MTG Arena has come a long way since it was first released all the way back in 2019. New formats and features have kept the game moving along nicely and steadily amassing players. Despite this, one feature has always been missing, much to the dismay of players. There’s no true Commander format on MTG Arena.
Technically, Brawl is available as the next best thing, but this is hardly a perfect replacement. Offering a comparatively meager selection of cards and no multiplayer, Brawl isn’t really a true Commander replacement. Due to this, MTG Arena players have long been wondering when Commander would finally be implemented.
Recently, Wizards of the Coast stated that multiplayer was officially in the works for MTG Arena. While this project may take years to complete, this confirmation was still better than nothing. Now, however, it seems plans may have changed, as Commander might not be coming to MTG Arena at all.
Change of Plans
According to a new article from Bloomberg, it seems that plans for Commander on Arena are nebulous at best. Right now, Wizards is reportedly testing a video game version of Commander that could “potentially be separate from Arena.” This obviously sounds like a huge shift, even if we’re in very early stages of development.
Should Wizards go through with creating a Commander game separately from Arena, the consequences could be monumental. For starters, this move would undoubtedly divide the MTG Arena player base, which could negatively affect every format. The need to boot another game to go from playing Commander to Standard could push many players away.
Admittedly, this little bit of extra effort won’t be insurmountable in many cases, but there are other problems. If the Commander game and MTG Arena don’t have connected economies, for instance, then we’re in real trouble. Essentially having to buy packs and collect cards twice will be a real deal breaker. On Reddit, many players are already unhappy about this hypothetical future frustration.
Thankfully, while there are potential problems with a separate Commander-focused game, we’re a long way from that reality. From the Bloomberg article, it seems Wizards is still very much in the testing phases right now. There’s a non-zero chance that testing is just being done to decide the look and feel that the MTG Arena devs will work toward.
From what we’ve heard, we’re still a long way away from Commander appearing as its own game, or on Arena. With this in mind, it’s difficult to scrutinize statements being made right now. During the course of development, plans may change entirely for better or worse. It’s going to be a long wait until we learn what’s actually in store.
Bad Changes for Good Reasons
Understandably, you may be wondering why Wizards of the Coast would make a separate game for Commander. If it seems to be a bad idea on paper, surely they’d integrate it with Arena, right? That may well be the plan, however, video game development is a very tricky business, and Arena may simply be nonviable.
To put it lightly, Magic: The Gathering is not a simple game. Developing an engine that can handle the interaction of every single Commander legal card without issue is no easy feat. It’s a miracle that Magic Online has managed it for so long, but even that game isn’t immune from bugs.
In the nicest way possible, it’s highly likely that MTG Arena is built upon an entire restaurant’s worth of spaghetti code. While everything just about works at the moment, adding new cards, mechanics, formats, and features can upset the balance. This is evidenced every time a new bugged and broken interaction appears following a seemingly unrelated update.
With this in mind, Wizards of the Coast isn’t just going to be able to press the ‘add multiplayer’ button. There’s going to be an insane amount of work required to make sure everything works properly from a mechanics perspective. On top of that, Wizards will also have to completely redesign the client to support four players, rather than just two.
Ultimately, making a completely new video game just for Commander seems like a very sensible idea. Rather than having to modify an existing spaghetti-filled engine, Wizards could just make a new thing entirely. So long as it’s done right and cross-progression is a focus, there could be no cause for concern. Saying that, however, Hasbro isn’t just banking in Commander.
The Collectible Conundrum
Alongside revealing what’s going on with Commander and MTG Arena, Bloomberg revealed “Hasbro is also looking to make the digital versions of its cards more collectible.” Given how successful alternative art treatments and Collector Boosters are on paper, this focus is entirely unsurprising. Once again, however, it may prove rather difficult to implement on Arena without a major overhaul.
Right now, card styles on MTG Arena are purchased via the client’s in-game storefront. Typically, individual card styles aren’t too expensive, and can easily be bought with gold earned from in-game quests. The option is there to purchase card styles with gems and real-world money, of course, but it’s not mandatory.
Unless Wizards dramatically changes things, this makes MTG Arena rather hard to monetize in this regard. In their current form, Collector Boosters just wouldn’t work on Arena, so there’s little option for fancier more expensive packs. Theoretically, this is a problem that a separate Commander game could fix as it could be built around collectability too.
Ultimately, it’s no wonder that Wizards wants to make MTG Arena more collectible going forward. Exactly how they will do that, however, is a complete mystery for now. Maybe Wizards will overhaul things and finally add trading in one form or another. For now, we’re just going to wait and see what happens, as Hasbro isn’t saying too much here.
