The 5th anniversary of Magic: The Gathering Arena has been canceled for now, as the game is mired with multiple technical issues.
The timing could not have come at a more inopportune moment, as it comes hot off the heels of the successful Magic: The Gathering World Championship XXIX.
Given the buzz and interest generated by the crowning of Jean-Emmanuel Depraz as Magic World Champion and winning with an Esper Legends deck, this could have been the best time to bring in new players to the digital version of the collectible card game.
Wizards of the Coast’s Magic: The Gathering Arena team (aka Magic Digital) issued an apology and updates via the official website on what the technical issues were and what the status currently is of the MTGA Fifth Anniversary.
"Well, this last week sure hasn't gone as we planned." Check out the article below for a game update by MTG Arena's Executive Producer, Chris Kiritz.
📖 Read here: https://t.co/8j9NeI1GEm
— MTG Arena (@MTG_Arena) September 28, 2023
According to Magic Digital Executive Producer Chris Kiritz:
The short answer is, we’re working on it but don’t have an official timeline yet. For many, the game is fine, but there are certain areas that are still experiencing issues that we’re troubleshooting. As a steward of this game that so many play each day, I know this isn’t a fulfilling answer, but it is where we are right now, and for that we’re sorry.
Kiritz goes on to say that “most areas of the game are currently stable and functional”.
However, the Magic: The Gathering Arena inbox is still disabled, thus the second half of the gifts to commemorate the game’s fifth year anniversary are still on hold. On a slightly more positive note, the Premier Drafts modes are running after an extended absence, although the complaints of players affected by the outage in the middle of the draft games have not been fully resolved.
Consequently, the MTGA team is still working on fixing all the ongoing technical issues, particularly with the server. Magic: The Gathering Arena know this as a form of lag death, as it can lead to a defeat during a match if the server connection acts up before they can reconnect.
As Kiritz puts it, they are “minimizing some of our symptoms, but we’ve not yet cured the illness. He adds:
We’ll need to deploy additional fixes over the next week or two as we identify solutions to issues, and while we’d expect those deployments to be like our normal release process, there is a chance a full system outage may be required. If that is the case, then we’ll let players know the day prior to the outage.
The remainder of the MTGA post regarding the situation elaborated on what goes on behind the scenes of the game’s software engineering. The team’s senior software engineer (who was chiefly responsible for how the Premier Draft system was implemented in Magic: The Gathering Arena) provided a breakdown of the process before it goes live. The main difficulties apparently stems from database performance.
Built using the Unity game engine, MTGA tries to emulate the way cards are drafted in live Magic: The Gathering events. When new expansions like March of the Machine or Wilds of Eldraine are released, draft tournaments are usually held to coincide with it. MTG booster packs (usually 3) are opened and players choose one card and then pass the rest to the player next to them. The process continues until all cards have been selected and all booster packs have been exhausted.
From the cards a player selected during the draft, they then build at least a 40-card Magic: The Gathering deck. Players can choose any number of basic lands (i.e. Forest, Island, Mountain, Plains, Swamp) and in any combination to add as their base mana resource (aside from any lands they picked up from the booster draft).
While the Magic: The Gathering Arena does an adequate job in recreating the drafting of physical cards, there can be some issues that arise, particularly with the increasing number of cards with every expansion. Ben Smith concludes the update with the following message:
Now that the new draft code is in place, we are providing a more performant player experience with a better outcome in the unlikely event of a Premier Draft service crash.
If you’re a Magic: The Gathering Arena player, are you satisfied with this update from Wizards of the Coast’s Magic Digital team? What would you like to see MTGA do to compensate for the inconvenience and the delay of receiving the Magic: The Gathering 5th anniversary gifts?
Magic: The Gathering Arena is available for Windows PC, macOS, Android and iOS platforms.
