an anti-consumer money pit ...

    They use cheating algorithms to entice users to spend more and more money.
    Play the same people (usernames) over and over, same meta decks over and over, depending on the deck you (the player) decide to play. Play control and face mostly other control decks, etc. The worst part is hands are shuffled the same way, mulligan and get same scenario like 1 mana in hand, the games algo picks the winner before the match starts, ever see someone draw land for 10 turns, you will if it means letting the whale player win.

    MTG Arena is broken and criminal    … Expand
  100. McLOVIN515
    Jan 25, 2021
    0
    Este juego es basura, lo mires por donde lo mires... Se desconecta cuando le da la gana, las constantes actualizaciones traen constantes bugs, pantallas negras, el mezclador está lejos de simular una partida real. Es otro juego que aún farmeando a diario nunca vas a conseguir todo si juegas gratuitamente, sumado al hecho de que no paran de añadir nuevas expansiones mensuales para sacarteEste juego es basura, lo mires por donde lo mires... Se desconecta cuando le da la gana, las constantes actualizaciones traen constantes bugs, pantallas negras, el mezclador está lejos de simular una partida real. Es otro juego que aún farmeando a diario nunca vas a conseguir todo si juegas gratuitamente, sumado al hecho de que no paran de añadir nuevas expansiones mensuales para sacarte los cuartos. Si no pagas te vas a ver con el mismo mazo todo el año, y reza por que no baneen cartas de tu mazo, porque sino todas esos comodines invertidos se van en cartas que jamás vas a volver a usar.
    Repito, basura es la palabra que mejor define a este intento de simulador del juego de cartas que ya de por sí es muy caro.    … Expand
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Awards & Rankings

28
#28 Best PC Game of 2018
27
#27 Most Discussed PC Game of 2018

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
84

Generally favorable reviews - based on 20 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 19 out of 20
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 20
  3. Negative: 0 out of 20
  1. LEVEL (Czech Republic)
    Feb 28, 2020
    100
    An excellent and faithful conversion of the iconic card game into a very welcoming computer free-to-play form. This is a hit. [Issue#300]
  2. Vandal
    Dec 18, 2019
    90
    This is the definitive Magic experience on PC. It’s free-to-play, but it’s incredibly well balanced and lets us enjoy it without hassle. If you enjoy card-based games, give it a try.
    Read full review
  3. GameSpace
    Dec 6, 2019
    80
    Magic: The Gathering Arena is an excellent entry point into the twenty-six-year-old franchise for new players and lovable for veteran players as well. While it’s generally a very fun experience, it’s not without technical issues.
    Read full review
See all critic reviews »