Magic is an incredibly difficult game to be good at. Every single decision can be the tipping point on if you win or lose. Seeing the game having mixed reviews is disheartening, but understandable after reading through them.

The vast majority of Magic players are not good at Magic. Myself included!

It takes an incredible amount of time and dedication to become maybe good enough to go 2-1 at your local FNM, IF there's decent players.

Seeing reviews of people with incredibly small amounts of playtime (comparable to what it takes to actually become skilled enough at the game to succeed regularly, and on purpose), are the complaints in a similar vein to most players playing in paper. "you just drew better", "if I drew this card I would've won", "that deck is so broken", etc.

There's a reason there are skill ceilings for players, and you can't get better without understanding why you're failing.

Magic is a fantastic game, with incredible entry points that make it easy to get into the game, with the resources to get better. It's like they put the posts and the videos on the home screen for a reason.

Issues with monetization aside, Arena is amazing. Drafting is quite possibly the best way to play and experience the game, and putting the time into learning how to do it properly will allow you to not have to spend money in the game at all, and have the most fun Magic has to offer.

I will always stand by Paper being the best way to play, but Arena is one of the best ways to learn how to play.

Magic is an incredibly difficult game to be good at. Every single decision can be the tipping point on if you win or lose. Seeing the game having mixed reviews is disheartening, but understandable after reading through them. The vast majority of Magic players are not good at Magic. Myself included! It takes an incredible amount of time and dedication to become maybe good enough to go 2-1 at your local FNM, IF there's decent players. Seeing reviews of people with incredibly small amounts of playtime (comparable to what it takes to actually become skilled enough at the game to succeed regularly, and on purpose), are the complaints in a similar vein to most players playing in paper. "you just drew better", "if I drew this card I would've won", "that deck is so broken", etc. There's a reason there are skill ceilings for players, and you can't get better without understanding why you're failing. Magic is a fantastic game, with incredible entry points that make it easy to get into the game, with the resources to get better. It's like they put the posts and the videos on the home screen for a reason. Issues with monetization aside, Arena is amazing. Drafting is quite possibly the best way to play and experience the game, and putting the time into learning how to do it properly will allow you to not have to spend money in the game at all, and have the most fun Magic has to offer. I will always stand by Paper being the best way to play, but Arena is one of the best ways to learn how to play.