[Arena Premier Play article](https://magic.wizards.com/en/news/mtg-arena/mtg-arena-premier-play-in-2024)
Additional notes from stream:
- **Invite graphic has a mistake**. EMEA is going from [24 to 36](https://x.com/PlayMTG/status/1770150748900253991)
- Changes start in May
- Arena Opens will continue to happen, no big changes planned currently (still Limited, still awarding QW invites)
- New invite structure starts with the Regional Championships that feed PT Amsterdam (starting May, this includes DreamHack Dallas)
- Kyle Knudson - "Timeless will get a QW as soon as it calms down a little bit ... too us it's just a little too volatile as people are still exploring ... we want a better idea of what that format is before we put it through a competitive lens". Metagame Challenge coming up though!
- Blake - MTGO team will also be announcing premier play changes today. [MOCS changes article](https://www.mtgo.com/news/mtgo-mtgo-champions-changes-03192024)
- Kyle Knudson - "Ranked bo3 draft is something we hear about a lot, there's a lot of internal discussion on what should and shouldn't contribute to ranked ... I can't make any promises but we'll take that feedback and see what we can do ... we're certainly talking about it, internally"
- Kyle Knudson - not aware of any changes to separate Arena constructed ladders, though they're aware there's interest in doing that (sounds like a nontrivial change)
- William "Huey" Jensen - There are no current plans to separate Middle East/Africa from Europe PT/RC region-wise (currently they're in a single region, EMEA)
- They've discussed/are discussing splitting US Regional Championships as participation count rises. Nothing to announce at this time though
- Kyle Knudson - will be monitoring QW play windows closely, no changes planned but are aware of timezone concerns and given increased participation it's something that could be adjusted if need be
- Kyle Knudson - Arena Spectator Mode not being actively worked on, but is definitely something he personally wants
- Kyle Knudson - Have talked about options for (constructed) leagues in Arena, want some way to highlight/show player success on the platform.
I never really considered it before but what's their justification for not having ranked BO3 play? I personally almost only play BO3 limited. Is it just concern about queue times?
I wonder if there's some sort of incentive or reward structure currently in place that is making it so that people play Bo1 significantly more than Bo3. Hmmm.... hmmm.... \*rubs chin\*
Can someone explain to me why the amount of US invites is getting doubled while Europe is only getting a 33% increase? Dallas had 1300 players to the roughly 1000 of Ghent.
Not to mention how much harder it is to qualify for the RC in Europe compared to the US.
William "Huey" Jensen - "We have a weighted spreadsheet with total Magic play and total competitive play in a region, and tried to make actual invites reflect that proportion as best as possible. Frankly, if we did it evenly, the US would have gotten slightly more"
Huey said they looked at the total amount of premier play in each region. If they had gone strictly by percentages then USA would have gotten even a few more invites. That much more Magic is played in the USA vs anywhere else in the world.
I see. Just curious because this could be a bit self-fulfilling. “Look how many people are going to our US events! Let’s have more US events.” “WOW. Even more people are going to our US events now!”
[MOCS changes article](https://www.mtgo.com/news/mtgo-mtgo-champions-changes-03192024) just went up. Looks like overall qualification path is the same, but they're up to 64 RC invites (from 50)
There were a couple of good new QoL features introduced like favoriting styles and and specific set versions of cards. The biggest QoL change is probably how Duplicate Protection now recognizes different card art.
Spectator Mode won't magically make Magic gameplay less intimidating to watch for people who aren't into watching competitive Magic.
It'll be nice to have but as someone who plays Arena I'd rather effort be put into tangible features that the average player would interact with.
>insert muh alchemy
I don't want to complain too much about small, iterative improvements, but was a bit of a let down. Lots of "we've talked about it, we're talking about it, can't really say anything."
Normally there is at least a bit more "why" from Arena devs. These bits felt so vague as to say nothing at all. But I guess Chris Kiritz and Ian Adams probably have fewer people in a position to yell at them if they say too much.
I mean in relation to the questions people were asking. The prepared top end changes are fine, but not terribly interesting. Just little tweaks for people already right on the cusp of the highest levels of play.
I dont know if separating Ladders is the ideal solution, but the problem has been very clear for years and it has been ignored.
Many players exploit the easier queues. In many months 7 or 8 top 10 players are from non competitive queues like Alchemy or Historic, where mythic players farm bronze noobs. Top 250, that seeds qualifiers, are obviously full of people doing that.
Good BO3 standard or explorer players will be on the 60's% win rate but will end up being knocked out of the Qualifier by bad players exploiting alchemy to +80% win rate. That needs to be corrected.
But what is happening to encourage in store EDH play? Each week my LGS loses another EDH player to the Standard FNM event being held at the same time. This isnt sustainable.
