Despite its strengths, at its core, MTG Arena is a digital video game. As a result, the game is often hit with bugs and issues that players are powerless to fix. Sadly, no amount of understanding layers will help you when the servers are simply offline.
Thankfully, knowing that no one enjoys being unable to play, Wizards typically fixes issues rather quickly. This has led to MTG Arena being enjoyably stable in recent months, as many bugs have been stamped out. Some unfortunate issues may persist, the game is hardly breaking every other week. Well, until recently, at least…
Over the past few weeks, MTG players have been baffled to see bugs popping up one after the other. Breaking ban lists, formats, and now core features, MTG Arena has been having a very tough time recently. So much so, in fact, that it’s rather starting to spoil the 5th-anniversary celebrations going on.
Too Much of a Good Thing
Typically, MTG Arena players will want every bug in the game to be fixed. After all, they’re usually genuine problems that get in the way of gameplay. Somewhat miraculously, however, that isn’t actually always the case. Previously, and now, for that matter, some MTG Arena bugs are actually good for players.
One of the most longstanding examples of this was a beloved gold farming bug that kept cropping up. Appearing before every set release, this bug allowed players to farm gold at remarkable rates as quests didn’t disappear. As you can imagine, MTG Arena players didn’t exactly want this bug to go away, as gold can be exchanged for goods and services.
Sadly, despite what players might have wanted, at the end of the day, this was a bug. Subsequently, Wizards of the Coast patched it and removed this exploit from the past few set releases. While this development was obviously disappointing to fans, recently, we’ve seen another wave of unexpected generosity.
Following on from the latest major MTG Arena bug which removed Premier Draft, Wizards apologized to players. Issuing that apology in the form of a free Draft Token and XP, Wizards made the two-day wait worthwhile. For some players, this was especially true, as many reported receiving double the intended reward via the player inbox.
Considering the 1500 gem ($10) value of each Draft token, and the XP to boot, this obviously made some players very happy. Wizards, on the other hand, seemed to not quite enjoy this unexpected generosity. Shortly after reports of double rewards started circulating, the Player Inbox feature was effectively removed with all mail being paused.
The Waiting Game… Again
Currently, on the MTG Arena Status Page, the broken player inbox is the only persistent issue. Identified on the 25th of September, there’s currently no telling when this issue will be fixed. Obviously, we’re certainly hoping it won’t take long as there are rewards to claim!
Beyond the apologetic player Draft token being available, it’s also MTG Arena’s 5th anniversary right now. To celebrate this event, Wizards has been giving out goodies each day for players via the Player Inbox. With Wildcards and Packs being given away so far, players definitely don’t want to be missing out.
Sadly, looking at the current Status Page report, it’s unclear what will happen to the planned rewards during the downtime. All that is stated is that “Once the issues are resolved, we will continue our messaging and rewards as planned.” Hopefully, this statement means the celebrations will be extended so no planned rewards are skipped. Whether or not this hope is accurate, however, remains to be seen.
In the meantime, all MTG Arena players can really do is wait. Thankfully, at the moment the game is still fully functional, so playing Arena is a good way to pass the time. Alternatively, there are also players making memes out of the situation, poking fun at this and recent debacles. Unsurprisingly, there are also players teasing about further compensation, as obviously this injustice needs to be rectified.
Unfortunately for hopeful players, there’s currently no indication there will be any additional compensation for this latest MTG Arena error. Given past precedent, however, there’s definitely a slim chance that players will receive even more extra goodies for doing nothing at all.
Read More: MTG Arena Might Be Getting a Vintage Format Soon!
