Magic Arena

Fallout Cards in MTG Arena

How come the fallout cards weren't in MTG Arena? I really wanted to add brahmin rancher to my deck

Digital rights vary property to property.

Magic Arena

Rules and Subtypes for Land Creatures

Is there a rules reason Omo cannot give all creature types to land creatures? Was that too confusing? Did it break something on arena? I’ve been pondering this and can’t figure it out.

You can’t give a subtype of a specific card type to a different type (with the exception that instants and sorceries share subtypes).

Card Types Creatures Instants Lands Magic Arena Rules Sorceries Subtypes

Definition of Sanctioned Play

When you say "sanctioned play is a teeny tiny percentage of Magic play" does that include officially supported digital formats on Arena and MTGO? What counts as "sanctioned play" digitally? Just tournaments with entry fees? Does the ladder count?

I was more focused on tabletop play. All digital play is sort of sanctioned.

Magic Arena Magic Online

Council Oversight for Arena Cards

Do cards exclusively on Magic Arena go through the Council of Colors?

They’re supposed to, yes.

Colors Council of colors Magic Arena

Foundations Set Origin

Hi. Happy Fourth of July. Was the original idea for the foundations set from the digital team? I am imagining a scenario where digital asked for a baseline of cards that would be “always available “ for players on arena.

No, it came from tabletop R&D.

Foundations Magic Arena

R&D Members Voice Acting

Is there anything to keep you or other R&D members from doing voice acting for Arena? Don't think anything could top a Vehicle themed Planeswalker entering play with a cry of "I'm pulling out of the driveway, aaand you know what that means!"

No one has ever asked. : )

Game Design Humor Magic Arena Planeswalkers Vehicles

Engaging with Remote Gameplay

There's literally no one for me to play Magic with where I live. It's a small, remote, middle of nowhere, and even if I wasn't, we're talking $15 for Core Set 2020 packs as the only Magic product. How can I engage with the game?

I would try Arena.

Core Set 2020 Game Play Magic Arena

Impact of Standard Rotation Changes

Does the change to 3-year standard rotations, have any impact on the ethos of “someone’s 1 or 2 is someone else’s 9 or 10”/“if everyone likes it but but no one loves it you fail”? For people that really don’t like something it’s then 3 whole years before the game moves on from it (in standard - the only format that does move on).
I’ve been playing on and off since 2004, got back in at the start of this year when my 2nd daughter was born and I got arena on my phone as something to do when sat up in the night. I’m okay with Innistrad and New Phyrexia but from what I’ve seen so far the horror vibe in Duskmourn is just too far for me, to the point that I’m doubting I’ll bother with Bloomburrow because I can’t see myself enjoying Duskmourn in standard all the way through to Autumn 2027, the year before my 6-month old daughter starts primary school.

Magic excels at providing lots of variety, so people can pick and choose what they want to play. It doesn’t excel at excluding things, because the thing you don’t like is someone else’s favorite thing. 9&10’s tend to come with 1&2’s because things that provoke reactions most often provoke positive *and* negative reaction.There are formats where you can only focus on the thing you like - limited formats & cube.

Bloomburrow Draft Formats Horror Innistrad Limited Magic Arena New Phyrexia Primary Provoke Standard

Message From Non-Player

It always makes me happy when a celeb as cool as you, sir, has a Tumblr account. BTW, sir, I've never played Magic, but it looks sick!

I don’t get a lot of mail from non-Magic players, but thanks for the kind words. There is a video game version of Magic called Magic: The Gathering: Arena which has a tutorial which is free to play, if you’d like to learn the game.

Blogatog / Tumblr Colors Magic Arena

Totem vs Umbra Armor Difference

Is there a difference I'm not seeing between totem and umbra armor? If not, why the rebrand?

Here’s the article that talks about it:
Card Updates Coming with Khans of Tarkir on MTG Arena

Khans of Tarkir Magic Arena

Getting Started Advice

I would like to get into Magic but I honestly have no idea where to even start! Would you have any suggestions?

Magic: Arena, a digital version of the game, has a good tutorial. It’s free and it only involves you and the computer.

Magic Arena

Commander Mode in Arena

Also, Commander is the most popular played format in tabletop. I believe Standard is still the most popular format played on digital.

Do you think this might be because Arena doesn't have a standardized Commander mode, and instead utilizes Historic Brawl as a close comparison?

That might play into it, but I assume the main reason is the desire for fast, competitive, one-on-one play.

