As a digital game, MTG Arena is obviously distinct from traditional paper Magic: the Gathering in a number of ways. Many of these, such as the game’s accessibility and portability, are undeniably good things. Other digital elements aren’t so beloved, however, such as the game’s somewhat troubled economy.
While Wizards has recently been improving this aspect of MTG Arena, for years it’s been the bane of players’ existence. Thankfully, however, another digital-exclusive MTG Arena element is accidentally fixing that problem. As, in a weird twist of fate, an MTG Arena bug is actually improving the game’s economy!
Being a digital game, unfortunately, bugs and technical issues are an unavoidable part of MTG Arena’s existence. As you might expect, these bugs are typically the opposite of a good thing. After all, they can seriously disrupt play and ruin games. This was especially true for the recent Ninja’s Kunai combo bug that wrought havoc upon Arena.
For better or worse, it seems not all bugs are as bad as this game-breaking combo. In fact, in the eyes of some players, a newly reemerged bug was, briefly, an incredibly good thing.
Not So Daily Daily Quests
Prior to the launch of March of the Machine on MTG Arena earlier today, Rather than behaving as normal, tracking progression before being completed, these quests simply weren’t going away. Stopping at one tick away from competition, players are left no longer able to finish their quests.
On the surface, this may have understandably seemed like a massive problem. After all, many MTG players are currently racing to complete their quests ahead of March of the Machine’s launch. In reality, however, this bug proved to be a blessing in disguise for players eager to make some quick cash.
Rather than this bug solely stopping MTG players from completing their quests outright, it instead seems to not be removing quests after completion. This meant that MTG players are able to finish their quests and receive the rewards over and over again. Since quests are locked with just one tick to go, this can often be done with just a single card being played.
As you can imagine, this bug allowed MTG players to farm out an immense amount of gold with incredible ease. Boasting about this on Reddit were players such as u/Mitchell_S-Y, who also noted this bug wasn’t entirely brand new. “I’ve encountered this maybe about 2 years ago, every set I try and replicate the effect. So far I’ve managed to do it 5 times. Each time I grind anywhere between 50k to 200k gold.”
A Word of Warning
Across social media, many MTG players understandably lauded this bug for allowing them to farm out gold quickly. From all this positivity, you may think this bug is a very good thing, for players at least. In reality, however, this reappearing bug may be doing more harm than good to Arena.
Prior to March of the Machine’s launch, playing a match on MTG Arena is a total mess. As, in order to farm out as many wins as possible, opportunistic players weren’t playing fair. Rather than playing each match to completion, many players are instead just casting a single card before conceding. Technically, this did mean a win for you, however, it obviously wasn’t too fun to play against.
Unfortunately, due to the litany of players currently trying to farm this bug, finding a legitimate match was a serious struggle. Thankfully, now that March of the Machine has launched, this problem has mercifully gone away. While this should be mean business as usual, it’s probably best you don’t go abusing this bug if it reappears.
Currently, Wizards has not addressed the existence, nor abuse of this bug by players. It is possible, however, that one WotC gets wind of the situation, they won’t be best pleased. Subsequently, it’s possible Wizards may bring out the ban hammer once more on players who have abused this bug. If that does happen, obviously you’ll want to be on the safe side so as to not risk your entire account.
Actual Economy Fixes
Thankfully, while this bug may have helped some players alleviate their economic woes, it’s not the only fix helping players. In a recent blog post, Wizards announced an update to their reprint policy which should help improve the overall economy. Combatting the tide of new reprints in Multiverse Legends, Wizards is now effectively preventing players from getting duplicate cards.
For the Multiverse Legends Booster Sheet, MTG players won’t have to open countless packs in order to build up a collection of a card they already own, just with different art. Instead, upon finding a Multiverse Legends card within a pack, players will be awarded a “card style” alongside the card. This allows players to use their existing copies of a card, rather than having to double up.
If you don’t already have a maxed-out collection and are concerned by this change, worry not. Unless you have four copies of a card on the Bonus Sheet, everything will completely normal. It’s only when you have four copies that you’ll stop receiving additional and unneeded Multiverse Legends cards.
Overall, while this may not be the most monumental change, it should nevertheless help improve the economy. After all, it will prevent players from getting wasted rares or spending wildcards on gorgeous, but ultimately unnecessary art. Subsequently, we certainly hope this feature will be one that reappears frequently in the future. Whether or not it does, however, remains to be seen.
Read More: MTG Surprises Players With Good News About Bonus Sheets
