Great way to play draft without being harassed by LGS regulars for being transgender.
Jokes aside, the strength of magic comes from the freedom. Play cube, play commander, play on the hard concrete. Play with proxies instead of supporting the insane secondary market. Arena doesn't allow for any of this. It's convenient and accessible but it's also rigid. Taking out the social element can be a positive or a negative (my opening statement wasn't exactly a joke), but it kills the soul of the game in the end. The game as a system is incredible, but Arena is very enclosed. They want you to play all the worst configurations because those are the most profitable ones.
So yeah the monetization sucks really hard, but the same of true of the game overall. The cards come in Booster Packs™ for fucks sake. I've heard people say they don't like Arena because you can't resell cards like you can in real life. I've seen people buy entire display boxes of packs because it's "good average value". I like the game as a game, but as a product I've always thought it's a bit of a nightmare. I don't like what it does to people. Arena isn't really any better or worse, just different.
When the stars align and you end up playing a good format without feeling like you've been robbed, it's really incredible. That is also true of Arena. A lot of recent sets have been incredible for drafting, and I had a stretch some years ago where I was really enjoying Historic. Even so, without a group of friends to mutually enable each other, it's hard to continue to justify. Arena doesn't have that sense of community. Those stars won't align consistently.
Over the course of life I've lost the community that used to support this game that I love, so Arena feels like the only option left. It's a good adaptation of the paper game from a business perspective, but not beyond that. It captures fleeting moments of that enjoyment but they feel hollow. I wish I didn't feel so cynical about it all, because I really do love playing Magic. The "playing" part is the only part that doesn't leave a bad taste in my mouth.
Jokes aside, the strength of magic comes from the freedom. Play cube, play commander, play on the hard concrete. Play with proxies instead of supporting the insane secondary market. Arena doesn't allow for any of this. It's convenient and accessible but it's also rigid. Taking out the social element can be a positive or a negative (my opening statement wasn't exactly a joke), but it kills the soul of the game in the end. The game as a system is incredible, but Arena is very enclosed. They want you to play all the worst configurations because those are the most profitable ones.
So yeah the monetization sucks really hard, but the same of true of the game overall. The cards come in Booster Packs™ for fucks sake. I've heard people say they don't like Arena because you can't resell cards like you can in real life. I've seen people buy entire display boxes of packs because it's "good average value". I like the game as a game, but as a product I've always thought it's a bit of a nightmare. I don't like what it does to people. Arena isn't really any better or worse, just different.
When the stars align and you end up playing a good format without feeling like you've been robbed, it's really incredible. That is also true of Arena. A lot of recent sets have been incredible for drafting, and I had a stretch some years ago where I was really enjoying Historic. Even so, without a group of friends to mutually enable each other, it's hard to continue to justify. Arena doesn't have that sense of community. Those stars won't align consistently.
Over the course of life I've lost the community that used to support this game that I love, so Arena feels like the only option left. It's a good adaptation of the paper game from a business perspective, but not beyond that. It captures fleeting moments of that enjoyment but they feel hollow. I wish I didn't feel so cynical about it all, because I really do love playing Magic. The "playing" part is the only part that doesn't leave a bad taste in my mouth.