[Arena Premier Play article](https://magic.wizards.com/en/news/mtg-arena/mtg-arena-premier-play-in-2024) Additional notes from stream: - **Invite graphic has a mistake**. EMEA is going from [24 to 36](https://x.com/PlayMTG/status/1770150748900253991) - Changes start in May - Arena Opens will continue to happen, no big changes planned currently (still Limited, still awarding QW invites) - New invite structure starts with the Regional Championships that feed PT Amsterdam (starting May, this includes DreamHack Dallas) - Kyle Knudson - "Timeless will get a QW as soon as it calms down a little bit ... too us it's just a little too volatile as people are still exploring ... we want a better idea of what that format is before we put it through a competitive lens". Metagame Challenge coming up though! - Blake - MTGO team will also be announcing premier play changes today. [MOCS changes article](https://www.mtgo.com/news/mtgo-mtgo-champions-changes-03192024) - Kyle Knudson - "Ranked bo3 draft is something we hear about a lot, there's a lot of internal discussion on what should and shouldn't contribute to ranked ... I can't make any promises but we'll take that feedback and see what we can do ... we're certainly talking about it, internally" - Kyle Knudson - not aware of any changes to separate Arena constructed ladders, though they're aware there's interest in doing that (sounds like a nontrivial change) - William "Huey" Jensen - There are no current plans to separate Middle East/Africa from Europe PT/RC region-wise (currently they're in a single region, EMEA) - They've discussed/are discussing splitting US Regional Championships as participation count rises. Nothing to announce at this time though - Kyle Knudson - will be monitoring QW play windows closely, no changes planned but are aware of timezone concerns and given increased participation it's something that could be adjusted if need be - Kyle Knudson - Arena Spectator Mode not being actively worked on, but is definitely something he personally wants - Kyle Knudson - Have talked about options for (constructed) leagues in Arena, want some way to highlight/show player success on the platform.
I never really considered it before but what's their justification for not having ranked BO3 play? I personally almost only play BO3 limited. Is it just concern about queue times?
Along the lines of that, yeah. Kyle mentioned that Premier/Quick are played significantly more than bo3 draft
I wonder if there's some sort of incentive or reward structure currently in place that is making it so that people play Bo1 significantly more than Bo3. Hmmm.... hmmm.... \*rubs chin\*
Did they say how PT invites will be awarded for smaller regions with 3 or 6 invites?
I'd guess however they used to award them, the only thing they're really changing is the number of invites.
For reference - the stream VOD: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XklXwyyLEeo](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XklXwyyLEeo)
Can someone explain to me why the amount of US invites is getting doubled while Europe is only getting a 33% increase? Dallas had 1300 players to the roughly 1000 of Ghent. Not to mention how much harder it is to qualify for the RC in Europe compared to the US.
William "Huey" Jensen - "We have a weighted spreadsheet with total Magic play and total competitive play in a region, and tried to make actual invites reflect that proportion as best as possible. Frankly, if we did it evenly, the US would have gotten slightly more"
fyi: the graphic had a mistake and EMEA is going up to 36 invites, not 32
Huey said they looked at the total amount of premier play in each region. If they had gone strictly by percentages then USA would have gotten even a few more invites. That much more Magic is played in the USA vs anywhere else in the world.
What types of events fall in the definition of “premier play”?
They didn't define it as far as I'm aware. That doesn't mean there isn't a definition they use elsewhere.
I see. Just curious because this could be a bit self-fulfilling. “Look how many people are going to our US events! Let’s have more US events.” “WOW. Even more people are going to our US events now!”
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Unless the graphic is mistaken, 24 invites to 32 invites should be a 33% increase no?
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What? It's going from 24 to 32. That's 8 additional invites.
Adding more spots is good imo. Mtgo will be vastly diff or roughly same?
[MOCS changes article](https://www.mtgo.com/news/mtgo-mtgo-champions-changes-03192024) just went up. Looks like overall qualification path is the same, but they're up to 64 RC invites (from 50)
We are what, 6-7 years into Arena and they aren't even working on Spectator mode? What the hell are they doing?
There were a couple of good new QoL features introduced like favoriting styles and and specific set versions of cards. The biggest QoL change is probably how Duplicate Protection now recognizes different card art. Spectator Mode won't magically make Magic gameplay less intimidating to watch for people who aren't into watching competitive Magic. It'll be nice to have but as someone who plays Arena I'd rather effort be put into tangible features that the average player would interact with. >insert muh alchemy
Counting money and firing employees?
That's what the c-suite folks are doing. The devs are following orders from them.
I thought these changes would be bigger, like actual swiss/bracket tournament support
I don't want to complain too much about small, iterative improvements, but was a bit of a let down. Lots of "we've talked about it, we're talking about it, can't really say anything." Normally there is at least a bit more "why" from Arena devs. These bits felt so vague as to say nothing at all. But I guess Chris Kiritz and Ian Adams probably have fewer people in a position to yell at them if they say too much.
Well they did say the main intent was to increase the number of players in the ACs and standardize the number of PT invites from Arena.
I mean in relation to the questions people were asking. The prepared top end changes are fine, but not terribly interesting. Just little tweaks for people already right on the cusp of the highest levels of play.
I dont know if separating Ladders is the ideal solution, but the problem has been very clear for years and it has been ignored. Many players exploit the easier queues. In many months 7 or 8 top 10 players are from non competitive queues like Alchemy or Historic, where mythic players farm bronze noobs. Top 250, that seeds qualifiers, are obviously full of people doing that. Good BO3 standard or explorer players will be on the 60's% win rate but will end up being knocked out of the Qualifier by bad players exploiting alchemy to +80% win rate. That needs to be corrected.
" Chinese Taipei " Wizards afraid of the mainland Chinese overlord banning them. Sad
But what is happening to encourage in store EDH play? Each week my LGS loses another EDH player to the Standard FNM event being held at the same time. This isnt sustainable.
This has to be sarcasim
Have you asked to have commander on an additional/alternative night?