My wife and I just recently got into MTG and decided we want our focus to be paper, but we also like the idea of digital as we learn since it forces us to play by the rules and we can use it to test out things we’re unsure about. We also like the idea of digital for times when we can’t be bothered to break out decks and such. So while we’ll primarily focus on paper we will invest some into digital.
We’re still deciding on which digital platform to really invest our resources into, though. I like MTGO for its “close to paper as possible” philosophy, but I get the impression Arena is golden child of Wizards and likely to have more staying power long term. The ability to play Arena pretty much anywhere, including mobile, is a big benefit as well.
So for the more seasoned players out there that may have focused on one or the other, or even both, what’s your experience been? Why did you lean into one versus the other?
Thanks for the info! I’ve seen the lack of multiplayer formats as a recurring negative for Arena, but thankfully it’s just my wife and I with no real interest (yet) in going beyond that.
I think we’ll keep an eye on MTGO, though, because eventually we’ll probably want to try something like Commander out. Since we’re social distancing enthusiasts it’s unlikely we’ll look for a local group to play with (nobody in our circle of friends plays MTG) so having a digital option for that will be awesome.
As a fellow social distancing enthusiast, I can certainly appreciate that.
The social angle brings up another important difference: MTGO has chat functionality and Arena doesn’t (actually I think Arena does have chat but only with people who are on your friends list, or something). But I’m the kind of person who sees Arena’s lack of chat as a positive. I’ve heard from enough salty opponents to last me a lifetime.