Brawl Brawl Commander Competitive Play Historic Magic Arena Standard

Gamedev Inspiration

Hi Mark! (this might be too late but nonetheless) I'm a relatively new Magic player and while I have played several deckbuilders before I've really been enjoying my time with Magic (I play on Arena). But my first instance of seeing your work was actually the GDC presentation you gave way back when on the 20 lessons you learned on game design. I'm a hobbyist gamedev and I absolutely loved that talk! Its inspired me to think so differently about many things. Thanks again Mark!

I’m glad you enjoyed the talk. I’m super proud of it. It just passed 1,000,000 views a month ago.

Game Design Magic Arena

Cubing Rediscovery

Happy birthday, Mark!I rediscovered Magic during Kamigawa Neon Dynasty after not touching it since my childhood (around Lorwyn block). I tried almost every gamemode on Arena, as well as some EDH, but nothing quite captured the essence of Magic like drafting a cube for the first time.Since then, I've made five (!) cubes, and crafting & managing them has become one of my treasured hobbies. Making my own environments has made the game extremely fair and accessible for my less enfranchised friends, and it scratches the itches of my designer brain.Thank you for being such a big part of the game I love to tinker with!

Glad you found the expression you enjoy most.

Appreciation Birthday Commander Draft Formats Experienced / Enfranchised Players Lorwyn Magic Arena Tinker Treasure

Entry Points for Newbies

What does WotC consider the current entry points for new Magic players? And do you think something else is needed on that list? Without core sets or anything like that? The idea that the massive complexity and incredibly specific gameplay dynamics of Commander is a lot of people's first Magic experience now is honestly scary.

Arena’s tutorial and Commander games, where the player is being guided by all the other players, are currently the two most common entry points to Magic. The current product that’s most beginner friendly is Jumpstart.

Beginners Commander Game Play Magic Arena Wizards of the Coast

Attractions in Arena

What would it take to get Attractions in Arena?

Sadly, a lot.

Attractions Magic Arena

Game Trivia Request

Hi Mark!Today is my birthday, and instead of my usual questions about Roseanne, I would like a bit of trivia about Duels of the Planeswalkers, the 2009 game that helped me learn how to play Magic, and was a precursor to Arena.
Cheers!

Nissa, Ral, and Kiora were all originally made for Duels of the Planeswalkers, and were popular enough, we eventually made them planeswalker cards.

Birthday Magic Arena Planeswalkers

Limited Play Conversion

Im not a limited player - since strixhaven, when I hit back into magic, I tried at least one time to draft (thanks arena tokens) and decided “meh, not for me”. But now I tried OTJ and… that was fun! I’m learning a lot and find myself consuming content about limited and trying several drafts, and I can’t wait for my next OTJ draft. So, high-fives to everyone who made OTJ so fun in limited. You converted at least one die hard constructed player.

Happy to hear that.

Constructed Draft Formats Limited Magic Arena Outlaws of Thunder Junction Tokens

Issue with Reprinting Oko

I don't like the argument that because original Oko is at a higher rarity on a bonus sheet, it's impact in Limited is minimal so it's fine.

Not everyone plays on Magic Arena and does Limited events dozens of times. Some people only play Limited in paper a couple times or at a pre-release and it's extremely discouraging when the one or two times you play limited, you get bodied by a notoriously OP card that isn't even a mechanically new card.

Magic makes numerous different products, various products where they can reprint cards that aren't also used for Limited (i.e. collector boosters, FNM promos, Secret Lair, pre-constructed Commander decks) or even high powered reprint Masters sets that can be drafted.

I don't see why Oko needed to be in the Play Boosters and I thought the same about Ragavan in March of the Machine. If it's thematically important to release the reprint associated with the set, then why not just do it in collector boosters?

One thing I don't like about all of these bonus sheets is it means in nearly every limited environment with them, the best and most powerful cards are oftentimes old cards that I'd played with or against rather than the new cards I want to be excited for.

Let’s see what the Question Mark’s think about this specific topic.
Should Oko, Thief of Crowns be on the Outlaws of Thunder Junction Breaking News bonus sheet?Yes No Don’t care See Results

Blogatog / Tumblr Bonus Sheets Boosters Collector Boosters Commander Decks Limited Magic Arena March of the Machine Oko, Thief of Crowns Outlaws of Thunder Junction Play Boosters Promos Rarity Rarity Reprints Sealed Format Secret Lairs

Arena Wombo Combo

Hey Mark! Just wanted to say that I started playing Arena again explicitly because of The Big Score and the cards in it. Worldwalker Helm + Simulacrum Synthasizer is such a fun wombo combo that it brought me, a Commander player, to standard so I can play it more. Please distribute high fives to those who where involved with these designs.

Will do!

Big Score Commander High Fives Magic Arena Simulacrum Standard The Big Score Worldwalker Helm