Hasbro’s CEO Chris Cocks dropped an unexpected bombshell earlier in the week when he revealed that Magic: The Gathering was testing a new game that would allow players to access the popular multiplayer format Commander. The implication is that this is something Wizards would release separately to the existing MTG Arena videogame and mobile app.
Obviously, like everyone else, my first thought was: will we seriously be expected to start building our digital card collections from scratch again? But then I began thinking about what these virtual games of MTG Commander might look like, and the only answer I can come up with is: godawful.
Just think about the logistics here for a second. In a two player game on Arena, how often do you encounter opponents roping, letting the clock run down (often seemingly just as they’re about to lose)? How often have you yourself left the room to grab a cup of coffee, forgetting that you’ve just entered a match, or tabbed out to do something else while you wait for your opponent, only to come back and find they’re now waiting on you?
That’s in a two player match, where each action can only be responded to by one other player. In Commander, not only are there more players’ turns to worry about, priority is passed so often, and there are so many opportunities for opponents to respond that it’s orders of magnitude slower. Sometimes it feels like the game only really works because you can shorthand it, handwave a lot of steps, and go back in time if the play skipped past someone’s action. A cold, hard, logical machine can’t be so forgiving.
Obviously, I know that it’s currently possible to play Commander with strangers on Magic Online, technically, but I don’t know anyone brave or masochistic enough to actually do it.
Even playing in a loosey-goosey manner, in-person Commander matches can still be tiring. If all you did on your turn was play one spell and pass, it can sometimes be hard to stay engaged while sitting through a turn where one player combos off, and another dithers for five minutes about how to attack (speaking as a supreme ditherer myself).
The main thing that makes Commander fun despite the shortcomings of squeezing a two-player game into a four-player MTG format is the social aspect. The ability to play politics, chat with friends or strangers, make shared references, and joke about what’s happening at the table is a fundamental piece of the experience – and not something that can or should be easily discarded.
My best and worst Commander games were never defined by what actually happened on the table; I’ve been perfectly content sitting on two lands for entire matches. They had everything to do with the people I was playing with and how they behaved.
If this new Magic: The Gathering videogame works like MTG Arena, whose social features are extraordinarily lacking, even compared to other digital trading card games, then I don’t see how it can be anything but a failure. A text chat function would be needed at the very least.
Really, though, you’re going to want voice chat, but this comes with obvious baggage. Perhaps a more cerebral game like Magic is less prone to being swarmed by 11-year-olds hurling Gen Alpha slurs you’ll have to look up, but policing this is going to be a headache that I can’t see Wizards jumping for joy about.
The only way digital Commander would work is if the social experience is emphasized above all else. It would need to be a tool where friends who can’t meet in person can chat and play games together.
Tabletop simulator mods (assisted by Discord) already do a pretty good job of providing for this audience, plus the in-game physics engine that allows you to flail around, drop cards, and knock your deck over does a great job simulating the paper experience, at least for my clumsy ass. Presumably these copyright infringing mods will go the way of the dodo if Wizards releases a Commander game.
But even if Wizards exercises its legal right to take down the competition, I can’t see fans flocking to online Commander. One of the great things MTG Arena has going for it, which has allowed it to become the main place Standard games are played, is ease of access. It’s quick to play games of Standard on the digital platform, and much easier to find them than in real life.
In contrast, Online Commander games will be interminably slow, and if there’s an LGS in your area, it’s extremely easy to get your fill of Commander in person. Digital Commander has a lot of hurdles to clear, and I’m not sure the results are going to be worth it.
For more Magic: The Gathering content, check out our MTG release schedule guide, with the full list of MTG sets coming out next year.
Source: Wargamer
