Magic Arena Players in SEA Regions Are Pissed That Support Was Cut in Their Countries

Wizards of the Coast

Last week, it was announced that the Open Beta for Magic: The Gathering Arena would be released on September 27 but unfortunately for players living in countries in the Southeast Asia Pacific region, it looks like they won't get the support for the game that players from the rest of the world will get, and that's probably why unsealed Guilds of Ravnica pre-release kits were found in Indonesia, Philippines, and Singapore.

Wizards of the Coast made a post on Facebook regarding this, explaining that a "component that didn't meet that objective made it into prerelease kits in your region and was removed."

It turns out that Chinese company Tencent became the official distributor of Magic Arena for SEA region. Wizards said that if there any questions about the unsealed pre-release kits issue, people should contact Tencent's website but the fact that it's in Chinese doesn't help for non-Chinese speakers in SEA regions.

According to a translator, Tencent's website announced the list of countries not supported by Magic Arena, and they include China, Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore, Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos, and Brunei.

The pre-release kits were probably opened to pull the codes off of them.

Apparently, the Open Beta client for Magic Arena is already available today but when my friend/fellow Magic player Steven tried to preregister tried to preregister, Philippines is missing in the list of countries. He said that Indonesia, Singapore, and other countries in the SEA region are missing there as well.

Someone from Wizards of the Coast responded on Reddit:

"Players who are unable to participate in the Open Beta due to regional restrictions will be eligible for a full refund. We'll have more information on how you can request a refund soon."

Of course, this is disappointing to a lot of players in the SEA regions, especially those who are looking forward to playing the Open Beta for Magic Arena. Some people on Reddit already voiced their reactions to this, criticizing Wizards of the Coast decision to let Tencent distribute the game for the whole SEA region.

Check out these rants from Redditors below:

Dear WOTC: Stop lumping SEA with China. We don't want Tencent's predatory bullcrap.

from

r/MagicArena

To all MTGA Asia players (excluding AUS/NZ/JP/KR), there is no turning back. The hurt is real, probably best to accept it and move along, ask for a refund or wait for news.

from

r/MagicArena

Players can just seek a refund but it's so unfair for players in the SEA regions that can't get support for Magic Arena in their regions.

Guilds of Ravnica will be released on October 5. Prerelease events will take place on September 29-30. The Open Beta for Magic Arena will be available on September 27.

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