Would I recommend this game? No. --0-- But why?

- Balance
Balance, fairness, equality in play between the players, balance of the cards or decks playing against each other.

I have been playing mtg for years with thousands of hours in the game. In mtg-online arena I get to mythic every season and usually remain in the 90+ % (unless Im messing around trying new things in my deck, like this season). I know intimately just about every card in the game and play a deck that has a high % chance of being able to compete against just about any deck I play against. While weaker than some and not always efficient, it's still good enough to win more than I lose and it's the way I enjoy to play. I really don't care about getting higher than the 90% mythic level. To do so would require some really scummy tactics and decks that I just don't believe in, support and don't think are balanced. Below in the google drive url, you will see such a deck. A deck that has the potential of winning on their 2nd turn. If they went first (which they did in that game) by the time you have chance to put down your 2nd land card, there is no possibility of winning and must concede. I dont know how people even enjoying playing a game like that. It's really not even playing the game. It is things like this that make me uninstall the game for months. One day I'll probably never come back to play.

There are lots of things I dont like about magic cards, playstyles but that doesnt make me downvote it. I downvote it because of the balance and fair play. A lot of these play styles, such as decks that make you mill and exile your deck, have ways to easily counter, prevent it from happening without sacrificing your playstyle or all the cards in your deck. However, there are "destroy and exile lands(or permanents)" deck, where that is their whole and sole objective to win, to take away all your lands so you can't play any spells, abilities etc. This is one of the scummiest ways to play the game and wouldnt be that big of a deal if the devs balanced it, by allowing for cards to help prevent against it, but there are little options compared to how many ways they can accomplish this and they just added new ways to do it again in the latest season / patch. Those that want to focus a deck to prevent against that have to incorporate so many differ cards to try to stop it, it ruins any chance to keep your playstyle. Or you'd have to just play a quick aggro deck u dont need much lands.

(side note: I have a theory this kind of play style might have encouraged Blizzard Devs to make the "Hearthstone" card game and use automatic generation of mana each round. They obviously copied aspects of Magic but land/mana wasnt one of them. Sometimes I win the game because people don't have proper management of their lands, the right ratio or just bad luck on draw / mulligans. Some people just quit early in the game because of it. Just no fun to win like that.)

While there are many things I do like about the game, there are too many I dont. In the beginning playing it was cool to learn and try new things. Now it's just a disappointment. I can't in good conscious suggest or recommend this game to anyone new. In the past I have tried to encourage people to try it. 99% of the people that have didnt like it and quit playing early on.

As far as the negative comments people made about monetization.... I have not had a problem with that. I have not spent any real money. If you play enough, they give you enough wild cards and packs to get any card you want for free. It's a slight grind and progression, but really isnt that bad especially when the game is free to play.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1qKV0KHqG63_MYSPUTa7b1cUtYMkfZTKz/view?usp=sharing

Would I recommend this game? No. --0-- But why? - Balance Balance, fairness, equality in play between the players, balance of the cards or decks playing against each other. I have been playing mtg for years with thousands of hours in the game. In mtg-online arena I get to mythic every season and usually remain in the 90+ % (unless Im messing around trying new things in my deck, like this season). I know intimately just about every card in the game and play a deck that has a high % chance of being able to compete against just about any deck I play against. While weaker than some and not always efficient, it's still good enough to win more than I lose and it's the way I enjoy to play. I really don't care about getting higher than the 90% mythic level. To do so would require some really scummy tactics and decks that I just don't believe in, support and don't think are balanced. Below in the google drive url, you will see such a deck. A deck that has the potential of winning on their 2nd turn. If they went first (which they did in that game) by the time you have chance to put down your 2nd land card, there is no possibility of winning and must concede. I dont know how people even enjoying playing a game like that. It's really not even playing the game. It is things like this that make me uninstall the game for months. One day I'll probably never come back to play. There are lots of things I dont like about magic cards, playstyles but that doesnt make me downvote it. I downvote it because of the balance and fair play. A lot of these play styles, such as decks that make you mill and exile your deck, have ways to easily counter, prevent it from happening without sacrificing your playstyle or all the cards in your deck. However, there are "destroy and exile lands(or permanents)" deck, where that is their whole and sole objective to win, to take away all your lands so you can't play any spells, abilities etc. This is one of the scummiest ways to play the game and wouldnt be that big of a deal if the devs balanced it, by allowing for cards to help prevent against it, but there are little options compared to how many ways they can accomplish this and they just added new ways to do it again in the latest season / patch. Those that want to focus a deck to prevent against that have to incorporate so many differ cards to try to stop it, it ruins any chance to keep your playstyle. Or you'd have to just play a quick aggro deck u dont need much lands. (side note: I have a theory this kind of play style might have encouraged Blizzard Devs to make the "Hearthstone" card game and use automatic generation of mana each round. They obviously copied aspects of Magic but land/mana wasnt one of them. Sometimes I win the game because people don't have proper management of their lands, the right ratio or just bad luck on draw / mulligans. Some people just quit early in the game because of it. Just no fun to win like that.) While there are many things I do like about the game, there are too many I dont. In the beginning playing it was cool to learn and try new things. Now it's just a disappointment. I can't in good conscious suggest or recommend this game to anyone new. In the past I have tried to encourage people to try it. 99% of the people that have didnt like it and quit playing early on. As far as the negative comments people made about monetization.... I have not had a problem with that. I have not spent any real money. If you play enough, they give you enough wild cards and packs to get any card you want for free. It's a slight grind and progression, but really isnt that bad especially when the game is free to play. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1qKV0KHqG63_MYSPUTa7b1cUtYMkfZTKz/view?usp=sharing