Wizards of the Coast Addressed the Impact of Magic: The Gathering Arena on MTGO to A Player

Wizards of the Coast

Magic: The GatheringArena may still be in open beta but it's already becoming a huge e-sport game that's already growing its player base, and it looks like more players like me are spending more time on Magic Arena than its older cousin, Magic Online thanks to its user-friendly interface, wonderful animations, and excellent gameplay experience.

This led many to wonder if Magic Online will soon perish, and one fan asked Wizards of the Coast if Magic Online will be discontinued and if Magic Arena will eventually get Modern format added to its online experience.

When a Magic Online player from the Masters of Modern Facebook group asked Wizards via Facebook Messenger, Wizards directly responded: "MTG Arena focuses on Standard formats currently, but it's undoubtedly going to accommodate additional formats as we move into the future. We don't have any timelines to share at this stage."

"We have no plans at this stage to discontinue MTGO in favour of MTG Arena," WOTC wrote. "There are many players as yourself who've invested a lot of time and money into the game, and it wouldn't be fair to simply cut it off without proper compensation strategies in place. Moving into the near future you'll see how MTGO fits into the Digital Magic Ecosystem with our soon to be announced road map for 2019."

A player in the Masters of Modern Facebook group decided to ask Wizards on Facebook Messenger what to expect going forward for MTGO now that Arena is a thing.

Note that the answer appears to come from the Asian-Pacific regional office of Wizards, not the headquarters in the U.S., so we'll have to wait for the official 2019 roadmap until we get some real answers. It looks like they have no plans to add Modern format in Magic Arena soon. Considering the massive amount of cards for Modern, it will probably take a few years before Magic Arena gets it so for now, the majority of Modern players who play online will probably use Magic Online over Arena.

Despite the success of Magic Arena, there are still some things that Magic Online can offer that Arena couldn't such as Modern format. You can check out our 5 Things Magic: the Gathering Online Still Does Better Than Arena list to see the other reasons.

Do you think Magic Online will be discontinued in favor of Magic Arena? Would you rather play Modern format in Magic Arena?

If you're a Magic Arena player, we invite you to join our MTG Arena Facebook group in the link below:

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