Ikoria: Land of the Behemoths has finally made its debut on Magic: The Gathering Arena, offering brand new mechanics within the added cards, which were deepened in our analysis. Beyond the simple addition of cards, the software house Wizards of the Coasts he worked particularly on the new contents already seen in the paper version of Magic: the Gathering, focusing in particular on the system of Draft. The developer has decided to enrich Magic: The Gathering Arena slowly, adding new features from time to time. Let's see in the next lines what it is, among the news already landed with Ikoria: Land of the Behemoths and others that will soon blossom on our devices.
Revolution of the Draft mode, the players arrive
Starting with the release of this expansion, now finalized, the Draft mode has finally been revised from the ground up, in order to be undoubtedly more similar to what happens in the events dedicated to the paper game. In modalities a Single Match e Best of Three it is now possible to carry out the Draft against real players, which in lobby from 8 compete for the 15 cards present in each of the three game packs, between unexpected strategies and combos. However, the Draft with the Single Game bots will not be removed but will rotate every two weeks (with matchmaking spaced out from those in real time), as opposed to the Best of 3 ones which are officially abolished.
Once all players have confirmed and entered the draft, you will finally begin the event. There will be no more infinite time to reflect, given that for each card to be selected a total of 75 seconds will be guaranteed, which precedes the exchange of envelopes between players: this it reduces to 30 seconds for the last envelope. We are certainly not dealing with a random order, the event will take place as usual in a circle, with players on the left who will receive the envelope you have just seen, and with those on the right who will have preceded you in the choice. After 15 changes between 8 players the envelopes will all be empty, and we will move on to the next one, and then after the third one, leaving the table and playing online. On the occasion of these distinctions, Wizards of the Coast wanted to clarify the peculiarities of the various Draft within Magic: The Gathering Arena.
- Premier Draft: Single and ranked match against real players, in the current set
- Classified Draft change name to Quick draft: Ranked single match against bots, with bi-weekly rotation of the expansion to be drafted
- Draft Traditional: Best of three unranked matches against real players, in the current expansion
In addition, a roadmap for upcoming events to be held within this mode in Magic: The Gathering Arena has been made official by the developer.
- April 16 - June 2020: Ikoria Premier Draft: Land of the Behemoths
- April 16 - June 2020: Ikoria Traditional Draft: Land of the Behemoths
- April 17 - May 1: Core Set 2020 Quick Draft
- May 1-15: Ikoria Quick Draft: Land of the Behemoths
- May 15-29: War of the Spark Quick Draft
With the arrival of Ikoria: Land of the Behemoths, Wizards of the Coast has prepared some timed surprises for Magic: The Gathering Arena users. By participating in a Limited of Ikoria: Land of the Behemoths, like Draft and Sealed, you can get one paper style related to a monster from the Godzilla series, for each individual participation or until the 18 collectibles are obtained. In addition, to celebrate Draft mode against real players, a free entry it will be provided to everyone, just log in within two weeks of release to get it.
Friday Night Magic comes home
Because of the coronavirus it is clear that the iconic Friday Night Magic cannot be held regularly every Friday. What better time to bring the initiative to Magic: The Gathering Arena? In fact, on the following dates the events will be held in online format for the month of April and May. By participating you will be entitled to one special reward in your physical card shop. No entry fee is required and you will receive prizes for your first and second win, along with a promotional code for anyone who will connect, with additional promo packs and cosmetics.
- April 24: Singleton
- May 1: Craftsman
- May 8: Pauper
- May 15: Brawl Historic
In development for Magic: The Gathering Arena
The news does not end there, as the software house is continuously dedicated to the development of further features for Magic: The Gathering Arena. We are talking about additions within the client and technical revolutions, such as the long-awaited arrival of the software on mobile devices. There is also an ultimatum for the Draft Cube!
64-bit client and MacOS
Starting in June 2020, the Magic: The Gathering Arena client will officially become a 64 bit end of support for 32-bit. By the end of the summer, the software house aims to launch the card game on MacOS, with a support a Catalina born from the collaboration with Skybox Labs.
Cube Draft
After Cube Sealed, where only a specific range of cards is chosen to be played, Magic: The Gathering Arena will soon be enriched with the Cube Draft, which proposes the same concept with the different unwrapping system. This will obviously take advantage of the new features added for the Draft mode and will be a fictitious event, with the constant updating of the various Cubes of cards proposed.
Planning for Historic e Amonkhet Remastered
According to what has been declared, the software house aims to support and make it more and more relevant Historic, while offering Eternal is being expanded. The output related toHistoric Anthology 3 it should arrive in May. Amokhet Remastered it seems it could instead come in a wider launch window that includes the whole summer of 2020.
Mobile devices
It is a somewhat complicated project, but still set for 2020. When available it will include the full cross-play between the various platforms, as well as obviously sharing the collection among all compatible devices.
Challenges with players
These are experiences not yet well defined and with a fictitious name, where they will be present important rewards like gold, gems, and booster packs as a reward for challenges extremely competitive. Due to the current situation, times have been significantly speeded up to offer content as soon as possible. We can therefore expect new details soon from the developer.
