M:tG Faster, not better

[Chalkarts]

Went back to playing Magic after a long time away.
Had delusions of getting back in to tourney play like the old days.
Got into Arena to dip my toe back in.

The game has changed.
What happened to the strategic chess match I remember?
It feels like they just threw in cards to make the game play super fast and painfully simple.

It happens to all games when they get popular. It happened to MMOs, some TTRPGs have gone down that road, now the CCGs.
The execs get a taste of the cash and decide that they need to take a good profitable thing and make it "More accessible" to new players. To them, "accessible" means make it a faceroll and take all the money that comes with making lowest common denominator content while the demo that grew them walks away.

[Man_Over_Game]

The more cards matter, the more value they have. You can't have another print of another 3/2 card and call it "Interesting", so you give it something else that gives it value. Maybe it gives you 2 HP when it dies.

Well, that doesn't provide any benefit to the "engine" that your deck is revolved around, so maybe we throw that monster into a set designed around vampires, and how you use lifegain to hurt your enemies.

"Simple" and "Boring" doesn't sell. Things that matter sell. And to make things matter, you have to basically start with something weak that becomes strong in a niche (short-term lifegain into damage, for instance), or you just use things that are strong.

So you end up with themed decks that all work around a single mechanic for ruthless efficiency, or you see a few generically-powerful cards that work well in almost all decks they're put in (Sol Ring, Counters, etc).

I agree that MTG was more fun and interactive when it was slower, but that ends up with a lot of wasted and ignored cards.

Today, someone might buy a Dinosaur-Pirate deck that isn't all that great, just because it works enough and it has DINOSAURS AND PIRATES. The mechanics might be wonky and get stomped against someone who knows better, but it still sells and that's good enough.

MTG Arena, in particular, is a lot faster than RL deckbuilding due to the fact that you aren't building random decks of cards you've gathered in Arena. You're building most of your stuff off of prebuilt decks the game gave you, or you're modifying them using the free pickups you've earned as rewards to buy very specific cards for your combos or future decks. There aren't "Frankensteins" like you'd normally see.

[Personification]

Went back to playing Magic after a long time away.
Had delusions of getting back in to tourney play like the old days.
Got into Arena to dip my toe back in.

The game has changed.
What happened to the strategic chess match I remember?
It feels like they just threw in cards to make the game play super fast and painfully simple.

It happens to all games when they get popular. It happened to MMOs, some TTRPGs have gone down that road, now the CCGs.
The execs get a taste of the cash and decide that they need to take a good profitable thing and make it "More accessible" to new players. To them, "accessible" means make it a faceroll and take all the money that comes with making lowest common denominator content while the demo that grew them walks away.

I'm going to play something of a Creature - Devil Advisor here. Firstly, what is being said here, both by you and me, is subjective. There is no correct way to fun. Also, as I only started playing a little over two years ago I don't have experience with the game as it was before. With that said, I think some factors may have given you a disproportionately worse experience than can be expected from modern Magic. First of all, there are the points that MOG made about there being a certain amount of extra Timmy fun and Arena being somewhat more optimized even at the casual level. On top of that, Standard is currently in what seems to be the tail end of what many people, including the developers, consider to be unhealthily overpowered period. Specifically Throne of Eldraine, which contains most of the power creep and frustrating cards, is going to be rotating out with the release of the next set, and the game will be healthier for it. I would recommend playing the standard 2022 format on Arena, which only contains the sets that won't be rotating out. Also, if you remember liking limited at all (or even if you don't) I highly recommend at least trying out some limited on Arena. The economy kind of sucks so to play a lot you have to either be very good and get your gems back, pay, or grind, but despite the admitted mistakes of constructed from the past year or two, since I started playing their hasn't been a single limited format that I don't consider to be a slam dunk. Plus, they are giving everyone a free Amonkhet Remastered draft ticket for the next five days (and a free Kaladesh Remastered ticket for the five days after and a free Ikoria draft ticket for the five days after that) so you might as well give it a shot.

tl;dr - Standard is at the end of an unhealthy period, and looks like it will improve a ton post rotation, and limited has been consistently great for several years, and you can play a draft free every five days for the next two weeks.

If any of what I have said has been enough to bring you back into the game, please join us in the dedicated M:tG thread, we'd love to have you there.

