I Rage Quit Arena. Then I Checked the Receipts.

I Rage Quit Arena. Then I Checked the Receipts.

I just closed Arena harder than a Wrath of God on my own board. My first instinct was to scream “rigged.” My second was to ask whether I could prove it.

I can’t. But I did find some things worth being angry about:

1. You don’t own your cards. Wildcards can’t be traded with other players, and nothing you earn leaves the client. I’ve got 50,000+ paper cards I can sell, trade, or sleeve up. Arena gives me a license and a login. mtgrocks

2. The free ride is slow. One analysis says the free starting pool is small, and getting the exact cards you need takes a long time. To field a competitive deck before the next set arrives, you really need to pay for wildcards. Fair counterpoint: another outlet argues Arena is good for free-to-play players and isn’t really pay-to-win. I’d call it pay-to-keep-up. draftsimmtgrocks

3. It isn’t Commander. Wizards’ format page lists Brawl as a one-on-one format with 100 cards, 25 starting life, and best-of-one games. No table talk. No politics. No deciding whether to kill Iron Man. Everything I make content about is missing. wizards

4. The card pool is whatever Wizards puts on Arena. Brawl commanders have to come from a set currently on Arena. My collection isn’t limited that way. wizards

None of this means the shuffler is rigged. It means the game was designed around different priorities than mine.

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