Last December, I decided to install MTGA and see what it’s
all about. I did it because of two reasons. First, I was writing an article
about why Arena is actually good for MTGO players in the long term. Second, I
wanted to have a foot in the door of Arena just in case WotC starts offering
paths to actual tournaments through Arena play. Nine months later, here we are.
Before I started Arena, I was playing MTGO a few hours every day. I take weeklong
breaks every once in a while, but I’ve been consistent in this habit. Before
long, I had gone months without playing MTGO, and only play Arena for 1-2 hours
a day versus about double those numbers when I was doing MTGO. I still played
every once in a while on MTGO, doing some sealed when a new set is released
(and when it becomes very cheap to do towards the end of the season) and doing
some pauper leagues every now and then, but for the past 9 months, I have
primarily played Arena.
Now, where has this gotten me? That is the point of this
article. In the following sections, I break down the good, the bad, and the
ugly of my 9-month foray into MTGA. Hopefully, this can be useful to those who
are thinking of transitioning from one platform to the other.
The Good
I play a lot less of MTGA per day than I did with MTGO. Much
of this has to do with matches on MTGO all being BO3, and so it really takes
some time to finish a 5-match constructed league or a 9-match sealed league. Also,
this has to do with what I want to get out of playing, which is primarily that
bit of a high from winning. In MTGA, I can spend an hour and get a 7-x from a
constructed event or jump from platinum 4 to platinum 2 or maybe even further. That’s
enough to satisfy me for the day. On MTGO, a league takes at least 2 hours to
finish, and it’s more common for me to end up at 3-2 than something better (or
worse). So I’ve come to take 3-2 as a win, but really, winning 1 treasure chest
after over 2 hours of play hardly evokes a rewarding feeling.
After 9 months, I’ve come to understand the economy of MTGA
and I do like it better than MTGO. Now, good MTGO players may read this and
have their arms up in the air as though shouting “what economy? It’s a money
sink!” It’s true, you cannot cash out of Arena whereas you can make what would
even be regarded as a livable wage in some 3rd world countries from
playing MTGO. However, if your intention is to play standard format magic
competitively, it is far easier to do this on MTGA’s economy than MTGO’s. In
MTGO, playing standard competitively takes a lot more effort because not only
do you have to be good at magic, you have to be attentive to the secondary
market as well. You want to buy staples when they hit their lows and sell hyped
duds when they are at the height of their hype. Doing this with any level of
consistency has not been my strong point. I have gotten lucky a few times (e.g.
bought 5 sets of radiant destiny on set release at about $1 ea sold all but 1
set for $5 ea over the weekend), but I also have a few carnage tyrants, a Lyra,
a set of Jadelight rangers, and many other staples that I was unable to unload
in time before their prices were decimated. On Arena, there is no secondary
market. Instead, it is feasible to just collect all the cards. Currently, I have
nearly all the rares from GRN to Core 20 and about 80% of all mythics. In
addition, I have enough gems and gold to make short work of completing TED
within a month after its release. I can then just cycle all the resources I
spent back by playing and have at least the same resources ready for the next
expansion. I never have to worry about which cards would eventually become
duds, or at which point the value of staples would evaporate because I have all
of them.
The Bad
Recently, I made some calculations on the amount of
resources I have accumulated from Arena priced according to how much value the
cards would have if I had them on MTGO. At present, the cost of all
standard cards on MTGO is $382. In sets, that’s $1528. However, some of those
cards are from rotating sets so the total value would likely be closer to $1490
(rotating cards are worth very little on MTGO). Add to this the gold I
accumulated and we can peg the total to about $1600. Sadly, when I compare this
to my records on how much I have accumulated and cashed out of MTGO on average
in 9 months of my regular play, $1600 falls short by about 30%. The fact that I
cannot cash this out of MTGA makes this realization even worse.
So, I guess I was right when I wrote this article where I
claimed that choosing MTGA over MTGO is still a value-negative proposition. Playing
MTGA carries with it a premium cost over MTGO, which is I guess is reasonable
since MTGA is made for players to have fun and enjoy MTG, whereas MTGO lacks
all the bells and whistles and requires much more effort in terms of managing
one's assets. Was it worth it? I honestly do not have an answer for that. However,
I have resolved to start doing more MTGO limited when TED comes out, and find a
way to balance playing on two platforms. I am still intent on playing standard
exclusively on MTGA.
The Ugly
Honestly? All the drama. MTGO does not have drama and I have
not felt the need to post anything on the MTGO sub unless I require some
information. What’s more, the issues that the dramas are about are either so compelling
or so asinine that they rarely fail to get a rouse out of me; and I wonder, factoring
in the time I take to indulge in engaging in the online melees, if I end up
saving any time at all. However, I also cannot deny that engaging in argument
is something that I do enjoy on occasion, and I guess all the drama is part of
what makes MTGA a success. There would not be a lot of people complaining if
there were not a lot of people playing the game in the first place.
May the shuffler be with you.
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