[LansXero]

You can always play Commander with your old cards if you dont like where Standard is at.

[Avaris]

Also, try limited formats like draft or sealed. On Arena, everyone has easy access to the very best cards in a format, which is great for people being able to participate, but means most people’s decks are optimised, resulting in a lot of sameness. Draft and Sealed have much more in the way of strategic choice IMO.

[Zuras]

When exactly was Magic a strategic chess match? Don’t get me wrong, there’s plenty of strategy in Magic, but it’s mostly a poker game of forcing your opponent to reveal their intentions so you can foil their plans while keeping your own options open.

As for the speed of games—constructed has always been a pretty fast environment, with only brief interludes of a slower pace after Wizards realizes they went too far in their power creep and overreacts with some underpowered release cycles . If you want slower Magic, Commander or Draft is the way to go. It’s all still a game of limited information, bluff and counter-bluff though. If you want a slower paced chess match, you should try something like Summoner Wars.

[Man_Over_Game]

When exactly was Magic a strategic chess match? Don’t get me wrong, there’s plenty of strategy in Magic, but it’s mostly a poker game of forcing your opponent to reveal their intentions so you can foil their plans while keeping your own options open.

Conspiracy drafts. Probably my favorite gamemode of all time. Throw out the Monarch token and now everyone's best-laid plans go to **** as they try to wrestle each other for that damn card draw.

Otherwise, I agree. MTG is a game where the best plans are the ones your opponent can't play against. Hexproof, Flash, Split-Second, Bounce; there's a reason all of those are really powerful effects. MTG is about ensuring your opponent can't play, so it becomes less and less "game" the better at it you get. You'd need a lot of rules in place with all of the other players for a fair, interactive game (like Conspiracy draft, for instance).

It took me years to realize how much I hated MTG, which I realize was partially because I was getting better at it (and having to resort to tactics I hated to win). It actually helped fuel the motivation I needed to start making my own combat card game. Not a TCG or anything, more like a deckbuilder like Star Realms, and I hope to instill in it the values that MTG seems to have tossed aside.

[Tvtyrant]

Went back to playing Magic after a long time away.
Had delusions of getting back in to tourney play like the old days.
Got into Arena to dip my toe back in.

The game has changed.
What happened to the strategic chess match I remember?
It feels like they just threw in cards to make the game play super fast and painfully simple.

It happens to all games when they get popular. It happened to MMOs, some TTRPGs have gone down that road, now the CCGs.
The execs get a taste of the cash and decide that they need to take a good profitable thing and make it "More accessible" to new players. To them, "accessible" means make it a faceroll and take all the money that comes with making lowest common denominator content while the demo that grew them walks away.

You aren't wrong, the game is getting faster and faster. Luckily there are alternative formats like Old School and Premodern that you can play that use older card designs and slower formats.

[Erloas]

Well let's just say that the game literally can't get any faster than was possibly very early on. There were quite a few turn 1 win combos possible and others that took just a couple turns. Red burn decks have been around since very early on and they were always win really fast or die.

The other big potential problem is the players in an area. There were plenty of decks that could win or loose but they weren't any fun to play against in either case.

The style of gameplay changes over time and now might not be a time that fits as well with your preferred play style

[Tvtyrant]

Well let's just say that the game literally can't get any faster than was possibly very early on. There were quite a few turn 1 win combos possible and others that took just a couple turns. Red burn decks have been around since very early on and they were always win really fast or die.

The other big potential problem is the players in an area. There were plenty of decks that could win or loose but they weren't any fun to play against in either case.

The style of gameplay changes over time and now might not be a time that fits as well with your preferred play style

There is also a consistency difference though. For instance Sligh is old as the hills, but it was several turns slower then it is now and control was much stronger. Red blitz decks and UR blitz decks are two turns faster and breathtakingly consistent at this point. Xerox was always a good deck, but it was stuck with 1/1s that slowly grew to being big in the Miracle Grow days and Death's Shadow has 10/10s on turn 3 with counterspell backup.

Watching people play The Deck for another example, they frequently would just ignore creatures and just wait to draw a board wipe because the creatures killed so slowly.

[LansXero]

When exactly was Magic a strategic chess match?

When you and your friends are both bad enough and broke enough.